| Rise and Shiny: Knight Age Posted: 09 Sep 2012 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Screenshots, Video, Game mechanics, New titles, Previews, Opinion, Free-to-play, Casual, Humor, Kids, Family, Rise and Shiny, Livestream Knight Age is an adorable new Anime MMO brought to us by Joymax. I want to emphasize the word adorable because the game is perfectly designed to illicit a reaction that is something along the lines of " Awww, look how cute that is! My head is explo.." and it really does have that effect. In fact I love the graphics of Knight Age so much that I would give anything to see an MMO developed that looks like Knight Age yet has the hardcore ruleset of, say, a Wurm Online or Darkfall. Yes, I am entirely serious. Strange how many players tend to think that "serious" or "hardcore" titles need serious or machine-taxing graphics. That's simply not true; just ask a World of Warcraft raider. The point is that the graphics of Knight Age are one of my favorite things in the entire universe. The characters are chunky and solid, the animations are smooth, and the game runs like butter. Does this mean I do not like more realistic graphics? No, it means that I like all sorts of graphics and all sorts of gameplay. It's possible for a writer to enjoy different things. I know, crazy huh? But what does Knight Age offer other than amazingly awww-rific graphics? Some interesting gameplay, that's what, and a soft grind. Allow me to explain. Continue reading Rise and Shiny: Knight Age  Rise and Shiny: Knight Age originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 09 Sep 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Previously on MV TV: The week of September 1st Posted: 09 Sep 2012 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Puzzle, Real life, Sci-fi, Trailers, Video, EVE Online, Fallen Earth, Game mechanics, Interviews, Previews, Professions, Wurm Online, Opinion, Guild Wars 2, Free-to-play, Browser, Casual, Virtual worlds, MMOFPS, Massively Interviews, World of Tanks, Post-Apocalyptic, Guides, Livestream, Miscellaneous, Sandbox, Dungeons, Previously on MV TV  This week I have quite the selection of tasty video tidbits for you to enjoy. What better way to spend the weekend than staying inside away from the nasty pollen and wasps, watching amazing gameplay videos hosted by yours truly and his band of fellow pixel-heads? That's right! You don't even have to buy MMOs anymore! By simply clicking on the "continue reading" link below, you step into an expansive world of MMO exploration, teeming with sights and sounds unlike you have ever seen or installed before! Why should you go through the trouble of standing in line, purchasing a box, spending two days installing it on your massive PC, pulling up that huge plastic chair, waiting for the game to patch, and attempting to make a character who doesn't look like a 17 year-old pop-punk band member only to find that you suck at PvP? The simple answer to your problem is to watch us play ALL OF THE GAMES! Which games, you might ask? Well, this week I have some Piggy action as he streams Fallen Earth, followed by Richie with some Guild Wars 2, Mike with some more EVE Online, World of Tanks and Tribes: Ascend. And I follow it all up with a trip through Wurm Online to view the mystery behind the Puzzles deed and then chat with Illyriad CEO James Niesewand about his game's new patch! Check it out! Continue reading Previously on MV TV: The week of September 1st Previously on MV TV: The week of September 1st originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 09 Sep 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Fans show spectacular support for City of Heroes Posted: 09 Sep 2012 07:00 AM PDT Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, Culture, Events, real-world, Events, in-game, News items, Free-to-play  Years and years of acting out a super-human ideal in-game have apparently worn off on the players of City of Heroes. Faced with the news that their beloved game is due to sunset before the end of the year, CoH fans have been putting on a tremendous show of support for the game and Paragon Studios. Saturday saw a massive rally on the in-game steps of City Hall in Atlas Park as players gathered to show their support and love for Paragon Studios and its employees. The support campaign continues, however: Intrepid CoH fans have organized a call to action to bombard NCsoft with capes and masks through the mail. Fans are also rising up to share their feelings via letters to Taek Jin Kim, NCsoft's CEO, which has caught the attention of fantasy writer and CoH guest author Mercedes Lackey. In response to the original call to letter-writing action, Lackey said said she was extending an offer to NCsoft to endorse, uncompensated, any and all NCsoft products if the company can only find a way for CoH to live on. Skip below the cut for a short clip showing a composite of the 3,000-odd heroes spread across 32 instances of Atlas Park on the Virtue server, or hit up the official boards for some screenshots from the unity rally. Continue reading Fans show spectacular support for City of Heroes Fans show spectacular support for City of Heroes originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 09 Sep 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| The Daily Grind: What does it take for you to go back to a game you enjoyed? Posted: 09 Sep 2012 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Culture, Events, real-world, Events, in-game, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous I'd been on a bit of a break from City of Heroes when the announcement came that it was shutting down. And I'm not alone; some of my friends had also been taking a break, but when it came to light that the game's days were numbered, they came back in a hurry. Everyone wants a chance to remember the best parts of the game before there's no part of the game left to remember, after all. But it doesn't just take a shutdown notice to revitalize your interest. Sometimes you might just be taking a few months off before you go back to a game, sometimes you're waiting for a content patch, sometimes there's an annoying system you want patched into oblivion, and sometimes it would take nothing less than a full reworking of the design team's philosophy to bring you back to a game. So what does it take for you to go back to a game you enjoyed but left?  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 does it take for you to go back to a game you enjoyed? originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 09 Sep 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Building a Diablo III Wizard to solo Inferno difficulty Posted: 08 Sep 2012 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Classes, Game mechanics, Patches, Endgame, PvE, Guides, Diablo III With patch 1.04's new paragon level system, there's been a definite increase in the number of people getting back to playing Diablo III. Every class was buffed in the patch, and only a small handful of skills and items were nerfed, leaving everyone to pore over the skill windows and come up with new builds. Barbarians definitely made it out of the patch in the best shape, with huge buffs to Bash and Rend, buffs to two-handed weapons, and a whole host of new legendary weapons to aim for. Wizards, on the other hand, weren't so lucky. For all the buffs described in the 1.04 wizard preview devblog, not much has really changed. The Energy Twister nerf backfired hilariously, and all of the underpowered spells and runes that were buffed are still pretty useless. Energy Armor is still a mandatory skill, most Wizards are still running Critical Mass builds, and the new legendaries aimed at Wizards don't seem to make any sense from an itemisation standpoint. So how should you build a solo Wizard in 1.04? In this guide, I detail three highly effective Wizard builds and give tips on gearing for each of them following patch 1.04. Continue reading Building a Diablo III Wizard to solo Inferno difficulty Building a Diablo III Wizard to solo Inferno difficulty originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 08 Sep 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| The Tattered Notebook: Why Player Studio is actually a return to EQ's roots Posted: 08 Sep 2012 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, EverQuest, EverQuest II, Business models, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Opinion, Free-to-play, The Tattered Notebook Talk about a busy week for the EverQuest franchise! In a one-two punch, SOE announced new expansions for EverQuest and EverQuest II and unveiled Player Studio, a new tool that will allow players to create and sell their own items on the marketplace. I went from "what shall I write about this week" to "where do I begin?!" The expansions deserve attention in their own right, plus they're still a ways off from being released, so in this week's column, I'd like to look at Player Studio with an eye on EQ's past. In the history of the franchise, user-generated content has been around for a long time, as has open-ended gameplay. Both seem to be making a return to EQ and EQII, and I'll say it's long overdue. Continue reading The Tattered Notebook: Why Player Studio is actually a return to EQ's roots The Tattered Notebook: Why Player Studio is actually a return to EQ's roots originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 08 Sep 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Ironfell MMORTS releases gameplay trailer Posted: 08 Sep 2012 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Trailers, Video, New titles, News items, Free-to-play, MMORTS  Good news, everybody! Ironfell is in open beta, which means you can hop in-game right now and get a feel for it! What's that, you say? You don't know about Ironfell? Well, luckily for you, there's a new gameplay trailer out to introduce you to the game! Ironfell is a 2-D, hex-based MMORTS. Its developer, David Colquhoun, touts Ironfell as "an indie MMORTS with an unfair approach to balance," saying that you can "gather stockpiles of resources to gain an unfair advantage over your enemies" and bring that advantage to bear in a massive and persistent world. Right now, the game has about 50 units and buildings, with plans for tremendous expansion -- eventually players will be able to create time machines and elevators to help them explore beyond the world. The game is free-to-play, and Colquhoun promises "to make every game item and resource available in the game without payment," although he's not sure what the game's exact business model will look like at this point. Skip below the cut for the new gameplay video. [Source: DataSmugglers press release] Continue reading Ironfell MMORTS releases gameplay trailer Ironfell MMORTS releases gameplay trailer originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 08 Sep 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| The Mog Log: Getting up to speed on Final Fantasy XIV as it is Posted: 08 Sep 2012 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Game mechanics, Opinion, Consoles, Final Fantasy XIV, The Mog Log If you're just joining us after a rousing session of Final Fantasy XIV, this column may not exactly be for you because this week isn't about speculation; it's about discussing the many things that people don't like about Final Fantasy XIV which either no longer exist or are known to be removed in version 2.0. This might seem like it's kind of silly, but honestly, I think there's a lot of stuff that people not actively following FFXIV don't know about. The game's biggest burst of visibility happened when it launched, just like every other game in the history of anything ever. While the game isn't for everyone now any more than it was a year ago, the development staff has taken pains to address gaps in the structure and improve the play experience for everyone. So here's an article about just that. And while you might already know the content of the article, the next time you know someone worried about something in the game that's long since been excised, you can point him back here. Continue reading The Mog Log: Getting up to speed on Final Fantasy XIV as it is The Mog Log: Getting up to speed on Final Fantasy XIV as it is originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 08 Sep 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Verizon FiOS customers don't have much to complain about in the speed department, unfortunately however, not everyone is so fortunate. According to a recent study conducted by video hosting company 
A new research study commissioned by 
