| NCsoft seeks to correct Lineage II rebalancing changes with player feedback Posted: 21 Sep 2012 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Lineage 2, MMO industry, News items, Free-to-play Change is inevitable in any MMO, but in a letter, to players Lineage II Development Director Gon Namkun acknowledged that not all change is good. As Lineage II has developed over the years, classes have been added and then changed around and stripped of many of their distinctive characteristics in the name of balance. And NCsoft wants to bring some of the diversity back to the classes. Gon Namkun explains the need for diversification and offers four possible solutions. However, instead of just forging ahead with changes, the development team wants player feedback: Players can vote on their preferred method through a poll on the official site. This poll, open until September 26th, 2012, is specifically for Western players as the Korean market poll has already been completed.  NCsoft seeks to correct Lineage II rebalancing changes with player feedback originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 21 Sep 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Ragnarok Online 2 trailer shows off upcoming Colosseum Posted: 21 Sep 2012 09:00 AM PDT |
| The Firing Line: On Firefall forum censorship Posted: 21 Sep 2012 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Sci-fi, Culture, Game mechanics, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Opinion, Free-to-play, MMOFPS, The Firing Line, Firefall The Massively tip line is a curious creature. It's cantankerous, unpredictable, and just as likely to bite your leg as it is to rub itself against your shins and let loose with a rumble of contentment. Despite the low signal-to-noise ratio, we do get useful info from our tipsters, often in the form of breaking news, obscure and interesting tidbits, and ideas for further coverage. This week's Firing Line falls under that last category, as we received word from one tipster that something is rotten in the state of Firefall. Continue reading The Firing Line: On Firefall forum censorship The Firing Line: On Firefall forum censorship originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 21 Sep 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Runes of Magic previews Chrysalias Shadows patch Posted: 21 Sep 2012 07:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Trailers, Video, Patches, Previews, Free-to-play, Runes of Magic Dubbed the "Mysterious Land of the Elements," Chrysalia will be the next step for Runes of Magic adventurers. This strange region is set to open on September 25th, but Gameforge has a preview video to whet your appetite for the journey to come. Chrysalia is dominated by strong elemental features, such as waterfalls and lava, and looks to be populated by many intelligent insect species. Some of these, like the Garon, are friendly, but others, like the Kulech, will spit acid in your face and slurp your insides for dinner. Or so we've heard. Next Tuesday's patch will also introduce a new challenging instance to the game. Check out the flyby video after the jump and let us know what you think! [Source: Gameforge press release] Continue reading Runes of Magic previews Chrysalias Shadows patch Runes of Magic previews Chrysalias Shadows patch originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 21 Sep 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| The Daily Grind: Do you enjoy Guild Wars 2's multi-guild feature? Posted: 21 Sep 2012 06:00 AM PDT |
| The Secret World unleashes free trial with earnable perks Posted: 20 Sep 2012 09:30 PM PDT |
| ArenaNet talks security in Guild Wars 2 Posted: 20 Sep 2012 09:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, News items, Guild Wars 2, Dev Diaries  Account security has been a hot topic in the world of Guild Wars 2 between the hubbub about the email verification system and the woes of hacked accounts. It's been such a hot topic that ArenaNet President Mike O'Brien wrote up a big ol' post about it. O'Brien began by reiterating one of the golden rules of account security: Use a strong and unique password for any account that you don't wish to have compromised. He pointed out that simply having a strong password does you almost no good if you've got the same password with the same email used for an account elsewhere -- if one such account is compromised, they all are. The same rule of having a unique password applies to the email account you use for authenticating your GW2 login attempts: the email authentication system can only protect you if your email is secure. Fans of two-factor authentication will be pleased to hear that Guild Wars 2 will have a two-step authentication system soon. "We had our own homegrown implementation of smartphone two-factor authenticator in testing, but we're going to pull it back and instead integrate Guild Wars 2 with Google Authenticator, which already has robust authenticator implementations on most major smartphone platforms. We expect to roll this out in the next two weeks." But that's not all! ArenaNet is also building a password blacklist (which is 20 million passwords long and growing) that blocks all passwords for which hackers are already scanning. According to O'Brien, "the rate of account hacking was about 1.5% for accounts created before this blacklist was in place, and is about 0.1% for accounts created after." This announcement comes with the request that existing customers change their password so that the blacklist protects them as well. Read O'Brien's full post on the GW2 news page. ArenaNet talks security in Guild Wars 2 originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 20 Sep 2012 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Linden Lab reveals its next game, Patterns Posted: 20 Sep 2012 08:00 PM PDT Filed under: Trailers, Video, Game mechanics, MMO industry, New titles, Previews, News items, Miscellaneous Where does a company like Linden Lab go after Second Life? Obviously any other titles from the studio need to be creative and offer players a wide realm of personalized options... but Second Life is so open that it's difficult to follow up with something that's any more open to player creativity. Nevertheless, the company is certainly aiming for that with its upcoming new title, Patterns. And while the game looks at a glance like Minecraft with triangles, there's more to the concept than that. As explained in the trailer, Patterns is focused on an experience not dissimilar to Minecraft but with a heavier focus on creativity. The game will sport a real-time physics engine as demonstrated in the trailer, giving objects physical properties that come into play as they enter the world. While the game is still in very early development, you can get a sense of what's in the future by glancing at the trailer just past the break. Continue reading Linden Lab reveals its next game, Patterns Linden Lab reveals its next game, Patterns originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 20 Sep 2012 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| New trailer released for Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn Posted: 20 Sep 2012 07:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Trailers, Video, Patches, Previews, News items, Consoles, Final Fantasy XIV If you're looking forward to the release of Final Fantasy XIV's large-scale revamp, you're probably devouring every piece of information you can find about the game. So you'll be happy to know that just beyond the cut down yonder lies the latest trailer for the impending relaunch, featuring some recycled footage from previous trailers and some new shots of the game as a whole. Also no voiceovers, if you prefer your information in text form. What we have seen are elements from the first trailers and some of the bigger group battles, including the Meteor spell. What we haven't seen is some of the in-game footage, including more group battles showing off combat and some of the new landscapes featured in the relaunch. There's also a good look at some of the new starter outfits in the game rather than in concept art. If that sounds like enough reason for you, go ahead and check out the full trailer just past the break. Continue reading New trailer released for Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn New trailer released for Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 20 Sep 2012 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Guns of Icarus to launch October 29th, new trailer released Posted: 20 Sep 2012 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Sci-fi, Trailers, Video, Game mechanics, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Free-to-play Muse Games is pushing the launch of its steampunk airship combat title Guns of Icarus back by a month. The indie offering will debut on October 29th, and the firm is currently accepting pre-orders that offer immediate beta access. The team bills its game as the "first cooperative airship combat game mixing together first-person shooter action with team-based strategy." Crews of up to four players may band together on a ship, filling the Captain, Gunner, or Engineer roles and taking on other crews in the post-apocalyptic unfriendly skies. Muse recently added a spectator mode, costumes, achievements, stat tracking, and friend lists to the game. The firm has also produced a launch trailer, which you can view after the cut. [Source: Muse Games press release] Continue reading Guns of Icarus to launch October 29th, new trailer released Guns of Icarus to launch October 29th, new trailer released originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 20 Sep 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| The Guild Counsel: Can guilds save the economy? Posted: 20 Sep 2012 05:00 PM PDT Filed under: Guilds, Endgame, Opinion, The Guild Counsel, Miscellaneous Wait! Before you hit that comment button about the absurdity of the title above, hear me out! A few weeks ago, I stumbled on a video that touched on this very topic, and I felt it was a perfect discussion point for this column. The video is actually titled How World of Warcraft could save your Business and the Economy, and it's a commentary by John Seely Brown that's part of a series called Big Think. What Seely Brown argues is that he'd prefer to hire an expert World of Warcraft player over someone who graduated from Harvard with an MBA, and he goes on to explain why businesses can learn from the way top players and guilds function in game. It might sound crazy, but it's worth considering, and in this week's Guild Counsel, we'll look at the topic both from Brown's WoW point of view and from a broader view of MMOs in general. Continue reading The Guild Counsel: Can guilds save the economy? The Guild Counsel: Can guilds save the economy? originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 20 Sep 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Chaos Theory: Why you shouldn't worry for The Secret World Posted: 20 Sep 2012 04:00 PM PDT |
| The Summoner's Guidebook: Part random, part mid, all LoL Posted: 20 Sep 2012 03:00 PM PDT Filed under: PvP, Opinion, Free-to-play, MOBA, League of Legends, The Summoner's Guidebook One of the most popular alternative gametypes in League of Legends is All Random All Mid, or ARAM. ARAM is a simple concept; it involves a single lane on which all 10 players must fight, rather than the three lanes of Summoner's Rift or two paths of Dominion. Additionally, all champions selected are randomized; you're never sure whom you'll be playing in an ARAM match until champion select begins. ARAM began life on Summoner's Rift, hence its name. The single lane used for ARAM was the middle lane, and traveling into the jungle or other lanes meant immediate disqualification of one's team. It was fraught with the normal trappings of an alternative ruleset; the rules for ARAM were not enforced by the game, so players were expected to play within the community-created rules. It evolved into ARAB, played on the Crystal Scar, with two teams fighting over the bottom capture points. ARAB proved to have its own flaws, most notably that games went on for a bit longer than normal, but the passive gold and experience as well as the health relic helped to add interesting spice to the game mode. Finally, ARAM became a more or less supported gametype with the addition of the Proving Grounds. That addition streamlined ARAM gameplay while keeping some of the elements of the Crystal Scar version of the game such as health relics and Dominion items. Today, while there is no matchmaking for ARAM, it is extremely popular in custom matches. Continue reading The Summoner's Guidebook: Part random, part mid, all LoL The Summoner's Guidebook: Part random, part mid, all LoL originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 20 Sep 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Four years of WAR: An interview with Mythic's James Casey Posted: 20 Sep 2012 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Interviews, PvP, Warhammer Online, PvE, Massively Interviews, Anniversary To celebrate Warhammer Online's fourth anniversary this week, we got in touch with EA Mythic Producer James Casey to talk about the past, present, and future of WAAAGH! Massively: Four years is a sizable length of time in any MMO's life. How does it feel to hit that mark? James Casey: It feels great to have been able to have support from the Warhammer and gaming community for the last four years. That support has allowed us to continue bringing them the thrilling Realm vs. Realm combat and engrossing worlds that they have come to expect from Mythic and Games Workshop. To your point about four years being a sizable length of time for an MMO, I will say that as a studio, we actually have a stable of MMOs that have been around for a damn respectable amount of time. From Ultima Online hitting its amazing 15th anniversary this year to Dark Age of Camelot having already broken that fabled 10-year mark, we've had a remarkable run in the MMO space, and I think that I can speak for everyone who has come and gone or still remains in saying a heartfelt thanks to all of our fans and customers over all the years. We owe that track record to them, and we hope that as we continue to evolve and develop as a studio and across our products, we can provide more of that sense of community in all of our offerings. Continue reading Four years of WAR: An interview with Mythic's James Casey Four years of WAR: An interview with Mythic's James Casey originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 20 Sep 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| LotRO's Habitat for Hobbanity is its new endgame [Updated] Posted: 20 Sep 2012 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Expansions, Free-to-play, Dev Diaries Lord of the Rings Online has a brand-new endgame activity coming with next month's Riders of Rohan, and it's called "Hytbold." Senior Designer Joe Barry penned a dev diary to explain just how and why Hytbold won't be like anything players have seen before. Hytbold is the name of a burned-out village that adventurers will rebuild and restock. Through the use of instances, open tapping, remote looting, and phasing, LotRO will allow each player fix the town up and get it back into shape over time. Players have over 150 repairs to make to over 24 buildings in the town, which is accomplished through daily quests, participating in mounted combat, and even fishing. The rewards for coming to the aid of Hytbold are significant. Turbine's prepared to hand out class and trait-specific armor sets that are comparable to raid gear, a big ending to the region's story, and the honor of being named a Thane of Rohan. The best part of this is that players can rebuild the entire town solo if need be, although there are grouping options as well. [Update: The team also released a big batch of Riders of Rohan enemy screenshots today; we've included them within our LotRO gallery after the break.]Continue reading LotRO's Habitat for Hobbanity is its new endgame [Updated] LotRO's Habitat for Hobbanity is its new endgame [Updated] originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 20 Sep 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| TERA offering group loot bonuses, instance reset scrolls Posted: 20 Sep 2012 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Game mechanics, MMO industry, News items, PvE, TERA, Promotions En Masse is running a new "Instance Gratification" promotion for TERA over the next two weekends. The game's official website says that the goal is community building. Given the recent server merges and the upheaval generally associated with such, we think that's probably a solid idea. If you're level 59 or under, you'll get 50% more loot drops than normal when you group up and tackle the game's dungeon content. Players of all levels get an instance reset scroll every day as long as they log in. The bonus weekends run from September 21st through the 24th and September 28th through October 1st. TERA offering group loot bonuses, instance reset scrolls originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 20 Sep 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| SWTOR's 1.4 patch adding moods, delayed binding, and more Posted: 20 Sep 2012 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Patches, News items, Star Wars: The Old Republic MMOs sometimes skimp on quality-of-life features in favor of combat. Fortunately Star Wars: The Old Republic's 1.4 patch is looking at the little things, according to a new post on the game's website. The update adds a new group finder teleport back function as well as delayed binding for those times when you accidentally roll greed or spend your hard-earned commendations on the wrong item. BioWare is also gifting players with some new avatar mood options (think /alarmed or /cheery). Finally, the patch brings companion customization tweaks to the table as well. You can hide helmets and "unify colors to chest" to avoid those godawful mismatched outfits. SWTOR's 1.4 patch adding moods, delayed binding, and more originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 20 Sep 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| RaiderZ open beta announced, Founder's Pack includes Neverwinter beta access Posted: 20 Sep 2012 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Free-to-play Fans eager to get a taste of the upcoming fantasy free-to-play MMO RaiderZ will have the chance to come next month. Perfect World Entertainment announced that the open beta will begin October 24th, 2012. The studio also announced that Founder's Packs go on sale starting today. Players can choose between an elite pack and a basic for rewards such as scrolls, potions, and even a mount. The elite pack also includes guaranteed access to the closed beta for Cryptic Studios' upcoming D&D MMO Neverwinter. For a full listing of the items included in the Founder's Pack, visit the official site. While waiting for the open beta to commence, you can read more about RaiderZ in Massively's interview with Senior Producer Mark Hill and watch Massively's video impressions of the game. [Source: Perfect World Entertainment press release] RaiderZ open beta announced, Founder's Pack includes Neverwinter beta access originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 20 Sep 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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