MMO Updates

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• Camelot Unchained's Jacobs: 'This is the wrong time to be safe'
• The Think Tank: What is the one MMO mechanic or feature you can't live without?
• Pathfinder's Hammock talks PvP behavioral incentives
• Neverwinter's Cloak Tower: A photo essay
• The Daily Grind: Which MMO has the best guild management tools?
• GW2's Flame & Frost: The Gathering Storm coming February 26
• Free for All: How to survive an attack in your favorite MMORTS
• MMO Family: Failure isn't just an option; it's a requirement
• MapleStory celebrates the magic of marriage and subsequent divorce
• Sony officially announces SOE Live 2013
• City of Steam fires up the Colossus
• Neverwinter gets ready for beta with a snazzy new trailer
• Star Citizen's death mechanics to create 'a sense of mortality and history'
• Massively Exclusive: Check out these sweet Blacklight: Retribution screenshots
• Choose My Adventure: Learning the ropes in A Tale in the Desert

Camelot Unchained's Jacobs: 'This is the wrong time to be safe' Posted: 07 Feb 2013 09:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Game mechanics, MMO industry, New titles, PvP, News items, Crowdfunding It's been a big week for fans of three-faction PvP, RvR, and Mark Jacobs. Development on Camelot Unchained is in full swing, and City State Entertainment has released a new dev blog that touches on one of the game's foundational principles. Jacobs is pretty blunt in his assessment of the current MMORPG landscape and his desire to see Camelot Unchained move away from it. "I don't really care if MMORPGs have been evolving in a certain direction whether over the last five years or fifteen years," Jacobs writes. "All I and the team care about is what will make this game great, and that will mean taking chances with the game's design and again, being willing to piss some people off." In terms of specifics, Jacobs says he's not opposed to putting in "some features that some people might not consider fun (like true day/night cycle, slower and different leveling systems, extremely limited fast travel, no PvE leveling/gear grind) because I believe that will make this a better game for our niche." He also says that he'll go into further detail regarding Unchained's risks and potential rewards over the next few weeks. Camelot Unchained's Jacobs: 'This is the wrong time to be safe' originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 07 Feb 2013 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Dev blog

The Think Tank: What is the one MMO mechanic or feature you can't live without? Posted: 07 Feb 2013 08:00 AM PST Filed under: Game mechanics, MMO industry, Opinion, Massively Meta, Miscellaneous, The Think Tank Your most popular MMOs usually share some type of common denominator. Whether that's a familiar UI, a skill tree that makes sense, or a cast of classes involving the holy trinity, it's safe to say that many MMOs are very similar. But in recent years, developers have been stretching their creativity bones to invent new ways to play a roleplaying game online with lots and lots of people. Some of these innovations have worked; some have not. This often leads us to yearn for the old familiar features and mechanics we fall back on as a security blanket of sorts. What does the Massively staff see as the most important MMO feature or mechanic? Read along after the cut to find out, and be sure to let us know your own opinion in the comments below. Continue reading The Think Tank: What is the one MMO mechanic or feature you can't live without? The Think Tank: What is the one MMO mechanic or feature you can't live without? originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 07 Feb 2013 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Pathfinder's Hammock talks PvP behavioral incentives Posted: 07 Feb 2013 07:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Game mechanics, MMO industry, New titles, PvP, News items Curious about how PvP is going to work in Pathfinder Online? You're not alone, as it's something of a hot topic in the game's community according to the latest Goblinworks blog post. Lead designer Lee Hammock walks us through the team's current thought process which includes player identification through alignment, nods to the Pathfinder pen-and-paper roleplaying game, and behavioral incentives. It's this last bit that's most informative in terms of sussing out what sort of game Pathfinder Online wants to be. Hammock lists large PvP wars, attacker flags, and discouraging mechanics like bounties, death curses, and reputation loss as desirable behaviors. Pathfinder's Hammock talks PvP behavioral incentives originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 07 Feb 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Dev blog

Neverwinter's Cloak Tower: A photo essay Posted: 07 Feb 2013 06:00 AM PST Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Previews, Free-to-play, Hands-on, First Impressions, Dungeons, Neverwinter We've seen a lot of clock towers in MMOs, but I have to say that Neverwinter's Cloak Tower was a first for me. We got an up-close and personal look at this low-level instance at a recent press tour, and the first question on my mind was, why cloaks? The backstory of the tower explains it: Apparently, it used to be home to a guild of mages who were famous for their fabulous cloaks. They disappeared, the tower moved location, and Orcs decided to move in and redecorate. Now it was up to us to head inside and clean house. Having only logged into the game for the first time yesterday literally minutes before being artificially raised to level 10 and given a handful of skills and abilities that were foreign to me, I did my best as our group charged into the place and started button-mashing like mad. What follows is a photo essay I've put together of my enchanting time among the magical cloaks and evil Orcs. Continue reading Neverwinter's Cloak Tower: A photo essay Neverwinter's Cloak Tower: A photo essay originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 07 Feb 2013 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Daily Grind: Which MMO has the best guild management tools? Posted: 07 Feb 2013 05:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, EverQuest II, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Opinion, Free-to-play, The Daily Grind So the Massively staff was chatting up our experiences in Neverwinter's beta yesterday afternoon. Someone remarked that the title's guild tools seemed more robust than usual, which got my attention since the lack of guild tools in every MMO not named EverQuest II is one of my long-standing genre pet peeves. Seriously, you devs out there should just copy EQII's guild interface, options, and associated functionality across the board. Every time I create or join a guild in another game it leads to a gigantic frowny face as I realize how limited my options are for tracking membership, achievements, alts, and a dozen other niceties. But this Daily Grind isn't about my guild tool preferences, it's about yours. Which MMO boasts your favorite set of guild tools 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: Which MMO has the best guild management tools? originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 07 Feb 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

GW2's Flame & Frost: The Gathering Storm coming February 26 Posted: 06 Feb 2013 05:15 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Patches, PvP, News items, Guild Wars 2 The second installment in Guild Wars 2's Flame and Frost content extravaganza has been dated. That date is February 26th, and you can expect to see a new PvP map called Spirit Watch as well as new guild missions and merits. There's also a new type of competitive PvP in the wings, and it involves two teams of "equal average rating" duking it out in quick matches with ratings and bragging rights on the line. More details are yours on the official GW2 website. [Thanks to Pete for the tip!] GW2's Flame & Frost: The Gathering Storm coming February 26 originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 06 Feb 2013 20:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Announcement

Free for All: How to survive an attack in your favorite MMORTS Posted: 06 Feb 2013 05:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Culture, Game mechanics, PvP, Opinion, War, Free-to-play, Browser, Casual, MMORTS, Free for All, Sandbox You know what I love about the MMORTS? It's the massive scale of everything involved. But it's not as though you are hand-crafting every single siege engine or raising armies of monsters one baddie at a time; that would simply take too long. The MMORTS is really a casual genre that is equal to playing with your action figures on a Saturday afternoon when you were nine years old. Don't let its casual nature fool you; just like those battles between plastic toys, the wars that can happen in your favorite MMORTS can suck you in and keep you glued to the screen for hours. It's going to happen to you at some point. Some bigshot is going to send a round of spies, estimate that you're easy pickings, and throw a fresh batch of hurt your way. What do you do? The good news is that it can be a thrilling experience almost every time if you follow a few basic guidelines. Continue reading Free for All: How to survive an attack in your favorite MMORTS Free for All: How to survive an attack in your favorite MMORTS originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 06 Feb 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

MMO Family: Failure isn't just an option; it's a requirement Posted: 06 Feb 2013 04:00 PM PST Filed under: Culture, Opinion, Kids, MMO Family, Family, Miscellaneous The other day, I stumbled on an interview of author Paul Tough, who wrote the book called How Children Succeed. He stressed the importance of building grit, curiosity, and character in our children as they grown and learn. In addition, he emphasized the need to let our kids fail as they grow. In an age of helicopter parents and trophies for all, his message is simple but uncommon. It's not unusual to hear people debate whether children are getting soft because of the need to protect them from failure. Could video games actually be the answer? This week, let's look at the topic of failure to see whether it might be more than an option -- it might be a requirement. Continue reading MMO Family: Failure isn't just an option; it's a requirement MMO Family: Failure isn't just an option; it's a requirement originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 06 Feb 2013 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

MapleStory celebrates the magic of marriage and subsequent divorce Posted: 06 Feb 2013 03:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Video, MapleStory, Culture, News items, Free-to-play, Humor Valentine's Day is nearly here, and the best way to celebrate it is to have your pixelated avatar pretend to marry someone else's pixelated avatar. MapleStory allows you to do just that, and the game has thus far had around 28,000 couples tie the knot in-game. It's also seen 15,000 of those couples subsequently divorce, which seems like a staggering number when you realize that the game does not offer any systems to model the crumbling of your emotional bonds and the slow desertion of your childhood dreams. As it turns out, the staff at Nexon keeps track of a lot of interesting little tidbits about the marriage system. The longest marriage in the game is at 1,100 days; the shortest one clocks in at just three seconds. The average isn't too bad at 518 days, but couples that both married and divorced in 2012 wound up with an average run of 107 days. And some poor soul is already on marriage number 13, which implies Larry King-like devotions to remarriage. If you're looking at all of those stats and thinking that you can't say no, check out the wedding trailer past the break. [Source: Nexon press release] Gallery: MapleStory Continue reading MapleStory celebrates the magic of marriage and subsequent divorce MapleStory celebrates the magic of marriage and subsequent divorce originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 06 Feb 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Sony officially announces SOE Live 2013 Posted: 06 Feb 2013 02:00 PM PST Filed under: EverQuest, EverQuest II, PlanetSide, Events, real-world, Vanguard, Free Realms, DC Universe Online, EverQuest Next, Miscellaneous, PlanetSide 2, Wizardry Online While we've known that SOE Live was moving location and dates this year to Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas from August 1st through the 4th, we now have official confirmation from the studio itself. SOE Head of Global Relations Linda Carlson drafted up an accompanying post about the upcoming convention that includes several pictures from previous years. "We're all gamers too," she writes, "and can hardly wait to hang out with you again! Everyone at the company LOVES going to SOE Live, the one event each that focuses solely on our players. We have everything in common!" Carlson explained that the change in venue was made for several reasons, primarily to keep costs down, have more flexible meeting space, and experience better air quality. She confirmed that, as in previous years, kids will get in free to the event. Sony officially announces SOE Live 2013 originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 06 Feb 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Official announcement, Brasse's post

City of Steam fires up the Colossus Posted: 06 Feb 2013 01:00 PM PST Filed under: Betas, Sci-fi, Lore, Browser, Humor, City of Steam There appears to be no shortage of interesting sights and sounds to experience in City of Steam, although one particular landmark looms above the rest. It's the Colossus, a slumbering defensive... thing that rests in the city proper, and Mechanist Games has an amusing post giving a bit of backstory to the machine. Apparently the Colossus was created a long time ago as a giant mobile fortress tasked with protecting the city in times of dire peril. As the city is more or less at peace, the Colossus is in stand-by mode -- although it could be woken at any moment. This mega-sized robot features cannons and an arm that's good for punchin' and aught else. The devs revealed that originally it had several more limbs, but revisions turned it into a walking fort instead. City of Steam fires up the Colossus originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 06 Feb 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Colossus dev diary

Neverwinter gets ready for beta with a snazzy new trailer Posted: 06 Feb 2013 12:00 PM PST Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Trailers, Video, News items, Neverwinter Neverwinter's first beta weekend is almost upon us! From February 8th to the 10th, North American and European players will have their first chance to sink their claws into the game. Players who purchased the Founder's Pack or Guardian of Neverwinter Founder's Pack will have guaranteed access to all three beta weekends; the rest of you peons can take your chances by signing up the old fashioned way. If you find yourself in the beta, you'll be able to play as a Trickster Rogue, Devoted Cleric, or a Guardian Fighter and have access to content up to level 30. Don't forget to take your companion and mount quests at levels 16 and 20, respectively. You can kill the time until the beta's start by watching the game's new CG trailer. A (conveniently well-balanced) team of hardy heroes faces off against a dragon and an undead horde. Will they make it? You'll have to skip below the cut to find out. CG trailers not good enough? Join us at 4:00 EST today as we stream the press beta live! Continue reading Neverwinter gets ready for beta with a snazzy new trailer Neverwinter gets ready for beta with a snazzy new trailer originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 06 Feb 2013 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Star Citizen's death mechanics to create 'a sense of mortality and history' Posted: 06 Feb 2013 11:00 AM PST Filed under: Sci-fi, Game mechanics, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Sandbox Chris Roberts has revealed the death mechanic for his upcoming Star Citizen sandbox. In a lengthy missive on the game's official site, he outlines his plans for "a universe where time progresses, characters die, and new ones come to the front." He also talks at length about the the sense of accomplishment that's missing from games that let you save every five seconds. As such, the single-player portion of SC known as Squadron 42 will function much like Roberts' old Wing Commander and Privateer games in terms of death (i.e., you'll need to survive and complete missions, with no mid-mission saving, to advance). The persistent version of Star Citizen calls for a different approach, though. Roberts acknowledges the immortal pod pilot lore and mechanics of EVE Online, calling CCP's method "clever" but ultimately saying that he's "not interested in making EVE 2.0 with cockpits." He stops short of calling SC's mechanic permadeath, but he does note that every "death" will affect your avatar. "Eventually, after too many deaths, your character's body will just give out," he explains, "and instead of waking up in a med bay, you'll be attending the funeral of your fallen character from the eyes of the beneficiary you specified when originally creating your character." There's much more to it, of course, including plenty of "death" examples and a FAQ, but you'll need to read Roberts' full blog entry for further details. [Thanks to Eric for the tip!] Star Citizen's death mechanics to create 'a sense of mortality and history' originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 06 Feb 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Death of a Spaceman

Massively Exclusive: Check out these sweet Blacklight: Retribution screenshots Posted: 06 Feb 2013 10:30 AM PST Filed under: Sci-fi, Galleries, Screenshots, Events, in-game, Patches, News items, Free-to-play, MMOFPS Blacklight: Retribution is getting its "largest update ever" soon. What better way to whet your appetite than with some tantalizing screenshots of two upcoming maps? Welcome to Safehold and Metro, agents! The Metro map is set underneath the ruined cityscape, bringing players into the old subway system to go mano-a-mano with the enemy. Above ground, the Safehold features an open plaza and its surrounding buildings. Get a taste of the new maps in the gallery below. Gallery: Massively Exlusive: Blacklight Retribution [Source: Perfect World press release] Massively Exclusive: Check out these sweet Blacklight: Retribution screenshots originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 06 Feb 2013 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Choose My Adventure: Learning the ropes in A Tale in the Desert Posted: 06 Feb 2013 10:00 AM PST Filed under: Historical, Polls, A Tale in the Desert, Opinion, Hands-on, Choose My Adventure, Sandbox So there I was, running through the desert on a personal crusade to find a far away pyramid. I heard that it granted an automatic free level, and who wouldn't want that? The only question was whether I'd run out of interest before I reached it because travel in A Tale in the Desert is challenging, to say the least. I really like the world of ATITD so far, and yet there are things about it that really make me grumpy. And it's usually the things I like the most about the game that also cause me grief. While I failed to find that pyramid, I did learn quite a bit this past week in game. Continue reading Choose My Adventure: Learning the ropes in A Tale in the Desert Choose My Adventure: Learning the ropes in A Tale in the Desert originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 06 Feb 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

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