MMO Updates |
- Wizard101 creator announces new game: Pirate101
- Choose My Adventure: Next stop, City of Heroes
- See Eveningstar under siege in new DDO expansion screenshots
- Enter at Your Own Rift: Handy tips for fishing and survival in Telara
- Seven Souls' 1.1 patch raises level cap, adds new dungeons and gear
- End of Nations Liberation Front info and trailer
- Guild Wars 2 Facebook milestone brings new art, more to come
- The Daily Grind: How do you keep track of your passwords?
- ArenaNet reveals world transfer details for Guild Wars 2
- Hyperspace Beacon: Advice from a master
- New preview available for Final Fantasy XIV's Garuda fight
- SWTOR increases Sniper damage, fixes bugs, and cures the Rakghoul plague
- ArenaNet prepares fans for Guild Wars 2 beta weekend event
- Frogster responds to community uproar over European TERA changes
- Guild Wars celebrates its 7th anniversary [Updated]
- The Soapbox: The grind is good
- Flameseeker Chronicles: Dreaming of green knights
- Massively Speaking Episode 198: Open beta madness!
- The Game Archaeologist: Are graphical updates worth the hassle?
- Play Runes of Magic in your browser (if you're in Europe)
| Wizard101 creator announces new game: Pirate101 Posted: 25 Apr 2012 10:30 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, New titles, Free-to-play, Kids, Wizard101, Family  Using a similar business model, full voice-over, same universe and same art style as Wizard101, KingsIsle is fashioning a unique pirate game with its second MMO. Players get to choose one of five classes for their piratey career: Buccaneer, Witchdoctor, Privateer, Swashbuckler, or Musketeer. No matter what they pick, players will captain their own flying (yes, flying) ships and take off for adventure in fantastic environments such as skyways, lost cities of gold, and ancient ruins. There will also be companions to pick up along the way for use in combat, and players can naturally join forces to complete quests and battle the oppressing force threatening the world. Creative Director Todd Coleman thinks that this free-to-play title stretches the studio's imagination and reach: "We've created a world of treacherous pirates, faithful companions, tactical battles and gorgeous environments. Pirate101 fuses the key lessons we've learned from Wizard101 with entirely new design, setting and gameplay mechanics. We've succeeded in creating a game that is very different from Wizard101, but remains comfortable and familiar." Pirate101 is currently in alpha and will be released in 2012. Watch for our upcoming interview with KingsIsle coming soon! [Source: KingsIsle Entertainment press release]
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| Choose My Adventure: Next stop, City of Heroes Posted: 25 Apr 2012 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Super-hero, Polls, City of Heroes, Free-to-play, Massively Meta, Hands-on, Choose My Adventure  Although road trips can be just as fun when you just jump in the car and take off with no predetermined destination, at some point you have to end up somewhere. And it looks like we now know our destination. While I was safely strapped in my seat and watching the scenery, you readers have taken the City of Heroes exit. So it looks like a cape and superpowers will be on order for the next few weeks in Choose my Adventure. (Unless you nix the cape, of course.) Surprisingly, this time around I actually managed to sit back and enjoy the ride without checking the poll results every 20 minutes of every day; I managed to restrain myself to just once a day! Maybe it was because I've let you have the keys before and knew that I really would enjoy the experience no matter where you took me. After all, you didn't get us in a wreck last time, did you? And Justin survived (relatively) unscathed, so what was there to worry about? Perhaps on another trip we will be able to explore other exotic destinations, such as Anarchy Online, Star Trek Online, Asheron's Call, or even World of Tanks. I'll admit that I wistfully entertained images of visiting each of these destinations while I was glancing periodically at the polls, but for now, our course is set, and we will be arriving shortly. The first order of business before jumping into City of Heroes is a shot pitstop to develop our character. Be sure to get your vote in before Saturday, April 18th, 2012, at 11:59 p.m. EDT! Continue reading Choose My Adventure: Next stop, City of Heroes
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| See Eveningstar under siege in new DDO expansion screenshots Posted: 25 Apr 2012 09:30 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Galleries, Screenshots, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Expansions, MMO industry, News items, Free-to-play  DDO players can check these areas out after leaving Eberron behind and stepping into Turbine's version of the beloved Forgotten Realms campaign setting. The expansion, DDO's first, is slated for June 25th. Head to the official website for more, but not before you peruse our screenshot gallery below. [Source: Turbine press release]
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| Enter at Your Own Rift: Handy tips for fishing and survival in Telara Posted: 25 Apr 2012 09:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Opinion, RIFT, Guides, Enter at Your Own Rift, Crafting  Whether you're an old salt or a greenhorn, and if you're curious about what exactly it takes to fish in Telara or what you need to build yourself a nice camp and a warm meal, this week's Enter at Your Own Rift might help! Continue reading Enter at Your Own Rift: Handy tips for fishing and survival in Telara
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| Seven Souls' 1.1 patch raises level cap, adds new dungeons and gear Posted: 25 Apr 2012 08:30 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, MMO industry, Patches, News items, Free-to-play, Dungeons  The sci-fantasy adventure also boasts new dungeons that include the Hall of Resurrection (levels 39 to 43) and Purgatorium (levels 45 and up). Both of these gauntlets will dole out "fantastic rewards" upon completion. Finally, gamers can look forward to the new Western Mikan Plains zone, as well a huge number of new quests and items to loot and trade. If you're still looking for something to do after you've conquered all the new content, Neowiz is hosting a Lineage of the Sky guild PvP tournament. Further details on Seven Souls' 1.1 patch, and the PvP event, are available at the game's official web destination. [Source: Neowiz press release]
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| End of Nations Liberation Front info and trailer Posted: 25 Apr 2012 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Trailers, Video, Bugs, Classes, Game mechanics, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Free-to-play, MMORTS  Both classes, as well as a number of selectable (and customizable) units, are highlighted in the new trailer, so take a look past the break and get a leg up on building your battle-ready company. End of Nations is a free-to-play strategy title that is currently in alpha testing. [Source: Trion press release] Continue reading End of Nations Liberation Front info and trailer
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| Guild Wars 2 Facebook milestone brings new art, more to come Posted: 25 Apr 2012 07:00 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Guild Wars 2, Free-to-play  ArenaNet is dangling another carrot in the form of the 480,000 "like" plateau. Once it's reached, players will be rewarded with another piece of art. There's even a teaser of the upcoming image on the GW2 Facebook page.
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| The Daily Grind: How do you keep track of your passwords? Posted: 25 Apr 2012 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous  My old system used a common theme (say, names of Pokemon) that allowed for different passwords while giving me a chance at guessing them if I forgot. My new system is a $0.99 notebook that I desperately hope my kids don't discover and chew up. It's a slight improvement but not perfect. So I'm curious: How do you keep track of your passwords? Do you memorize them, write them down in a notebook, have a text file on your computer, or use a password manager program?  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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| ArenaNet reveals world transfer details for Guild Wars 2 Posted: 24 Apr 2012 08:30 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, News items, Guild Wars 2, Dev Diaries  To wrap up what's been a very exciting day for Guild Wars 2 beta weekend participants, ArenaNet has published a blog post detailing world choice and the mechanics of transferring worlds. Upon first logging into the game, players will be able to pick any home world server available, including those in a different region from where they purchased the game. All characters thereafter are created on that home world. World transfers are possible, but have both a time and gem cost. A player can change home worlds only once every seven days and must shell out 1,800 gems to do so. Once the game goes live, however, a "guesting" feature will be available to allow players to join friends on any world, although players won't be able to participate in WvW for their temporary host server. Guesting won't be in for the beta weekend event, but players will be able to test out transferring worlds. Each account will be able to unlock 2,000 free gems for the BWE, which will cover the cost of a transfer and a little more. A complete server list for the upcoming beta weekend event is available in ArenaNet's blog post.
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| Hyperspace Beacon: Advice from a master Posted: 24 Apr 2012 07:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Culture, MMO industry, Opinion, Star Wars Galaxies, Roleplaying, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Hyperspace Beacon  When he played SWG, he posted quite a bit as Mandash Grim on the Starsider Galaxy roleplay website; when a good chunk of those players decided to give Star Wars: The Old Republic a go, he moved with them to SWTOR-RP. On this forum, he talked about how SWTOR influenced RP, even though it was not exactly the way he envisioned it. It's hard to summarize in a thousand words his gaming philosophies, which had such an influence on me, but I'd like to highlight a few key things he wrote that I believe summarize his feelings on something everyone reading this column probably loves: Star Wars MMO storytelling. Continue reading Hyperspace Beacon: Advice from a master
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| New preview available for Final Fantasy XIV's Garuda fight Posted: 24 Apr 2012 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Video, Previews, Endgame, News items, Consoles, Final Fantasy XIV  According to the lore, the Ixali revere Garuda as the Empress of Birds, a soaring deity who maintains an appetite for the flesh of land-dwelling creatures. She is the incarnate strength of the bird-men as well as a source of great terror. But just as with Ifrit, players who defeat her can expect to have a variety of fantastic weapons, as illustrated in the video just past the break. Just be careful -- if you aren't on the ball when you fight her, you could find yourself completely blown away. [Thanks to Alex for the tip!] Continue reading New preview available for Final Fantasy XIV's Garuda fight
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| SWTOR increases Sniper damage, fixes bugs, and cures the Rakghoul plague Posted: 24 Apr 2012 05:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Events, in-game, Patches, PvE, Star Wars: The Old Republic  Although Snipers and Gunslingers were the only classes to receive a bonus to damage, many other minor and why-is-this-an-issue bugs have been fixed with the introduction of this patch. For instance, each player can add other players to his friends list even if those other players are offline. And that persistent and annoying jet-engine sound heard on Carrick and Vaiken station has been fixed. On a sad note, the Rakghoul plague has come to and end (or is that good news?). Either way, the announcements on the stations have stopped, and the crash site has been fully cleaned up, including the jawa vendor. But chin up, event-fans: Lead Designer Daniel Erickson mentioned on Mos Eisley Radio that although BioWare does not have plans to revive this specific event, there is a whole team specifically dedicated to creating future live events.
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| ArenaNet prepares fans for Guild Wars 2 beta weekend event Posted: 24 Apr 2012 04:30 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Video, News items, Guild Wars 2  The event, which runs from Friday the 27th at 3:00pm EDT to 3:00am on Monday the 30th, will introduce players to the Charr, Human, and Norn early zones as well as allowing players to get into epic WvW battles and hotjoinable PvP. Lion's Arch, a huge city that's undergone massive changes since the original Guild Wars, will be explorable for the first time. Check out what Martin Kerstein and Mike Zadorojny have to say about it in the video after the cut. Continue reading ArenaNet prepares fans for Guild Wars 2 beta weekend event
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| Frogster responds to community uproar over European TERA changes Posted: 24 Apr 2012 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Culture, News items, TERA  European TERA fans have been up in arms lately due to decisions on behalf of the game's European publisher, Frogster, to remove a notable amount of the game's mature content in hopes of receiving a PEGI 12 rating. Today, the game's lead community manager, Raven, took to the forums to explain the logic behind some of these decisions and to elaborate on what players can expect moving forward. The post begins with an apology for the lack of transparency in the matter of removing the blood effect slider from the game without mention; it goes on to promise that "the gore slider will be back with the original three different graduations and blood will still be spread on the ground during combat," though it's important to note that the feature will be patched back in shortly after launch. Raven also clarifies the reasons behind some of the changes made to the childlike Elin, stating that the changes were made "not to comply with a demand from any official board, but because those characters in particular could have attracted to the game a population of unsavoury users, and it is part of [Frogster's] responsibility to protect [TERA's] younger audiences from them." As far as the changes made to other character models (such as the reduction of female breast size and some changes that made certain pieces of armor less revealing) are concerned, Raven points out that those changes are present in all versions of the game, including the Korean version, so it's not a case of the game's being censored purely for Western audiences. To get the full details and put forth your tuppence on the matter, just head on over to the official TERA EU forums.
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| Guild Wars celebrates its 7th anniversary [Updated] Posted: 24 Apr 2012 03:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Guild Wars, News items, Anniversary  From April 24th through May 8th, players will be able to enjoy the time-honored traditions of Guild Wars' birthday celebrations: Players can stroll down the Shing Jea Boardwalk for some festival games, race Rollerbeetles, unlock birthday hats, and collect some sweet, sweet treats. In addition, a new pet is being made available. The Hound of Balthazar can be unlocked for free by visiting Ceira, Sworn to Fire in Embark Beach and then traveling to the Zaishen Menagerie and tracking down the fiery beastie. After the anniversary has drawn to a close, the Hound will still be unlockable, but at the cost of 100,000 Balthazar Faction or 20 golden zaishen coins and 100 gold -- so maybe don't dawdle if you're interested in a shiny new pet. The updated page also promises "drops and activities never before seen in anniversary celebration," so join in the fun to find out what's new! [Update: According to a Gamebreaker TV special, all of the normal weekend events observed in Guild Wars will be running simultaneously for the anniversary celebration!]
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| The Soapbox: The grind is good Posted: 24 Apr 2012 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Opinion, The Soapbox, Miscellaneous  Like many of you, I have fond memories of several important video games that carried me through my childhood and teenage years. Some were deep, some were obscure, some were landmark moments in the genre, and some were Chrono Trigger. It's weird, then, with all that variety, that I have strong fondness for a game that had so little going on in the story or progression department as to be a step away from playing marbles or jacks in the street. It was a game that I'd sit down to night after night, not to go on any grand adventures or to raise my level 1 fighter up into the ranks of godhood but to just unwind. It was a game that required such a zen-like concentration that it pushed the thinking portion of my brain out and soothed me with its repetitive gameplay and simplistic motions. That game was, of course, Tetris, a game that was grind personified. It was minimalistic puzzle-solving repeated over and over again, and some days that's all I needed. When my mind was wiped, or when I just wanted to sit back in my chair instead of forward in it, I turned to these silly blocks. When I needed it and wanted it, the grind was better for me than the most complex and innovative video games of the time. The grind is good, especially when you have the option to do it or ignore it, and I feel that this has gotten such a bad reputation in MMOs that its positive aspects are overlooked. Time to remedy that! Continue reading The Soapbox: The grind is good
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| Flameseeker Chronicles: Dreaming of green knights Posted: 24 Apr 2012 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Opinion, Guild Wars 2, Races, Flameseeker Chronicles  You know what won't be available in the beta? The Sylvari and the Asura, once again. ArenaNet's included Lion's Arch in this newest beta build, but that's about all that's new. I've gone on record as saying that I'm perfectly content to wait 'til launch for the Asura and Sylvari so that they're all pristine and new and ready to be explored, but I've got to say that that contentedness gets a little more strained each time we hear or see new stuff about the Sylvari. That's been true for months upon months, but it just keeps getting better. Continue reading Flameseeker Chronicles: Dreaming of green knights
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| Massively Speaking Episode 198: Open beta madness! Posted: 24 Apr 2012 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Podcasts, City of Heroes, MMO industry, News items, Star Trek Online, Guild Wars 2, Massively Meta, The Secret World, Massively Speaking, Star Wars: The Old Republic, TERA, Miscellaneous, Diablo III  Have a comment for the podcasters? Shoot an email to podcast@massively.com. We may just read your email on the air! Get the podcast: [iTunes] Subscribe to Massively Speaking directly in iTunes. [RSS] Add Massively Speaking to your RSS aggregator. [MP3] Download the MP3 directly. Listen here on the page: Read below the cut for the full show notes. Continue reading Massively Speaking Episode 198: Open beta madness!
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| The Game Archaeologist: Are graphical updates worth the hassle? Posted: 24 Apr 2012 11:30 AM PDT Filed under: Anarchy Online, Opinion, Ultima Online, The Game Archaeologist, Miscellaneous  "If they re-released this game with modern graphics, it would be way more popular." "The Game Archaeologist is my hero, and I will name my progeny in his honor." How many times have we heard the above statements? From my perspective as someone who tries to keep tabs on classic MMOs, I see these claims quite a lot. Such sentiments pop up in nearly every other post Massively does about older games: "This title is rock-solid except for its aging visuals. Update those, and it would recapture its former glory and then some." This has gotten me thinking whether such logic would pan out or not. With Anarchy Online's much-hyped graphics overhaul on the way, this discussion seems to crop up more often. Is the power of a graphics conversion or overhaul strong enough to pull back in previous players and fresh blood? Or is it merely slathering on new paint over a rusting hulk? Continue reading The Game Archaeologist: Are graphical updates worth the hassle?
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| Play Runes of Magic in your browser (if you're in Europe) Posted: 24 Apr 2012 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, MMO industry, News items, Free-to-play, Browser, Runes of Magic  It usually takes about 30 seconds of streaming to reach RoM's main menu and character creation interface. Also of note is the fact that the browser version runs on the same servers as the client version, so you'll still have access to all of your friends and familiars. The bad news is that the browser version is only available in Europe as of today. We'll update you as soon as we hear about Frogster's plans for additional markets. [Source: Frogster press release]
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