| Perfect Ten: Why MMOs need to give up their dragon addiction Posted: 02 Aug 2014 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Opinion, Humor, Perfect Ten, Miscellaneous If a genie ever appeared to grant me three wishes, I would not hesitate. I would not be selfish by asking for more wishes or focus on my own well-being. No, I would think of you all when I said, "Mr. Genie, I want you to eliminate all Elves from MMOs, preferably via boiling acid. I want you make all online giant spiders obey the cube law. And I want all developers to be stricken with a specific form of amnesia that will make them forget, now and forever, that dragons are a thing." You're welcome in advance, online gamers. Yes, I will gladly take up the mantle of your king and protector. Dragons are not cool. Dragons have never been cool. And yet, for some reason unknown to me, MMO developers lose their collective minds over the fire-breathing lizards. They're not just a trope that infests MMOs to the detriment of original storytelling and world building; they're cheesy villainous centerpieces that devs prop up while deluding themselves that the other couple of thousand MMOs aren't doing the same thing. MMOs need to give up their dragon addiction, and I am not short on reasons why. I am also so dead serious that dragons need to go that I'm contemplating getting a chest tattoo of one just so that I can laser removal it right off the next day. Continue reading Perfect Ten: Why MMOs need to give up their dragon addiction  Perfect Ten: Why MMOs need to give up their dragon addiction originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 02 Aug 2014 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| WRUP: Every MMO needs a theme restaurant Posted: 02 Aug 2014 08:00 AM PDT |
| The Daily Grind: What's your favorite instant skill? Posted: 02 Aug 2014 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Culture, Game Mechanics, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous I am not always a patient man, especially when I'm in the middle of combat. If given a choice, I will avoid channeled and long-cast skills even if the payoff is massive, like shooting a pocket nuke down that mutant frog's throat. I want my skill and I want it now, not four seconds and a progress bar from now. So today let's praise and ponder the instant-cast skills, especially your favorite. In WildStar, I love how every class (at least that I've played) has an instant-stun ability that's incredibly useful to stop a big enemy attack in its tracks. I've also been a huge fan of instant-cast DoTs, which is kind of like channeling on the skill's own time instead of mine. What's yours?  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 favorite instant skill? originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 02 Aug 2014 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Betawatch: July 26 - August 1, 2014 Posted: 01 Aug 2014 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Launches, MMO Industry, New Titles, News Items, Massively Meta, Betawatch, Miscellaneous, Crowdfunding Both Firefall and Swordsman officially launched this week, ending their tenures on the Betawatch list and landing on hard drives everywhere. What else is new in the land of MMO testing? The complete Betawatch roundup follows. Continue reading Betawatch: July 26 - August 1, 2014 Betawatch: July 26 - August 1, 2014 originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 01 Aug 2014 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Wizardry Online is now... Wizardry Offline Posted: 01 Aug 2014 05:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Video, Events (Real-World), MMO Industry, News Items, Livestream, Wizardry Online, Sunsets The MMO world mourned Vanguard's sunset yesterday, but as The Ancient Gaming Noob reminded us, Vanguard wasn't the only MMO SOE shuttered in July. Wizardry Online also closed its doors permanently last night, bringing to a end one of the stranger games SOE has published in its long career. Over on the official forums, where players have been posting their goodbyes, a player named Dremlock published a video of the game's last moments. We've included it below (start at about 1:29:00 to see the final curtain call). Continue reading Wizardry Online is now... Wizardry Offline Wizardry Online is now... Wizardry Offline originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 01 Aug 2014 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Dawn of the Immortals drops a launch trailer Posted: 01 Aug 2014 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Trailers, Video, Launches, News Items, Free-to-Play, Mobile If you've been looking forward to Dawn of the Immortals, we've got half of good news for you. The game has launched on the iTunes store for potential players using iPhones or iPads. If you're using an Android device, though, you're going to have to wait just a little bit longer. Halfway to good news, then. But it's still reason enough for the game to put out a launch trailer. Dawn of the Immortals sells itself as a fully 3D MMO on your phone or tablet, with an emphasis on action combat and a customizable pet system. If that sounds like something you'd like to carry along with you, jump past the break and check the game out on iTunes. Continue reading Dawn of the Immortals drops a launch trailer Dawn of the Immortals drops a launch trailer originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 01 Aug 2014 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Royal Quest begins early access... for a price Posted: 01 Aug 2014 03:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, New Titles, Free-to-Play, Steampunk Royal Quest, an MMO "full of magic, technology, and alchemy," opened the doors to its early access test yesterday. While the game promotes itself as being free-to-play, this only applies starting the second week in August. Before then, anyone interested in checking it out needs to purchase one of the DLC packs. Players who hop into the game will be assigned a regional server (out of three available) based on their location. To access the website's comments and forum, players have to level up a character to 5. Royal Quest is being developed by Katauri Interactive ( King's Bounty) and is only being offered through Steam for English users. Among other options in the game, players can own pets, eventually move into their own castle, and engage in special PvPvE zones in the game. [Thanks to Dystopiq for the tip!] Royal Quest begins early access... for a price originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 01 Aug 2014 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Albion Online's houses are more than eye candy Posted: 01 Aug 2014 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Dev Diaries, Sandbox, Housing Looking for a house in the Albion Online neighborhood? There isn't a lot there at the moment, just empty lots and plenty of potential, but the devs are promising that players will find housing indespensible when the game arrives. In a new blog post, the team talks about how players will be able to claim a slice of open world land on which to build a lovely villa (or to use for various crafting needs). While housing will fulfill the need of interior decorators, a great deal of thought has been given to make them functional. Houses will store wardrobes and chests for extra inventory, provide a respawn point, buff your character via trophies, and give a temporary boost to your hit points and energy. Players may choose from one of three permission levels when it comes to allowing others to visit and even modify the place. Albion Online's houses are more than eye candy originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 01 Aug 2014 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| World of Warcraft adds the Alliance motorcycle after all Posted: 01 Aug 2014 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Expansions, News Items, Subscription In a twist that will stun everyone who is easily stunned, it turns out that the Alliance chopper is indeed being added to World of Warcraft with the arrival of Warlords of Draenor. Those of you who watched Azeroth Choppers from start to finish might have been surprised at the whole idea of only one bike design seeing implementation, but odds are you (and pretty much everyone else) saw this coming. Worth noting, however, is that the chopper will cost money and will be available only to Alliance players. By contrast, the Horde chopper will be given away for free to players who log in before September 30th. Since it will not be possible for the opposite faction to ride a given chopper, this does mean that the Alliance version will end up being something of a gold sink for Alliance-only players. But, hey, you're getting it in the game; isn't that the important part? World of Warcraft adds the Alliance motorcycle after all originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 01 Aug 2014 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| EverQuest Next unveils a new lore eBook Posted: 01 Aug 2014 12:00 PM PDT |
| Firefall partners with The9, Qihoo 360 in China Posted: 01 Aug 2014 11:00 AM PDT |
Verizon's decision to throttle data for certain users grandfathered in to the company's older unlimited data plans has drawn the ire of the Federal Communications Commission. In an open letter, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler tells Verizon that he is "deeply troubled" by its recent announcement and finds it "disturbing" that the wireless carrier would try to take advantage of a loophole to bring in more money.
