MMO Updates |
- Norrathian Notebook: Frostfells of EverQuests past, present, and Next
- Age of Wushu previews new school abilities after server merge
- John Smedley praises free-to-play on consoles
- Xsyon enters early access on Steam
- The Daily Grind: Is $10 a good price for a monthly MMO sub?
- The Stream Team: Starting from scratch -- a Landmark beta tutorial
- Guild Launch rebrands as Gamer Launch, targets MOBA players
- MapleStory 2 features expensive housing, limited land
- CCP shows historical player age distribution in EVE
- Star Trek Online revamps bridge officers
- Warcraft movie director open to sequels, hints at WoW cross-promotion
- Another university is adding League of Legends scholarships
- Leaderboard: Do you use MMO mobile apps?
- War Thunder invites you to fight historical battles
- Suba Games is interested in resurrecting Wizardry Online
- Pathfinder Online's Ryan Dancey on early adopter experience bonuses
- PlanetSide 2's PS4 beta arrives on January 20th
- LOTRO maps out 2015, vows to address server populations [Update]
- Music MMO Anthymn rebrands and preps Kickstarter campaign
| Norrathian Notebook: Frostfells of EverQuests past, present, and Next Posted: 08 Jan 2015 09:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, EverQuest, EverQuest II, Events (In-Game), Opinion, Free-to-Play, EverQuest Next, Norrathian Notebook  As Frostfell comes to a close, I am left thinking about the holiday and all its trimmings. It's truly a great one. Perhaps one of the most wonderful. What makes it so special each year? And what might it be like in the coming years, especially in EQN? Let's take a look at the history of Frostfell, check out this year's additions, and speculate about the holiday's presence in Next. Continue reading Norrathian Notebook: Frostfells of EverQuests past, present, and Next
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| Age of Wushu previews new school abilities after server merge Posted: 08 Jan 2015 08:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Historical, Previews, News Items, Free-to-Play, Sandbox, Age of Wushu  You'll be able to show these skills off to a wider range of players after the game's server merges from yesterday. The Golden Kirin and White Tiger servers have been merged into the Blue Dragon server; players whose names will need to change should receive name changing scrolls within the next few days. If you weren't able to log in yesterday and aren't sure about how the merge went down, you can double-check the quick guide to the process.
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| John Smedley praises free-to-play on consoles Posted: 08 Jan 2015 07:00 AM PST Filed under: Sci-Fi, Super-hero, Business Models, MMO Industry, News Items, Free-to-Play, Consoles, DC Universe Online, PlanetSide 2  This isn't unique to the newest console, as DCUO players on the PS3 shell out cash twice as often as PC users. He also notes that it's a challenge to port to the console, as the lack of a mouse has to heavily influence design, plus it requires a method of dropping simultaneous updates across multiple platforms, which in and of itself can be a tricky venture. Read the full article for more insights from Smedley regarding the console market's free-to-play sustainability.
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| Xsyon enters early access on Steam Posted: 08 Jan 2015 06:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Launches, News Items, Xsyon, Post-Apocalyptic, Miscellaneous  If you're already an Xsyon player and want to have the game on your Steam account, you can shoot off an email to a special account requesting a Steam key for no extra cost. Everyone else who's already playing will just want to look forward to the hopeful influx of new players enjoying the game for the first time. [Source: Notorious Games press release]
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| The Daily Grind: Is $10 a good price for a monthly MMO sub? Posted: 08 Jan 2015 05:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Business Models, The Daily Grind, TERA, Subscription  What about the number, though? Assuming you're not allergic to subscriptions, is $10 about right, or do you think sub games should go lower (or higher)?  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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| The Stream Team: Starting from scratch -- a Landmark beta tutorial Posted: 07 Jan 2015 05:00 PM PST Filed under: Betas, Video, Free-to-Play, Guides, Livestream, Sandbox, The Stream Team, Landmark  Game: Landmark Host: MJ Guthrie Date: Wednesday, January 7th, 2015 Time: 8:00 p.m. EST Enjoy our Stream Team video below. Continue reading The Stream Team: Starting from scratch -- a Landmark beta tutorial
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| Guild Launch rebrands as Gamer Launch, targets MOBA players Posted: 07 Jan 2015 04:00 PM PST Filed under: Guilds, MMO Industry, News Items, MOBA  "In recent years we've seen a significant influx of players from a variety of other gaming communities including MOBAs and Minecraft," president Stephen Johnston says. The firm currently services over four million gamers and now offers new features designed for League of Legends, Dota 2, SMITE, and Minecraft players. [Source: Gamer Launch press release]
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| MapleStory 2 features expensive housing, limited land Posted: 07 Jan 2015 03:30 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, MapleStory, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, New Titles, News Items, Free-to-Play, Housing  The website also says that apartments will have public social areas, which are viewable via a trio of beta screenshots.
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| CCP shows historical player age distribution in EVE Posted: 07 Jan 2015 03:00 PM PST Filed under: Sci-Fi, Video, EVE Online, Culture, MMO Industry, PvP, News Items, Sandbox, Subscription  Or, as another commenter puts it, CCP has basically "stolen our young adult lives." Click past the cut to see the clip. Continue reading CCP shows historical player age distribution in EVE
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| Star Trek Online revamps bridge officers Posted: 07 Jan 2015 02:30 PM PST Filed under: Sci-Fi, Patches, Previews, Star Trek Online, Free-to-Play, Dev Diaries  The team posted a dev diary today outlining the revamp to players' faithful companions: "From a high-level standpoint, the updated bridge officer training system is focused on allowing players to invest in their bridge officers by training them in any of their class and specialization abilities, which can then be easily swapped in and out on the fly." These changes will allow for a more flexible and customizable crew that can cross-train in intelligence and other potential specializations. The dev diary goes on to detail how officers will be trained going forward and what benefits players will get from these buffed-up buddies.
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| Warcraft movie director open to sequels, hints at WoW cross-promotion Posted: 07 Jan 2015 02:00 PM PST Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Events (Real-World), Interviews, Subscription  Jones discussed how the movie will focus on the tragic first contact between Orcs and Humans, with heroes on both sides. "I think that for a world with so much newness to explain, this was a wise choice, especially when so many people in our audience may not know anything about Warcraft," he said. "It was important that some of our characters would be seeing the world fresh as well, and that the audience could see the situation through their eyes." When asked about the possibility of a cross-promotional effort between World of Warcraft and the movie, Jones said that there are "many ideas" on the table right now but offered up no specifics.
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| Another university is adding League of Legends scholarships Posted: 07 Jan 2015 01:30 PM PST Filed under: Culture, MMO Industry, PvP, News Items, Humor, MOBA, League of Legends  This week Kentucky's University of Pikeville followed suit when it publicized its offering of "at least 20 scholarships" to LoL players who will be treated like the school's other student-athletes. "There will be practice time and video time when they have to study other teams for upcoming competitions," said the university's new media director Bruce Parsons.
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| Leaderboard: Do you use MMO mobile apps? Posted: 07 Jan 2015 01:00 PM PST Filed under: MMO Industry, Opinion, Mobile, Leaderboard  I got a new Android tablet for Christmas. It's a replacement for the old one that had the nerve to spin off the top of my speeding car and smack into the side of an errant mailbox, but whatever. I'm reloading all of my junk and I figured that this would be a good time to see if there are any must-have MMO-related apps.How about it, Massively readers? Any recommendations? Do you use MMO mobile apps? Vote after the cut!  Ever wish that you could put to rest a long-standing MMO debate once and for all? Then welcome to the battle royal of Massively's Leaderboard, where two sides enter the pit o' judgment -- and only one leaves. Vote to make your opinion known, and see whether your choice tops the Leaderboard!Continue reading Leaderboard: Do you use MMO mobile apps?
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| War Thunder invites you to fight historical battles Posted: 07 Jan 2015 12:30 PM PST Filed under: Historical, Events (In-Game), MMO Industry, PvP, News Items, War  Today's event takes place in Eastern Europe, with the Mediterranean and Pacific theaters scheduled to see some action later this week. Don't forget to watch the associated video after the break. Continue reading War Thunder invites you to fight historical battles
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| Suba Games is interested in resurrecting Wizardry Online Posted: 07 Jan 2015 12:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Video, MMO Industry, Free-to-Play, Wizardry Online  Fans struck up a player petition to revive Wizardry Online in the West, prompting Suba to affirm that it is interested as well. "It's always great to see people passionate enough to pool together and try to have their voices heard," Suba CM Xjmas posted on the studio's forums. "In this case, I want to let you know you all have been heard and Suba is interested in reviving this game. They have actually made contact with the developer but have yet to conclude an outcome with them yet." Such a resurrection is familiar territory to Suba; the publisher recently spearheaded an effort to bring Dream of Mirror Online back to life following that game's sunset. You can watch the Wizardry Online player petition video after the break. Continue reading Suba Games is interested in resurrecting Wizardry Online
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| Pathfinder Online's Ryan Dancey on early adopter experience bonuses Posted: 07 Jan 2015 11:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Culture, Game Mechanics, Interviews, MMO Industry, Endgame, News Items, Sandbox, Crowdfunding, Subscription, Pathfinder Online, MMORPG  Our game uses a unique real-time based XP system. Characters gain XP through the passage of time, not through being logged in. So the characters that are created in the first month will be the characters with the most XP for all time. A special perk will be in effect that backdates XP to the start of Early Enrollment for the first month so no matter when you purchase an account, if you create a character in Month 1, you'll have that maximum XP.Usually games with offline experience systems also have either a hard cap or a diminishing returns mechanic to avoid the core "sandbox problem" -- that those who get to the sandbox first perpetually have the most power because they claim all the best toys (and so on). But as written, the Pathfinder Online system seems to exacerbate rather than fix that problem by promising "pioneers" more power in the form of permanently more experience. Suspecting there was more to the plan, we asked Goblinworks' Ryan Scott Dancey to explain just how it plans to balance its concessions to early backers with its presumed desire to attract newbie players in the more distant future. He's done so, in detail, for us today. Continue reading Pathfinder Online's Ryan Dancey on early adopter experience bonuses
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| PlanetSide 2's PS4 beta arrives on January 20th Posted: 07 Jan 2015 10:30 AM PST Filed under: Betas, Sci-Fi, Business Models, MMO Industry, PvP, News Items, Free-to-Play, MMOFPS, Dev Diaries, PlanetSide 2, Sandbox  "We'll be using this beta period to test our servers, performance, and various other aspects of the game, and we also want you to share constructive feedback on PlanetSide 2," says SOE Executive Producer Clint Worley. "How does the game look and feel? Is navigating through the menus intuitive and utilizing DualShock 4 in the best way? All players in the Closed Beta will have access to our special Beta forums, which will be the primary location for development interaction and feedback. We want the massive battles to make your heart pound and adrenaline pump, so share your thoughts with us." Beta signups for the PS4 edition of the game have been live since early December. PlanetSide 2 has lately made news for its frank discussions about monetization; SOE president John Smedley admitted that "PlanetSide 2 only recently has turned profitable on an operating basis."
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| LOTRO maps out 2015, vows to address server populations [Update] Posted: 07 Jan 2015 10:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Bugs, Patches, Free-to-Play  Peters delivered her 2015 producer's letter today with six major initiatives for the first half of the year. These include improvements to legendary items, new fellowship challenges, a possible new PvMP map in Osgiliath, and quality of life fixes. She said that the team will also be delivering episodic content during the year: "We are currently in development on a new type of quest content that will roll out like an episodic TV show, a little at a time, as you follow a new friend across Middle-earth seeing familiar places in a new light." Server merges of a sort are also in the works: "We're taking measures to get everyone onto the more populous servers, so that finding parties is easier and festivals and live events are more fun. We are working on both improved server transfer tools and upgrades to our environments to improve playability. Also we will be moving our European servers back to the EU!" In other LotRO news, an exploit that allowed players to create an overpowered character in the game has been addressed and fixed in a patch that went out earlier today. The hotfix puts level restrictions on a slew of reputation items so that players cannot use them at a lower level and gain access to gated vendor items before the devs intended. Update: Peters penned a follow-up post to clarify certain items in the producer's letter.
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| Music MMO Anthymn rebrands and preps Kickstarter campaign Posted: 07 Jan 2015 09:30 AM PST Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, New Titles, Crowdfunding  The title has rebranded itself as Maestros of the Anthymn, and according to its Facebook page, it is getting ready to make the case for crowdfunding. "To all of our amazing friends and fans -- we are proud to formally announce the name of our upcoming Kickstarter project," String Theory posted. "Welcome to Maestros of the Anthymn, a groundbreaking episodic adventure of song, sword, and sorcery for PC and Mac. Stay tuned later today for our big update on the game, our vision and what's next for the Kickstarter launch plans!" It is unclear whether or not Anthymn will be retaining its MMO focus or going another route entirely with this rebranding. The original concept was for an entire fantasy world where music and magic infused entire nations and where every class had a musical focus and theme.
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