MMO Updates

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• Flameseeker Chronicles: When good Guild Wars 2 commentary goes bad
• 8bitMMO develops desktop version, looks to crowdfunding for server upgrade
• Massively Speaking Episode 266: Half-and-half
• Over 6100 accounts banned for cheating in Final Fantasy XIV
• Launch an assault on Twilight Arbor in Guild Wars 2's new Aetherpath
• The Daily Grind: How do you handle your in-game projects?
• Not So Massively: Star Citizen hits $20m, LoL semi-finals, and Diablo III to cap stats
• Chaos Theory: The Secret World's scare factor
• Blizzard adjusting Rogues in upcoming Hearthstone patch
• BioWare patches SWTOR's 2.4 a day early [Updated]
• The Secret World disqualifies contest winner, issues revote
• Cinderella drummer, Neil guitarist pen Dragon's Prophet song
• Possible trademark filed by Blizzard for Heroes of the Storm
• The Nexus Telegraph: Still looking forward to WildStar
• September producer's letter announces return of the Cat God to The Secret World

Flameseeker Chronicles: When good Guild Wars 2 commentary goes bad Posted: 01 Oct 2013 09:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Opinion, Guild Wars 2, Flameseeker Chronicles, Buy-to-Play I'm aware that not everybody who reads this column loves Guild Wars 2, and I'm cool with that. Occasionally I'm baffled by a comment or two left by people who apparently just swung by to give a brief, negative review of the game, completely independent of the topic of the article they left it on, but that's mostly harmless. I appreciate the vast majority of thoughtful comments, whether positive or negative; I like to think that most of you love MMOs as much as I do, and I believe that a person doesn't necessarily have to like a game in order to have something insightful to say about it and its role in influencing the industry. I mention all of this because I want to make it clear that when I talk about toxic GW2 commentary, I don't mean people leaving negative criticism in general, or saying that they don't like the game. In fact, the majority of what I'd like to discuss comes from people who apparently play the game regularly and who are deeply invested in it. Some of them say that they love it. And because they love it, it's easy to see why they might feel protective of it and take perceived threats to it personally. Continue reading Flameseeker Chronicles: When good Guild Wars 2 commentary goes bad Flameseeker Chronicles: When good Guild Wars 2 commentary goes bad originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 01 Oct 2013 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

8bitMMO develops desktop version, looks to crowdfunding for server upgrade Posted: 01 Oct 2013 08:30 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Trailers, Video, MMO Industry, Patches, News Items, Sandbox, Crowdfunding Who says all games must be awash in millions of pixels and near life-like graphics? 8BitMMO proudly boasts over 100 pixels and over the last two years has grown from one to over 75,000 registered users. The game also has a desktop version currently in beta, which includes a new leveling system, new swords, and new monsters. With so much growth (as well as an upcoming Steam launch), this sandbox is looking to upgrade its servers. Enter the MEGA-OCTOBERBIT-FUNDRAISER. Creator and one-man-development-team Robby Zinchak has joined the crowdfunding bandwagon by turning to the community for help in raising the funds needed to get the server upgrades that will let more players in, allow for faster load times, and reduce latency. Also, the stretch goal includes the equipment to make a Mac edition of the desktop client. If you are interested in seeing what this game is about or want to hear about the expansion plans straight from the source, watch the fundraiser trailer after the jump. Continue reading 8bitMMO develops desktop version, looks to crowdfunding for server upgrade 8bitMMO develops desktop version, looks to crowdfunding for server upgrade originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 01 Oct 2013 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Crowdfunding initiative

Massively Speaking Episode 266: Half-and-half Posted: 01 Oct 2013 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Podcasts, MMO Industry, News Items, Massively Meta, Massively Speaking, Miscellaneous With Bree out on vay-cay-cay, MJ's stepping up to perform incredible broadcast soliloquies that will bring a tear to your eye, they will. The Massively Speaking co-hosts divide up the show between fantasy and science fiction this week, so no matter where your tastes lay, they've got something for you. Have a comment for the podcasters? Shoot an email to podcast@massively.com. We may just read your email on the air! Get the podcast: [RSS] Add Massively Speaking to your RSS aggregator. [MP3] Download the MP3 directly. [iTunes] Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. [Stitcher] Follow the podcast on Stitcher Radio. Listen here on the page: Read below the cut for the full show notes. Continue reading Massively Speaking Episode 266: Half-and-half Massively Speaking Episode 266: Half-and-half originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 01 Oct 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Over 6100 accounts banned for cheating in Final Fantasy XIV Posted: 01 Oct 2013 07:30 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Culture, Economy, News Items, Consoles, Final Fantasy XIV, Subscription It's been hard to miss the spam in Final Fantasy XIV lately. You can't walk into a major city without seeing several dozen people shouting repeatedly about selling in-game currency, which has resulted in a lot of people getting to really kick their blacklists into overtime. But Square-Enix isn't ignoring the problem, and as of today we've been informed that a lot of players are out of the game for cheating. If you can really call them "players." 6,154 accounts have been removed from the game for advertising RMT services, while another 156 have been removed for "illicit activity." The game has also undergone a bit of maintenance to help eliminate the (unspecified) methods of item use that contributed to the problem. Whether or not this will eliminate the shouting spam that plagues the major cities remains to be seen, but it's certainly worth hoping, and it's always good to see the RMT crowd get what's coming to them. [Thanks to Scott for the tip!] Over 6100 accounts banned for cheating in Final Fantasy XIV originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 01 Oct 2013 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Regarding Actions Taken Against RMT

Launch an assault on Twilight Arbor in Guild Wars 2's new Aetherpath Posted: 01 Oct 2013 07:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, News Items, Guild Wars 2, Buy-to-Play Scarlet Briar and her Aetherblades are doing a little remodeling work on Twilight Arbor in Guild Wars 2's Twilight Assault content update. No, no need to thank them -- after all, they live there too, now. We're a little concerned that the new modern industrial decor might clash with the existing creepy nature theme, but that's really the Nightmare Court's problem. Your job is to evict all of them, because as tenants go they really suck. The new level 80 explorable path for GW2's Twilight Arbor dungeon -- dubbed the "Aetherpath" -- is the brainchild of the ArenaNet content team responsible for Aetherblade Retreat, along with content designer Leif Chappelle, who worked on the Molten Weapons Facility. Chappelle and his party of professional dungeon runners were kind enough to give us a partial tour of the content, which combines feedback and lessons learned from previous content to provide a challenging new experience. Jump past the break to check it out! Continue reading Launch an assault on Twilight Arbor in Guild Wars 2's new Aetherpath Launch an assault on Twilight Arbor in Guild Wars 2's new Aetherpath originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 01 Oct 2013 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Daily Grind: How do you handle your in-game projects? Posted: 01 Oct 2013 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous I have an overarching goal in Final Fantasy XIV: be level 50 everything. All crafts, all gathering classes, all combat classes. It's a worthy goal, but it's also the sort of thing that's going to take me roughly forever to accomplish. So I don't tend to work on the big project; I pick little goals along the way, like getting one level on a specific class every day. When I get bored with one, I move on to another. Not everyone works like that. Some people would rather not have little goals, preferring one big goal to just push on. Get to the level cap with one class, then on to the next one, no breaks to risk distraction. So which do you prefer? Do you like to have sidelines or do you find them distracting? How do you handle your in-game projects, especially ones that you know are going to take quite some time? 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: How do you handle your in-game projects? originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 01 Oct 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Not So Massively: Star Citizen hits $20m, LoL semi-finals, and Diablo III to cap stats Posted: 30 Sep 2013 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Sci-Fi, Video, Business Models, Expansions, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, Patches, PvP, News Items, PvE, Opinion, Free-to-Play, Dev Diaries, Not So Massively, Sandbox, MOBA, League of Legends, Diablo III, Firefall, Crowdfunding, Star Citizen, Infinite Crisis, Path of Exile Star Citizen hit the $20 million crowdfunding mark this week and announced that its $22 million goal will be for the purchase of equipment to capture actors' faces and put them in-game. Diablo III site Diablofans found more juicy hints about the upcoming Reaper of Souls expansion in its latest datamining attempt, and developers have opened a discussion on the problems caused by low character health pools. Path of Exile released patch 0.11.6 this week, adding in the new Lightning Trap and Smoke Mine skill gems and rebalancing existing traps and mines. After laying off 10% of its staff, Firefall developer Red 5 Studios has released a new optional subscription package that grants bonus Crystite, manufacturing slots, and marketplace slots. The semi-finals of League of Legends' Season Three World Championship took place this weekend, ending with Korean favourite SK Telecom T1 and Chinese team Royal Club advancing to the grand final to compete for the million-dollar top prize. Frustrated with the difficulty of learning to use Pudge's Meat Hook ability, a Dota 2 player has developed a standalone mini-game designed to let players train to aim the ability. Classic DC Comics character Catwoman was added to Infinite Crisis as a playable avatar this week, and award-winning Russian MOBA Prime World is now on Steam despite missing its intended mid-September Steam release date. Continue reading Not So Massively: Star Citizen hits $20m, LoL semi-finals, and Diablo III to cap stats Not So Massively: Star Citizen hits $20m, LoL semi-finals, and Diablo III to cap stats originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 30 Sep 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Chaos Theory: The Secret World's scare factor Posted: 30 Sep 2013 05:00 PM PDT Filed under: Horror, Opinion, The Secret World, Miscellaneous, Chaos Theory, Buy-to-Play There's a subgenre of horror video games that sometimes falls within "survival horror," where the developers design an experience where you're limited in some fashion to make you feel more vulnerable. Alone in the Dark, Silent Hill, Eternal Darkness, Amnesia -- all of these give you characters that move slowly, fight poorly, get freaked out easily, or have to cower in the shadows because they can't fight at all. This feeling of vulnerability amps up the fear because whatever is going bump in the night is much more powerful than we are. The game trains us to avoid confrontations as much as possible, which triggers a second scare technique: keeping the monsters more in your imagination than on the screen. There is nothing more terrifying than what our minds can conjure up, at least in video games, and a good dev knows this and uses it against us. Yet for all of its horror trappings, The Secret World takes a polar opposite approach. We are the super-powered, heavily-armed, nimble-footed, nigh-immortal hunters. We come, we see, and we shoot to kill. On top of that, we're almost always surrounded by other players to give us psychological and physical support. So that makes me think: Is The Secret World scary? If so, how does it accomplish this without an inherent feeling of vulnerability that's present in the other games I listed above? Continue reading Chaos Theory: The Secret World's scare factor Chaos Theory: The Secret World's scare factor originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 30 Sep 2013 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Blizzard adjusting Rogues in upcoming Hearthstone patch Posted: 30 Sep 2013 04:30 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, Patches, News Items Hearthstone's upcoming patch is detailed in a new blog post on the game's official website. The update "covers a wealth of bug fixes and quality of life improvements," according to Blizzard. There's also a blurb about class balance, with particular attention paid to Rogues, who will be "adjusted to bring them more in line with the other classes." Crafting, golden cards, and social improvements make the cut too, but you'll need to click through to the links below for all the details. Blizzard adjusting Rogues in upcoming Hearthstone patch originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 30 Sep 2013 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Patch update

BioWare patches SWTOR's 2.4 a day early [Updated] Posted: 30 Sep 2013 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: MMO Industry, Patches, News Items, Free-to-Play, Star Wars: The Old Republic If you were planning on playing Star Wars: The Old Republic tonight, you might want to take a look at a BioWare forum post first. It seems as if the company accidentally rolled out its 2.4 patch a day early and as a result, some players have had to re-download the entire game client. "If you have already begun patching or completed patching, we recommend that you do not run the launcher until after tomorrow's maintenance," BioWare says. "If you do not run the launcher until tomorrow, you will only have to patch Game Update 2.4." [Thanks to everyone who tipped us!] [Update]: BioWare has restored previous patch data and says "you are fine to play normally." BioWare patches SWTOR's 2.4 a day early [Updated] originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 30 Sep 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Announcement

The Secret World disqualifies contest winner, issues revote Posted: 30 Sep 2013 03:00 PM PDT Filed under: Horror, Sci-Fi, Contests, The Secret World, Buy-to-Play We have a winner! Or... not. After announcing that a Victorian-themed outfit took the top prize of The Secret World's costume contest, Funcom has disqualified the winner due to a rule violation and restarted the voting process. "As a result of further investigation following our 'Get your art in the game' contest conclusion, we have eliminated the winning entry as disqualified," the studio posted today. "It has been brought to our attention that Mirura is connected with one of our affiliates, and thus does not qualify for this contest as per our terms and conditions. We deeply regret any confusion or inconvenience this has caused. While we know that many of you really did like the fantastic design that she submitted, we must adhere to the rules to be fair to all of our contestants." The revote will include the previous nine entries for both male and female outfits as well as a new 10th entry to fill in the gap. Check them out and enter your vote, as the winning design will be included in the game. The Secret World disqualifies contest winner, issues revote originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 30 Sep 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Contest update

Cinderella drummer, Neil guitarist pen Dragon's Prophet song Posted: 30 Sep 2013 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Video, Culture, MMO Industry, News Items, Free-to-Play, Dragon's Prophet What do you get when you cross MMO dragons with big-haired 1980s metal gods? The latest Dragon's Prophet video, naturally. SOE has teamed up with Cinderella drummer Fred Coury and Vince Neil guitarist Brent Woods to produce a little ditty called Ride Until We Die. Be sure to catch the clip after the cut, and don't forget that Dragon's Prophet is free-to-play right now. You can download the client via the official website link after the video. [Source: SOE press release] Continue reading Cinderella drummer, Neil guitarist pen Dragon's Prophet song Cinderella drummer, Neil guitarist pen Dragon's Prophet song originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 30 Sep 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Possible trademark filed by Blizzard for Heroes of the Storm Posted: 30 Sep 2013 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Expansions, MMO Industry, News Items, Subscription We've seen the (presumed) big ending to the last World of Warcraft expansion... so what's the next one? That's the source of much speculation, and it's been fueled by the fact that Blizzard has possibly filed a new trademark for Heroes of the Storm. What does this mean? Possibly nothing. It could be a hoax, it could be an unrelated property, it could be almost anything. There's certainly some possibility that it could be a new expansion to World of Warcraft, with plenty of possible meanings for what it might contain. So is it a hoax, the next expansion, or something else altogether? That's up to the individual to guess. What we can say with certainty is that if these heroes don't get to ride on the storm, the game will have missed a golden opportunity for a pop culture reference, and that's just not likely to happen. Possible trademark filed by Blizzard for Heroes of the Storm originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 30 Sep 2013 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Possible trademark filing

The Nexus Telegraph: Still looking forward to WildStar Posted: 30 Sep 2013 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Game Mechanics, Opinion, WildStar, The Nexus Telegraph, Subscription, Buy-to-Play One of the analogies I keep coming back to is that choosing an MMO is a lot like being in a long-term relationship. That's also true of sticking with one for the long term. Some weeks, your MMO of choice just seems to do everything wrong, and sometimes you go through a period of time when you're just not sure if the relationship works any longer. WildStar and I are in a bit of a long-distance relationship at the moment, what with me steadfastly existing in the present and her not technically having launched just yet. And sometimes she finds ways to make me upset, with clueless design or business decisions that leave me wondering what in the hell went on in the background. But then there are things that get me excited, things that remind me of why I've been waiting for this game for a while. So let's talk about some of the stuff that still gets me excited. Continue reading The Nexus Telegraph: Still looking forward to WildStar The Nexus Telegraph: Still looking forward to WildStar originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 30 Sep 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

September producer's letter announces return of the Cat God to The Secret World Posted: 30 Sep 2013 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: Horror, Real-Life, Events (In-Game), Game Mechanics, Patches, News Items, The Secret World, Dev Diaries, Buy-to-Play At the close of every month, Joel Bylos pens a producer's letter to all The Secret World fans reviewing the activities of the previous four weeks and outlining what's still to come. For September, Bylos updated players on the progress of both Issue #8 (scenarios are being balanced for solo, duo, and groups as well as nightmare versions) and the much-anticipated Issue #9 (when visiting Tokyo, bring your origami skills!). Bylos also invited players to jump in and participate in the current Whispering Tide event and reminded them that many more phases of the event are yet to come. On top of that, he announced that the Cat God event from last Halloween will be back, so everyone who missed out on completing that line will have a chance this year. Additionally, a new series of missions called Stories from Solomon Island will be available where players will investigate the legitimacy of the islands' various urban legends. This series brings players back to the stories of Tyler Freeborn and the Groundskeeper at Innsmouth Academy. September producer's letter announces return of the Cat God to The Secret World originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 30 Sep 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: September producer's letter Via: Twitter

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MMORPG News

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• 8BitMMO: Desktop Version Announced
• Star Wars: The Old Republic: The Dread War Arrives A Day Early
• EverQuest Next: Time Lapse Building Landmark Style
• Dragon's Prophet: Ride Until You Die Super Metal Video Released
• The Secret World: September Director's Letter Published
• Neverwinter: Technology Upgrade Coming
• General: Why So Many MMOs Disappoint
• Age of Conan: Unchained: September Director's Letter Published
• General: Do Subscriptions Make a Difference in Community?

8BitMMO: Desktop Version Announced Posted: 01 Oct 2013 04:21 AM PDT Archive Entertainment has announced that a new desktop version of 8BitMMO will soon be ready for deployment. Previous versions of the game required browser configuration of Java. The new version will simplify the process and keep the game automatically updated at the same time.

Star Wars: The Old Republic: The Dread War Arrives A Day Early Posted: 29 Sep 2013 05:52 PM PDT Star Wars: The Old Republic players got a nice surprise today with the launch of patch 2.4 "The Dread War". The patch brings a host of content and updates to the game including the new Oricon story arc, new level 55 dailies and much more.

EverQuest Next: Time Lapse Building Landmark Style Posted: 30 Sep 2013 03:21 PM PDT Sony Online entertainment has released a brand new time lapse video to show off the building process in Everquest Next: Landmark. It shows what players will be able to do in the sandbox environment being created by the SOE EQN team. Let us know what you think!

Dragon's Prophet: Ride Until You Die Super Metal Video Released Posted: 30 Sep 2013 01:24 PM PDT Sony Online Entertainment has released the final installment of the #SuperMetal Dragon's Prophet video series. This time, the vide spotlights camaraderie of the 'broseph' mentality within the game. Enjoy!

The Secret World: September Director's Letter Published Posted: 30 Sep 2013 10:48 AM PDT The latest Game Director's Letter for The Secret World has been publish. Joel Bylos discusses the current live event, Whispering Tide, the return of the Cat God along with a new story arc, what's coming in Issue 8 and much more.

Neverwinter: Technology Upgrade Coming Posted: 30 Sep 2013 10:40 AM PDT The Neverwinter site has been updated with the news that the servers will be undergoing a technology update in the near future. The update will include bringing all players into a single shard to enhance the community and PvP opportunities.

General: Why So Many MMOs Disappoint Posted: 30 Sep 2013 05:21 AM PDT No this isn't a religious column from Bill Murphy this week. Instead, it's a quick look at why we as MMO gamers always seem to be waiting for the next big thing, instead of enjoying what we do have while looking forward. Read on, see if you agree, and leave a note in the comments.

Age of Conan: Unchained: September Director's Letter Published Posted: 30 Sep 2013 10:33 AM PDT Funcom's Joel Bylos has published the latest Age of Conan: Unchained Director's Letter. In it, he discusses the recent server merges and the difficulties encounters. Additionally, he discusses Tradeskills, a new Halloween mission chain and forthcoming dungeons that are now live on the test server.

General: Do Subscriptions Make a Difference in Community? Posted: 29 Sep 2013 04:09 PM PDT Subscriptions are the hot topic lately with three big-name titles opting to go with a subscription based revenue model. In today's Social Hub, we take a look at the potential impact that subscriptions have on today's games. Read on and then leave your thoughts in the comments.

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