| RIFT hints at expansion details with strange box Posted: 27 May 2012 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, MMO industry, News items, RIFT Trion's coy marketing campaign for RIFT's next update continues. Yesterday we received a mysterious box containing the following: two posters featuring historical raids, a level with a "10" sticker on it, four soles, six keys (one of which was labeled Port Tempest), five glass prisms, and a red hooded cloak. What does all this mean? PCGamer received a similar bundle and has posted its thoughts, and we tend to agree. Chances are good that we're looking at a major RIFT expansion featuring new raids, new souls, a level-cap increase, and six new areas. And the glass prisms? We have no idea, so stay tuned.  RIFT hints at expansion details with strange box originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 27 May 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Previously on MV TV: The week of May 19th Posted: 27 May 2012 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Video, Aion, City of Heroes, EverQuest II, PvP, PvE, Opinion, Vanguard, RuneScape, Free-to-play, Hands-on, Casual, Humor, Livestream, Previously on MV TV, Diablo III Missing livestreams is so 2011! There's no excuse now, what with the livestream schedule page going up every week, the constant reminders across Twitter, and the super-cool regulars we have who hang out in the chat room with us. But, alas, some of you do occasionally miss a stream or two and need someone to point out what you might have missed. That someone would be me, and this column is the place to go. Last week we had all sorts of cool stuff. Some of the highlights? First we had Richie with some Diablo III Hell-smashing action, MJ deciding to run some dungeons in EverQuest II and Aion, finishing up her Choose My Adventure run in City of Heroes and checking up housing decorations in Vanguard. I'm known to run a stream or two as well, and this week I showed off the new fully voice-acted quest Song from the Depths in RuneScape. Click past the cut and enjoy! Continue reading Previously on MV TV: The week of May 19th Previously on MV TV: The week of May 19th originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 27 May 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| The Daily Grind: What's your ideal group size? Posted: 27 May 2012 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Culture, Game mechanics, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous Every MMO lets you team up with other players. This is unsurprising, seeing as how it's one of the main selling points of the genre. But there's always an upward limit, and always target team sizes that the game bases content around. Content is largely designed in World of Warcraft to target groups of five, Guild Wars tailors most of its content for groups of eight, and Final Fantasy XI expects a team of six. But each of these games also provide content for more variable sizes. Today's question isn't whether or not you like teaming up, it's about what your ideal majority size would be. Do you generally prefer to have a group of three? Groups of two? Groups of five? How many people do you like to party up with on a regular basis? Or would you prefer that most content simply scaled to the number of participants involved?  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 your ideal group size? originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 27 May 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| The Mog Log: The Legacy rewards and what they mean Posted: 26 May 2012 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Culture, Opinion, Consoles, Final Fantasy XIV, The Mog Log So, who here remembers the Final Fantasy XIV launch? I certainly do; I was there and I've been here since, after all. And who here remembers how the game launched to critical acclaim and overwhelming popularity? Yeah, okay. I liked the game at launch, but that was more because of the underlying philosophies and approaches, not because the whole thing was polished to a fine shine. It was almost two years ago now, and the game has had to go through a lot of growing pains in that time, fixing a lot of elements that didn't work and adjusting stuff that was almost there but not quite. It's been a long process of hammering out fixes and improvements, one that included a long stretch of no subscription fee as the game cleaned itself up. We're nearly at the end of that process now, but Square-Enix is trying to show everyone that the company appreciates players who have been around during the game's teething troubles. That's the Legacy program in a nutshell -- a chance for players to signify having been around for an extended period of time. A badge of honor, a show of loyalty, and arguably another little bit of bait to get people to subscribe now instead of later. Continue reading The Mog Log: The Legacy rewards and what they mean The Mog Log: The Legacy rewards and what they mean originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 26 May 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| The Tattered Notebook: The passing of Ribbitribbitt Posted: 26 May 2012 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: EverQuest II, Free-to-play, The Tattered Notebook This week's Tattered Notebook started off business as usual. I was putting together part two of a look at the layers of change in EverQuest II through the years. But I was also mulling over a column about the new Hero's Edge items that arrived on the Marketplace; something I had just speculated about in a recent column. There was also the news about upcoming crafting changes to talk about. And then, suddenly everything gets put into perspective. Ribbitribbitt, the young EQII fan who had been battling cancer, passed away at the age of six. A couple of months ago, the EQII community got a request for assistance in building an in-game playground from his mother, and what followed was an unprecedented show of support. His mother, Myrose, passed along the sad news to the community this past week with a brief forum post, and the community mourned his loss. In this week's Tattered Notebook, we'll explore how Ribbitribbitt brought a community together, and look at the grieving process from losing an in-game friend. Continue reading The Tattered Notebook: The passing of Ribbitribbitt The Tattered Notebook: The passing of Ribbitribbitt originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 26 May 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| The Elder Scrolls Online using HeroEngine 'as a whiteboard' Posted: 26 May 2012 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, MMO industry, New titles, News items, The Elder Scrolls Online Fan outcry over the announcement of The Elder Scrolls Online was long and loud, not just for the presumed MMOification of a beloved single-player franchise, but for the toolset chosen by ZeniMax Online Studios to bring the world of Tamriel to its new audience. Game Informer confirms that ZeniMax is using the HeroEngine -- which also powers Star Wars: The Old Republic, and which has come under fire from some in the MMO fan community. Game director Matt Firor says that the firm isn't using the engine like you may expect, though. "Think of HeroEngine as a whiteboard for us -- a great tool to get some ideas in the game and start looking at them while the production engine was in development," he explains. [Thanks to Austin for the tip!] The Elder Scrolls Online using HeroEngine 'as a whiteboard' originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 26 May 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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