MMO Updates |
- Camelot Unchained funds sound engineer, looks to speed up world building
- World of Warcraft dispels free-to-play 'Veteran Edition' rumors
- H1Z1 bests login issues, justifies and tweaks 'pay-to-win' airdrops
- Star Wars: The Old Republic will address balance and ranked PvP for update 3.1
- The Daily Grind: How should hunger work in MMORPGs?
- H1Z1 is now available, here's a trailer
- The Think Tank: The MMO server merge stigma
- The Stream Team: Questing into TERA's Fate of Arun
- Maestros of the Anthymn begins its Kickstarter campaign
- Final Fantasy XI drops a new patch for the new year
- Cross-server dungeons, more level-agnostic dungeons coming to EQII
- Infestation producer: The War Z was a 'terrible choice of a name'
- New Skyforge dev diary is all about combat
- New Crowfall illustration hints at 'core game system'
- Elder Scrolls' new Champion Point progression system detailed
- NCsoft snaps up more mobile studios
- Chaos Theory: Opening up Tokyo and why else I'm a Secret World fan for life
| Camelot Unchained funds sound engineer, looks to speed up world building Posted: 16 Jan 2015 08:00 AM PST Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, PvP, Crowdfunding, Camelot Unchained, Subscription  Some good news for fans of this upcoming RvR title as City State Entertainment announced that it has crossed the $3,025,000 fundraising mark and thereby hit a stretch goal to hire a sound engineer for the game. Next up on the stretch goal docket is a "Hug the World" campaign at $3,225,000. If this target is hit, Camelot Unchained will hire more artists to "accelerate the building out of the game world" and improve the quality of other art assets.
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| World of Warcraft dispels free-to-play 'Veteran Edition' rumors Posted: 16 Jan 2015 07:00 AM PST Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Business Models, Culture, News Items, Free-to-Play, Subscription  Community Manager Bashiok addressed the rumors, explaining that while someone who never had played the game before could jump in with Starter Edition restrictions, veteran players could not. Veteran Edition, then, places almost all of the same restrictions on players, but it will allow you to roll up a new character and play through level 20 or at least log in to chat with friends. No word on exactly when this will be rolled out, but it should put the free-to-play rumors to bed until they start again in a month.
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| H1Z1 bests login issues, justifies and tweaks 'pay-to-win' airdrops Posted: 16 Jan 2015 06:45 AM PST Filed under: Betas, Horror, Bugs, Business Models, Game Mechanics, PvP, News Items, Sandbox, Buy-to-Play, H1Z1  Reddit and Steam's user review section have exploded not over the predictable early access technical issues but over cash-shop airdrops, which some players say constitute pay-to-win in violation of SOE's stated philosophy. Smed denied obfuscating the presence of airdrops, saying SOE has "been straight about it" and justifying the mechanic: 1) You cannot call in airdrops until the servers are 1/4 full. 2) You can't call in airdrops without generating a ton of zombie heat. 3) the airdrops are random in what they deliver. 4) you are not guaranteed to get a single thing out of the airdrop you called in. You could die trying and you're out the money. 5) We fly the plane in very slowly and loudly.. we also stream green smoke from it you can see from very far away.But he does note that SOE will be "making some big changes" to airdrops, including widening the radius, reducing the chance they'll drop guns, slowing the airdrop planes even more, and increasing the number of players who can call them at any given time. "If you think it's P2W don't buy it. Don't play it," Smed posted. "But I have to say wait until you've personally tried them before making the call."
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| Star Wars: The Old Republic will address balance and ranked PvP for update 3.1 Posted: 16 Jan 2015 06:00 AM PST Filed under: Sci-Fi, Game Mechanics, Patches, News Items, Free-to-Play, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Subscription  Designers are also looking into balancing classes, starting with the Darkness Assassin and the Kinetic Combat Shadow, addressing issues with survivability and damage in the class. If you've been feeling squishier or less resilient or noticed oddities with abilities, you can take part in the thread yourself. Early versions of these changes have already been rolled out to the test servers for the coming update. [Thanks to Mikey Moo for the tip!]
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| The Daily Grind: How should hunger work in MMORPGs? Posted: 16 Jan 2015 05:00 AM PST Filed under: Betas, Game Mechanics, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous, Crowfall  But I've also seen MMOs, RPGs, and player-made mods that make eating, resting, and traveling so arduous and chore-like and downright annoying that they actually distract from the core game, even when those activities weren't originally the point as they would be in an overt "survival" sandbox or roguelike (I'm not talking about those!). How do you think Crowfall will handle it? How should hunger and similar mechanics work in MMORPGs?  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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| H1Z1 is now available, here's a trailer Posted: 15 Jan 2015 06:00 PM PST Filed under: Betas, Horror, Launches, MMO Industry, New Titles, PvP, News Items, Sandbox, H1Z1  SOE has released a new trailer to mark today's launch. You can view it after the break! Continue reading H1Z1 is now available, here's a trailer
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| The Think Tank: The MMO server merge stigma Posted: 15 Jan 2015 05:00 PM PST Filed under: Business Models, Culture, MMO Industry, Opinion, Massively Meta, Hands-On, Miscellaneous, The Think Tank  In our post, we called this process "server merges of a sort," but some loyal LotRO fans went ballistic at the idea that mass server transfers to, you know, merge players onto populous servers might be called "server merges." The term has such negative connotations and implications for a game's health that neither studios nor fans will dare use it even when it's a reasonable term to use and when it heralds good things for an aging game. The stigma might even make some studios leery of doing merges at all. What do you think -- is there a better term for these sorts of faux-merges? Have you been through a merge and found it a worthwhile experience? Can we be done with the merge stigma already? We're talking server merges in today's Think Tank. Continue reading The Think Tank: The MMO server merge stigma
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| The Stream Team: Questing into TERA's Fate of Arun Posted: 15 Jan 2015 03:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Video, Expansions, PvE, Free-to-Play, Massively Meta, Hands-On, TERA, Livestream, The Stream Team, MMORPG  Game: TERA Host: Mike Foster Date: Thursday, January 15th, 2015 Time: 6:00 p.m. EST Enjoy our Stream Team video below. Continue reading The Stream Team: Questing into TERA's Fate of Arun
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| Maestros of the Anthymn begins its Kickstarter campaign Posted: 15 Jan 2015 02:30 PM PST Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Music, Crowdfunding  The team previously told Massively that the episodic game will hopefully lead into a full-featured MMO. According to the project's new Kickstarter page, "One of the biggest drivers for all of us at the studio is knowing that one day we might have players creating, sharing and wielding music in hopes of completing The Anthymn." The story will follow a musical genius who uses his talents to reunite a country shattered by civil war. String Theory Creative Director Riley McDougall says that this game will use music in a whole new way: "Beat-matching music games are fun, but what if you could literally mold the world around you, solve puzzles and conquer impossible enemies through creating and wielding music itself?" Maestros of the Anthymn is looking to raise $200,000 CAD in pledges over the next month. The team has future plans to create three more episodes to make up the game's first season, as well as a story for four seasons past that. Each episode will contain sandbox, cinematic, and puzzle elements. [Additional source: String Theory Entertainment press release]
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| Final Fantasy XI drops a new patch for the new year Posted: 15 Jan 2015 02:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Final Fantasy XI, Game Mechanics, Patches, News Items, Consoles, Subscription  In terms of content, new quests have been added to Adoulin regions, several Records of Eminence objectives have either been added or had their requirements lowered, and new Wanted objectives have been implemented. Puppetmaster players can also benefit from improved spell lists for their automaton and a new set of automaton improvements. Take a gander at the full list of changes, all of which should make the game less punishing and more engaging for veteran players.
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| Cross-server dungeons, more level-agnostic dungeons coming to EQII Posted: 15 Jan 2015 01:30 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, EverQuest II, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, News Items, PvE, Dungeons  Cross-server dungeons are still in the pipeline, too. "Since December, we have been rewriting a lot of the back-end systems (i.e., databases and stuff) which is all part of our foundation for the long and healthy future of EQ2," she writes. "The changes and updates we're making are going to give us a lot of benefits on the dev/server side as well as giving us the ability to do things like cross-server dungeons.
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| Infestation producer: The War Z was a 'terrible choice of a name' Posted: 15 Jan 2015 01:00 PM PST Filed under: Horror, Interviews, MMO Industry, MMOFPS, Buy-to-Play  "That said, The War Z was a terrible choice of name, as it naturally invited comparisons between our game and DayZ," Titov admitted. "We made a big mistake in not listening to the vocal minority of our community who thought the name was terrible [...] Beyond not listening to the community, we were also very arrogant in our public communications. We should have taken more care to communicate how and why this was not a DayZ clone, citing specific differences in both design and conception. Instead of saying to ourselves 'Oh well, haters gonna hate!' we should have tried to understand where the hate was coming from and address it." Another key mistake that Titov and his team made was engaging in an "arms race" to get The War Z to Steam before DayZ, which resulted in its being yanked from that platform due to misrepresentation of the existing game features. Even with these missteps, Titov said that Infestation sold 2.8 million copies, and of those, over half logged at least 50 hours of playing time apiece. You can read Massively's hands-on impressions of this title from 2013.
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| New Skyforge dev diary is all about combat Posted: 15 Jan 2015 12:30 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, New Titles, News Items, PvE, Skyforge  Further details on the title's combo system as well as Skyforge's healing mechanics are in the video past the break as well as the textual diary on the game's website. [Thanks Toastngravy!] Continue reading New Skyforge dev diary is all about combat
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| New Crowfall illustration hints at 'core game system' Posted: 15 Jan 2015 12:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, New Titles, News Items, Sandbox  Crowfall is a new virtual world currently in development at Artcraft, a new studio comprised of MMO industry veterans operating under the mantra of "real skill, real risk, and real consequences."
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| Elder Scrolls' new Champion Point progression system detailed Posted: 15 Jan 2015 11:30 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, News Items, PvE, The Elder Scrolls Online  Only VR-level characters can earn the new points, but once earned the points are available to any of your avatars. There's also a new account-wide mechanic called Enlightenment that builds over time regardless of whether you're logged in or not and grants a bonus to Champion Point progression. More details on the new system are available on the official ESO website.
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| NCsoft snaps up more mobile studios Posted: 15 Jan 2015 11:00 AM PST Filed under: Trailers, Video, MMO Industry, Mobile, Miscellaneous  Last year, NCsoft announced that it is working on mobile versions of Aion, Blade & Soul, and Lineage Eternal, among other titles. We've got trailers for those titles after the break to refresh your memory. Continue reading NCsoft snaps up more mobile studios
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| Chaos Theory: Opening up Tokyo and why else I'm a Secret World fan for life Posted: 15 Jan 2015 10:00 AM PST Filed under: Horror, Real-Life, Opinion, The Secret World, Chaos Theory, Buy-to-Play  I may be a lifetime member of The Secret World, but more than that, I am a lifetime fan! Why? It's not because I live and breathe the game; I don't need to play daily for hours on end to truly appreciate its qualities and what it brings to the MMOverse. But there are plenty of reasons that TSW has earned my loyalty, not the least of which is demonstrated in Joel Bylos' recent game director letter. Tucked in between talk of the 2014 content and the upcoming improved new player experience is this little gem: The team intends to open Tokyo up to all players! Beyond the story and the events, it is how the team constantly focuses on bringing customers a genuine experience that remains true to the spirit of the game. Is everything about The Secret World perfect? Not at all. There's plenty of room for improvement and added content. But I feel confident in the direction, and the following reasons are why I will continue to champion this gem. Continue reading Chaos Theory: Opening up Tokyo and why else I'm a Secret World fan for life
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