MMO Updates |
- Lord of the Rings Online Spring Festival is live
- The Summoner's Guidebook: Improving your game through spectator mode
- Raising hell in The Secret World's Hell Raised instance
- Project Copernicus 'racial' screens leak from 38 Studios
- The Daily Grind: Would you leave your current MMO for its sequel?
- Perfect World International's end-game gets imperially furious
- Free for All: Istaria's updates, community, and future development
- RIFT Conquest video boasts 'this is where realities collide'
- New Pathfinder dev blog talks contract, questing mechanics
- Mortal Online's CEO has high hopes for the game's subscriptions
- 38 Studios appears to be getting no new help
- WildStar Wednesday shows off Eldan technology
- Discussing the design of quests in The Elder Scrolls Online
- The Old Republic interview on patch 1.3 covers LFG, perks, and gear
- A Mild-Mannered Reporter: The growing, creeping power
- Enter at Your Own Rift: Conquest PvP
- ArenaNet talks about naming Guild Wars 2's world
- Choose My Adventure: The last mile
- Turbine hosts 300 job-seekers at Rhode Island hiring event
- Diablo III vs. Torchlight II: Battle of the dungeon-crawlers
- Why I Play: Vanguard, Saga of Heroes
- Massive ARGO Online patch raises level cap, adds new dungeons and quests
| Lord of the Rings Online Spring Festival is live Posted: 24 May 2012 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Events, in-game, Game mechanics, MMO industry, News items, Free-to-play  The site's annual festival guide isn't ready for prime time just yet, but you can check out the 2011 version while you wait for the update.
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| The Summoner's Guidebook: Improving your game through spectator mode Posted: 24 May 2012 09:00 AM PDT Filed under: PvP, Opinion, Free-to-play, Guides, MOBA, League of Legends, The Summoner's Guidebook  Watching high-level streams or spectating high-level games can dramatically improve your game if you know what to look for. This week, we're going to cover some of the ways you can improve your game by stealing strategies and techniques from top players. Continue reading The Summoner's Guidebook: Improving your game through spectator mode
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| Raising hell in The Secret World's Hell Raised instance Posted: 24 May 2012 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Horror, Previews, Opinion, Hands-on, The Secret World, Dungeons  Welcome to The Secret World's Overlook Motel, where the sheets are clean, the service is friendly, and there's an ominous doorway to Hell in every room. Such is the beginning of the second instanced dungeon of Funcom's upcoming horror-fantasy MMO, which sees players descending deep into the bowels of the underworld to put an end to a raging demonic war that's causing Hell to leak through to the real world. I had the pleasure of joining Funcom's Tor Andersen on a guided tour of Hell Raised, the first in a series of three dungeons that take place in the fiery depths, and boy did I ever have a hell of a time (sorry). If you're interested in finding out what awaits players of The Secret World in the depths of Hades itself, follow along with me as I give you the ins-and-outs of surviving a confrontation in the midst of an infernal warzone. Continue reading Raising hell in The Secret World's Hell Raised instance
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| Project Copernicus 'racial' screens leak from 38 Studios Posted: 24 May 2012 07:00 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Galleries, Screenshots, Classes, Previews  Today fan site 38 Watch posted a trio of official-looking screens straight from Copernicus' world. In the screens, three races are revealed: the human-looking Almain, the dwarven Dverga, and the orcish Jottun. The game's art style and lush color palette are on full display, opting for more of a stylized than realistic approach. We recently heard that Project Copernicus has a possible June 2013 launch window and got our first look at the game in a flyby video. You can scope out the new screens in the gallery below.
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| The Daily Grind: Would you leave your current MMO for its sequel? Posted: 24 May 2012 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, EverQuest, EverQuest II, Guild Wars, MMO industry, Opinion, Guild Wars 2, Free-to-play, The Daily Grind, EverQuest Next, Miscellaneous  The same could be said for faithful EverQuest fans when EverQuest II rolled around in 2004, and perhaps again whenever Sony Online Entertainment formalizes its EverQuest Next project. For today's Daily Grind, then, we'd like to know how easily you could leave your current MMO if a sequel were to materialize. We know you'd check out the new shiny, but would you leave the older title for good?  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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| Perfect World International's end-game gets imperially furious Posted: 23 May 2012 09:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Perfect World International, News items, Free-to-play, Dev Diaries, Dungeons  It is a truth universally acknowledged that an MMO in possession of an experienced player-base must be in want of more end-game. In honor of that, and in response to heavy player demand, Perfect World International is getting a sizable update. PWI: Imperial Fury will introduce the brand new Advanced Endless Universe dungeon, changes to existing dungeons, and a whole passel of other improvements. Players are charged with retrieving the Perfect World City Essences within the Advanced Endless Universe dungeon. This dungeon, which will be accessible six times per week, will present one of three variations of itself upon entry. All three variations are distinctly different, and all three will require significant effort and coordination for successful completion. Hard work does not go unrewarded, however, as completion is rewarded with a chance box containing either a brand new skill book or a stack of potent consumable buffs -- and as both the boxes and their drops can be traded, you can always sell anything you don't want for yourself. Lunar Glade and Warsong City have received a design facelift, had their difficulty ramped up and their rewards increased -- rewards that include materials for upgrading the most powerful gear (at present) in the game. A temporary and intermittently-recurring NPC, the Aurora Agent, will allow characters over level 80 to trade Tokens of Luck for a chance to get rare and powerful items. There will also be new Bounty Hunter bosses, improvements to Phoenix Valley, more ways to gain Prestige, improvements to player-enemy targeting, the return of Secret Passage to its "more carebear-friendly roots," and more. So suit up and get ready to kick imperial hiney!
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| Free for All: Istaria's updates, community, and future development Posted: 23 May 2012 08:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Business models, Interviews, Patches, Opinion, Free-to-play, Massively Interviews, Free for All  I took some time and asked Amarie Ancalimon, Community Relations manager from Virtrium, about the latest string of patches and updates. I got plenty of information back, so let's get to it! Continue reading Free for All: Istaria's updates, community, and future development
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| RIFT Conquest video boasts 'this is where realities collide' Posted: 23 May 2012 07:30 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Trailers, Video, Previews, PvP, RIFT  "With Conquest we're really trying to capture the essence of open-world PvP gameplay," shares Lead Designer William Fisher in a new developer video. "This is where realities collide." He goes on to say that this new system isn't Defiants against Guardians, but instead three brand-new factions from across the planes duking it out with player assistance. Check out the new video after the jump, and when you're done with that, catch up with our very own Karen Bryan's hands-on experience with the Conquest system! Continue reading RIFT Conquest video boasts 'this is where realities collide'
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| New Pathfinder dev blog talks contract, questing mechanics Posted: 23 May 2012 07:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Game mechanics, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Dev Diaries, Sandbox  Not so in Pathfinder, thanks to its contract mechanics, which Ryan Dancey says are like "a questing system hidden in plain sight." While some of what you'll read in this particular blog is theoretical (and as such, it carries the standard subject-to-change disclaimers), the system as it stands right now is broken down into four in-game tools: escrow, reputation, alignment, and the law. Contracts themselves are sub-divided into assassination, auction, bounty, guard, loan, purchase, sale, and transportation flavors. It sounds somewhat complex, but there's definitely a method to Goblinworks' madness. "Ideally, most of the commercial, diplomatic, and adventuring activities in the game will develop through player-to-player contracting," Dancey writes. "If somebody offers you a reward for bringing them 10 rat tails, it will be because another player needs 10 rat tails for some reason, not just because an NPC has an exclamation point bobbing over his head."
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| Mortal Online's CEO has high hopes for the game's subscriptions Posted: 23 May 2012 06:30 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Culture, Game mechanics, MMO industry, News items, Mortal Online, Sandbox  By way of elaboration, EVE Online currently has roughly 450,000 players. Mortal Online's subscription numbers have never been revealed, but estimates place it under 10,000 players. An impossible goal? Definitely not, but certainly one that might be a bit overly ambitious. Fans of the game can still take a look at the chat for other interesting tidbits, however, including plans to add drugs and improve the new player experience in the future. [Thanks to Sandboxer for the tip!]
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| 38 Studios appears to be getting no new help Posted: 23 May 2012 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: MMO industry, News items, Legal, Miscellaneous  Staff members are also leaving the company at an alarming rate, with CEO Jen MacLean and senior VP of product development John Blakely both confirming their departures from the company. The hiring of both individuals was trumpeted as a mark of success as recently as March of this year, and Blakely was still employed by 38 Studios as recently as Monday evening. There's even talk of the company's health insurance running out. None of this news suggests that Curt Schilling's company will make a quick turnaround -- if indeed it makes a turnaround at all.
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| WildStar Wednesday shows off Eldan technology Posted: 23 May 2012 05:30 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Lore, Previews, News items, WildStar  While Probes are primarily meant for gathering information and surveillance, the floating eyes are equipped with shielding and directed-energy weapons to keep themselves safe. Protectors have a more direct combat function; the lumbering humanoid robots found gathered around important scientific sites. Last but not least, the Augmentors are rare but potent machines capable of injecting nanomachines into a subject to start a process of mechanical integration known as augmentation. Take a look at all of the machines on this week's installment of the preview column -- even if you don't necessarily want to blow these gadgets up, they don't have any such compunctions about you.
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| Discussing the design of quests in The Elder Scrolls Online Posted: 23 May 2012 05:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Video, Game mechanics, Previews, News items, The Elder Scrolls Online  As Lambert explains, the team wants to move away from the usual hub design in favor of several points of interest, each of which provides a little snippet of content and story. The points aren't meant to be structured as an A-to-B affair; instead, you have several points of interest in a given region which build into a large overarching story. Take a look at the full interview for more information about how quests will work in the game and how players will be guided through objectives as they play.
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| The Old Republic interview on patch 1.3 covers LFG, perks, and gear Posted: 23 May 2012 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Interviews, Patches, News items, Star Wars: The Old Republic  Star Wars: The Old Republic is gonna get some mighty fine updates with the onset of patch 1.3. Game Designer Daniel Erickson had a chat with PC Gamer to shed some light on the changes in the upcoming patch. Players in SWTOR don't like standing still. As Erickson says: "You can craft on the move, run [war zones] from anywhere, and basically never slow down -- except when looking for a group." To put an end to that difficulty, 1.3 will include a LFG interface that players can use to find a pick-up group to run with (except for Hard Mode Operations, which aren't really designed for uncoordinated PUGs). The tool won't work cross-server, but that's because the dev team is looking to move to servers with a much, much higher population cap in the near future. The patch will add new perks to the legacy system, most of which are aimed at customizing the way players level their alts. With a high enough legacy and enough credits, players could use XP perks to skip side quests altogether, although Erickson points out that that there are perks for Bonus Series quests that may tempt players to visit planets they've previously left alone. The last bundle of tidings of great joy for the patch is directed at gear. There's a fine balance between freedom of dress and the importance of visual distinction, and SWTOR aims to find it by allowing "social gear" to be worn anywhere. Additionally, "almost every single item in the game" will get customization options thanks to augment slots. Players can use augment slots on gear to add, well, augments, which will allow them to further customize their character and playstyle.
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| A Mild-Mannered Reporter: The growing, creeping power Posted: 23 May 2012 03:00 PM PDT Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, Culture, Game mechanics, Opinion, Free-to-play, A Mild-Mannered Reporter  Of course, there's a downside to that as well. While having a forever-rising level cap has its own issues, a firm cap has left us with an endgame that's grown bloated as only games with entrenched caps can. We're not constantly having to relearn the entire endgame so much as we're getting new widgets added on, and we're finding ourselves stuck with a growing problem of old-fashioned power creep. Continue reading A Mild-Mannered Reporter: The growing, creeping power
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| Enter at Your Own Rift: Conquest PvP Posted: 23 May 2012 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Game mechanics, Previews, PvP, Opinion, Hands-on, Massively Hands-on, RIFT, Enter at Your Own Rift  If you missed it, take heart because this week's Enter at Your Own Rift gives a recap of the event and a beginning look at how Conquest plays out. Read on for handy primer on three-faction PvP in Telara! Continue reading Enter at Your Own Rift: Conquest PvP
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| ArenaNet talks about naming Guild Wars 2's world Posted: 23 May 2012 01:30 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Lore, Guild Wars 2, Dev Diaries  Mitsoda said that the team has established a system for nailing down names. After coming up with the name, the team sends the moniker through a "sanity check" that makes sure it's not too hard to spell or say. The team also tries to weed out the more obscure or overt pop culture references, then passes along the names to the team's "loremasters," who check it against an internal wiki for consistency. She goes on to share a few anecdotes about the naming process, such as the evolution of Charr names, the difficulty of putting a label on an animal that has no Earth equivalent, and how the creepy rat-dog Murellow got its name. It's an interesting read into a different side of the development process that often goes unnoticed, so check it out!
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| Choose My Adventure: The last mile Posted: 23 May 2012 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: Super-hero, Galleries, Screenshots, City of Heroes, Opinion, Free-to-play, Choose My Adventure  I am pretty sure there is that nagging worry at the back of the Massively writers' minds when they give themselves over to the masses for Choose My Adventure. Sure, there is an element of mystery and excitement, but what if... just what if the majority manifests an evil streak and sends you careening over an embankment to your virtual doom? Or banishes you to tasks that would make you want to lobotomize yourself with your mouse -- things like run Death From Below repeatedly? Thankfully, you all spared me from such torture. And with this week's tour of the Mission Architect system in City of Heroes, you definitely steered me right -- this is my favorite aspect of the game yet! I am glad to say that my trust in you all has not been unfounded, and I will speak on your behalf to the others. The fact is, I have enjoyed our little road trip immensely and am sad it must come to an end. So let's take one last cruise through City of Heroes together before you drive off into the sunset with Eliot. Continue reading Choose My Adventure: The last mile
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| Turbine hosts 300 job-seekers at Rhode Island hiring event Posted: 23 May 2012 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Economy, MMO industry, News items, Miscellaneous  How many of the 300 were 38 Studios refugees? That's hard to say since neither Turbine nor the job-seekers who came down wearing 38-branded jackets and sweatshirts would offer a comment. Turbine's Adam Mersky said the timing and the location of the meet-and-greet was no accident, as Turbine set up shop in a hotel mere blocks away from 38 Studios headquarters. "It's no coincidence that we're down here looking for talent," Mersky told the Journal.
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| Diablo III vs. Torchlight II: Battle of the dungeon-crawlers Posted: 23 May 2012 11:30 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, News items, Diablo III  We know you're all still enthralled by Blizzard's latest blockbuster, Diablo III, but it's important to remember that it's not the only major dungeon-crawler hitting the market this year. Runic Games' Torchlight II is also slated for release, and it's sure to offer plenty of dungeon-delving, loot-gathering goodness as well. But the real question is, how do the two games stack up against one another? The Ancient Gaming Noob has decided to pit the two titles against each other in a no-holds-barred Thunderdome deathmatch to see which game emerges victorious! On one hand, you have Diablo III's simplified method of character progression utilizing runes and a number of skill combinations, and on the other hand, there's Torchlight II's more traditional talent trees and attribute points. Atmosphere (bright and colorful vs. dark and dreary is a battle for the ages), story, and gameplay are all matters of contention between the two, and each category receives ample coverage, providing a detailed look at the similarities and contrasts between the titles. If you're unsure which dungeon-crawler you want to swear allegiance to, head on over and give the full piece a read for a bit of help in the decision-making process.
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| Why I Play: Vanguard, Saga of Heroes Posted: 23 May 2012 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Opinion, Vanguard, Why I Play  If there's one question that comes up time and time again, it's that one. It experienced a launch disaster, lack of content post 35+, bugs, duping, exploits, performance issues, and the sad "parking lot layoffs," yet Vanguard: Saga of Heroes always seems to generate buzz any time it comes up in conversation. There's a certain aura surrounding this game, and even though it languished with low subscription numbers for years, it always seems to attract attention when it's covered at Massively. There's something about Vanguard that kept me playing solidly well past launch and still pulls me back from time to time. With a free-to-play launch just around the corner, it seems like the perfect time to explain why I play Vanguard. Continue reading Why I Play: Vanguard, Saga of Heroes
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| Massive ARGO Online patch raises level cap, adds new dungeons and quests Posted: 23 May 2012 10:30 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Sci-fi, Game mechanics, MMO industry, News items, Free-to-play  First up is a max-level increase (to 55), followed by a new "expert" island called Naviruo, which is geared toward level 50-plus players. Here you'll find more than 400 new quests that continue the tale of conflict between the Floresslah and Nobilan factions. There are also seven new dungeons to satiate your PvE and PvP appetites, not to mention over 300 new types of monsters to make things a little more challenging. As always, more info is available at the official ARGO website. [Source: ProSiebenSat.1 Games press release]
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We certainly wouldn't be seeing so many films and TV shows based on Sherlock Holmes if the character were still the IP of a single publisher, and we sure as hell wouldn't be seeing him fight Dracula quite so often. 
