| Hear ye, hear ye! Castlot has entered open beta! Posted: 31 Oct 2011 10:30 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Free-to-play, Browser, Promotions ClapAlong's MMO venture into Arthurian myths and legends has transitioned out of closed and into open beta. Castlot is now available to try for any and all curious knights, and ClapAlong is not shy with the efforts to woo them to this round table. In addition to featuring several improvements from the closed beta, including a newcomer's guide and ransack function, the open beta will feature daily login bonuses. ClapAlong is also promising to roll over 150% of any in-game currency you purchase to the live edition, even if you spend the currency in the closed beta. Finally, there are prizes to be had to the first player who spots and reports a bug, and to anyone who is willing to do a little Facebook promotion for the game. This browser-based title gives players a choice between joining the "light" side of King Arthur or the "dark" side of Lord Blackmore. There's a variety of gameplay elements at work, including both turn-based and real-time combat depending on your particular venue. You can sign up for the open beta over on the Castlot official site.  Hear ye, hear ye! Castlot has entered open beta! originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 31 Oct 2011 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Angels Online gets new expansion, new equipment Posted: 31 Oct 2011 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Expansions, MMO industry, News items, Free-to-play Angels Online's newest expansion is trading the dangerous jungles of primordial paradise for the heat of an Egyptian-style desert. Pharaoh's Lost Treasure is set in and around the city of Basil, and the expansion features new weapons and armor with "some of the best stats the game has to offer." According to a new IGG press release, Angels Online's dev team spent a lot of time getting the look of the new expansion armor sets just right. For Mages, new purple robes offer both offensive and defensive bonuses. Light armor wearers will appreciate new bone designs that offer protection without restricting movement. Plate wearers aren't left out either, as they can acquire new sets that combine "rich culture, style, and durability." Head to the Angels Online website to learn more and to download the game. [Source: IGG press release] Angels Online gets new expansion, new equipment originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 31 Oct 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Age of Conan dev update talks new House of Crom dungeon Posted: 31 Oct 2011 09:30 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Patches, News items, PvE, Free-to-play, Dev Diaries, Dungeons It's time for another month-ending Age of Conan development update, and the October version doesn't disappoint. Craig Morrison gives way to a gaggle of AoC developers who are more than eager to talk about the new House of Crom content coming in the 3.0.2 patch. The House of Crom is actually composed of two large dungeons. One is a social playfield that supports multiple simultaneous groups while the other is a six-man instance like those found in Khitai. The encounters take place in the bowels of the Eiglophian Mountains and are designed for endgame players. Lore-wise, the dungeon is an ancient Atlantean temple which has recently been unearthed (and defiled) by the Vanir raiders invading northern Cimmeria. That's all fine and dandy, but what about phat lewtz? "We will be bringing in new Atlantean-themed items. Power-wise, the rewards will be on par with those found in the more difficult instances, and there will be all the regular token and trophy rewards that you would expect to find," says system designer Knut Jagels. The 3.0.2 patch is currently slated for the end of 2011, and you should head to the official website to check out the full dev diary while you wait. Age of Conan dev update talks new House of Crom dungeon originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 31 Oct 2011 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| The story of saving APB Posted: 31 Oct 2011 09:00 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Business models, MMO industry, Free-to-play, All Points Bulletin, Crime, MMOFPS While many of us are aware of the basics behind the rise, fall, and re-rise of All Points Bulletin, it's only been from a partial, fragmented perspective. GamesIndustry.biz conducted an in-depth investigation into the story of how GamersFirst swooped in to save the drowning APB, which barely had 130,000 registered users at the time of its shutdown last year. As the game and company went into administration, GamersFirst sent in a team to assess the title and see what could be done. The company decided to purchase it and convert it to a free-to-play model, although Bjorn Book-Larsson said that the price tag for the company was higher than initially anticipated: "It ended up not being a cheap deal for us, but obviously a lot cheaper than the initial development." In restructuring the development team, GamersFirst reduced the number of developers by 90% to make it more agile, often recruiting former Realtime Worlds employees who showed promise. "Our production designer used to be the lead QA person. He'd spent years taking notes on how things should have been different. Essentially, when I met him the first time he rattled off a huge list of what he thought should have been different. Just an insane amount. We just said, maybe we should just hire you as a designer," Larsson said. So far, it looks as though the restructuring and new focus is paying off, as APB Reloaded's beta is currently seeing five times as many players as those who registered for the box product last year. The story of saving APB originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 31 Oct 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Earth Eternal development on hold once again Posted: 31 Oct 2011 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Free-to-play, Virtual worlds, Earth Eternal It's been a tough ride for Earth Eternal. We first heard about the original developer, Sparkplay, only days after Massively came into existence in 2007, and we've been following the company ever since. Earth Eternal was voted one of Beau's top F2P games in 2010, as it was enjoying quite a strong run that year -- even to the point where Sparkplay mentioned creating more games outside of EE. Well, that soon ended as the company ran into some serious financial problems that led to the game's hold status. Fast-forward a year, and the game was reborn with a new developer ( TurnOut Ventures with OutBlaze)! It re-entered open beta status and looked to be on the road to recovery. Well, the rollercoaster is back on the descent, according to the game's forums. It turns out Earth Eternal's development is once again put on hold until further notice. The servers are still online and the game is still playable, but the small development team at TurnOut has been relocated to other projects. So right now, it seems to be a completely free game with no cash shop. We'll be sure to keep you up-to-date on any further news we hear. [Thanks to Keith for the tip!] Earth Eternal development on hold once again originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 31 Oct 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| MV Guide: October 31-November 6, 2011 Posted: 31 Oct 2011 07:00 AM PDT Filed under: Massively meta, Livestream, Miscellaneous, MV Guide MV Guide is a weekly rundown of the MMO gaming events planned on Massively's Livestream channel. Every week, the Massively staff logs in to play various MMOs live and in person, and we'd love for you to drop by the channel and visit. We have a combination of regular weekly games and new surprises, so you'll find a variety of titles to take a look at. During livestream events, you can participate in the live chat, ask questions to learn about the game, and simply spend some time with Massively staff and readers. (Of course, livestream events are subject to the whims of outside forces like server-side gremlins once in a while.) Follow along after the jump to see what's on this week's schedule! Continue reading MV Guide: October 31-November 6, 2011 MV Guide: October 31-November 6, 2011 originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 31 Oct 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| The Daily Grind: What's the most iconic MMO city? Posted: 31 Oct 2011 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous If you've ever tried to draw a map of the Earth from memory, you know that it's a difficult task, and yet I suspect that most of us could easily sketch out a map of the landmasses and cities of our favorite MMOs. While most MMOs scale significantly smaller than our real-world capitals, they're no less memorable. In fact, some cities practically serve as symbols of the game, from City of Heroes' Paragon City to Guild Wars' Lion's Arch to World of Warcraft's Stormwind. Be they hubs of commerce, zones for party-forming, or home to all your phat loots, we could probably navigate them blindfolded. Today we ask: What's the most iconic MMO city (and could you map it from memory)?  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: What's the most iconic MMO city? originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 31 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Go go Power Rangers Online! For real! Posted: 30 Oct 2011 09:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Super-hero, Galleries, Trailers, Video, New titles Because we miss the '90s and the wonderful fads that it introduced to our culture, Korean developer Ntreev has announced the return of the fabled Power Rangers -- this time in MMO form. Officially unveiled on Friday in Seoul, Power Rangers Online is prepping for its first Korean closed beta, which should begin November 3rd with extremely limited numbers. The game is designed to be a side-scrolling action MMO based on the Power Rangers Mystic Force series. Player will make their own unique character but choose an iconic color (i.e., "class") from the show. As they level up, players can outfit their characters with gear other than the Power Rangers classic spandex-slash-biker motif. So far the beta consists of two "acts" with 14 stages and storytelling comic book-style sequences. If you're fully secure in who you are and have no compunctions about friends and family members questioning your viewing habits, you can look at some of the first screenshots in the gallery below and watch the teaser trailer after the jump! Continue reading Go go Power Rangers Online! For real! Go go Power Rangers Online! For real! originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 30 Oct 2011 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| MMO Week in Review: Pink slips Posted: 30 Oct 2011 06:00 PM PDT |
| EVE Evolved: The new player experience Posted: 30 Oct 2011 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Culture, Expansions, Game mechanics, Interviews, Hands-on, EVE Evolved, Sandbox Ever since a graph showing a downward trend in daily peak concurrent logins started to make the rounds on blogs, players have insisted that EVE Online's recent Incarna expansion has been a complete failure. I mentioned in an earlier article that we should really have expected this as the captain's quarters were primarily designed with new players in mind. Starting the game as an avatar, even one who's been grounded in his space-room by his space-dad, helps people identify with their characters in a way that bridges the gap between EVE and traditional avatar-based MMOs. By introducing a player to his character as a person rather than a ship, the new player experience may also help make the loss of a ship not such a big deal. It's all fine and well to theorise about Incarna's success or failure, but ultimately it's only new players who can make that determination. If the captain's quarters do their job of flattening that initially jarring part of EVE's learning curve, the expansion's effect on subscriptions would be to convert more free trials into paid accounts -- an effect that wouldn't be immediately noticeable until another exciting and heavily advertised gameplay expansion brings in large numbers of new players. To help figure out if the captain's quarters have been successful in that regard, we have to turn to people who have never played EVE before. In this week's EVE Evolved, I finally convince my friend Kajatta to try EVE for the first time. I delve into his first experiences with the game to find out what EVE does right and wrong in the new player experience. Continue reading EVE Evolved: The new player experience EVE Evolved: The new player experience originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 30 Oct 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| RuneScape dev panel highlights incredible success of bot bans Posted: 30 Oct 2011 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Video, Culture, Events, real-world, MMO industry, Patches, News items, RuneScape, Free-to-play, Casual, Dev Diaries Over the past few weeks, we've heard a great deal about browser MMO RuneScape's struggle against botting and RMT. The bot problem has become progressively worse over the past year, with bot makers countering every change developers made to stop their bots from working. This week developer Jagex celebrated bot-nuking day as it deployed a massive update designed to permanently stop all of the popular reflection and injection bots from working. At this year's annual RuneFest event, Jagex CEO Mark Gerhard presented a fantastic insider panel on the facts and figures behind bot-nuking day. Mark explained the company's position -- that normal players botting to speed up gameplay was counter to the goals of RuneScape. "We don't want your computer to play with our computer," he told attendees, "we want you to have fun with our community." Before delving into facts and figures, Mark reminded attendees of the element of unfairness that bots create. "I want to know that if I'm putting in 30 minutes this evening, that that 30 minutes is equal to everyone else's 30 minutes." Want to know how many million accounts were banned since bot-nuking day? Read on for a summary of the facts and figures from the talk and to watch the full video in HD. Continue reading RuneScape dev panel highlights incredible success of bot bans RuneScape dev panel highlights incredible success of bot bans originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 30 Oct 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Rise and Shiny: Golden Age Posted: 30 Oct 2011 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Video, Culture, Previews, Opinion, Free-to-play, Browser, Hands-on, Casual, MMORTS, Rise and Shiny, Livestream I tend to think of myself as a connoisseur of MMORTS games. If you are not familiar with the genre, imagine an MMO that plays like a city-building sim combined with open warfare and sometimes trade. There are a lot of these titles out there, maybe a lot more than in other genres, and the popularity of the MMORTS seems to be growing. Every week I read about a new one or try a new one out. They are usually browser-based, so it's very possible that this low barrier to production allows for such mass production. Usually I play one and my love affair with it hardly gets off the ground. Generally I find much of the same design and gameplay I have found in dozens of titles. Sure, there are some subtle differences, but overall the gems in this category are few and far between. This week I tasked myself with playing Golden Age, the new MMORTS published by Aeria Games. Was it the same as every other one I've played before? Click past the cut and find out. Continue reading Rise and Shiny: Golden Age Rise and Shiny: Golden Age originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 30 Oct 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Fan-made My Little Pony MMO gathers a following Posted: 30 Oct 2011 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: Culture, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Miscellaneous Yesterday bronies across the world rejoiced as Kotaku reported on the production of not just one but two upcoming My Little Pony MMOs. Both My Little Pony Online and Equestria Online are set in the fictional world of the popular series My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, and use graphics and characters from that setting. On further investigation, both of the startup MMOs appear to be fan projects being developed without the official backing of copyright holder Hasbro Studios. As such, the projects may run into legal difficulties as they continue development using characters, artwork and names from the My Little Pony series. The cartoon series that inspired these fan projects was originally aimed at a young female audience, but its popularity among an adult male crowd grew when it became a huge internet meme. There may even be enough fans of the series to make an official MMO commercially viable, as developers on My Little Pony Online have noted a clear interest in the development of their game. Fan-made My Little Pony MMO gathers a following originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 30 Oct 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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