MMO Updates |
- The Road to Mordor: Ten thoughts on LotRO's 2015 plans
- Maestros of the Anthymn is definitely still an MMO
- Rumor: The Elder Scrolls Online console version may be close
- Elite: Dangerous rolls back decision on billionaire rollback
- The Daily Grind: What's an underrated MMO feature that needs love?
- The Think Tank: On MMO rollbacks
- Closers Online meets J the Fighter
- The Stream Team: Ramping up for TERA's Fate of Arun
- Gloria Victis adding a second server, weather, and more
- DDO looking at Warlock class, level cap bump in 2015
- DayZ fan film lacks zombies, still feels like DayZ
- Bungie gives Destiny players the gift of Legendary weapons
- See Black Desert's impish Tamer class in action
- Under construction: Who benefits from MMO early access?
- Blacklight: Retribution loses studio, continues on anyway
- Eleven alpha tester: Game is 'identical to Glitch'
| The Road to Mordor: Ten thoughts on LotRO's 2015 plans Posted: 09 Jan 2015 09:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, MMO Industry, Opinion, Free-to-Play, The Road to Mordor  Tradition be hanged! Let's adapt with the events and spend some time evaluating the information we've been given! There's a lot going on in and around this producer's letter, so here are 10 thoughts that I'm taking away from all of this in regard to LotRO's future. Continue reading The Road to Mordor: Ten thoughts on LotRO's 2015 plans
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| Maestros of the Anthymn is definitely still an MMO Posted: 09 Jan 2015 08:00 AM PST Filed under: Culture, Game Mechanics, News Items, Miscellaneous, Music, Crowdfunding, Player-Generated Content  MotA's Creative Director Riley McDougall reached out to Massively to dispel those concerns. YES! Our end goal is to still make it an MMO. The episodic format is our way of getting there. I think a lot of people forget the legwork it took for Blizzard to gain such a massive and dedicated community with WC1, SC1, Diablo, WC2, Diablo 2, WC3 before even thinking about launching an MMO. Our intent is to follow the same format, use the episodic to build the brand and our community while dedicating more studio resources to the online RPG as we move forward. Long road ahead but we've come this far, no way we're giving up.The developers also posted an in-depth Facebook introduction on Wednesday. "What we believe makes Maestros of the Anthymn (MotA) so unique is the way in which sound and music are used in game," writes String Theory. "There's a ton of game design philosophies and methodologies out there but no matter what feature or mechanic we're crafting, we begin with the same vital question. What does it sound like? Building from a foundation of sound design has allowed us to breathe an emotional resonance into every part of MotA, from the way our mountain ranges are shaped to the revolutionary 'call and response' musical combat system. This is going to be something truly special and worth your attention come January 15th" -- which just happpens to be when the new launch trailer and Kickstarter arrive.
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| Rumor: The Elder Scrolls Online console version may be close Posted: 09 Jan 2015 07:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Business Models, Launches, News Items, Consoles, Rumors, The Elder Scrolls Online, Subscription  Sure, it could just be a placeholder date, but it's awfully soon for a placeholder when the store could easily list December. It would also make a certain amount of sense, since the console version was originally slated for last month after its initial delay. So what do you think, readers? Is The Elder Scrolls Online just around the corner for console owners? Or is it just another placeholder date? While you're munching on that rumor, you can also speculate about the fact that Australian EB Games stores are recalling all boxed copies of the game and all time cards, supposedly as part of a normal post-holiday stock recall. Or as a prelude to free-to-play. You decide. [Thanks to squidgod2000 for the tip!]
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| Elite: Dangerous rolls back decision on billionaire rollback Posted: 09 Jan 2015 06:00 AM PST Filed under: Sci-Fi, Economy, News Items, Sandbox, Elite: Dangerous  Unexpected billionaires will find all of their bug-gotten gains rolled back and removed, with the development team contacting those affected personally to make sure that nothing legitimate gets caught in the crossfire. Meanwhile, players who found a way to exploit the game explicitly will also see their gains removed. So those who were hoping for rollbacks in the wake of these issues will be happy; those happy with billions of credits for no real effort will be... less happy. [Thanks to Cotic for the tip!]
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| The Daily Grind: What's an underrated MMO feature that needs love? Posted: 09 Jan 2015 05:00 AM PST Filed under: City of Heroes, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous, Crafting  I can think of lots of underrated features in some other MMOs. City of Heroes' sidekicking has trickled into a handful of games, for example, but its group-and-instance difficulty scaling feature has seldom been seen since. Yet it ensured that groups of all sizes and class-makeups and skill-levels could always tackle content. It was a brilliant way to capture a varied playerbase ranging from casuals to powergamers, and yet no one else is even bothering to try it. What other underrated MMO features really deserve some love and copypastaing in the genre?  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 Think Tank: On MMO rollbacks Posted: 08 Jan 2015 05:00 PM PST Filed under: Bugs, Business Models, Culture, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, Opinion, Massively Meta, Miscellaneous, The Think Tank  ArcheAge, Elite: Dangerous, Neverwinter -- whenever an MMO pops up in the news with a bug, there's usually an accompanying cry for a rollback, and each of these games has seen such in the last few months. Rollbacks used to be quite common, but modern MMO companies almost never risk them. For today's Think Tank, I asked the Massively writers whether they'd ever suffered rollbacks, whether they'd lost anything, whether it was worth it, and just what they think of the whole issue. Continue reading The Think Tank: On MMO rollbacks
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| Closers Online meets J the Fighter Posted: 08 Jan 2015 04:30 PM PST Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Video, Classes, Free-to-Play  The new character is, ahem, J the Fighter, a fists-and-feet brawler who kicks butt while maintaining a sense of style. If you like up-close-and-personal encounters with your foes, then J might be the character for you. Check out his fighting style in a preview video after the break! Continue reading Closers Online meets J the Fighter
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| The Stream Team: Ramping up for TERA's Fate of Arun Posted: 08 Jan 2015 04:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Video, Expansions, PvE, Free-to-Play, Hands-On, TERA, Livestream, The Stream Team, MMORPG  Tune in at 7:00 p.m. EST to catch all the action. Game: TERA Host: Mike Foster Date: Thursday, January 8th, 2014 Time: 7:00 p.m. EST Enjoy our Stream Team video below. Continue reading The Stream Team: Ramping up for TERA's Fate of Arun
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| Gloria Victis adding a second server, weather, and more Posted: 08 Jan 2015 03:00 PM PST Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, New Titles, News Items, Sandbox  The dev team also plans to launch a US server "within a few days," and existing characters will in fact work on both of the title's shards. An NDA lift is coming, too, and with it an item wipe (but not a character or level wipe, so yay for that).
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| DDO looking at Warlock class, level cap bump in 2015 Posted: 08 Jan 2015 02:30 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Classes, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, News Items, Dev Diaries  Executive producer Robert "Severlin" Ciccolini does the honors, and he mentions the game's "next big update" which will include a large dungeon called the Temple of Elemental Evil. There's also a bit about an upcoming new class, which Ciccolini says could be a Warlock. New storylines and new festivals are coming in 2015, too, as is a level cap bump to 30.
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| DayZ fan film lacks zombies, still feels like DayZ Posted: 08 Jan 2015 02:00 PM PST Filed under: Horror, Culture, MMO Industry, PvP, News Items, Sandbox  Click past the cut to give it a look! Continue reading DayZ fan film lacks zombies, still feels like DayZ
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| Bungie gives Destiny players the gift of Legendary weapons Posted: 08 Jan 2015 01:00 PM PST Filed under: Sci-Fi, Culture, News Items, Consoles, MMOFPS, Destiny, Buy-to-Play  For some players, it's going to be a nice new weapon with just the right perks. That's the gift that keeps on giving. (Specifically, it keeps giving ammunition to enemies at high velocity whether they wanted it or not.) For others, it's going to be another copy of the same weapon you already have or an even worse one. That's how random works. Regardless, if you play the game, go in and check your mail. It's not a fresh pair of socks, at least.
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| See Black Desert's impish Tamer class in action Posted: 08 Jan 2015 12:00 PM PST Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Trailers, Video, Classes, Free-to-Play, Sandbox, Black Desert  Not much is known about the Tamer, other than what a short video reveals: that she is a little goofy and likes to hit things with sticks. Steparu reports that other classes are on the way, including the possible Blader and Ninja professions. You can watch the Tamer in action after the break! Continue reading See Black Desert's impish Tamer class in action
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| Under construction: Who benefits from MMO early access? Posted: 08 Jan 2015 11:00 AM PST Filed under: Business Models, MMO Industry, Opinion, The Soapbox, Miscellaneous  Is it? I'm not so sure. Early access -- and all of the other similar names for the same concept -- appears to be the latest trend that's sweeping not just MMOs but video games in general. Both Steam and crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter are largely responsible for promoting early access, and it has been a popular attraction for players who previously had to sit on their hands and wait for a game to get, y'know, finished. Now we can indulge instantly and run around the structure even as it's still under construction. I was talking about early access with Bree on the podcast the other day, and both of us were expressing distaste and an increasing uneasiness with the early access trend. Popular as it may be, is it really the way that games should be made? Will it result in better titles in the end? And who is getting what, exactly, out of it? It's this last question I want to address today. Continue reading Under construction: Who benefits from MMO early access?
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| Blacklight: Retribution loses studio, continues on anyway Posted: 08 Jan 2015 10:00 AM PST Filed under: Sci-Fi, MMO Industry  Zombie Studios, the devs behind multiplayer shooter Blacklight: Retribution, announced today that it's closing shop and that a new studio has arisen from its ashes to take care of the game: "Now it is time for us to part ways and close our doors [...] We want to congratulate and wish nothing but success to Builder Box, the new studio starting up that has acquired some of the work Zombie is parting with, including all rights to Blacklight: Retribution. The new studio is comprised of past Zombie employees that put their hearts into Blacklight and we have no doubt will continue to do so." Builder Box's Facebook page also posted a notice, reaffirming the game's future: "What does this mean for you the fan? While ownership of the game has changed, the people behind the scenes who have been constantly contributing to the Blacklight universe for the last four years remains intact. Builder Box will be working with Perfect World so that, as a fan, you can look forward to more updates and exciting changes in the coming year."
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| Eleven alpha tester: Game is 'identical to Glitch' Posted: 08 Jan 2015 09:30 AM PST Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Culture, Browser, Casual  So sayeth one of Eleven's select few alpha testers, some of whom posted testimonials on the site about their experience. While a second tester cited "overwhelming" nostalgia, others were more critical of bugs, reloads, and generic visuals. The fan remake of Glitch has more than doubled its alpha test pool, from 13 to 31 players, and continues to advance the project as a whole. "This has been a great success, with many improvements being made to help improve the stability and experience while some other work is ongoing in order to bring over some more features," the devs said.
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