MMO Updates |
- Captain's Log: Class spotlight - Tactical
- Astronaut: Moon, Mars, and Beyond developer talks educational mission
- Blade & Soul beta videos show more Assassin footage, dungeon combat
- Rise of the Immortals MOBA launching September 12th
- World of Tanks rumbles into retail stores
- Dan Stahl addresses Star Trek Online F2P concerns
- City of Heroes pledges to pump out more frequent updates
- The Daily Grind: Have you ever hooked your parents on an MMO?
- Perfect World Entertainment confirms Star Trek Online going F2P this year
- Bethesda's Todd Howard not interested in an Elder Scrolls MMO
- City of Heroes Freedom invaded by Hamidon again
- GamersFirst states All Points Bulletin had huge future plans
- Champions Online celebrates two years
- Massively Speaking Episode 163
- Mythos content update includes 23 new dungeons, skill tweaks
- Choose My Adventure: Invasion
- One Shots: Invisible horses are all the rage
- Enter at Your Own Rift: Finally 50
- Free for All: The end of physical media
- A Mild-Mannered Reporter: PAXflop
- Uncharted Waters Online adds shipbuilding
- Lore-masters tune up their hogs to cruise the mean streets of Isengard
- The slippery slope: Analysing the decline of World of Warcraft
- PAX 2011: Hands-on with Firefall
| Captain's Log: Class spotlight - Tactical Posted: 01 Sep 2011 10:30 AM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Classes, Opinion, Star Trek Online, Captain's Log, Guides  Hello, computer (and players)! Welcome to Captain's Log and the second installment in a three-part series focusing on the classes within Star Trek Online. After exploring some of the amazing powers available to those who roll a Science captain, we shift our focus away from support and healing this week to dive into the realm of DPS. While this realm can be filled with members of all three classes, Tactical captains, if specced correctly, take the trophy each and every time. Ever since the game launched early last year, my main toon has always been a Tactical captain. During the time I leveled up, I tested out different types of ships at each rank. While flying a science ship as a Tactical captain was fun during the early stages of leveling, I would definitely suggest flying an escort, or if you must, a cruiser, when you first make it to Rear Admiral. I am sure there are some Tacticals out there flying Science classes, but I feel that the Bridge Officer stations equipped on escorts allow the best Tactical abilities to come into play. But enough about telling you what to do -- let's move onto talking about some of the best attack powers in the game. Ensign, warp 10! It's time to help our reads unload some DPS on their next enemy... Continue reading Captain's Log: Class spotlight - Tactical
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| Astronaut: Moon, Mars, and Beyond developer talks educational mission Posted: 01 Sep 2011 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Real life, Culture, Interviews, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Kids, Family, Miscellaneous  "I'm originally a developer," says Project Whitecard CEO Khal Shariff. "I thought, 'oh, I could be a developer for the rest of my life, or I could start my own company.'" That company has some pretty lofty goals for its first MMO, including reaching out to millions of kids worldwide and getting them interested in STEM education (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). "We are dedicated to using game technology to do things that, when somebody interacts with the game, it maybe leaves the world better or leaves somebody smarter," Shariff says.
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| Blade & Soul beta videos show more Assassin footage, dungeon combat Posted: 01 Sep 2011 09:30 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Video, Game mechanics, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Blade & Soul, Dungeons  MMO Culture has collected a few of these choice morsels, and there is a range of gameplay on display including more Assassin class combos and abilities (this time in a game context instead of a promotional clip), as well as quite a bit of dungeon-crawling footage. The videos, which you can view after the cut, show a mixture of solo and group play in a couple of different environments. While most of the clips are around 10 minutes in length (or under), there's quite a lot to take in if you're unfamiliar with the martial arts MMO. Blade & Soul is being developed by NCsoft and is currently undergoing its second Korean closed beta test. The company has yet to announce plans to market the title in Europe or America. Continue reading Blade & Soul beta videos show more Assassin footage, dungeon combat
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| Rise of the Immortals MOBA launching September 12th Posted: 01 Sep 2011 09:00 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Launches, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Free-to-play  Rise of the Immortals is free-to-play, and the dev team is looking to expand the MOBA genre by adding features like social hubs, emotes, persistent character progression, and collectible combat and vanity pets. That's not all, either, and we'll have more details for you in next week's edition of Not So Massively!
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| World of Tanks rumbles into retail stores Posted: 01 Sep 2011 08:30 AM PDT Filed under: Historical, Real life, Business models, MMO industry, News items, War, Free-to-play, World of Tanks, Miscellaneous  Players will receive a T2 light tank, one week's worth of premium account access, 1,050,000 credits, and 1,800 gold -- all for $19.99. If you can't make it out to your local games dealer, you'll find the World of Tanks retail box for sale at many online stores as well, including Best Buy.com, New Egg, and Amazon.
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| Dan Stahl addresses Star Trek Online F2P concerns Posted: 01 Sep 2011 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Business models, Star Trek Online, Free-to-play  "There has been a method to all the madness, but first and foremost on my mind has been ensuring that Star Trek Online has a big future ahead of it," Stahl writes. "That has led to some tough decisions and deep analysis of what was critically wrong in STO. The next several months are going to be exciting for STO as you begin to see everything that we've been working on (finally)." The good news is that the F2P switch will not impact current subscribers (if anything, Stahl says they'll see more benefits), nor will it restrict content access. Cryptic may be lowering prices on some items in the C-store, and Star Trek Online will be playable to the level cap without requiring money spent on it. Stahl also confirmed that more hardware is on the way for the game's foundation. At least from his perspective, Stahl sees STO's new owners as a boon to the game's future: "Perfect World has made it very clear that they want to invest in STO because they believe it has great POTENTIAL and they see an investment that can yield an even better game. That to me, is the golden path that this game deserves. It is Star Trek we are talking about!"
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| City of Heroes pledges to pump out more frequent updates Posted: 01 Sep 2011 07:00 AM PDT Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Previews, Free-to-play, Dev Diaries  Along those lines, the letter discusses several exciting developments in store for the game's future, including the upcoming Haunted Mansion for the Halloween season, new Incarnate Trials, and more content for the Winter Event. The team is also focusing on delivering "more regular updates" than has been seen previously, so expect to see CoH upping the frequency of in-game goodies from here on out. As part of the "content is king" philosophy, Paragon will be releasing a monthly Signature Story that will be free for VIP (subscribing) players. These will not only tell intriguing stories, but will reward superheroes with increased rewards. The team is also going to put new items into the in-game Paragon Market store on a weekly basis, including costume pieces and power sets. City of Heroes is preparing to launch Freedom, its free-to-play version of the game, at an unspecified point in the future. Subscribers will be able to get a head start when Freedom arrives, and will enjoy spending the 400 points that their VIP status entitles them to each month.
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| The Daily Grind: Have you ever hooked your parents on an MMO? Posted: 01 Sep 2011 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Culture, Opinion, Massively meta, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous  So what about you, Massively readers? You seem to be an age-diverse group. Have you had any success getting your parents -- or any older relatives -- into your MMOs of choice? And how did you pull it off?  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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| Perfect World Entertainment confirms Star Trek Online going F2P this year Posted: 31 Aug 2011 08:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Business models, MMO industry, News items, Star Trek Online  "And also Star Trek Online, after the acquisition, in fact Cryptic is working on the free-to-play model for Star Trek Online," Perfect World Entertainment's CEO, Kelvin Lau, said in a recent earnings call for Q2 2011. "This is going to be launched by the end of this year as well. So I think free-to-play model we have a bigger potential in US market and also in China market." This news should be no surprise to anyone who knows that PWE's portfolio consists of F2P games, and it was inevitable that STO would follow in the footsteps of its older brother, Champions Online. We'll keep you posted on more details as they become available.
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| Bethesda's Todd Howard not interested in an Elder Scrolls MMO Posted: 31 Aug 2011 07:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Interviews, MMO industry, Massively Event Coverage, Miscellaneous  In talking with our sister site Joystiq at PAX, Bethesda's Todd Howard fields the question with blunt honesty. "I like this kind of game better," he said. "You know, it's what most of us are into. I'm not really an MMO guy. I respect them, I look at them, but I don't play them. It feels more real to me when I'm the hero and it's crafted for that. A community aspect to it, I recognize a lot of people would want that in a game like this, but it changes the flavor for me. Of course, one man's feelings toward the genre aren't always enough to stave off corporate demands, but Howard says that isn't the case: "We can just do our thing, and it's kind of grown with each game. So there was no pressure from anybody above me to say 'Hey, you need to change this.'" That doesn't mean Bethesda will forever abstain from MMOs, however. Bethesda's parent company, ZeniMax Media, built an MMO customer support facility in Ireland earlier this year, an indication that online gaming may very well be in the company's future.
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| City of Heroes Freedom invaded by Hamidon again Posted: 31 Aug 2011 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Events, in-game, PvE, Free-to-play, Dev Diaries  The zone-wide encounter starts with a new monstrosity called the Seed of Hamidon, which drops seedlings throughout the Sunken City neighborhood of First Ward. These seedlings begin the spread of the Tellurian Plague. It is in the best interest of heroes, villains, loyalists, and resistance rebels alike to end the spread of this plague before it conquers everything, as it did on Praetorian Earth. Arbiter Hawk suggests an eight-person group for this encounter, which takes place in two distinct phases. In the first phase, it's up to players to take out both the ground and air seedlings. Don't worry, non-flying characters, because as these ground-based seedlings are destroyed, they grant Buoyant Membranes that allow players and nearby allies to take flight. The Seed weakens as players defeat the seedlings until the Seed is forced to extinguish the remaining seedlings in order to regenerate power. This is when you attack and the second phase begins. Take out the Seed quickly before it is able to completely recharge -- or the cycle starts over again. The dev diary contains many of the deadly details of the seedlings as well as more advice from Arbiter Hawk; be sure to read the entire thing before battling this globular fiend.
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| GamersFirst states All Points Bulletin had huge future plans Posted: 31 Aug 2011 05:00 PM PDT Filed under: Game mechanics, All Points Bulletin, Crime, Miscellaneous  I can't give you too much detail because I'm not a coder. But as I understand it they were looking to make APB the entry level to this whole series of games. So like you'd go into the APB district, and the social district would take you to other games and from my world you could take your APB car and drive it into my world and shoot things. They had all these crazy cool ideas that was just very ambitious.But don't get excited just yet. Connole also stated that GamerFirst would not be pursuing that content. However, because APB: Reloaded does not have the extraneous code, the developers can make a smooth, more streamlined game.
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| Champions Online celebrates two years Posted: 31 Aug 2011 04:30 PM PDT Filed under: Super-hero, Events, in-game, Free-to-play, Champions Online  On Thursday, September 1st, our favorite super-heroine Sapphire takes center stage at the Renaissance Center at 1 p.m. EDT to start the festivities. She'll perform her musical set once every hour until Monday, September 5th at 2:59 a.m. EDT. Between sets, the audio automaton DJ Madbot thumps his funky beats all night long. Look for party hosts all about the center for party favors, unlocks, and missions. The party doesn't end at the Ren Center, however: Each of the zone bosses drop anniversary gives as well. What are these party gifts you ask? Developers at Cyptic tell us that favors consist of the standard gift boxes, party bombs, and boosters, but new this year is the Noise Visualizer Device. This device sparks visual effects like "Pow!" and "Bam!" Plus, Cryptic continues giving gifts with DJ Madbot costume and Glitter Heroic Wear unlocks. The event is open to the whole Free-For-All community, so why not stop by? At least you can find out why it looks like that robot has a box for head and maybe get one for yourself.
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| Massively Speaking Episode 163 Posted: 31 Aug 2011 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Podcasts, Culture, Opinion, Massively meta, Humor, Massively Speaking  If you're interested in learning more about the Game Programming Instructor position Shawn has mentioned on previous episodes, check out the job listing or contact Shawn for more info. Have a comment for the podcasters? Shoot an email to shawn@massively.com. We may just read your email on the air! Get the podcast: [iTunes] Subscribe to Massively Speaking directly in iTunes. [RSS] Add Massively Speaking to your RSS aggregator. [MP3] Download the MP3 directly. Listen here on the page: Read below the cut for the full show notes.  Massively Speaking is the official podcast of Massively.com. Hosted by Editor-in-Chief Shawn Schuster and Community Manager Rubi Bayer, Massively Speaking takes on the week's biggest news and dev interviews with plenty of opinion, rants, and laughs thrown in for good measure. Join us every Wednesday afternoon to listen in and see what we'll say next!Continue reading Massively Speaking Episode 163
This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Mythos content update includes 23 new dungeons, skill tweaks Posted: 31 Aug 2011 03:30 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Patches, News items, Mythos, Free-to-play, Dungeons, Crafting  The isle is home to a horde of ravenous zombies and is the base of operations for two opposing queens. Their majesties Vyle and Neperta make their home on the fog-shrouded island, as do the denizens of 23 new dungeons ripe for the plucking by adventurers from across the realm. Oh yeah, that level cap, previously stuck on a piddling 51? It's been bumped to 55, the better for you to get a handle on some changes to cooldowns and the skill system whilst you're grinding your way through packs of monsters. Today's Mythos press release also alludes to a massive crafting system overhaul, but since it's a little light on the details where tradeskilling is concerned, you'll just have to log in and see for yourself. Alternatively, you could hit up the official website for more details.
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| Posted: 31 Aug 2011 03:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Galleries, Polls, Video, Culture, Events, in-game, Opinion, Choose My Adventure, RIFT  This being my second week in the game, I'm getting used to what it's all about. I've been able to close multiple rifts, and I've leveled up to 13. (I told you I didn't get to play as much as I wanted.) There is much I love about the game, and there are many things that turn me off. Most importantly, however, this week I encountered my first invasion of Freemarch. It took a bit for me to catch on to what was happening. I had thought it was just another rift opening up, but with a glance at my map, I quickly realized that this wasn't your everyday planar tear. Continue reading Choose My Adventure: Invasion
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| One Shots: Invisible horses are all the rage Posted: 31 Aug 2011 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Galleries, Screenshots, One Shots, RIFT  Most stealthy Rogues need to go on foot to slip through the shadows unnoticed, but this particular evening, my horse decided to join in the fun. Who needs to sneak up and stab someone when you could just trample him from behind instead?We're revisiting an old favorite of One Shots this week: bug week. Whether it's unwanted guests in cutscenes, funny graphic glitches, or a prank you played on a buddy, we want to see. Send your screenshots in to oneshots@massively.com and we'll feature them in next week's One Shots!
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| Enter at Your Own Rift: Finally 50 Posted: 31 Aug 2011 01:30 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Interviews, RIFT, Guides, Enter at Your Own Rift  In a way, being behind the curve is a blessing because others have gone before you and forged a path so that coming from behind is much easier. That said, I still felt overwhelmed when the final ding happened because my previously clear goals evaporated in a second. What do I do now? How do I gear up? What does one do at level 50, anyway? Fortunately, I'm part of a guild that's full of seasoned 50s, not to mention that I'm friends with plenty of bloggers who were 50 when I was still in diapers. Metaphorically speaking, of course. Ahem. So for this week's Enter at Your Own Rift, I posited them this question: What do you and should you do when you hit 50 in the game? They came back to me with excellent responses that I'm now going to share with you. PREPARE YOURSELF FOR IMMINENT KNOWLEDGE! Continue reading Enter at Your Own Rift: Finally 50
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| Free for All: The end of physical media Posted: 31 Aug 2011 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: Culture, Opinion, Humor, Free for All, Miscellaneous  One thing I am noticing is that I always snicker when I read websites that brag about included optical drives, which do me very little good but cost me more money. I rarely, if ever, use a CD or DVD burner. There's just no reason to. I can upload 20gb videos to my YouTube account and use services to send larger files. I rarely have a need even for that. Now that my wife and I have Pandora and Spotify, we don't even need to worry about physical libraries of music... it's streamed to us wirelessly. What does this lack of physical media mean for the free-to-play gaming world? Well, a lot. click past the cut and we'll discuss it. Continue reading Free for All: The end of physical media
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| A Mild-Mannered Reporter: PAXflop Posted: 31 Aug 2011 12:30 PM PDT Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Events, real-world, Expansions, MMO industry, Opinion, Massively meta, A Mild-Mannered Reporter  You know what was remarkably quiet, however? PAX Prime. OK, that's not true; there was a lot of interesting information to be seen on display over the course of the event, not the least of which being previews of WildStar, which only increased my enthusiasm for the title. But for me and my fellow City of Heroes fans, despite the game's staff's having a definite presence, there wasn't a whole lot to be said about the proceedings that I saw. (Admittedly, that may have something to do with the fact that, as mentioned, I'm kind of limited in my current ability to correspond with the outside world.) So what happened? When did City of Heroes fall off the radar? Continue reading A Mild-Mannered Reporter: PAXflop
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| Uncharted Waters Online adds shipbuilding Posted: 31 Aug 2011 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Patches, News items, Free-to-play, Crafting  Players may choose materials for the hull, sails, and gunport, and how the ingredients are combined will determine how durable the ships are (and, of course, how they fare on subsequent expeditions). New mechanics like steering proficiency "give players more control while sailing," according to a new press release, and players can also work towards a high wave resistance stat that will enable a ship to power through a storm or blizzard. Check out all the details at the official UWO website.
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| Lore-masters tune up their hogs to cruise the mean streets of Isengard Posted: 31 Aug 2011 11:30 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Classes, Expansions, Free-to-play  A Casual Stroll to Mordor reports on how the improved skills function in play. These include the ability to stack up to three Burning Embers DoTs on a target, the combination of two Signs of Battle powers into one Wizard's Fire, a nice 10% buff to pet damage through Sign of the wild: Rage, and a much more versatile Improved Staff Sweep. There's also word on the new Lore-master pet: a Limrafn. While Lore-masters were originally slated to receive an Auroch pet, apparently the common complaint about the pet's size ended up swaying Turbine's mind. The Limrafn is a floating ball of light that doesn't attack, but instead assists the Lore-master in the off-healing department. Lore-masters will also see one of their lesser-utilized trait lines -- Keeper of Animals -- given much love in the form of tempting abilities and buffs.
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| The slippery slope: Analysing the decline of World of Warcraft Posted: 31 Aug 2011 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, MMO industry  While Blizzard is pleased with the tune-up that Cataclysm provided to the landscape and questing, some players cite the erosion of difficulty and challenge as a reason for their leaving. Lead Systems Designer Greg Street acknowledges this, but says that the WoW team is in uncharted territory: "We just don't have a lot of examples of games that have lasted this long and been this popular for so long to show the right way to do it. I think coming up with new mechanics and new systems is relatively easy, the problem is integrating it with what we already have. World of Warcraft today is so much more complicated than it was when it launched six or seven years ago." Ultimately, it may come down to players becoming bored more quickly as Blizzard struggles to pump out content to keep their attention. UC Irvine's Thomas Debeauvais conducted a study of 2,865 WoW players across the world, and found that 75% of them had stopped playing the game for at least a month while still being subscribed to it. Blizzard says that it wants to provide faster content updates and continue to overhaul the game's mechanics and graphics to give the players a reason to stay.
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| PAX 2011: Hands-on with Firefall Posted: 31 Aug 2011 10:30 AM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Events, real-world, Game mechanics, Previews, News items, PvE, Opinion, Hands-on, MMOFPS, Massively Hands-on  There has been much talk about the upcoming title, with its status as one of the few forays into the MMO shooter space since PlanetSide and Global Agenda. There's also the small detail that the studio is headed up by former World of Warcraft Team Lead Mark Kern alongside a number of former Tribes series devs. So how is the game shaping up in preparation for its December launch? Jetpack your way past the cut to find out. Continue reading PAX 2011: Hands-on with Firefall
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