| Perfect Ten: Why I'm looking forward to WildStar Posted: 22 Mar 2014 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Sci-Fi, Opinion, Humor, Perfect Ten, WildStar, Subscription Sometimes you just know when a game is going to click for you before you even get much time in it. It has a personality that agrees with your own, visuals that cause your retinas to salivate, features that were probably stolen by devs from your dream journal, and a good balance of comfortable familiarity and exciting newness. That, to me, is why I'm on board the WildStar train. Listen, I'm not one of those people who feels that a game needs to "win" or dominate all of the rest of the landscape. I don't care whether WildStar is more or less popular that the rest of the field or whether it goes free-to-play or not (obviously, I would like it to do well so that it doesn't close up shop!). If it's not your thing, fine, but that won't stop me from being giddy as its release approaches. WildStar is definitely my most anticipated MMO for 2014. Hit the jump and let me tell you 10 reasons why! Continue reading Perfect Ten: Why I'm looking forward to WildStar  Perfect Ten: Why I'm looking forward to WildStar originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 22 Mar 2014 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| WRUP: Gratuitous marketing ploys Posted: 22 Mar 2014 08:00 AM PDT |
| The Daily Grind: What mob do you hate fighting? Posted: 22 Mar 2014 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous I'm an equal opportunity killer; put a bad guy in front of me, give me a flimsy excuse to blast it into kingdom come, and watch me go at it. But I'll admit that there are some mobs I shy away from more than others, not because they have me quaking in my booties, but because they're just... annoying to fight. Usually these are the mobs that pull out some form of crowd control by stunning me, knocking me down, or disabling my skills. I'm also not fond of mobs that like to vanish for a while before reappearing, nor of the ones that like to run home to mama when their health bar gets to 15%. I'm betting that you have pet peeves in the form of a particular mob or two. Which ones do you hate fighting and why?  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 mob do you hate fighting? originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 22 Mar 2014 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Betawatch: March 15 - 21, 2014 Posted: 21 Mar 2014 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, MMO Industry, News Items, Massively Meta, Betawatch, Miscellaneous SOE announced this week that EverQuest Next Landmark will leave alpha and enter closed beta on Wednesday, March 26th. Land rush incoming! What else is new in the world of MMO testing? - WildStar is hosting another beta weekend event and opened up preorders.
- Black Desert ramps up its beta testing planning; it begins April 4th.
- Black Gold's closed alpha has begun! If you complete Snail's survey, you've a chance to get in.
- Shadowrun Online will launch on Steam's early access program on March 31st.
Our complete Betawatch roundup awaits. Continue reading Betawatch: March 15 - 21, 2014 Betawatch: March 15 - 21, 2014 originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 21 Mar 2014 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| World of Tanks to become better-looking than ever before in 2014 Posted: 21 Mar 2014 05:00 PM PDT Filed under: Historical, Video, Previews, Free-to-Play, World of Tanks, Dev Diaries, MOBA World of Tanks is poised to get a major graphics upgrade this year, and the devs want to show you a preview of the changes. Hopefully you're cool with that. Wargaming promises that the look of the game will become clearer, more realistic, and more detailed when the changes go into place. The team is utilizing advanced texture mapping and new material models to provide a higher level of visual fidelity than previously present. One of the big improvements is a giant leap in the polygon count for each tank, going from 8K-18K per vehicle currently to 50K-100K in the future. For more on this beautification process, check out the video after the jump! Continue reading World of Tanks to become better-looking than ever before in 2014 World of Tanks to become better-looking than ever before in 2014 originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 21 Mar 2014 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Lord of the Rings Online accepting applications for its second player council Posted: 21 Mar 2014 04:00 PM PDT |
| ArcheAge Russia punishes 57,955 destructive players; ArcheAge West opens forums, streams Posted: 21 Mar 2014 03:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Bugs, MMO Industry, News Items, Free-to-Play, ArcheAge, Sandbox, MMORPG If you're lucky enough to be playing the Russian version of ArcheAge, then you're probably pretty annoyed at the MMO's recent server downtime. It might make you feel better to know the outage was the result of Mail.ru's investigation into mass exploits plaguing the game since its soft launch last month. Not only has the company fixed those exploits and apparently banned approximately 2,000 users, but it also punished 57,955 players for various destructive behaviors, including spamming chat and botting. Mail.ru exhorts players to continue reporting exploits to customer service rather than post them publicly. Meanwhile, Trion Worlds kicked off its hype machine for the Western version of the game with brand-new forums and a livestream introducing the gameplay to the west. We've embedded the video behind the cut. [With thanks to Oskar and Balsbigbrother!] Continue reading ArcheAge Russia punishes 57,955 destructive players; ArcheAge West opens forums, streams ArcheAge Russia punishes 57,955 destructive players; ArcheAge West opens forums, streams originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 21 Mar 2014 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| The Stream Team: EQ Next Landmark's last alpha update Posted: 21 Mar 2014 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Video, New Titles, Free-to-Play, EverQuest Next, Livestream, The Stream Team, Player-Generated Content Last week EverQuest Next Landmark introduced cooperative building. And now that alpha is almost over, there are even more goodies in game to explore. Groups? Check. Group harvesting? Check. Wild and crazy shenanigans? Always -- as log as Massively's MJ is involved! Join MJ as she delves back into the lands to see all that she can see before the big closed beta wipe next week. She'll be live at 4:00 p.m. to catch possibly the last glimpse of the alpha landscape. Game: EverQuest Next Landmark Host: MJ Guthrie Date: Friday, March 21st, 2014 Time: 4:00 p.m. EDT Enjoy our Stream Team video below. Continue reading The Stream Team: EQ Next Landmark's last alpha update The Stream Team: EQ Next Landmark's last alpha update originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 21 Mar 2014 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Final Fantasy XIV releases the first half of patch notes for 2.2 Posted: 21 Mar 2014 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Game Mechanics, Patches, Endgame, News Items, Consoles, Final Fantasy XIV, Subscription Final Fantasy XIV is dropping its next major patch on March 27th. Are you ready? Have you been relentlessly following news on the coming content? Then you'll want to get an eyeful of the first half of the patch notes for patch 2.2. Yes, it's only the first half. And it still outlines a number of huge changes, not the least of which are the addition of a new primal fight, three new dungeons, more main story quests, and two new beast tribe reputations. Philosophy tomestones are no longer being distributed -- everything that used to award Philosophy will now award Mythology, with Allagan tomestones of Soldiery taking Mythology's place as the limited-per-week currency. Existing dungeons Amdapor Keep and Pharos Sirius have both been toned down, as well, with the former easing up boss fights and the latter reducing the challenge of both bosses and enemy groups. There are also details on the new Venture system, new items available from the Grand Companies, and plenty more to be seen even in this first (partial) list of changes. Final Fantasy XIV releases the first half of patch notes for 2.2 originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 21 Mar 2014 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| First Impressions: Nosgoth is all right, but that might not be enough Posted: 21 Mar 2014 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Game Mechanics, Opinion, Free-to-Play, MMOFPS, First Impressions Let me begin with a somewhat tortured analogy: Nosgoth is sort of like discovering an obscure bit of British nobility of dubious importance. Those intimately familiar with the relevant lineage will be somewhat perplexed by this stranger, who is not really at all what they expected. Everyone else will just see someone showing up in a crowded field without a whole lot to say. In a way, that would almost be easier, since then you could just write it off altogether. It's just not terribly unique. Nosgoth is the sequel to the long-running Legacy of Kain series, which eventually moved over into the Soul Reaver series and kind of petered out in 2004 or so. A lot of people really enjoyed it, and there have been rumors about another sequel coming out pretty much forever. Instead of being an in-depth RPG, however, Nosgoth is a class-based asymmetrical shooter. So it's not really as much a sequel as it is a thorough pillaging of an existing IP layered onto another sort of game altogether. Continue reading First Impressions: Nosgoth is all right, but that might not be enough First Impressions: Nosgoth is all right, but that might not be enough originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 21 Mar 2014 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Guild Wars 2 dev blog explains critical damage changes Posted: 21 Mar 2014 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, PvP, News Items, PvE, Guild Wars 2, Dev Diaries, Buy-to-Play ArenaNet's Roy Cronacher has authored a new dev diary that deconstructs one of the balance tweaks heading your way in Guild Wars 2's April Feature Pack. "Ferocity is being introduced to make bonus critical damage easier to understand, more easily scaled across the whole game, and to help foster a healthy balance environment that encourages players to experiment with their builds," Cronacher explains. The post also delves into UI changes as well as how the update will affect Celestial Gear. Read all about it on the official GW2 website. Guild Wars 2 dev blog explains critical damage changes originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 21 Mar 2014 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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