Virtual World® is your one stop resource for all things virtual, in and around the MMO gaming and online 3D communities. In-depth virtual world and MMO game play reviews, discussion forums and the latest news from around the world. VirtualWorld.com

Virtual World News

EVE Evolved: Is EVE becoming a spectator sport?
February 03, 2013

Filed under: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

EVE Evolved title image
This week saw another landmark event in EVE Online grab the gaming community's attention as over 3,000 players from dozens of alliances battled it out in the lowsec system of Asakai on the Caldari border. The battle reached 2,800 concurrent players at peak, falling just short of 2011's record-breaking siege of LXQ2-T which hit 3,110 simultaneous combatants at its peak. There were livestreams, tons of after-action reports, and the story of this immense battle started by one man clicking the wrong button really captured our imaginations.

EVE is one of those rare cases in which a lot of people find the media that surrounds the game more fun than the game itself. News of big in-game events like scams, heists, and huge battles spreads across the internet like wildfire, even among people who hate the game or have never tried it. When news of the Asakai battle emerged, someone on Reddit suggested that people should play EVE for only a few months to get some background and then quit and just read the stories. I've seen a lot of similar comments over the years saying that EVE is more fun to watch and read about than play, and it makes me wonder if the game is becoming a bit of a spectator sport.

In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at why stories like the Battle of Asakai are so pervasive and explain why I think EVE should embrace its role as a spectator sport.

Continue reading EVE Evolved: Is EVE becoming a spectator sport?

MassivelyEVE Evolved: Is EVE becoming a spectator sport? originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 03 Feb 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

    MMO Week in Review: Flaming and frost
    February 03, 2013

    Filed under: , ,

    GW2
    At the end of every week, we round up the best and most popular news stories, exclusive features, and insightful columns published on Massively and then present them all in one convenient place. If you missed a big MMO or WoW Insider story last week, you've come to the right post.

    Having just kicked off the prelude to Guild Wars 2's Flame and Frost "multi-stage narrative" (code for "slow-trickle patch"), ArenaNet has been busy this week. Doing what? Oh, annoying you with password changes, tinkering with the dynamic leveling system, implementing a new achievement ladder system, testing a new PvP tourney mode, and adding bits and bobs to the living story for you to ignore in your quest to kill things. Ahh, MMOs.

    Read on for a roundup of the rest of this week's top Massively articles.

    Continue reading MMO Week in Review: Flaming and frost

    MassivelyMMO Week in Review: Flaming and frost originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 03 Feb 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

    Permalink | Email this | Comments

      The Daily Grind: What great feature do you think deserves more publicity?
      February 02, 2013

      Filed under: , , , ,

      You hear a lot about investigation missions and New York being attacked, though.
      No one talks about The Secret World's stealth missions. A few people do, but by and large if you asked a random person about the game they'd mention investigation missions and then stop. Which is a shame, because while the stealth-based missions aren't on par with Metal Gear Solid or points related, they're incredibly clever and universally fun to play through. They're also a great way to bring in some of the sense of horror and danger that the game wants to create.

      It's hardly surprising that an MMO would have some features that get more or less advertisement; after all, there are a lot of moving parts in any given MMO, and it's easy to miss one or two things along the way. So today's your chance to rectify that. What great feature in a game do you think deserves more publicity? Is it a type of quest, a combat system, or even just a minor bit of visual customization?

      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!

      MassivelyThe Daily Grind: What great feature do you think deserves more publicity? originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 02 Feb 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

      Permalink | Email this | Comments

        WRUP: The strange purgatory of Final Fantasy XIV edition
        February 02, 2013

        Filed under: ,

        In my mind, we are fighting for Eorzea again.
        Lately I've been thinking about Final Fantasy XIV. All right, that's not really unusual, but it hasn't been in my usual capacity of thinking about the game's future. No, I've been thinking that it's been too long since I played the game, that I should log in and level Lancer or Culinarian a bit -- that sort of thing. It's missing a game that's gone, except it's not gone, it's just on pause for the moment.

        Needless to say, I'm happy that it's February and I'll be getting a chance to jump into the beta soon. You know I'll be rocking a Highlander lady.

        I realize that some of you may have no idea what in the world half of those terms referred to, so to assuage you, here's a new installment of WRUP, complete with the usual Massively weekend plans. And you can even leave your weekend plans in the comments, too! It's a miracle of science.

        Continue reading WRUP: The strange purgatory of Final Fantasy XIV edition

        MassivelyWRUP: The strange purgatory of Final Fantasy XIV edition originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 02 Feb 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

        Permalink | Email this | Comments

          The Road to Mordor: Digesting the dev chats
          February 02, 2013

          Filed under: , , , , , ,

          The Road to Mordor Digesting the dev chats
          Apart from the nightmare of Twitter spam that the recent two Lord of the Rings Online dev chats have produced, I'm pretty happy that Turbine's being more interactive with the community and taking on some of these topics head-on. Of course, everyone has his own areas of interest that were probably not covered to satisfaction, but looking through these two chats (December 20th and January 24th), we can deduce a lot of useful information about where LotRO is headed in the future.

          Personally, I am pretty excited about 2013 for the game. It feels as if the team isn't slacking at all, and while there are always my wish list items that go unfulfilled, often the devs add cool changes (like the Bree update) that are equally welcome.

          So let's sift the wheat from the chaff and see what we come up with from these dev chats as well as the recent producer's letter!

          Continue reading The Road to Mordor: Digesting the dev chats

          MassivelyThe Road to Mordor: Digesting the dev chats originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 02 Feb 2013 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

          Permalink | Email this | Comments

            Guild Wars 2 adjusts dynamic leveling system
            February 02, 2013

            Filed under: , , , , ,

            Screenshot -- Guild Wars 2
            ArenaNet's Isaiah Cartwright, lead game designer on Guild Wars 2, has posted a new dev blog to address the recent changes to the game's dynamic leveling system. In the build of the game that went live on January 28th, the team made two major changes to the way dynamic leveling works. First, the devs "changed the formula for how attributes are calculated when the dynamic leveling adjustment system scales [players' levels] down." This is intended to make players' returns to low-level zones "more fun and better balanced." Secondly, the team "changed the formula for how rewards are calculated when scaled down to make it more rewarding for high-level players to visit lower-level areas."

            Cartwright claims that the goal of these changes is to "more accurately reflect the attributes [players] should have at that level for a similarly geared character" and adds that even though the changes will increase the difficulty of some lower-level zones, the team wants to ensure that "all areas of Guild Wars 2 [are] exciting and fun for players of any level." And last but certainly not least, Cartwright notes that "in 2013, one of [ArenaNet's] main goals is to add more content to map of all levels, as well as stronger reward structures for playing across all locations in the world."

            MassivelyGuild Wars 2 adjusts dynamic leveling system originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 02 Feb 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

            Permalink | Email this | Comments

            Bullet Run shutting down on March 8th
            February 02, 2013

            Filed under: , , ,

            Screenshot -- Bullet Run
            Sony Online Entertainment has announced the imminent closing of its short-lived multiplayer FPS, Bullet Run. In a post on the game's official forums, the studio announced that "after much review and consideration, Acony Games and Sony Online Entertainment have mutually made the decision to discontinue development on the free-to-play FPS game, Bullet Run."

            SOE will be officially sunsetting the game on March 8th, 2013. Until that time, however, the servers will remain up-and-running for any players who want to have one last hoorah before the game takes its final bow. Membership billing, however, ended yesterday, February 1st. Any players who still had time on their Platinum Memberships as of that time will receive a "pro rata refund for any time remaining on [their] Bullet Run subscription[s]" from SOE. The full details can be found on the game's official forums, and we wish the best of luck to the game's dev team in its members' future endeavors.

            [Thanks to Jack Pipsam for the tip!]

            MassivelyBullet Run shutting down on March 8th originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 02 Feb 2013 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

            Permalink | Email this | Comments

            The Mog Log: Final Fantasy and sexism
            February 02, 2013

            Filed under: , , , , , ,

            Seriously, I have no idea if this header is any good. Feedback is welcome.
            Passive sexism is a big deal to me. If it isn't a big one for you, it should be, because at some point high heels and metal bikinis became something passively accepted in games as a whole and that's not all right. MMORPGs on a whole do better than single-player titles, but you still have games like TERA that stick every female character into gravity-defying heels and the legal minimum required for clothing, or Scarlet Blade and its outfits made entirely out of electrical tape and fishnet.

            Some games are better or worse about this than others. The Secret World allows you to dress up either gender to be as sexy or as casual as you like, and Guild Wars made a point of keeping skimpy armor as skimpy armor for both genders in most cases. (Although not hardly all.) But the question that's actually relevant to this column is how Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV stack up, and the answer is that they acquit themselves remarkably well. So much so that they're among the most even-handed games I've seen, if not at the top of the list.

            Continue reading The Mog Log: Final Fantasy and sexism

            MassivelyThe Mog Log: Final Fantasy and sexism originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 02 Feb 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

            Permalink | Email this | Comments

              The Road to Mordor: Digesting the LotRO dev chats
              February 02, 2013

              Filed under: , , , , , ,

              The Road to Mordor Digesting the dev chats
              Apart from the nightmare of Twitter spam that the recent two Lord of the Rings Online dev chats have produced, I'm pretty happy that Turbine's being more interactive with the community and taking on some of these topics head-on. Of course, everyone has his own areas of interest that were probably not covered to satisfaction, but looking through these two chats (December 20th and January 24th), we can deduce a lot of useful information about where LotRO is headed in the future.

              Personally, I am pretty excited about 2013 for the game. It feels as if the team isn't slacking at all, and while there are always my wish list items that go unfulfilled, often the devs add cool changes (like the Bree update) that are equally welcome.

              So let's sift the wheat from the chaff and see what we come up with from these dev chats as well as the recent producer's letter!

              Continue reading The Road to Mordor: Digesting the LotRO dev chats

              MassivelyThe Road to Mordor: Digesting the LotRO dev chats originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 02 Feb 2013 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

              Permalink | Email this | Comments

                En Masse Entertainment unveils TERA: Rising patch notes
                February 02, 2013

                Filed under: , , , , ,

                Screenshot -- TERA
                On February 5th, En Masse Entertainment will be bringing TERA to the masses with TERA: Rising, which will see the game transition to a free-to-play business model. To help give players a leg-up on the competition, En Masse has released the patch notes for the upcoming update, and the list of changes is rather extensive. Some highlights include the introduction of the three-on-three Champions' Skyring battleground, the new competitive dungeon Crucible of Flame, a number of tweaks to many of the game's classes, and of course the much-needed crafting overhaul. The notes state that the game's crafting system "has been overhauled to streamline the process and simplify the amount of additional materials needed."

                But because of the game's change to F2P, one of the biggest chunks of the upcoming patch is the addition of various account tiers. Accounts are divided into Elite Status, Standard, and Founder. The Founder account type will be granted to players who purchased TERA prior to the F2P conversion, Standard accounts will be given to new F2P players, and Elite Status is available via a $14.99 US per month subscription. For the full patch notes and all the juicy details on the switch to F2P, head on to TERA's official site to sate your curiosity.

                MassivelyEn Masse Entertainment unveils TERA: Rising patch notes originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 02 Feb 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

                Permalink | Email this | Comments