| The Game Archaeologist: Checking in with classic MMOs Posted: 08 Jun 2013 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Anarchy Online, Asheron's Call, Dark Age of Camelot, Lineage, Lineage 2, PlanetSide, MMO Industry, News Items, Ultima Online, The Game Archaeologist, Miscellaneous What's this, you say as you rub your eyes in disbelief. Is it... The Game Archaeologist, long since thought lost in his expedition to Atlantis (and the trials therein)? It is indeed, my friends. TGA has been a long-running passion of mine on Massively, but I needed a break for a while to recouperate and refocus. However, as of late I've felt the call of neglected classic MMOs and wanted to make sure that they were getting some column love here on the site. So going forward, expect to see The Game Archaeologist pop out of his hidey hole once or twice a month to talk about our old favorites and perhaps pontificate more on the history of MMO development. Sound good? Did you miss me at all? You totally didn't, did you. If you've been out of touch with classic MMOs, I've done the legwork this week to provide you with the 10 important and relevant news items that are sweeping through this aging yet still vibrant community. Read on, McDuff! Continue reading The Game Archaeologist: Checking in with classic MMOs  The Game Archaeologist: Checking in with classic MMOs originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 08 Jun 2013 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| WRUP: A public service announcement for the Saints Rowless edition Posted: 08 Jun 2013 08:00 AM PDT |
| The Daily Grind: What's your ideal group size? Posted: 08 Jun 2013 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Culture, Endgame, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous World of Warcraft is introducing flexible raids soon, allowing you to experience major content with any size of group that you want. Assuming, of course, that you want to experience that content with at least nine other people. The flexibility is nice, but it doesn't allow you to run with any group size that you want. But maybe that isn't an issue for you in the slightest. Maybe your ideal group size is a dozen people. Perhaps you'd prefer five people along with you, or seven, or just two. City of Heroes scaled most content to group size no matter what, asking players to bring as many people along as they liked and not worry about having too many or too few. So let's throw the question over to you, dear readers. What's your ideal group size? Are you happiest in small groups, pairs, large groups, or massive onslaughts whose numbers block out the sun?  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 Sat, 08 Jun 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| MMObility: The Chromebook 'All In One' project - The Pixel Posted: 07 Jun 2013 07:00 PM PDT Filed under: Video, Opinion, Browser, Mobile, Hands-On, Miscellaneous, MMObility If you caught my first Chromebook All In One project, you'll be familiar with the details of the series. If not, allow me to fill you in. Essentially I took a wonderful little device, the Samsung Series 3 Chromebook, which utilizes an Exynos-based processor, and I used it for most of my work-related activities for weeks. It proved a capable device but couldn't play everything or do everything as easily as I would have liked. For $249 US, however, it's not a bad deal. I still use the light notebook every single day. It's easily my favorite device in the house alongside my Nexus 7 tablet. But now, it's time for an upgrade. This time I will be looking at the Google Pixel, a hotrod of a Chromebook that Google is using to show just how the OS can work on a premium build. It boasts a core i5 processor, 4 gigs of DDR3 RAM, a 32 or 64 gig SSD and an incredible screen. At 2560 x 1700, 239 PPI, 400 nit brightness, and 4.3 million pixels, it is the best-looking thing I've ever computed on. The touchscreen is great for some gaming, and the build quality is top-notch. So why does it matter? Why would an MMO fan want or need a device that cost at least $1,299.00 and that runs only the Chrome OS? I'll try to figure that out over the next few weeks. Continue reading MMObility: The Chromebook 'All In One' project - The Pixel MMObility: The Chromebook 'All In One' project - The Pixel originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 07 Jun 2013 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Betawatch: June 1 - 7, 2013 Posted: 07 Jun 2013 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, MMO Industry, News Items, Betawatch, Miscellaneous If you've been waiting for Marvel Heroes or Arcane Saga to launch, the wait is over for both. Neverwinter also announced its official launch date, if a game can really launch from an open beta with no character wipes and a functional cash shop. (A glance at the past several weeks makes our views on that clear.) Meanwhile, the rest of the game world buckles down for E3 next week, which promises to have goodies for several MMOs and points related. Aside from pre-convention hoopla, World of Warplanes has detailed its open beta, offering players treats for shooting down a lot of enemy fighters, and we were reminded that EverQuest Next is still a thing that will happen. But while you languish here, countless other games are still in testing. Check out the full list past the break, and let us know if something managed to evade our notice in the comments. Continue reading Betawatch: June 1 - 7, 2013 Betawatch: June 1 - 7, 2013 originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 07 Jun 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Storyboard: For me, it was Tuesday Posted: 07 Jun 2013 05:00 PM PDT Filed under: Culture, Opinion, Roleplaying, Storyboard, Miscellaneous I want to tell you a love story. It's not a happy one. It's about Daniel and Rachel. Rachel loves Daniel. She didn't expect to fall for him, but she did. The problem is that Daniel doesn't love Rachel back. More than that, he can't even conceptualize feeling for Rachel what she feels for him. She acquiesces, acts as a friend, listens to Daniel talk about his true love Samantha. She watches Daniel date Olivia. She gets attacked by Olivia for her affection. She pays attention to the fact that Daniel still talks about Samantha when she's been gone for a year, even though Daniel doesn't mention Rachel at all if she's not around. This is not a happy dynamic for Rachel, but it is certainly dramatic. The problem is that Rachel and Daniel are characters, and Daniel's player is making a point of being aloof and dismissive toward Rachel because that's the whole point. So how do you ignore Rachel without making Rachel's player feel left out of roleplaying? Continue reading Storyboard: For me, it was Tuesday Storyboard: For me, it was Tuesday originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 07 Jun 2013 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Some Assembly Required: Three games that need player-generated content Posted: 07 Jun 2013 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Historical, Sci-Fi, Super-hero, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, PvE, Opinion, Star Wars Galaxies, DC Universe Online, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Some Assembly Required, World of Warplanes, Player-Generated Content At times over the last half decade, I've felt as if the MMORPG genre lost sight of itself. It seemed that all any gamemaker wanted to do was emulate a certain wildly successful outlier, and this in turn threw a wet blanket over the sandbox play, emergent design, and player-generated content that separates MMOs from run-of-the-mill video games. The last year or so has seen the collective industry start to wake up from that bad dream, as there are now a half dozen really promising sandbox or sandpark titles in development, several of which are backed by millions of dollars and major studios. What about the current crop of games, though? Is it a stretch to imagine a few of them, even the unapologetically linear ones, expanding their horizons with a little bit of player-generated content? Continue reading Some Assembly Required: Three games that need player-generated content Some Assembly Required: Three games that need player-generated content originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 07 Jun 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Pay-to-trade could change the landscape of MMO economies Posted: 07 Jun 2013 03:00 PM PDT Filed under: Economy, MMO Industry, Miscellaneous If you've noticed that it's become more difficult to buy, sell, or trade goods in an MMO these days due to the sheer amount of player-bound items, you're not imagining things. A writer for Gamasutra penned an article in which he discusses the decrease of in-game trade and suggests that studios might be missing out on a great source of potential revenue. First, he acknowledges why studios have moved to restrict trade. It keeps the headache of managing an economy to a bearable amount, it cuts out duping and exploits, and it stems revenue losses that are caused by third-party traders. However, the author says that the hassle could be worth it if studios were smart and got in on the action by creating a pay-to-trade economy. "In the real world, we pay huge sums in the form of taxes and fees to keep transaction costs low," he writes. "So here's my question for developers: How much would your players pay you in exchange for the ability to trade?" Pay-to-trade could change the landscape of MMO economies originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 07 Jun 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Guild Wars 2 launches authorized shoutcaster program Posted: 07 Jun 2013 02:30 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, News Items, Guild Wars 2, MMORPG, Buy-to-Play According to ArenaNet, the introduction of Custom Arenas and Spectator Mode to Guild Wars 2 has resulted in a surge of new tournaments, which naturally has been accompanied by a surge in people shouting about those tournaments. ArenaNet hopes to keep the shouts coming with the introduction of its Authorized Shoutcaster Program. Under the new program, Authorized Shoutcasters will receive notifications when highly rated teams square off against one another. Those shoutcasters can then jump into the match and stream the content live to what we can assume is a cheering throng of e-sports/ Guild Wars fanatics. Streams will be delayed to prevent them from influencing the outcome of matches. ArenaNet has already selected its first set of shoutcasters based on their community contributions and shoutcasting bona-fides. If you'd like to be considered for the role, you can post a link to your stream on the official Guild Wars 2 forums. In other, somewhat related news, character slot expansions will be half-off 20% off (math!) from June 7th to June 9th. You can find the offer by checking in with the Black Lion Trading Company in-game. Oh! And don't forget: Massively is in the market for a new Guild Wars 2 columnist. Guild Wars 2 launches authorized shoutcaster program originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 07 Jun 2013 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| WildStar will pull in the ex-WoW crowd, says dev Posted: 07 Jun 2013 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: World of Warcraft, Betas, Sci-Fi, MMO Industry, WildStar Finding the sweet spot in an MMO that applies to both casual and hardcore players might be the holy grail of the industry, but Carbine is convinced that it can deliver with WildStar -- and do so in a way that World of Warcraft no longer can. Game Design Producer Stephan Frost was bold in his statements to MCV, saying that WildStar will be a true success story. "We're making something that's different," he said. "We're coming out at a time when WoW is losing subscribers, and we can fill the void for people who want an MMO that's deep, hardcore but also accessible to people. We've found through betas and trade shows that MMO players understand our game. They can see the improvements we've made and notice that this game is something pretty cool." WildStar will pull in the ex-WoW crowd, says dev originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 07 Jun 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Flexible Raids come to World of Warcraft with patch 5.4 Posted: 07 Jun 2013 01:30 PM PDT Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Patches, News Items, PvE, MMORPG In the olden days of World of Warcraft, it took 40 dedicated people to down some of the game's toughest content. It wasn't easy to keep a guild stocked with the necessary number of people to make these raids possible, and Blizzard reduced raid sizes to 10- and 25-man encounters starting with the Burning Crusade expansion in the hopes of making raiding more accessible for smaller guilds and raid leaders working with busy real-life humans. It is with this same accessibility in mind that Blizzard has just announced Flexible Raids, a new form of raid content that will debut with the game's upcoming 5.4 patch. In the simplest terms, these raids automatically adjust their difficulty based on how many players are present, supporting any number between 10 and 25. The difficulty resets week-to-week; if 22 people come one week and 13 the next, the new raiders won't be locked into last week's numbers. A new tier of item that falls between the Raid Finder and Normal difficulties is being introduced for Flexible Raiders, and Flexible Raid lockouts will be separate from those of Normal and Heroic attempts. Blizzard has also promised additional rewards for those who participate in Flexible, Normal, and Heroic raids -- rewards that will be unavailable to Raid Finder groups. Flexible Raiding will be made available piece by piece as Blizzard tweaks the formula. It should be launching on the test realm Soon[TM]. Flexible Raids come to World of Warcraft with patch 5.4 originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 07 Jun 2013 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Neverwinter dares you to conquer the Caverns of Gauntlgrym Posted: 07 Jun 2013 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Previews, PvP, Free-to-Play, Dungeons, Neverwinter When Neverwinter officially launches on June 20th, those players who are already congregating at the level cap will have a new challenge to overcome: the Caverns of Gauntlgrym. Cryptic posted a new article to highlight the level 60 dungeon that offers both PvP and PvE content. Promising "something for everyone" with Gauntlgrym, Cryptic will dare players to jump into the dungeon and pursue the Dwarf King's treasure. What's interesting about the instance is that not only does it offer both PvP and PvE modes as players fight for a faction, but actions taken or missed will affect each phase of the journey. Tier 2 rewards lie in wait for the winning team, although tier 1 rewards will be given to all teams that make it to the end. The dungeon is for level 60 players who are in a guild, but that's the only qualification to enter; there is no gear score check for Gauntlgrym. We already saw the trailer a few days ago, but this article gives more concrete details about what to expect. Neverwinter dares you to conquer the Caverns of Gauntlgrym originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 07 Jun 2013 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Wargaming.net celebrates 60 million registered tank drivers Posted: 07 Jun 2013 12:30 PM PDT Filed under: Video, PvP, News Items, War, Free-to-Play, World of Tanks, World of Warplanes, World of Warships There's no doubt about it: People love tanks. Wargaming.net today announced that its flagship title, World of Tanks, now boasts over 60 million registered players. The company also confirmed that World of Tanks, which holds a Guinness world record for single-server player concurrency, will be on display at E3 next week at the Wargaming.net booth. To commemorate the achievement (and stoke the E3 flames, no doubt), Wargaming.net has released a brand-new cinematic trailer for World of Tanks, similar in style to the one for World of Warships that breached earlier this week. Hit the break to check it out. And if you want to see one of Wargaming.net's games in action, don't forget to tune in to tonight's World of Warplanes stream at 6 p.m. EDT on Massively TV. [Source: Wargaming.net Press Release] Continue reading Wargaming.net celebrates 60 million registered tank drivers Wargaming.net celebrates 60 million registered tank drivers originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 07 Jun 2013 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| HEX Kickstarter finishes strong Posted: 07 Jun 2013 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, News Items, Free-to-Play, Trading Card Games, Crowdfunding HEX: Shards of Fate is a trading card game and MMO hybrid created by Cryptozoic, the studio behind the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game. If that sounds like a thing you would like to play, you're not alone: HEX's Kickstarter campaign just coasted to success on the pledges of over 17,750 backers, raising over $2,277,000 and obliterating the team's original goal of $300,000. (And those numbers are still rising!) Thanks to HEX's massive cash haul, Cryptozoic will be able to add 17 of its 18 stretch goals, including a HEX-themed novel from a "premiere fantasy writer," tablet support, a motion comics game intro, playback support, more particle effects for cards, 10 extra dungeons, and five additional game boards. Cryptozoic is continuing to accept pledges through its official website -- there are 17 backer tiers available promising access to the game's beta and the usual special backer-type items. [Update: All backer tiers are now sold out except for the $50 "Slacker Backer." Thanks to Eamil for the tip.] HEX Kickstarter finishes strong originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 07 Jun 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Tamriel Infinium: Fictional loyalty in Elder Scrolls Online Posted: 07 Jun 2013 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Guilds, New Titles, Opinion, The Elder Scrolls Online, MMORPG, Tamriel Infinium On many occasions, my guild members have talked about different aspects of MMOs, MMO culture, and of course, what makes our guild work as well as it does. The simple answer to the last question boils down to common bonds and shared interests, just as with any group of friends, I'd imagine. And when we seriously decided to take this guild we made beyond the borders of just one game, we discovered new hurdles to overcome. Although the roots of my guild extend far beyond one MMO, it kicked off seriously only in Star Wars: The Old Republic and has since extended to Guild Wars 2 and Neverwinter. Many of my friends have expressed more than a fleeting interest in The Elder Scrolls Online, but faction selection could pose a problem for us. I always liked Imperials in the other Elder Scrolls games. One member wants to relive his Skyrim adventures and play a Nord. And of course, we have that hold-out who will play nothing but elves (or the closest approximation) in whatever game she's playing. Although I very much want these players to play whichever race they will have the most fun playing, it places the guild as a whole in an interesting position: With so many conflicting loyalties, which direction does the guild head? The Elder Scrolls Online created a solution within its guilding system. Does the ESO system encourage loyalty to a faction or is factional loyalty just fictional loyalty? Continue reading Tamriel Infinium: Fictional loyalty in Elder Scrolls Online Tamriel Infinium: Fictional loyalty in Elder Scrolls Online originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 07 Jun 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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