| Leaderboard: Ninja vs. pirate Posted: 23 Jul 2012 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Polls, Culture, Opinion, Humor, Miscellaneous, Leaderboard Theirs is a rivalry born not from historical conflict but from bored nerds eating cheap pizza and debating hypothetical grudge matches. Well done, nerds -- now the entire world thinks that you can have pirates and you can have ninjas, but you cannot have both without an epic beatdown. Everyone seems to take a side on which is cooler: the roguish pirate or the mysterious ninja. Practically all fantasy MMOs have both represented in some way, whether it be World of Warcraft's Bloodsail Buccaneers or Guild Wars Factions' Assassin. If developers really wanted to inject some life into PvP, they'd make it PvN -- Pirate vs. Ninja. In any case, these two pajama-clad murderers are inseparable from our games, and chances are you've come to a conclusion as to which adds more flavor, panache, and coolness to the setting. I'd like to say that we're going to settle this debate today, but whom am I kidding? It's never going to be settled because people are still bickering about Mike vs. Joel, Picard vs. Kirk, and Big Red vs. Doublemint. Let's just say our piece and then commence with a duel at dawn in the comments, m'kay? Continue reading Leaderboard: Ninja vs. pirate  Leaderboard: Ninja vs. pirate originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 23 Jul 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Excelsior! The cheerful insanity of the Guild Wars 2 Asura Posted: 23 Jul 2012 09:00 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Video, Culture, Game mechanics, Lore, Previews, PvE, Opinion, Hands-on, Races, Roleplaying, Massively Hands-on, First Impressions, Guides, Miscellaneous It would have been easy for ArenaNet to make Guild Wars 2's Asura race just another batch of quirky MMO "shorties," playing into the standard fantasy trope. You know how it goes -- what the little guy lacks in brawn he makes up for in quick wit and charm. Throw in some floppy ears, a mischievous grin, and some mechanical gizmos, and you've got yourself a gnome by another name. So did ArenaNet rise to the challenge of porting and updating the Asura? We got a good look at the race and its starting zone in the game's final beta weekend event in the hopes of figuring that out. Follow on for our first impressions! Continue reading Excelsior! The cheerful insanity of the Guild Wars 2 Asura Excelsior! The cheerful insanity of the Guild Wars 2 Asura originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 23 Jul 2012 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Exclusive: Rusty Hearts Reborn launch trailer highlights new weapon specializations Posted: 23 Jul 2012 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Expansions, Game mechanics, News items, Free-to-play The wait is nearly over for Rusty Hearts fans as the game's first expansion, Reborn, goes live tomorrow. This much-anticipated expansion brings plenty of new content for both higher-level characters and those just starting out, including a new party system, a new starting zone, and a PvP ladder system. But that's not all! One of the major additions coming with the expansion is the new weapon specializations for the characters, known as job focuses. Eager to know who gets to wield twin swords and who sports demon gloves? Can you guess which lucky character gets to wrap his or her hands around a glaive? Curious as to what's inside a weapon bag? You don't have to wait until tomorrow to find out! You can watch the Rusty Hearts Reborn launch trailer now, exclusively on Massively. Check out the new weapon action after the break. And for more details on the expansion, read Massively's interview with Game Producer Mark Hill and check out the official site. [Source: Perfect World Entertainment press release] Continue reading Exclusive: Rusty Hearts Reborn launch trailer highlights new weapon specializations Exclusive: Rusty Hearts Reborn launch trailer highlights new weapon specializations originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 23 Jul 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| MV Guide: July 23 - 29, 2012 Posted: 23 Jul 2012 07:00 AM PDT Filed under: Livestream, Miscellaneous, MV Guide MV Guide is a weekly rundown of the MMO gaming events planned on Massively TV. Every week, the Massively Stream Team 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 each week, so you'll find a variety of titles to watch. During our streamed events, you can participate in the live chat, ask questions to learn about the game, or simply spend some time with Massively staff and readers. (Of course, streaming is 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, and let us know if there's a specific game you'd like to see streamed next week! Continue reading MV Guide: July 23 - 29, 2012 MV Guide: July 23 - 29, 2012 originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 23 Jul 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| The Daily Grind: Are you sick of raid progression? Posted: 23 Jul 2012 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Game mechanics, MMO industry, Endgame, PvE, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous, Dungeons If there is one concept I would love to see struck from every MMO past, present, and future, it's raid progression. "Progression" even sounds like slow, tedious, unrewarding work, and since I already have a job, I kinda like my video games to be about having fun than about spending my evenings inching through raid content designed to kill me repeatedly and make me cry when we get that stupid two-hand axe for the 20th time and not the gear we need to keep... progressing for progression's sake. Raid "progression" is problematic on multiple levels. Games with raid progression create unnatural barriers to entry in guilds (who'd want to recruit someone who's a tier behind in content?). The trappings of raid progression cause powercreep and shatter balance in seemingly unrelated content (like PvP). Only a small number of people ever get to take part. And come the next expansion, of all your progression is effectively nullified. So what about you Massively folks? Are you also sick of MMO "raid progression" being a thing?  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: Are you sick of raid progression? originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 23 Jul 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| MMO Week in Review: Elves and gnomes Posted: 22 Jul 2012 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Massively Meta, Week in Review, Miscellaneous At the end of every week, we round up the best and most popular news stories, exclusive features, and insightful columns published on Massively and then present them all in one convenient place. If you missed a big MMO or WoW Insider story last week, you've come to the right post. It's been a week of anticipation for Guild Wars 2's final beta event, during which we were treated to a first-hand look at the game's final races, who are totally not elves and gnomes. Massively chatted with ArenaNet's Mike Z, debated the game's anti-endgame, covered this beta's new and improved game mechanics, and discovered a good reason to roll on Sanctum of Rall. The rest of Massively's top MMO stories await you beyond the cut. Continue reading MMO Week in Review: Elves and gnomes MMO Week in Review: Elves and gnomes originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 22 Jul 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| EVE Evolved: Adapt or die Posted: 22 Jul 2012 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Culture, Events, in-game, Expansions, Game mechanics, Professions, Endgame, PvE, Opinion, EVE Evolved, Sandbox When EVE Online was first released in 2003, it sold mostly based on its future potential. Everyone I played with in those early years got into EVE in order to be on the ground floor of an awesome space game that was getting more awesome by the month. Features were undergoing continual revision, and new content was released regularly, making EVE a radically different game every six months. Players met this design strategy of continual iteration head on with an "adapt or die" attitude, and it kept the game interesting for years on end. Fast-forward to 2011 and the story looked very different. The Dominion, Tyrannis and Incursion expansions introduced new gameplay but didn't heavily iterate on any other features. By the time Incarna released, most of EVE's gameplay and content had been the same for two years and players had nothing new to adapt to. For the Crucible and Inferno expansions, CCP finally iterated on hundreds of small features and even introduced new modules to reboot EVE's "adapt or die" PvP ship design metagame. With a lot of the small things now covered, I think some of the game's big features are due for iteration. In this week's EVE Evolved opinion piece, I look at how EVE players adapt to new challenges and explore several areas of stale gameplay that are in dire need of iteration. Continue reading EVE Evolved: Adapt or die EVE Evolved: Adapt or die originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 22 Jul 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| One Shots: A big white blur Posted: 22 Jul 2012 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Galleries, Screenshots, City of Heroes, Massively Meta, One Shots, Humor, Star Wars: The Old Republic, TERA, Miscellaneous Conventional wisdom holds that snow zones in games and movies make for a featureless, monochrome eyesore that bores onlookers, and yet both Star Wars Galaxies and Star Wars: The Old Republic couldn't resist the allure of Hoth. Today's One Shots from reader Brooks reveals his character resting above an imposing crevasse on the notorious ice planet as depicted in SWTOR: Surrounded by the harsh beauty of ice and stone, Jedi Knight Omiko Kell takes a meditative moment to reflect on the weight of her responsibility to the native people and Republic forces struggling for freedom and survival on the desolate and unforgiving planet of Hoth. Does she sway from her primary mission set forth by her Order and help others, or will she let them stand alone in their fight against the Empire, pirates, and mercenaries while she focuses on her Masters' directive? Whichever one gives you the most legacy points, of course. Brooks' full screenshot and a few others are beyond the cut! Continue reading One Shots: A big white blur One Shots: A big white blur originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 22 Jul 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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