MMO Updates |
- Is this our first glimpse of SOE's revamped EverQuest Next?
- The Summoner's Guidebook: Cleaning up after your LoL messes
- A Mild-Mannered Reporter Extra: Interviews with Champions Online and The Phoenix Project
- B2P boosts The Secret World sales by 30%, Funcom still restructuring
- EVE now lets you nuke entire DUST 514 sites from orbit
- The Daily Grind: Will you play TERA when it's free?
- Enter at Your Own Rift: The burden of leveling
- Pathfinder Online unveils 'Environment Experience'
- Choose My Adventure: Farewell, SWTOR
- Archlord combines Zian and Gracia servers
- A star is born as Hercules makes his SMITE debut
- WildStar tester talks about his experiences
- DarkCryo clarifies Fox's 'well wishes' for Firefly Universe Online, dispels hoax allegations
- The Defiance MMO gets a trailer, too
- Massively Interview: Dr. Lawrence Sanders on MMO loyalty
- City of Steam focuses on improvements for open beta
- Trion tackles holiday RIFT botters
- Marvel Heroes introduces Founders Program in preparation of spring 2013 launch
- Infographic offers noobs a summary of the US MMO industry
- Free for All: Preparing for battle in Alliance Warfare
| Is this our first glimpse of SOE's revamped EverQuest Next? Posted: 10 Jan 2013 09:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Screenshots, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Rumors, EverQuest Next, Sandbox  Sony Online Entertainment originally teased some heavily stylized in-game assets over two years ago, but since then the company has announced that its next EverQuest title has been blown up and re-designed as a sandbox. We don't know if this includes an artistic revamp as well, but we do know that the game will make use of the same proprietary Forgelight engine that powers PlanetSide 2. Have a look at the full-size leaked image after the cut. Continue reading Is this our first glimpse of SOE's revamped EverQuest Next?
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| The Summoner's Guidebook: Cleaning up after your LoL messes Posted: 10 Jan 2013 08:00 AM PST Filed under: PvP, Opinion, Free-to-play, Guides, MOBA, League of Legends, The Summoner's Guidebook  As a fight winds down, wounded players begin to disengage in order to lick their wounds. Some characters just want to pull out early to wait out cooldowns, while in other cases it's purely a matter of health. Sometimes a player will get zoned out of a fight so far that she cannot contribute meaningfully to the teamfight at large. At this point, tough decisions start to crop up. Do you split off and give chase, taking away a large chunk of health from your team to secure the kill? Or do you allow the enemy to get away, giving away potential gold and/or allowing the enemy team a chance to come back? This decision is a non-question for a lot of players, but we should really be thinking about it when we are fighting. There are a lot of questions we should be asking ourselves before we drop out of a fight to chase, but all too often our eyes get filled with the sight of blood and everything else vanishes. I know you can do a little better than that. Continue reading The Summoner's Guidebook: Cleaning up after your LoL messes
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| A Mild-Mannered Reporter Extra: Interviews with Champions Online and The Phoenix Project Posted: 10 Jan 2013 07:00 AM PST Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, Culture, Interviews, MMO industry, Massively Interviews, Champions Online, A Mild-Mannered Reporter  We've already seen two projects coming from the ashes of CoH; The Phoenix Project and Heroes and Villains are both currently being assembled by passionate fans of the now-departed game. But we'd be remiss if we failed to note the impact that the game's closure has had on existing games like Champions Online and DC Universe Online. Rather than just speculating on any of this, we decided to just ask. So today you've got two interviews. One is with Brad Stokan, Executive Producer at Cryptic Studios, about how the City of Heroes shutdown has affected Champions Online and the studio that helped bring the game to life in the first place. The other is with the lead staff at Missing Worlds Media, the team behind The Phoenix Project. So let's take a look behind the scenes, yes?
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| B2P boosts The Secret World sales by 30%, Funcom still restructuring Posted: 10 Jan 2013 06:30 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Horror, Business models, MMO industry, News items, The Secret World  Funcom also says that "player activity levels" have increased by a whopping 400 per cent "as original players have returned joined by thousands of new players." Finally, the release mentions further restructuring plans for the company which "involve cost reductions through the closure and the consolidation of offices with the goal of creating a stronger unified organization." Funcom says that details will be available upon completion of the process. [Thanks to David for the tip.]
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| EVE now lets you nuke entire DUST 514 sites from orbit Posted: 10 Jan 2013 06:00 AM PST Filed under: Betas, Sci-fi, EVE Online, Game mechanics, MMO industry, New titles, PvP, News items, Free-to-play, DUST 514, Sandbox  As it turns out, ground forces can't fire back just yet, but it's also not possible for EVE pilots to hop from planet to planet sowing wanton destruction in their wake. Orbital strikes must be requested by DUST 514 players. After the request is made, any EVE pilot allied with the relevant militia and possessing the appropriate tactical ammo may answer the call. There's much more to it than that, of course, and the EVE wiki has all the specifics.
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| The Daily Grind: Will you play TERA when it's free? Posted: 10 Jan 2013 05:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Business models, MMO industry, Opinion, Free-to-play, The Daily Grind, TERA  At launch, I enjoyed it to a degree, but for whatever reason it didn't sustain my interest past the free month that came with my collector's edition. I'm tempted to pick it up again now, though, but my flirtation has less to do with the business model and more to do with being re-exposed to the game's gorgeous visuals via the new trailer. What about you, Massively readers? Will you play TERA next month after the F2P conversion, and if so, is the business model the main reason 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!
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| Enter at Your Own Rift: The burden of leveling Posted: 09 Jan 2013 05:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Expansions, Opinion, RIFT, Enter at Your Own Rift  For some of you, this may be moot. You might already be level 60, have multiple 60s, or have been 60 since the day after Storm Legion came out. For others who aren't even level 50 yet, the expansion might sound a bit intimidating because of the hefty XP requirements to move that level marker up one number. In any case, I think that a good number of us can agree that it's definitely a slow process that detracted from rather than added to the experience of Storm Legion. I've got several thoughts about how leveling in RIFT has become a burden instead of a blessing, how Trion is reshaping the XP game, and what this might portend for the future of the title. Continue reading Enter at Your Own Rift: The burden of leveling
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| Pathfinder Online unveils 'Environment Experience' Posted: 09 Jan 2013 04:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, News items, Sandbox  Pathfinder Online's Kickstarter campaign continues ever onward, but it will soon be drawing to a close. The Goblinworks title has received pledges totaling $671,765 of its whopping $1,000,000 goal. If you're on the fence trying to decide whether or not to pledge to the campaign, Goblinworks' latest treat might be enough to knock you off of it (one way or another). Fans can now access a nifty tool that will allow them to traipse about the environment from the game's tech demo. It runs right in your browser courtesy of Unity, so it's definitely worth at least a quick look. There is, as you may have guessed, no actual gameplay in this little demo-land; it's just you, the movement keys, and a small chunk of the Pathfinder Online world. If you wanna poke around for yourself, you can find the demo at the source link below.
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| Choose My Adventure: Farewell, SWTOR Posted: 09 Jan 2013 03:00 PM PST Filed under: Sci-fi, Opinion, Free-to-play, Hands-on, Roleplaying, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Choose My Adventure  Last week, you chose for me to hang on to Kaliyo and not be guided strictly by light or dark side choices. Those choices helped mold the ending to my character's story in a rather interesting way. Follow along after the cut for how the story of Xel'es will end, followed by my brief impressions of the first 20 levels and where I'll go from here. Continue reading Choose My Adventure: Farewell, SWTOR
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| Archlord combines Zian and Gracia servers Posted: 09 Jan 2013 02:30 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Events, in-game, Game mechanics, News items, Free-to-play  The world of Chantra is about to get a lot cozier: Archlord will undergo a server consolidation on January 30th that will combine the Gracia and Zian servers. Gracia characters that have been accessed since July 1st, 2012, will be merged without any transfer requests, but players are encouraged to check the eligibility of their character transfers. Prior to the merge (and ensuing epic battles), players will be supported with free cash shop items and will be able to celebrate the combination with "various events." The first Archlord (and guild members) after the consolidation will be rewarded with unique items. [Source: Webzen press release]
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| A star is born as Hercules makes his SMITE debut Posted: 09 Jan 2013 02:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Trailers, Video, Patches, News items, Free-to-play, MOBA  Hi-Rez Studios' SMITE is going the distance with its newest playable god. Players can now go from zero to hero by slipping into the sandals of everyone's favorite super-strong demi-god, Hercules! Good ol' Herc fills the role of token berserker in SMITE with an ability that causes his attacks to gain strength as his health gets lower. Hercules's titanic strength also lends itself to a number of abilities that help him to gain control of the battlefield. He can drive enemies back with a ferocious charging strike or knock them into the air with a mighty earthquake. And if Hercules is his team's one last hope, he can use his ultimate attack to hurl a gargantuan boulder at his opponents. If you want to see the man who puts the "glad" in "gladiator" in action, head on past the cut for Herc's big reveal trailer. [Source: Hi-Rez Studios press release] Continue reading A star is born as Hercules makes his SMITE debut
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| WildStar tester talks about his experiences Posted: 09 Jan 2013 01:30 PM PST Filed under: Betas, Sci-fi, Game mechanics, News items, Community Q&A, WildStar  Don't worry, this isn't some hideous NDA breach -- it's this week's WildStar Wednesday! Way back in the long-lost time that was known as 2012, WildStar fans were asked to submit questions for Friends & Family testers. This week we've been treated to part one of the responses to those questions, courtesy of one intrepid tester. The anonymous tester says that his favorite part of the game so far has been "delving into the mystery that is Nexus," while his least enjoyable experience has been on the Settler path. He's finding the double jump feature challenging due to its general finickiness. According to this tester, while mobs' telegraphs will tell you where you need to not be standing, knowing the best response to telegraphs comes with fighting the creatures and getting to understand them. When asked about any one thing he would like to see improved, Tester Man called out the map interface. "In a world where space travel is possible, control on what and when you see things on a map should be a given."
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| DarkCryo clarifies Fox's 'well wishes' for Firefly Universe Online, dispels hoax allegations Posted: 09 Jan 2013 01:00 PM PST Filed under: Sci-fi, MMO industry, News items, Legal, Sandbox, Crowdfunding  Not too long ago, we told you about how Firefly Universe Online, a project by DarkCryo, was kicking things back into gear after receiving Fox Entertainments "well wishes." Shortly after that, rumors that the news was a hoax started circulating. DarkCryo has clarified the whole issue, however, which will hopefully put those rumors to rest. FUO was scheduled for a Kickstarter campaign in the not-too-distant future, which "may have to be postponed indefinitely" in response to the recent drama. If that Kickstarter secures funding in a timely manner, DarkCryo will be aiming for an alpha release in winter of 2013.
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| The Defiance MMO gets a trailer, too Posted: 09 Jan 2013 12:30 PM PST Filed under: Betas, Sci-fi, Trailers, Video, News items, Defiance  Trailers aren't just for TV shows, no sirree. Syfy's TV show Defiance got a new trailer today, but the fun doesn't stop there! Trion Worlds' video game Defiance got a trailer all of its own -- and it's pretty shiny, if we do say so ourselves. It may not have that fancy "plot" and "dialogue" stuff like the TV trailer, but it does have a lot of explosions, some truly gnarly lookin' monsters, and a bit of time warping and Inception horning. The trailer also includes a call for interested players to enlist for the game's first beta test (which you can do at the new official site). Skip below the cut to see all the action with your own two eyes. Or however many eyes you have. [Source: Trion Worlds press release] Continue reading The Defiance MMO gets a trailer, too
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| Massively Interview: Dr. Lawrence Sanders on MMO loyalty Posted: 09 Jan 2013 12:00 PM PST Filed under: Sci-fi, Aion, EVE Online, Lineage, Lineage 2, MMO industry, Free-to-play, The Secret World, Casual, Virtual worlds, Massively Interviews, World of Tanks, TERA, Miscellaneous, PlanetSide 2, Age of Wushu  Even the non-gaming world is getting in on the fray. Back in November, researchers at the University at Buffalo School of Management published a study tracing the roots of player loyalties in a variety of MMO environments. The study outlined the mentalities of MMO gamers and the things that successfully encouraged them to keep coming back for more looting, more grinding, and more /hugging. Most importantly, the study declared that an MMO that increases loyalty by just 5% can increase profits by 25-95%. We sat down with Dr. Lawrence Sanders, co-author of the study, to dive a little deeper into the researchers' methods, results, and plans for future MMO investigation. Continue reading Massively Interview: Dr. Lawrence Sanders on MMO loyalty
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| City of Steam focuses on improvements for open beta Posted: 09 Jan 2013 11:30 AM PST Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Sci-fi, Free-to-play, Dev Diaries  Lindsay delivers a substantial list of improvements and additions for the next version of the game in a short letter on the official site. Among these chances include a smoother difficulty curve, easier-to-understand stats, a broader training regimen, better UI tools for quests, and a whole lot of polishing. Then there are some yet-to-be-named surprises: "Of course, we will continue to raise the bar for browser games all-over the world. New features will definitely be in there to dazzle and jaw-drop. You ain't never seen a browser game like this!"
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| Trion tackles holiday RIFT botters Posted: 09 Jan 2013 11:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Bugs, Legal, RIFT  "As of today, we've already shut down a few thousand accounts over the recent rise in fishing botting, and we've begun removing gains from others in places of extreme bot use. A good number of these botters were brought in, as is often the case, on stolen credit cards and fraudulent RIFT purchases," the development team wrote. The studio said that while the situation is being dealt with, disabled gamers who use keyboard-assistance software are advised not to use these programs (but aren't forbidden from doing so, either). Trion has plans for "a more creative content solution" for the botting issue that will come in the future.
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| Marvel Heroes introduces Founders Program in preparation of spring 2013 launch Posted: 09 Jan 2013 10:30 AM PST Filed under: Betas, Super-hero, Galleries, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Free-to-play, Marvel Heroes, Promotions  This Founders Program offers three tiers for purchase. Fans can choose the starter pack with one hero of their choice for $19.99 USD, the premium pack with a team of four preselected heroes for $59.99, or the ultimate pack that includes all heroes and all costumes for $199.99. Each pack also includes XP boosts, item-find boosts, in-game currency, and early access time, although the specific amounts vary per tier. For more details and a look at all the different costumes available, including newly announced outfits and exclusive ones, check out the gallery below. [Source: Gazillion Entertainment press release]
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| Infographic offers noobs a summary of the US MMO industry Posted: 09 Jan 2013 10:00 AM PST Filed under: MMO industry, News items  With a mini lexicon, a code of conduct, and even a list of ingredients for making your own MMO mingled among statistics, the partly tongue-in-cheek collection offers gamers and non-gamers alike a look at the industry in the US. What percentage of gamers is male vs. female? And what age group dominates the playerbase? Both of these questions and more can be answered in the full infographic after the break. Check it out, then tell us in the comments below what you think of the various points. Do you agree? [Source PoetCode infographic] Continue reading Infographic offers noobs a summary of the US MMO industry
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| Free for All: Preparing for battle in Alliance Warfare Posted: 09 Jan 2013 09:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Game mechanics, Previews, PvP, PvE, Opinion, War, Free-to-play, Browser, Mobile, Casual, MMORTS, Free for All  There are a lot of reasons the MMORTS is so common, number one being ease of delivery. After all, the gameplay in an MMORTS is more MMO-like than most MMOs out there, thanks to layers of persistence. Creating a series of barely animated images has to be much easier than creating an entire 3-D world; surely that has something to do with the spread of the genre. I played yet another one over the last several days, this time Alliance Warfare. Is it different? Does it just simply repeat the same designs and mechanics from every other MMORTS? Well, yes and no. Continue reading Free for All: Preparing for battle in Alliance Warfare
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