MMO Updates

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• Choose My Adventure: On autopilot in World of Warcraft
• One Shots: The last superhero
• The Daily Grind: Why should I play your favorite MMO?
• The Stream Team: Frostfell fun in EverQuest II
• Jukebox Heroes: WildStar features the MMO soundtrack of the year
• Massively Speaking Episode 326: Mailbag cleanup
• The Stream Team: On to Gorgrond in World of Warcraft
• The Soapbox: Better models for MMO endgame progression, part two
• New studio ArtCraft creating MMO with 'real skill, real risk, and real consequence'

Choose My Adventure: On autopilot in World of Warcraft Posted: 24 Dec 2014 09:00 AM PST Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Polls, Expansions, New Titles, PvE, Hands-On, Choose My Adventure, Subscription, MMORPG Life as a shadow Priest in World of Warcraft is pretty mellow. Mostly you bounce around from quest to quest and enemy to enemy, ticking off objectives by murdering orcs with dark magic and scaring everyone with your spooky shadow face. It's not a career path I'd recommend for your average citizen, but if you're looking to become an instigator in the clan wars of Warlords of Draenor, there are worse paths to take. We accomplished quite a bit this week in Choose My Adventure. Our Blood Elf Priest gained a couple of levels, DPSed his very first Warlords of Draenor dungeon, and completed the Frostfire Ridge set of story quests. And while it's all been very, very good, I'm still having a hard time connecting to this latest World of Warcraft expansion. Continue reading Choose My Adventure: On autopilot in World of Warcraft Choose My Adventure: On autopilot in World of Warcraft originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 24 Dec 2014 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

One Shots: The last superhero Posted: 24 Dec 2014 07:00 AM PST Filed under: Screenshots, City of Heroes, Culture, One Shots, Miscellaneous I've been holding onto this screenshot for the better part of the year for a time when the world entire would need a jolt of City of Heroes to get it through the next day. I think that today is that day. Behold! A superhero! Reader Michelle said that she was still traumatized by the game shutting down: "This particular screenie was of my last 50. He was a Fire Armor/Electric Melee tank named Demolition Companion. He was a clockwork that the Resistance attempted to reprogram but didn't complete, so he was broken (hence why he was on fire all the time) and very, very dangerous. In this shot he's standing in the sewers ready to wipe out some Resistance scum. (He was one of my only Loyalists.) I wish I'd gotten to RP him more." Want to be featured in a future edition of One Shots? Send your favorite MMO screenshots to oneshots@massively.com, and don't forget to include your name, the name of the game, and a description of the scene. Large, colorful, UI-free shots that tell a story and really show off the game make for the best images. Look ma, we brought back One Shots! One Shots: The last superhero originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 24 Dec 2014 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Daily Grind: Why should I play your favorite MMO? Posted: 24 Dec 2014 05:00 AM PST Filed under: Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous A lot of times when I read through comments, forum posts, and the like about MMOs I'm not playing, I'm subconsciously seeking the answer to the unspoken question, "Why should I play this game?" Or, more accurately, "Please convince me to play this game, as I'm a stubborn gaming donkey in need of some prodding by positive testimonials." So look at your current favorite MMO(s) and answer me this, why should I -- or others reading your answer -- play that game? 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: Why should I play your favorite MMO? originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 24 Dec 2014 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Stream Team: Frostfell fun in EverQuest II Posted: 23 Dec 2014 06:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Video, EverQuest II, Events (In-Game), Free-to-Play, Livestream, The Stream Team Here comes Santa Glug, here comes Santa Glug... Deck the halls (and maybe a few mobs), it's Frostfell time in EverQuest II! And that means the Winter Wonderland Village is open again with tons of holiday activities for Norrathians to enjoy. And of course, we'll get daily gifts from Santa Glug himself! What's new this year, and what new goodies can we collect? Enter the magic closet and join us live at 9:00 p.m. for this EverQuest Two-sday holiday adventure. Game: EverQuest II Host: MJ Guthrie Date: Tuesday,December 23rd, 2014 Time: 9:00 p.m. EST Enjoy our Stream Team video below. Continue reading The Stream Team: Frostfell fun in EverQuest II The Stream Team: Frostfell fun in EverQuest II originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 23 Dec 2014 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Jukebox Heroes: WildStar features the MMO soundtrack of the year Posted: 23 Dec 2014 05:00 PM PST Filed under: Sci-Fi, Opinion, WildStar, Jukebox Heroes, Music, Subscription Originally I wanted to write a final Jukebox Heroes column for this year that would have ranked all of the soundtrack releases in 2014, but that ran into a couple of snags. Not only am I still in the process of listening and finding all of them, but one game's score was going to thrash the rest of them so badly that it didn't feel fair to stack them up together. That MMO was, of course, WildStar. I started to suspect that Composer Jeff Kurtenacker's score for WildStar was going to be something else when the studio started releasing parts of it over a year ago, but even then I wasn't prepared for the sheer quality and quantity that the full soundtrack presented. Critics and fans of the game alike have been very vocal in praising this game's music since the beta and through launch, and I'm still grooving on it months later. My only complaint is that it still -- still -- has yet to see an official release, free or paid. So even though our yearly awards didn't include a soundtrack category, I'm going to take the initiative and crown WildStar as the soundtrack of the year. Let's listen to six of the OST's highlights and discuss our favorites in the comments section. Continue reading Jukebox Heroes: WildStar features the MMO soundtrack of the year Jukebox Heroes: WildStar features the MMO soundtrack of the year originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 23 Dec 2014 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Massively Speaking Episode 326: Mailbag cleanup Posted: 23 Dec 2014 03:00 PM PST Filed under: Podcasts, MMO Industry, News Items, Massively Meta, Massively Speaking, Miscellaneous As part of our end-of-the-year efforts, today's podcast will be devoted to going through ALL (or all we can handle) of the mail that's been piling up on Massively Speaking's doorstep. It's a full hour of nothing other than your topics and our opinions, brought to you in full technicolor sound! Get all of our opinions and analysis on the most important stories of the past week right here on Massively Speaking, the industry's leading MMO podcast. And if you have a comment, question, or topic for the podcasters, send an email to podcast@massively.com. We may just read your email on the air! Get the podcast: [RSS] Add Massively Speaking to your RSS aggregator. [MP3] Download the MP3 directly. [iTunes] Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. [Stitcher] Follow the podcast on Stitcher Radio. Listen here on the page: Read below the cut for the full show notes. Continue reading Massively Speaking Episode 326: Mailbag cleanup Massively Speaking Episode 326: Mailbag cleanup originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 23 Dec 2014 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

The Stream Team: On to Gorgrond in World of Warcraft Posted: 23 Dec 2014 01:00 PM PST Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Video, Expansions, New Titles, PvE, Hands-On, Livestream, The Stream Team, Subscription, MMORPG Choose My Adventure Live continues as Massively's Mike Foster says farewell to Frostfire Ridge and heads into Gorgrond, the second of Warlords of Draenor's all-new zones. Experience World of Warcraft's latest expansion with Mike as he quests, fights, and garrisons his way to level 100 from the perspective of a voter-created shadow Priest. The action begins at 4:00 p.m. EST. Game: World of Warcraft Host: Mike Foster Date: Tuesday, December 23rd, 2014 Time: 4:00 p.m. EST. Enjoy our Stream Team video below. Continue reading The Stream Team: On to Gorgrond in World of Warcraft The Stream Team: On to Gorgrond in World of Warcraft originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 23 Dec 2014 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Soapbox: Better models for MMO endgame progression, part two Posted: 23 Dec 2014 11:00 AM PST Filed under: Game Mechanics, Endgame, Opinion, The Soapbox, Miscellaneous, Crafting If you read yesterday's Soapbox, the first in my Better models for MMO endgame progression series, with a fair bit of awareness, you probably noticed that the models I presented were, well... safe. Normal. Not too far outside of the realm of what we already have in some games, in other words. Oh, sure, they were functional and expanded compared to what you normally see in games, and they weren't reliant on high-end raiding, but they were still derived from the same space, which is part of the point. But that's not nearly as far as the rabbit hole goes. So let's start moving further beyond what's already common. Let's start heading into stranger territory. As before, the models presented here are not super-refined balanced labyrinths of systems; they're the outline, the skeletons, the fundamentals of how these concepts could work. And even at this stage, they're able to go in directions you don't find in numerous MMO endgames. So let's jump right into it, shall we? Continue reading The Soapbox: Better models for MMO endgame progression, part two The Soapbox: Better models for MMO endgame progression, part two originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 23 Dec 2014 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

New studio ArtCraft creating MMO with 'real skill, real risk, and real consequence' Posted: 23 Dec 2014 10:00 AM PST Filed under: MMO Industry, New Titles, Miscellaneous Heads up, MMO fans -- there's a new player on the scene. Industry vets J. Todd Coleman and Gordon Walton have come together to form ArtCraft, a studio that's making a mystery MMO with "real skill, real risk, and real consequences." "We're building something completely different, completely unique. We believe the MMO industry has grown stale. It's time to create something new," Coleman stated. Coleman and Walton have worked on many MMOs, including Shadowbane, Wizard101, Ultima Online, and Star Wars Galaxies, and they say they are building an "all-star" team for this new project. The teaser website for the game asks, "Where did we go wrong?" with the MMO industry and vows to take chances with this new game. There's a countdown timer on the site (62 days as of the writing of this article) and a sign-up for the beta. [Source: ArtCraft press release] New studio ArtCraft creating MMO with 'real skill, real risk, and real consequence' originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 23 Dec 2014 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

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