MMO Updates |
- Dragon's Prophet EU soars into open beta
- Lindvior touches down in Lineage 2 today
- MMO Family: A look at Phineas and Ferb's Agent Alert
- A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Marvel Heroes' strengths and weakness
- The Daily Grind: When's the last time you logged out in frustration?
- Own a copy of RIFT, play for free for a weekend
- TUG hits its Kickstarter goal
- Defiance gets sick and asks players for a cure
- Jukebox Heroes: EVE Online's soundtrack
- Rumor: Blizzard's Titan has fallen, won't be getting up until 2016 [Updated]
- Gazillion finds 'serious issues' with Marvel Heroes, delays early access launch
- Mechanist launches City of Steam's patch 1.2: The Vault Unsealed
- EVE Online: Odyssey promises huge changes, dual character training
- HEX: The MMO is in the cards
- Funcom Q1 sales and restructuring keep studio moving forward
- The Soapbox: How to run a successful Kickstarter campaign
- Hyperspace Beacon: The SWTOR F2P experiment, closing chapter one
| Dragon's Prophet EU soars into open beta Posted: 29 May 2013 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Trailers, Video, MMO Industry, New Titles, News Items, Free-to-Play, Dragon's Prophet  European players eager to tame their own dragons will finally be able to utter those words as Dragon's Prophet EU launches into open beta tomorrow. Founders can enter the world of Auratia today and get a head start on training, riding, and fighting alongside (or against) the over 300 unique dragons in game. The open beta launch introduces a new starting zone, Puretia. Full of waterfalls and airships fighting in the sky, Puretia gives way to a volcanic landscape and deep canyons as players journey on to the region's capital of Arboran. More updates and expansions are already in the works and will continue to release regularly throughout open beta. If you need something to distract you from the launch count-down timer on the official site, check out this new trailer after the break. [Source: Infernum Productions press release] Continue reading Dragon's Prophet EU soars into open beta
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| Lindvior touches down in Lineage 2 today Posted: 29 May 2013 09:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Lineage 2, Expansions, MMO Industry, News Items, Free-to-Play  Gon Namkung, L2's development director, stated, "This is by far the most intricate challenge that players have ever faced in Lineage II throughout its long and storied history. The entire Lineage II development team is proud of this achievement and we are confident only the best players will defeat Lindvior." He continued, "We issue this challenge to all our players, who will defeat Lindvior first!?" [Sourse: NCsoft press release]
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| MMO Family: A look at Phineas and Ferb's Agent Alert Posted: 29 May 2013 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Opinion, Free-to-Play, First Impressions, Kids, MMO Family, Family  I'm not exactly familiar with the show, but when I got an email alert about a new MMO based on the series, I had to check it out. Was I about to head into a world of thousands of player-made platypus characters? I feared the worst but was pleasantly surprised. Continue reading MMO Family: A look at Phineas and Ferb's Agent Alert
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| A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Marvel Heroes' strengths and weakness Posted: 29 May 2013 07:00 AM PDT Filed under: Super-hero, Game Mechanics, Launches, Opinion, Free-to-Play, Massively Meta, Marvel Heroes, A Mild-Mannered Reporter  Leaving aside the discussion of whether or not it fully succeeds at its goals, I think Marvel Heroes has a couple of big positives in the current market and one staggeringly dumb decision. So we're going to look at that sandwich-style. And then let's talk about the future of the column at the end -- if we're talking about Marvel, we really need a shocking revelation at the end or it won't ring true. Continue reading A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Marvel Heroes' strengths and weakness
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| The Daily Grind: When's the last time you logged out in frustration? Posted: 29 May 2013 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous  I'm sure I'll get it next time, but I just had to take a break to cool down and regroup. That happens sometimes, you know? So what about you? When is the last time you logged out in frustration and why? Was it just a hard quest, a difficult mechanic, or progress that was wiped out in the blink of an eye?  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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| Own a copy of RIFT, play for free for a weekend Posted: 28 May 2013 08:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Events (In-Game), Previews, News Items, Free-to-Play, RIFT, Subscription  Lo and behold, it's just been announced that RIFT will open the doors to everyone who owns the game from May 30th until June 3rd. If you've left the game but used to play, this will be a chance to drop back in and see if you want to kick off your play again after all. If you don't own the game... well, you'll have your chance soon enough.
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| Posted: 28 May 2013 07:30 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, News Items, Sandbox, Crowdfunding  Of course, just hitting funding isn't usually the end goal; you have stretch goals and such, after all. With that in mind, Nerd Kingdom has announced a 30-day PayPal donation drive after the Kickstarter funding concludes to continue building toward stretch goals, as well as the option to add new benefits to the accounts of backers. There's still a little more time to back the project, so now's the time to do so. [Thanks to Jose for the tip!]
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| Defiance gets sick and asks players for a cure Posted: 28 May 2013 07:00 PM PDT Filed under: Events (In-Game), News Items, Consoles, MMOFPS, Defiance, Buy-to-Play  This mini-event offers characters a new Pursuit, which can be cleared to improve your EGO rating, with players seeking out three data recorders to help assemble a cure to the sickness sweeping the Bay area. Triage centers have been established in both Top Notch and Shandu's Consulate. Avid players should get in on this event while it lasts -- there have been no dates given, but it seems this disease will either burn out or get worse fairly quickly.
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| Jukebox Heroes: EVE Online's soundtrack Posted: 28 May 2013 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, EVE Online, Jukebox Heroes, Music  Even though I wouldn't rate it as one of the most exciting scores I've covered for this column, I don't want to dismiss its atmospheric nature as a negative. Creating a soundscape that communicates the wonder, mystery, and largely empty gulf of the cosmos has proven to be a great asset to gamer immersion for EVE, and at least most of these tracks are soothing and low-key enough to warrant a high rating on the replayability scale. Icelandic composer Jón Hallur Haraldsson was in charge of this project. Responding to an interview question about the score's musical category, Haraldsson said, "Back in the days I used to concern myself a lot with defining my music, but I don't do that as much anymore. I like to amalgamate, to take whatever I like from whatever style and try to put that into my music." You can listen to a bulk of the game's music on Sound Cloud, but here are my picks for the six best tracks out of the bunch! Continue reading Jukebox Heroes: EVE Online's soundtrack
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| Rumor: Blizzard's Titan has fallen, won't be getting up until 2016 [Updated] Posted: 28 May 2013 05:30 PM PDT Filed under: MMO Industry, News Items, Rumors, Miscellaneous  Those who have followed Blizzard Entertainment for a while will remember that the last project restarted more than once was the ill-fated Starcraft: Ghost, which doesn't bode well for the future of Titan. With World of Warcraft's subscription numbers in decline, it's possible that the company is moving in a different direction. No official statements have been issued regarding the development of Titan or any expected release window for the game. [Update: ZAM reports that Blizzard has responded to that site's queries with the following statement: "We've always had a highly iterative development process, and the unannounced MMO is no exception. We've come to a point where we need to make some large design and technology changes to the game. We're using this opportunity to shift some of our resources to assist with other projects while the core team adapts our technology and tools to accommodate these new changes. Note that we haven't announced any dates for the MMO."]
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| Gazillion finds 'serious issues' with Marvel Heroes, delays early access launch Posted: 28 May 2013 05:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Super-hero, Bugs, Launches, MMO Industry, New Titles, News Items, Free-to-Play, Marvel Heroes  As it turns out, Gazillion found some "serious issues" that left it unable to kick things off when it originally intended. CEO David Brevik spills the beans via a post on the MH community blog, saying that the dev team has been working for 96 hours straight to correct the problem. Brevik also says that the process "is nearly complete" and that "we will not leave this studio until you can play the game. We hope this will be a in a matter of hours."
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| Mechanist launches City of Steam's patch 1.2: The Vault Unsealed Posted: 28 May 2013 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Patches, PvP, News Items, Free-to-Play, Browser, Races, City of Steam, Steampunk  This new patch adds quite a bit of content to the still-in-development City of Steam, including new quests, the return of the Riven and Draug as playable races, the addition of a new content hub by the name of The Vault and a brand-new Wilderness level known as The Broken Stair. The level cap has also been raised up to 32, and PvP enthusiasts will find a new map and new tournament event in which to slay their fellow players. Mechanist is promising more details once the servers come back online; in the meantime, you can discuss the patch over at the official City of Steam forums.
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| EVE Online: Odyssey promises huge changes, dual character training Posted: 28 May 2013 03:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, EVE Online, Economy, Expansions, Game Mechanics, Interviews, Previews, News Items, Sandbox, Subscription, MMORPG  We sat down with CCP to get a look at Odyssey and some of its more major components, including a huge exploration overhaul, more user-friendly controls, and a dramatic change to the way in which resources are distributed across its vast, starry expanses. Here's what we've learned. Continue reading EVE Online: Odyssey promises huge changes, dual character training
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| Posted: 28 May 2013 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Business Models, Events (Real-World), Game Mechanics, Previews, PvP, Opinion, Free-to-Play, Trading Card Games, Dungeons, Crowdfunding  At first, I had a difficult time associating a "massively multiplayer" aspect with a trading card game. My two-decade-old memories of very briefly playing Magic: The Gathering simply wouldn't let me get past my initial assumption about the head-to-head nature of these types of games. Even the online version of Magic used essentially the same structure as the offline version, with digital representations of Magic cards and an online challenge ladder. So imagine my surprise when a well-established box-and-trading-card-game company like Cryptozoic announced it was producing HEX, an MMOTCG using Kickstarter as a funding vehicle. Continue reading HEX: The MMO is in the cards
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| Funcom Q1 sales and restructuring keep studio moving forward Posted: 28 May 2013 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi, Age of Conan, Anarchy Online, MMO Industry, Free-to-Play, The Secret World, Legal, Subscription, Buy-to-Play  Funcom made over $6.3 million of revenue in the first quarter, mostly thanks to sales and subscriptions of The Secret World and Age of Conan. The studio said that it saved almost $1.2 million of operating expenses in the same period thanks to the restructuring. Also, The Secret World made more money in Q1 2013 than Q4 2012 thanks to its new business model. In terms of game news, Funcom is pushing forward with its LEGO Minifigures MMO, the new Anarchy Online graphic engine, a summer release for Issue #7 of The Secret World, and development of several smaller titles. Both LEGO and Funcom will be working to "establish closer integration between the physical product and the game." Finally, thanks to recent decisions by the studio, both Anarchy Online and The Secret World are boasting larger numbers of players than in the previous quarter.
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| The Soapbox: How to run a successful Kickstarter campaign Posted: 28 May 2013 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Real-Life, Sci-Fi, Business Models, Culture, MMO Industry, Opinion, Hands-On, Community Q&A, The Soapbox, Dev Diaries, Miscellaneous, Crowdfunding  Most developers don't release all of their stats or write up advice and insights following a successful crowdfunding campaign, and those who do are often lost on obscure blogs that don't appear when you Google for advice. But I'm in the unusual position of both being a games journalist and having successfully Kickstarted a small game project (unrelated to MMOs and my work on Massively). Six months ago, I ran a campaign for my new sci-fi 4X game Predestination, and in the process I learned some valuable lessons on what works and doesn't work on Kickstarter. We've since published the campaign stats and gone on to help a few other campaigns hit their goals. In this article, I run down the lessons I learned the hard way during the Predestination Kickstarter campaign and give some advice for developers hoping to get funded. Continue reading The Soapbox: How to run a successful Kickstarter campaign
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| Hyperspace Beacon: The SWTOR F2P experiment, closing chapter one Posted: 28 May 2013 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Business Models, Opinion, Free-to-Play, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Hyperspace Beacon, MMORPG  So far, I've noticed little change from level 1 to 10. However, Coruscant started to get rough. I also learned that leveling alongside a subscriber turned out to be disappointing. Yet in general, the leveling process seemed to be right on par with the planet I was on. It was my theory after leaving Taris that although there is a F2P experience penalty, my XP placed me on-level with each planet. Subscribers had an advantage of rising above the recommended level for each planet. Then I ran into Tatooine. Continue reading Hyperspace Beacon: The SWTOR F2P experiment, closing chapter one
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