MMO Updates |
- Black Gold's Chinese business model built on loot locks
- Molten Games picks up NCsoft funding, former Blizzard and SOE execs
- Free for All: Recapping the first three Mabinogi: Iria Saga chapters
- Vendetta Online now compatible with Oculus Rift
- The Daily Grind: What out-of-the-way secrets have you found?
- Star Conflict adds a fleet of tier five ships
- Jukebox Heroes: TUG and crowdsourcing soundtracks
- The Soapbox: A new mode of interaction
- Check out a day in the life of a KingsIsle artist
- Hyperspace Beacon: SWTOR PvP rant 2013
- Star Trek Online ships veteran rewards to Romulans
- Former Defiance executive producer no longer with Trion [Updated]
- MechWarrior Online launches Sarah's Jenner in honor of 5-year-old cancer victim
- Support your candidate in Guild Wars 2's Cutthroat Politics
- Massively exclusive: Hands-on with ArcheAge's Japanese open beta
- Darkness Dawns takes the EverQuest II story to new heights today
| Black Gold's Chinese business model built on loot locks Posted: 24 Jul 2013 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Business Models, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, New Titles, News Items, Free-to-Play, Steampunk, Black Gold  The only word that springs to mind is strange, since the model relies on some sort of inventory- and loot-locking system. According to MMO Culture, the game automatically locks your loot on an hourly basis. Some looted items will actually be looted and available in your inventory, while others will be locked. To unlock them, you'll need to purchase in-game gold using real-life cash. There's also an RNG element which may result in unlock discounts or possibly freely unlockable items. You can see a Chinese-language video of the business model in action after the break. Continue reading Black Gold's Chinese business model built on loot locks
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| Molten Games picks up NCsoft funding, former Blizzard and SOE execs Posted: 24 Jul 2013 09:00 AM PDT Filed under: MMO Industry, News Items  That's nice, we hear some of you saying, but why should you care? According to Molten, you should care for two reasons. Number one, the firm has secured a multi-million dollar investment nest egg from NCSoft. Reason number two, or more accurately, reasons two, three, and four, are team members Paul Della Bitta, former global head of e-sports and community at Blizzard, Jungwon Hahn, former head of Blizzard's Korean office, and Blaine Smith, former senior producer at SOE and a veteran of Relic's Company of Heroes and Dawn of War franchises. So, there you go. Molten says it will release information pertaining to its first online game "at a later date." [Source: Molten press release]
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| Free for All: Recapping the first three Mabinogi: Iria Saga chapters Posted: 24 Jul 2013 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Video, Events (In-Game), Game Mechanics, Patches, Opinion, Free-to-Play, Casual, Mabinogi, Events (Massively's Coverage), Community Q&A, Free for All, Livestream, Sandbox, Dungeons  But, what is the Saga Iria? Well, it's complicated. I have to admit that I do not have all the answers, and I hope to remain in the dark for a while. Stories are more fun when you don't know the ending. Still, I'm going to recap what I know so far, and share my live videos with you in case you missed them before! Also, be sure to tune in to our exclusive trailer releases! We will show you the next chapter trailer before anyone else! Spoiler alert: There are videos and short walkthroughs past the cut, so if you do not want to know what happens or have not played through some of these older chapters, don't read on. Please note that my hour-long livestreams are usually not long enough to fit in an entire chapter, as well, so you might miss some of the action on the tail-end. Continue reading Free for All: Recapping the first three Mabinogi: Iria Saga chapters
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| Vendetta Online now compatible with Oculus Rift Posted: 24 Jul 2013 07:00 AM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, News Items, Sandbox  Vendetta's Rift release coincides with a significant graphics update which brings more detailed planets and procedural nebulas to the game. Vendetta's space trading and real-time combat gameplay is available on a huge variety of platforms, including Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, and OUYA. "For the moment, [Rift] support is limited to the Windows version of our game, but we intend to expand this to other platforms with device compatibility," said Guild founder and creative director John Bergman. [Source: Vendetta press release]
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| The Daily Grind: What out-of-the-way secrets have you found? Posted: 24 Jul 2013 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous  I recently read a piece on Warhammer Online that reminded me how the developers used to watch beta testers do all sorts of acrobatics to get to hard-to-reach locations in the game. Instead of stopping them from doing so, the devs put special bosses or other secrets in these locations to reward exploration. I'm sure you've discovered many secrets when you've gone off the beaten path in MMOs. I, for one, would love to hear about them. Share, please?  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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| Star Conflict adds a fleet of tier five ships Posted: 23 Jul 2013 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Sci-Fi, Patches, Free-to-Play, Browser  Players can check out the new tier five ships, which include 27 fun varieties and complementing implants. All ships are less expensive and will be easier to visually customize now, with cheaper prices for decals and colors. Other improvements rolled out in patch 0.9.0 include a redesigned weapons system, a better PvE menu, new hangers, and a cool PvE mission that challenges pilots to attack a pirate space station and rescue a few scientists.
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| Jukebox Heroes: TUG and crowdsourcing soundtracks Posted: 23 Jul 2013 05:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Culture, Opinion, Miscellaneous, Sandbox, Jukebox Heroes, Music, Player-Generated Content  For starters, we might one day see Anthymn, a fantasy MMO completely based around music. It's a notion so breathtakingly cool that I fear it might never see the light of day while thousands of been-there-killed-that titles trudge into existence. But talking with the creators of that game really drove home the fact that music is such an integral part of our lives and can hold a similar place of honor in our virtual worlds. And then there's TUG, another quirky Kickstarter prodigy, which demonstrated how music and sounds can be used as social glue to pull people together. It showed us this with a wordless video that got its point across perfectly. Now TUG's devs are throwing out a different idea concerning music: Why not outsource some of the game's soundtrack... to the fans themselves? Continue reading Jukebox Heroes: TUG and crowdsourcing soundtracks
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| The Soapbox: A new mode of interaction Posted: 23 Jul 2013 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Culture, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, PvP, PvE, Opinion, MMOFPS, The Soapbox, Miscellaneous, MMORPG  Every video game ever released hinges on player interaction to tell its story. Without the player, a game's inhabitants are meaningless pixels guarding empty checkpoints, staggering through the woods with a groan, or walking in endless circles selling bread. In order for a game to function, players must be able to interact with it. The only question is how. Continue reading The Soapbox: A new mode of interaction
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| Check out a day in the life of a KingsIsle artist Posted: 23 Jul 2013 03:30 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Screenshots, MMO Industry, Free-to-Play, Kids, Family, Pirate101  She says that one of her favorite parts of the day is reviewing the art book to see progress being made: "All of the pieces have to work together to tell a story and they need to be believable in the same world." Much of Preston's job is coordinating between departments and her own team to make sure that everything syncs up. She also provides a few pieces of concept art with explanation as to the stories behind each. It's an interesting job that doesn't always get the spotlight in the way that other developer positions do, so check it out and learn a thing or two about what artists do for MMOs!
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| Hyperspace Beacon: SWTOR PvP rant 2013 Posted: 23 Jul 2013 03:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Classes, PvP, Opinion, Free-to-Play, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Hyperspace Beacon, MMORPG  What happened? If PvP used to be enjoyable and now it's just a drag, what changed? The unfortunate answer to that question isn't a simple one. We can't point to one action or one flaw that broke the system that everyone used to enjoy. I went so far as to say that the team at BioWare needs to stop working on PvP because it's taking the team away from expanding on the things that actually work. In fact, PvP changes ruined high-end PvE for some classes like Shadow/Assassin tanks. From my perspective, the team working on PvP is focused on the wrong aspects of the game. I will break it down the best I can. Continue reading Hyperspace Beacon: SWTOR PvP rant 2013
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| Star Trek Online ships veteran rewards to Romulans Posted: 23 Jul 2013 02:30 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Star Trek Online, Free-to-Play, Promotions  The rewards start at 200 days and go up to 1,000 days. At the lower end are snappy uniforms and a zippy little small craft, while the senior veterans are looking at an exclusive material option to change the skin of their ship. At the top of the reward tier is the powerful Daeinos-class heavy warbird. This ship comes with the option to switch between regenerative and tactical modes, offering a flexible approach to battles. The Romulan veteran rewards will roll out on July 25th, and lifetime subscribers will receive all of them regardless of the date on which they purchased the pass.
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| Former Defiance executive producer no longer with Trion [Updated] Posted: 23 Jul 2013 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, MMO Industry, News Items, Defiance, Buy-to-Play  Prior to that, Richardsson was a CCP board member and held various producer jobs on EVE Online from 2002 through 2012. The LinkedIn entry lists Richardsson's Trion tenure under the "past" subheading, and it also mentions an ending date of July, 2013. Massively confirmed Richardsson's departure with Trion earlier this afternoon, but the company declined to comment further. [Update]: New Defiance executive producer Chris Lena has penned an introductory blog post. [Thanks to our tipsters!]
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| MechWarrior Online launches Sarah's Jenner in honor of 5-year-old cancer victim Posted: 23 Jul 2013 01:30 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Culture, News Items, Free-to-Play, MMOFPS, Promotions, MechWarrior Online  Sarah's Jenner will set you back $10, but the team at Piranha Games won't be seeing a nickel of it. Minus sales tax, all of the proceeds from the sale of this 'Mech will be donated to the Canadian Cancer Society, supporting others suffering from the same ailment as the girl who inspired this decor. You can take a look at the machine in action just past the break, and if you're an experienced 'Mech pilot you should consider picking up a special machine to honor an unfortunate victim. [Source: Piranha Games press release] Continue reading MechWarrior Online launches Sarah's Jenner in honor of 5-year-old cancer victim
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| Support your candidate in Guild Wars 2's Cutthroat Politics Posted: 23 Jul 2013 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Culture, Events (In-Game), Patches, News Items, Guild Wars 2, Buy-to-Play  Players will receive one Support Token automatically and can acquire more through dungeons, PvP, and several special bits of content directly tied to the event, including the new Candidate Trials. Turning in a Support Token for one candidate or the other rewards you with a Representation Button, which counts toward several achievements. So get out there to be counted and vote for your preferred candidate with good old-fashioned adventuring.
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| Massively exclusive: Hands-on with ArcheAge's Japanese open beta Posted: 23 Jul 2013 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Classes, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, New Titles, PvP, PvE, Opinion, Hands-On, Roleplaying, First Impressions, ArcheAge, Sandbox, Crafting  While the game has gotten a lot of coverage for an imported MMO that only recently started western beta recruitment, I feel like some readers have missed important details about AA that I'd like to address. This may build or break hype, but I've thought long and hard about what I'm about to say, and I think it deserves mentioning: ArcheAge is to sandboxes what World of Warcraft was to themeparks. Continue reading Massively exclusive: Hands-on with ArcheAge's Japanese open beta
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| Darkness Dawns takes the EverQuest II story to new heights today Posted: 23 Jul 2013 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, EverQuest II, Game Mechanics, Patches, Previews, Free-to-Play, Dungeons, Crafting  While many eyes are turned toward Las Vegas in anticipation of big reveals next week, EverQuest II fans get to sink their teeth into a meaty update to help them pass the time until the convention. Darkness Dawns, the continuation of the story developed throughout the previous Scars of the Awakened update, hits servers today. Continue reading Darkness Dawns takes the EverQuest II story to new heights today
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