featured posts

The Tattered Notebook: Peeling back the layers of time

by Karen Bryan May 19th 2012 at 4:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, EverQuest II, Game mechanics, Opinion, Free-to-play, The Tattered Notebook

I was watching Shrek with my kids the other day, and one of my favorite scenes is Shrek's stroll with Donkey when they first meet. Shrek tries to explain how Ogres are like onions and how both have layers. When you think about it, EverQuest II is also like an onion because it has layer after layer of content and features that have stacked up over the years. In fact, some players have argued that there's almost too much to do, particularly at the lower levels.

I have always loved the fact that EverQuest II has been willing to try out new ideas over the years, and some of them have been remarkably successful. But there are a few that have gotten lost in the shuffle, while others have ended up directly conflicting with later additions of content. In this week's Tattered Notebook, we'll peel back the onion and look at the lost and conflicting layers of EQII.

Tags: battlegrounds, eq, eq-2, eq-ii, eq2, eqii, EQII-arenas, EQII-creatures, EQII-dungeon-finder, EQII-lfg, EQII-mentoring, everquest, everquest-2, everquest-ii, f2p, fantasy, featured, free-to-play, karen-bryan, level-agnostic, opinion, scrying, soe, sony, sony-online-entertainment, tattered-notebook, the-tattered-notebook

The Road to Mordor: Five ways LotRO should be streamlined

by Justin Olivetti May 19th 2012 at 2:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Opinion, Free-to-play, The Road to Mordor

You would think that growth and expansion is nothing but a good thing for MMOs -- after all, those are the hallmarks of the genre. But as these games get bigger, issues emerge as the developers add new zones, features, and systems. In short, maturing MMOs gravitate toward complexity, and this can have an adverse effect on the game as a whole.

The problem is that there is eventually too much a brand-new player has to absorb and master, not to mention the hassle of rolling alts and having to navigate all of that content once more. If developers don't stay on top of the situation, then the game starts to lose overall cohesion and becomes a befuddling mess.

With three expansions and numerous updates under its belt, Lord of the Rings Online is venturing deep into this territory. I have friends who are leveling up for the first time and finding themselves overwhelmed with everything that needs doing as well as all the systems that are not clearly explained. So today I want to play backseat developer and talk about five ways that LotRO should be streamlined for the good of all players, old and new.

Tags: action-rpg, activision, battlenet, blizzard, blizzard-entertainment, cash-shop, d3, deed-logs, deeds, diablo, diablo-2, diablo-3, diablo-ii, diablo-iii, evendim, f2p, fantasy, featured, free-to-play, gothic-fantasy, legendary-items, legendary-trait, legendary-traits, li, lord-of-the-rings, lord-of-the-rings-online, lorebook, lotro, moria, multiplayer, online-multiplayer, opinion, revamp, rework, road-to-mordor, roguelike, rpg, stats, streamline, the-road-to-mordor, turbine, turbine-entertainment, virtue-system, virtues, warcraft, wiki, world-of-warcraft, wow

Betawatch: May 12 - 18, 2012

by Brianna Royce May 18th 2012 at 8:00PM

Filed under: Betas, MMO industry, Betawatch, Miscellaneous

This week on Betawatch, we say farewell to Diablo III, which (at least nominally) moved on from beta to official launch on Tuesday. Bizarrely enchanting new MOBA SmashMuck Champions takes its place, joining our list with a closed beta planned within the month. We've also added MechWarrior Online to the alpha list, as reader mblakeman2001 rightly pointed out the game is in a friends-and-family beta!

CCP has begun sending out DUST 514 beta keys and opened registration, and we've also learned that Blade & Soul will leave beta and launch in July... but only in Korea. Sadface.

Finally, The Secret World's second beta weekend kicked off earlier today, but if you're not in it, you can content yourself with our hands-on with the game's combat and mission system.

Enjoy the entirety of our Betawatch roundup post-cut!

Tags: alpha, alphas, beta, beta-test, beta-testing, betas, betawatch, closed-beta, featured, game-testing, launch, launches, massively-meta, open-beta, roundup, testing

MMObility: An exclusive look at the Runespan in RuneScape

by Beau Hindman May 18th 2012 at 7:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Game mechanics, Interviews, Patches, News items, Opinion, Free-to-play, Browser, Mobile, Hands-on, Casual, Miscellaneous, MMObility, Crafting

Jagex, developer of the ever-popular browser-based game RuneScape, is known for its rapid development schedule. Heck, I fully expect that this article will be outdated by the time I finish its rough draft. Players of the Jagex flagship MMO can log in to find new items, places to explore, and quests to do almost weekly. I tend to poke my nose into the game several times a week, so I know that a more casual player has endless amounts of content to run through. I might level up my construction skill and then switch to something completely different. I just recently spent an afternoon playing with just the new bonfire skill.

Of course, those pesky developers are at it again: giving me more content to go through even though my highest skills hover around only the level 40 mark. This time it's the Runespan, a brand-new area that helps players level runecrafting by offering them a one-stop shop that is more casual and non-competitive than the normal runecraft experience.

I got the chance to call up some of the lead developers on the phone and ask not only about the Runespan but about the new FPS improvements, so be sure to check that out!

Tags: beau-hindman, browser, browser-based, classic-mmo, f2p, fantasy, featured, free-to-play, interview, interviews, jagex, jagex-games-studio, mmobility, mobile, mobile-gaming, mobile-mmo, opinion, phone, preview, previews, rs, runescape, sandbox, smartphone, the-runespan

Storyboard: The second anniversary of Storyboard

by Eliot Lefebvre May 18th 2012 at 2:00PM

Filed under: Culture, Opinion, Roleplaying, Storyboard, Miscellaneous

Yes, I plan to have something bizarre for this every anniversary.

Last year, I had planned to change up the focus of Storyboard a little. The "high and wide" format had been working, but I was worried that the column just wouldn't have legs if I didn't start going for more focused and narrow applications. So I spent several months working on just the right way to do more game-specific columns in here.

You don't remember them, of course, because none of them was ever posted. Those several months of work did not produce a single viable column.

At the capstone of the second year of Storyboard, I'm forced to basically eat crow about one of my major plans for the last year because it turns out that not only did it not work but it didn't need to work in the first place. I managed to fill up another year of columns just fine without going into great detail about one game over another, and as it turns out, I'm a lot happier with this year as a whole anyway.

Tags: anniversary, column, columns, featured, looking-back, opinion, retrospective, roleplay, roleplayers, roleplaying, rp, story, storyboard

The Firing Line: World of Warplanes producer talks matchmaking, progression

by Jef Reahard May 18th 2012 at 1:00PM

Filed under: Betas, Historical, Game mechanics, Interviews, MMO industry, New titles, News items, War, Free-to-play, Massively Interviews, World of Warplanes, The Firing Line

The Firing Line - World of Warplanes producer interview

Last week I talked a bit about a couple of flight sim shooters coming soon to a PC near you. One of them is World of Warplanes, the followup title to Wargaming.net's ubiquitous World of Tanks hit.

The World War II action MMO masters are slipping the surly bonds of earth with a new lobby-based battler that's currently flying through the early phases of its global alpha test. I had a few burning questions for the devs, including specifics on the matchmaking system, progression, and the possibility of historical scenarios. Producer Anton Sitnikau was gracious enough to answer those and more, so head past the break to see what he had to say.

Tags: anton-sitnikau, exclusive, f2p, featured, fps, free-to-play, historical, interview, interviews, massively-exclusive, matchmaking, mmofps, opinion, plane, planes, pvp, tfl, the-firing-line, third-person-shooter, tps, war, wargaming.net, wargaming.net-matchmaking, warplane, warplanes, world-of-warplanes, world-of-warplanes-interview, world-of-warplanes-matchmaking, world-of-warplanes-producer-interview, wowp, wowp-interview, wowp-matchmaking

Some Assembly Required: I saw the wilds of Salem (and lived to tell about it)

by Jef Reahard May 18th 2012 at 11:00AM

Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Economy, Game mechanics, Interviews, MMO industry, New titles, Previews, PvP, News items, Opinion, Free-to-play, Hands-on, Massively Hands-on, First Impressions, Some Assembly Required, Sandbox, Crafting

I spent an hour romping through the woods of Salem last Friday with Seatribe head honcho Bjorn Johannessen. The tiny indie company (current dev population: two) is hard at work on its followup to Haven and Hearth, an acquired taste of a sandbox game notable for its no-holds barred approach that includes permadeath and the ability to summon (and kill) criminal characters -- even while their lulz-loving puppet-masters are offline.

Publisher Paradox bills Salem as "the crafting MMO," and boy it's not kidding. Over the course of this particular dev tour, I saw crazy amounts of tradeskill functionality, all kinds of cool world-building stuff, and ultimately, more than enough reasons to spend time with the game when it launches later this year.

Tags: Bjorn-Johannessen, bodily-humors, crafting, f2p, fantasy, featured, free-to-play, game-mechanics, historical, humors, metagame, new-england, opinion, paradox, paradox-interactive, permadeath, pgc, player-content, player-created-content, player-generated-content, salem, salem-skills, sandbox, sar, seatribe, skill-based, some-assembly-required, tradeskilling, user-generated-content

The Guild Counsel: Surviving the dreaded plateau

by Karen Bryan May 17th 2012 at 8:00PM

Filed under: Guilds, Opinion, The Guild Counsel, Miscellaneous

One of the challenges of running a guild is avoiding the emotional peaks and valleys that tend to come up. In fact, one of the scariest times for a guild is when it's just accomplished something big because once the cheers stop, there's a void left and people begin to wonder what's next. It's not uncommon for a guild that's just hit an amazing goal to lose some members shortly after, and in some cases, it can actually lead to a guild withering and drying up because there's a letdown and apathy sets in.

How do you survive the dreaded plateau? Let's look at a few ways in this week's Guild Counsel!

Tags: advice, featured, guild, guild-advice, guild-counsel, guild-leadership, guild-management, guild-morale, guild-party, guilds, karen-bryan, leadership, mmo-plateaus, opinion, the-guild-counsel

Ask Massively: Overwhelming changes edition

by Eliot Lefebvre May 17th 2012 at 7:30PM

Filed under: Culture, New titles, Opinion, Ask Massively, Miscellaneous

This would actually have been pretty useful in DS9.

I have to be honest, the Caitian Carrier for Star Trek Online kind of makes me want to give the game a shot again. I liked it when I played it before, but I just had no time to play it on top of everything else. But then I think about all the work I'd need to do just to get caught up to normal, and... yeah, that's about the point when my gumption evaporates. Still, though. Carrier.

In other and far more relevant news, it's time for this week's installment of Ask Massively, which talks about the cycle of game announcement and subsequent disappointment. (Apropos of the recent beta weekends for The Secret World, naturally.) If you've got a question you would like to see answered in a future installment of the column, send it to ask@massively.com or leave it in the comments below. Questions may be edited slightly for clarity and/or brevity.

Tags: advice, advice-column, ask-massively, beta-events, beta-tests, beta-weekends, featured, hands-on, humor, massively-meta, meta, opinion, release, releases, tests

The Summoner's Guidebook: Putting together a good team composition

by Patrick Mackey May 17th 2012 at 7:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, PvP, Opinion, Free-to-play, Guides, MOBA, League of Legends, The Summoner's Guidebook

Although it would be nice to win all our games on the merits of skill alone, a lot of matches of League of Legends are won or lost at the character select screen. While individual champion balance is always in flux, the synergies between champions matters far more.

This week in the Summoner's Guidebook, I'll give you some advice on picking characters that complement your team's strengths. Remember that a champion is only as good as you can play him or her, and a better champion doesn't ensure victory -- it just makes victory more likely. This is League of Legends, though, and we should take every advantage we can get.

Tags: attack-speed-buffs, buffs, crowd-controls, dignitas, f2p, featured, free-to-play, get-over-here-and-help-the-team, league, league-of-legends, lol, moba, opinion, riot, riot-games, skillshot, skillshots, slows, snares, stop-chasing-kills, stuns, summoners-guidebook, team-composition, team-compositions, team-player, team-playing, the-summoners-guidebook

The Perfect Ten: The truth about lockboxes

by Justin Olivetti May 17th 2012 at 12:00PM

Filed under: Business models, Opinion, Free-to-play, Legal, Humor, Perfect Ten, Miscellaneous

Call them lockboxes, lootboxes, super packs, gift packs, treasure boxes, mystic chests, or Chupacabra's lunchpails, but these virtual boxes of mystery, fame, and fortune are all the rage in MMOs these days. Few studios have resisted the siren's call of such easy money, much to the dismay of many-a-gamer.

The idea is that a game will dish out to players free locked treasure boxes that require purchased keys to open. The allure of the box's mystery prize is often too strong to resist, especially when there's the possibility of a huge reward inside. The result too often is strong buyer's remorse and studio glee.

There's been a lot of conversation around lockboxes here on Massively, so I wanted to dedicate this week's Perfect Ten to dissecting the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth of these items for you.

Tags: anet, arenanet, casino, Chupacabra, city-of-heroes, city-of-villains, coh, cov, cox, cryptic, cryptic-studios, f2p, fantasy, featured, free-to-play, freedom, gambling, gift-packs, guild-wars-2, gw2, humor, lockbox, lockboxes, lootbox, lootboxes, lord-of-the-rings, lord-of-the-rings-online, lotro, mystic-box, mystic-chest, ncsoft, odds, opinion, p10, paragon, paragon-studios, perfect-10, perfect-ten, perfect-world, perfect-world-entertainment, pwe, real-money-trading, rmt, roundup, sci-fi, star-trek, star-trek-mmo, star-trek-online, sto, super-pack, super-packs, superhero, superheroes, the-perfect-10, the-perfect-ten, top-10, top-10-list, top-ten, top-ten-list, treasure-boxes, turbine, turbine-entertainment

The Anvil of Crom: Age of Conan turns four, taps SWG for crafting inspiration

by Jef Reahard May 17th 2012 at 10:30AM

Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, Game mechanics, Interviews, MMO industry, News items, Opinion, Free-to-play, The Anvil of Crom, Crafting

The Anvil of Crom - Age of Conan turns four, looks to Star Wars Galaxies for inspiration

The last time I did an anniversary retrospective for Age of Conan, we had a recent expansion, some new dungeon content, and several class revamps fresh on our minds. The year before that, we had the earth-shaking combat and itemization changes. This past year, the major development was, of course, the switch to a freemium business model, followed closely by the game's first adventure pack.

Join me after the break for a quick rundown on the last 12 months as they happened in Hyboria, as well as an anniversary interview with game director Craig "Silirrion" Morrison that sheds a bit of light on the crafting revamp.

Tags: age-of-conan, age-of-conan-crafting, age-of-conan-star-wars-galaxies, age-of-conan-unchained, anniversary, anvil-of-crom, anvil-of-crom-interviews, anvil-of-crom-special, anvil-of-crom-specials, aoc, aoc-anniversary, aoc-crafting, aoc-interview, aoc-unchained, classic-mmo, conan, crafting, craig-morrison, f2p, fantasy, featured, free-to-play, funcom, galaxies, hyboria, interview, interviews, opinion, sandbox, sci-fi, silirrion, soe, sony-online-entertainment, star-wars, star-wars-galaxies, swg, swgo, the-anvil-of-crom

Hands-on with The Secret World's mission system

by Jef Reahard May 17th 2012 at 10:00AM

Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Horror, Game mechanics, MMO industry, New titles, Previews, PvE, Opinion, The Secret World, Massively Hands-on, First Impressions, Guides

So The Secret World's mission system treads well off the beaten MMO path. It's pretty cool, actually, though portions of it may irritate quest-grinders who just want to blow through zones on their way to the game's equivalent of a max-level toon.

For the rest of us, there's a nifty interface, some challenging puzzles, and plenty of well-written quest text and dialogue to keep us entertained for weeks at a time.

Tags: adventure-games, faction, fantasy, featured, funcom, horror, kingsmouth, mythology, preview, previews, ragnar-tornquist, sci-fantasy, secret-world, secret-world-impressions, secret-world-mission-guide, secret-world-missions, skill-based, supply-run, the-kingsmouth-code, the-secret-world, the-secret-world-mission-guide, the-secret-world-press-beta, tsw, tsw-guides, tsw-quest-guide, tsw-questing

The Daily Grind: Do you judge all MMOs by the same standard?

by Jef Reahard May 17th 2012 at 8:00AM

Filed under: Fantasy, Culture, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Xsyon, Sandbox

One of the challenges facing sandbox developers is the fact that recent themepark MMORPGs have raised the bar in terms of smooth launches and relatively bug-free experiences. Aside from EVE Online, most of the current sandboxes on offer are small indie affairs known as much for their rough-around-the-edges implementation as for their feature innovations.

And yet, many so-called sandbox fans seem to expect games like Xsyon, Darkfall, and others to be as polished as World of Warcraft, RIFT, and other themeparks with fewer features and several times the budget.

For today's Daily Grind, we'd like to know how much (if any) slack you cut developers of sandbox and/or indie MMOs. Do you hold these games to the same standard that you hold a triple-A themepark?

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!

Tags: bugs, daily-grind, featured, opinion, polish, sandbox, sandbox-fans, tdg, the-daily-grind, themepark, xsyon

Free for All: Planet Cyrene adds to the high-stakes worlds of Entropia

by Beau Hindman May 16th 2012 at 8:00PM

Filed under: Betas, Launches, New titles, Previews, PvP, Opinion, Free-to-play, MMOFPS, Humor, Free for All

I'm not much of a shooter fan and probably never will be. Sure, I have as much fun blasting my way through monsters as the next gamer, but I rarely have the patience or physical stamina to overcome the pains and frustrations of shooter PvP. After all, my first rule of PvP applies especially well to shooters: There is always someone better than you. Planet Cyrene, the new world being added to the impressive portfolio of Entropia Universe, tasks players tasks similar to those found in Planet Calypso and mixes in PvP arenas that promise to frustrate (or delight) players, depending on their skill level. I sat down with Ed Robles III, lead developer for Planet Cyrene, to see just how nasty and expensive things might get.

Remember, this is the Entropia Universe we are talking about, and that means players will spend real money on bullets, armor, and practically everything else. Fortunately, players can earn items that are worth real money as well. Call it gambling or whatever you want, but it still seems to be a pretty successful formula.

Tags: beau-hindman, ed-robles-III, entropia-universe, f2p, featured, ffa, free-for-all, free-to-play, freemium, mmofps, opinion, planet-calypso, planet-cyrene, real-money-transactions, velvet-rope