MMO Updates |
- The Game Archaeologist: A City of Heroes memorial, part 2
- WRUP: Front row at the zamboni championships edition
- The Daily Grind: Do you like one-time events?
- MMObility: Are Glitch's Feats smart design or mindless grind?
- Betawatch: October 27 - November 2, 2012
- Star Trek Online details Season 7 in the November State of the Game
- Teaming up with Hi-Rez for some Halloween SMITE
- World of Warplanes CEO sees market as the 'Wild West'
- The Elder Scrolls Online gets shiny concept art, bi-weekly Q&A
- Aventurine clarifies concerns about safe areas in Darkfall
- RIFT's Storm Legion beta open to all Trion account holders
- SWTOR uploads new companion HK-51's backstory
- CCP's DUST 514 will stay in closed beta into 2013
- Storyboard: Plotting concepts
- World of Tanks Veteran's Day tournaments will support veterans charities
| The Game Archaeologist: A City of Heroes memorial, part 2 Posted: 03 Nov 2012 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, Culture, Free-to-play, The Game Archaeologist  "I was there from the beginning when Cryptic was just 23 people working in a busted office and I was the only system designer. I made the player powers, archetypes and critters while the game was at Cryptic. The game has evolved tremendously since it left Cryptic... I was very sad to see CoH sold off, and now I am again saddened to see this wonderful piece of game history come to an end. "What was most rewarding was to see all those players log into Atlas Park. To see so many people just so happy with what we made was something impossible to put into words. Thank you, City of Heroes, for all the fond memories. And a special thank you to all the heroes that made me laugh and made me proud. You will be missed." Let's wrap up this memorial series by visiting the remainder of player-submitted superheroes and their stories. Continue reading The Game Archaeologist: A City of Heroes memorial, part 2
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| WRUP: Front row at the zamboni championships edition Posted: 03 Nov 2012 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Massively Meta, Miscellaneous  I mean, I'd say something to them, but they've already started. Driving a zamboni is hard work. I think. I've never actually driven a zamboni. Maybe if we're really nice to them they'll let us play around on the zambonis afterwards. Only we shouldn't say it like that, because then they'll think that we think zambonis are just toys. That's insulting to them and us. Look, let's just move on to WRUP for the moment. There we can all talk about our favorite memories from Massively's five years, and also discuss what we here at the Massively staff will be playing over the weekend. Once the zambonis are done, we can do the full anniversary thing. What does a zamboni championship actually entail, anyway? Continue reading WRUP: Front row at the zamboni championships edition
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| The Daily Grind: Do you like one-time events? Posted: 03 Nov 2012 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Events, in-game, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous  Having events that arrive but once certainly helps make the world feel dynamic and engaging, so there's a good reason to keep them going. On the other hand, if the events offer some unique vanity item, anyone who happens to miss out for real life reasons is just plain out of luck (which is exactly what happened to some Guild Wars 2 players in the path of Hurricane Sandy). It also can create a barrier to entry, as missing one event means you've suddenly been knocked out of the loop. So do you like one-time events? Do you want them tied to something specific, like an expansion release, or would you rather see them just brought out randomly or dropped altogether?  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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| MMObility: Are Glitch's Feats smart design or mindless grind? Posted: 02 Nov 2012 07:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Culture, Events, in-game, Game mechanics, Opinion, Free-to-play, Browser, Mobile, Casual, Humor, Kids, Family, Miscellaneous, MMObility, Crafting  Glitch has been mad about live events for a while, although developer Tiny Speck and the players might refer to them as something else. The example I want to talk about today is Glitch's Feats, great events that not only pull parameters from lore but give almost every player from every experience level something to do. Some see live events like Glitch's Feats as nothing more than excuses for overly passionate players to grind their way into virtual glory. While there is definitely some of that going on, I have to ask whether it's possible to have a live event that gives grinders something to shoot for while allowing casual players like yours truly something to do as well. We all want to feel included, and Feats do a pretty good job of that. Continue reading MMObility: Are Glitch's Feats smart design or mindless grind?
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| Betawatch: October 27 - November 2, 2012 Posted: 02 Nov 2012 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, MMO industry, News items, Betawatch, Miscellaneous  This having been said, there's still much afoot in the world of testing that didn't necessarily have a major update this week. Click on past the break to check out our full listing of active tests, and if you think we've missed anything, let us know down in the comments! Continue reading Betawatch: October 27 - November 2, 2012
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| Star Trek Online details Season 7 in the November State of the Game Posted: 02 Nov 2012 05:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Previews, Star Trek Online, Free-to-play, Races  After Season 6's introduction of the Fleet System, Season 7 aims to complement that feature with new missions and personal progression additions. As the New Romulus name might suggest, Season 7 will also revisit the Romulun storyline to help explain what happened to the warring race's homeland. After the big Winter Event coming in February, Stahl promises more details on Season 8 and "how it will begin to resolve some of the long standing issues surrounding the two factions within the game."
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| Teaming up with Hi-Rez for some Halloween SMITE Posted: 02 Nov 2012 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Events, in-game, PvP, Opinion, Free-to-play, Hands-on, First Impressions, MOBA  Although it's still in closed beta, SMITE currently boasts a surprisingly large playerbase with hundreds of thousands of players and a very unique twist on the MOBA style. If you're looking for more information or a way to try the game for yourself, read on! Continue reading Teaming up with Hi-Rez for some Halloween SMITE
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| World of Warplanes CEO sees market as the 'Wild West' Posted: 02 Nov 2012 03:00 PM PDT Filed under: Business models, Interviews, War, Free-to-play, World of Tanks, World of Warplanes  Admitting that World of Tanks "looked like crap" when it first launched, Kislyi said that the company worked hard to bring it up to par with the games of today, not of 2008. Wargaming.net has come to a point that it's not as concerned about raking in money. Kislyi noted that Japanese and Russian players were the most willing to spend money, while Chinese players tended to be more tight-fisted with funds. In regard to World of Warplanes, he talked about challenges of balancing fun, quick action with an accurate flight model. In fact, getting the controls right is the reason Wargaming.net is holding off from stating a release date: "We have two or three parallel control scheme groups developing their own variants. You need to make the controls perfect. You have to find the right balance between making the game historically accurate, and at the same time, fun."
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| The Elder Scrolls Online gets shiny concept art, bi-weekly Q&A Posted: 02 Nov 2012 02:30 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, News items, Community Q&A, Dev Diaries, The Elder Scrolls Online  Have you been searching for a way to represent your favorite fantastical faction? Put down the stencils and spray paint: The fine folks behind The Elder Scrolls Online have seen fit to provide you with Twitter and Facebook avatars representing the Ebonheart Pact and its constituent races. Bear the crest of the Pact, Argonians, Dark Elves, or Nords with pride! While you're at it, you might ogle the fancy concept art that accompanies the avatars. If the Ebonheart Pact isn't your fantasy consortium of choice, maybe you simply don't know enough about it. In that case, an upcoming Q&A about the Ebonheart Pact may be just the thing for you. The TESO dev team is starting a bi-weekly Ask Us Anything Q&A to address questions about the game and its development. Each of the Ask Us Anything sessions will focus on a specific topic, which the team requests you keep in mind while thinking up your "anything" to ask. For the inaugural Q&A, which will go up next week, you can ask whatever you like about the Ebonheart Pact. You can find more information on the official site or submit questions through the official Facebook page.
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| Aventurine clarifies concerns about safe areas in Darkfall Posted: 02 Nov 2012 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Darkfall, Game mechanics, PvP, News items, Sandbox  If there's one thing that carries across every game in every genre, it's that players excel at abusing systems. With that knowledge in mind, it's only reasonable to expect that certain fans of Darkfall expressed concerns when they were told about the no-PvP "safe zones" that will be part of the game's large-scale revamp to Darkfall Unholy Wars. Aventurine has taken the time to address some of those concerns. It "will not be possible" for people to exploit the border of no-PvP zones by switching in and out of safety as they please, because of the timer that kicks in upon entering and exiting the PvP zone. That timer controls whether or not a player is protected: Players will remain unprotected for a short while upon entering no-PvP zones and will stay protected for a short while upon exiting them. This protection prevents damage both to and from other players. Players will not be able to stay in protected areas to farm materials and skip the excitement of looking over their shoulders for a foe every time they pause to harvest a resource node. Safe zones will have relatively common resource and "next to no rare resources." The rarity and value of resources will go up depending on how dangerous the locale is, so players will have plenty of incentive to move away from safe zones. Get the full word on safe zones and how they're totally not going to be even a bit exploitable at all on the official forums.
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| RIFT's Storm Legion beta open to all Trion account holders Posted: 02 Nov 2012 01:30 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Events, in-game, News items  The time for RIFT's Storm Legion expansion is almost upon us. The expansion goes live for keeps on the 13th of November, but if that's too long to wait, you're in luck! The latest and greatest beta test is open to all Trion account holders. We're guessing you're probably one of those if you're interested in the RIFT expansion. The open beta test runs from 1:00 p.m. EDT on Friday the 2nd until 11:00 a.m. EST on Wednesday the 7th. All of the expansion's seven dungeons are available for testing, as are all the leveling zones and a battle with Crucia herself. Full details (and a link to download the beta client) can be found on the official beta page. What are you waiting for, hero?
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| SWTOR uploads new companion HK-51's backstory Posted: 02 Nov 2012 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Lore, Patches, Previews, Free-to-play, Star Wars: The Old Republic  Based off of Knights of the Old Republic's HK-47 (who is also in SWTOR), HK-51 is a more advanced droid assassin model that prizes "efficiency over brutality." While remarkably effective at killing, the HK-51s were all but destroyed. Only a single crashed ship carrying the remainder of their kind is reported missing on Belsavis. BioWare also mentions another starship that may have design blueprints for the droid, but it too is lost. The droid assassin will be obtainable in a new area on Belsavis that also comes with the update, although free players will need to purchase this content to gain access to the companion.
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| CCP's DUST 514 will stay in closed beta into 2013 Posted: 02 Nov 2012 12:30 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Sci-fi, EVE Online, Events, in-game, News items, Free-to-play, Consoles, MMOFPS, DUST 514  CCP's DUST 514, the console shooter that connects to and extends the scope of EVE Online, is staying in closed beta at least through the end of the year. During a recent media and developer play session, Chief Marketing Officer David Reid mentioned that while the team doesn't yet have a start date for open beta, he's "confident that it won't be much longer after year end." Reid stated that the team wants to take its time with the beta. Nobody has ever really attempted this sort of connection between a console game and long-standing PC MMO before, and Reid says that the testing process will take time to ensure the kind of quality that CCP and fans expect of the game. This is, of course, terrible news for anyone who isn't a PlayStation Plus member (and is therefore unable to access the closed beta), since we all know that the world is going to end in late December. CCP's belief that the world will persist long enough for DUST 514 to go into open beta is noble, if ultimately foolish.
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| Posted: 02 Nov 2012 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Culture, Opinion, Roleplaying, Storyboard, Miscellaneous  Stated more simply -- plotting out your character in detail or not plotting your character out in enough detail are both equally detrimental to your roleplaying. Ever since I've been writing this column, I've been trying to develop a good way to actually handle this issue, and a fairly recent post from Websnark actually kicked me down a new path. For ease of reference, I'm calling it plotting by concept. I can't say that it works perfectly forever and ever, but it's been producing good results for a while, so I'm just going to outline how it works in the hopes that other people can find it useful too. Continue reading Storyboard: Plotting concepts
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| World of Tanks Veteran's Day tournaments will support veterans charities Posted: 02 Nov 2012 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: Events, real-world, MMO industry, News items, War, Free-to-play, World of Tanks, MOBA  But folks logging into the game will do more than just fill the coffers of a few tournament winners, they will also directly influence the amount donated to five different veteran-focused charitable organizations. Wargaming.net will take the number of concurrent users at its peak and convert it to a cash donation, splitting the amount between the organizations. One note: All tournaments will be run concurrently, so teams can only sign up for one of the three. For full details or to sign up, visit the official Veteran's Challenge announcement. [Thanks to RMS_Gigantic for the tip!]
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