| The Anvil of Crom: Playing through Dead Man's Hand Posted: 18 Sep 2011 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, Game mechanics, Patches, Opinion, Free-to-play, Hands-on, The Anvil of Crom, Guides, Dungeons A few weeks ago I teamed with Funcom to bring you an exclusive preview of the Dead Man's Hand solo instance featured in Age of Conan's new Savage Coast of Turan adventure pack. Over the past couple of days I finally managed to spend a bit of time playing through it, and for the most part it's been a lot of fun. I say "for the most part" because I did experience a couple of gnat-bite annoyances in terms of acquiring the proper quests and completing a couple of the boss fights. Overall, though, it's definitely an instance worth checking out (though I'm not sure I'll be adding it to my daily rotation like I did with the Breach and Forgotten City dungeons). Continue reading The Anvil of Crom: Playing through Dead Man's Hand  The Anvil of Crom: Playing through Dead Man's Hand originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 18 Sep 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Global Chat: September 12-18, 2011 Posted: 18 Sep 2011 09:00 AM PDT |
| CCP reveals World of Darkness details to bloodthirsty fans Posted: 18 Sep 2011 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Horror, Events, real-world, PvP, Massively Event Coverage, World of Darkness Details about CCP's World of Darkness are popping out of White Wolf's The Grand Masquerade in New Orleans this weekend, and they're definitely worth draining for every last sweet drop of... information. While the game is still in pre-production -- and as such, nothing is set in stone -- the devs weren't hesitant to dish out a lot of the ideas and features that they hope will make this the best vampire MMO to date. It's CCP's desire to emulate LARPing (live-action roleplaying) as much as possible with World of Darkness, with plenty of metaplots running inside the game and without. Players will begin as a mortal human who can make the choice to become a kindred (vampire) or stay mortal for the duration of their characters' lives. There's a very real danger that characters might experience "final death" -- permadeath -- if they take too many risks. If you get in over your head, you can retreat to your character's Haven for safety. The entire game will take place at night and on one server, and CCP is definitely aiming it toward the hardcore set. Nudity, gore, and insanity effects are all par for the course. If players push outside of the acceptable boundaries too often, they'll lose "humanity" points and could become flagged for constant attack by other players and NPCs. Play your cards right and you may become the prince of the city. The game will change over time with dynamic events, and CCP promises that there will be real consequences for player decisions. Look for our World of Darkness interview with CCP coming later this week. [Thanks Pilgrim for the tip!] CCP reveals World of Darkness details to bloodthirsty fans originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 18 Sep 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| The Daily Grind: What was your worst mistype? Posted: 18 Sep 2011 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Culture, The Daily Grind, Humor, Miscellaneous It happens. Sometimes it's a typo. Sometimes you forget what chat channel you're in. And sometimes you really meant to hit the button for a reply, but you wound up announcing intensely personal details into the guild chat channel, which is followed by the awkward pause that inevitably ends only when one of your guildmates asks whether you're seeing a doctor about that rash. Of course, sometimes it's not merely a matter of laughter or a bit of personal shame. Sometimes you're having a serious discussion about guild officers, one you weren't quite ready to broadcast. Or dropping a word or two changes the entire meaning of what you said, so that your guild is left wondering why you just said someone is a complete idiot because you left out the "not." And sometimes it's just plain gibberish. Given enough time in MMOs, you're going to acquire quite a history of typos and incorrectly sent messages. So what was your worst mistype? Was it a case that incited some terrible drama, or was it just the sort of thing for which people still mock you due to the severe shame?  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 was your worst mistype? originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 18 Sep 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| A visual tour through LotRO's Dunland Posted: 17 Sep 2011 04:00 PM PDT |
| One Shots: Can you talk? Speak to me! Posted: 17 Sep 2011 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Galleries, Screenshots, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Free-to-play, One Shots We've got two more days left of One Shots starting zone week, and today's image comes from Dungeons and Dragons Online. Massively reader Gilli says: It's hard to focus on it because Jeets won't stop yelling at you, but the starting area of Dungeons and Dragons Online has a stark beauty, complete with a dragon circling overhead. We're approaching the end of starting zone week, but we've still got room one more shot. Show us a screenshot of your favorite starting zone -- add your name and a little bit about the image, send it in to oneshots@massively.com, and we'll feature it in this week's One Shots! If you want to get a jump on next week, we'll be taking to the skies. One Shots will be all about aerial shots, whether they're taken from atop a high-flying mount or on the ground while you're viewing the action in the air. Send your image in and we'll show it off next week. One Shots: Can you talk? Speak to me! originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 17 Sep 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| The Mog Log: Throwing out the barriers Posted: 17 Sep 2011 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Final Fantasy XI, Game mechanics, Endgame, Opinion, Consoles, The Mog Log If you're starting Final Fantasy XI fresh right now, you'll have the most fun if you have absolutely no idea how much stuff you have to do -- not just because it's intimidating, although that's certainly an element, but because it's a huge pile of things that you can't do by yourself in any meaningful fashion. You have to rely on charity or making friendships based solely on your charming personality because you've got pretty much nothing else to offer when you start off, and no one at level 85 really wants to go farming for subjob items yet again (to say nothing of gysahl greens). These sentiments are not new. This is not something that I have never said before or a thought that had remained unexpressed for ages until just this moment. I've long talked about the fact that there's a huge barrier to entry for the game, one that essentially locks the game in for the people who are playing right now and no one else. But for all that talk, I can also see some very good reasons to keep those barriers in place because they're providing some useful functions -- or at the very least, they're not actively harmful. Continue reading The Mog Log: Throwing out the barriers The Mog Log: Throwing out the barriers originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 17 Sep 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| The Tattered Notebook: Looking beyond the price points in EQ2X Posted: 17 Sep 2011 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, EverQuest II, Opinion, Free-to-play, Hands-on, The Tattered Notebook Last week, I began a little experiment in the world of EverQuest II Extended. I wanted to see whether a longtime, loyal veteran could find enjoyment on the other side of the wall that separates my live server from the free-to-play server. Almost every assessment about free-to-play servers is dominated by talk of price points, fairness, and bang for your buck. But it's not a used car; it's a virtual world, and there is a lot more to look at beyond dollars and plat. EverQuest II and EverQuest II Extended actually offer a unique look into the similarities and differences between subscription based servers and free-to-play servers because they're completely separate entities, yet they're basically the same game. Read on for highlights of my second week in EQ2X! Continue reading The Tattered Notebook: Looking beyond the price points in EQ2X The Tattered Notebook: Looking beyond the price points in EQ2X originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 17 Sep 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Google promised to release its new Google Wallet smartphone payment system before the end of the summer, and according to leaked documentation being sent around to Sprint employees, they will hit their self-imposed deadline with full 3 days to spare. According to a memo obtained by 
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Unnamed sources from 
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