Virtual World News
Filed under: Sci-fi, Bugs, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Patches, PvP, News items, Star Wars: The Old Republic
"We're currently investigating potential issues related to the Ilum open world PvP area post-1.1. We understand that this is a topic of much discussion and we ask that you please direct all discussions to this thread," writes Joveth Gonzalez on the official SWTOR forums.
The devs adjusted both daily and weekly missions to require the killing of factional enemies, and they also increased the PvP currency rewards for doing so. As of right now, it's anyone's guess what the fix will entail, and we'll keep our eyes on it as the situation develops.
[Update: BioWare has issued a formal statement, which we've posted in its entirety after the break.]
Continue reading SWTOR's new patch makes a mess, BioWare looking into it [Updated]
SWTOR's new patch makes a mess, BioWare looking into it [Updated] originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
- Source: SWTOR forums
- Via: Kotaku
Filed under: Sci-fi, Patches, News items, Star Wars: The Old Republic
While the announcement doesn't go into details about the rationale, it notes that there were late-surfacing issues uncovered by players on the test realm that required additional maintenance to correct, forcing the team to bring the patch back and polish it a few more times. A definite time will be posted to the community as soon as it's available. It's disappointing, certainly, but the idea of putting out the game's first major patch before the game had even been out of retail release for a month may have been overly ambitious.
First major patch and maintenance delayed for Star Wars: The Old Republic originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 17 Jan 2012 07:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Filed under: Sci-fi, Interviews, Star Wars: The Old Republic
It might astound you to realize just how many different type of artists work on MMOs such as SWTOR. Dobson said the team has "concept artists, character artists, environment artists, VFX artists, GUI artists, animators, and technical artists. The world design team is worth a mention here as well, because they participate a lot in the initial visual development of an area." And that doesn't include the separate teams that did the cinematic cutscenes or pre-rendered cinematics!
Dobson said that the biggest challenge for the art team was the scale of the project. "The Old Republic has too many assets to even really take stock of how much there is. It is a lot of work to simply track this many assets as they go through the creation pipeline," he said.
That palette is fully operational: Jeff Dobson opens up about SWTOR's artistic side originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 17 Jan 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
- Source: Republic Trooper
Filed under: Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous
OK, maybe not all about it, but there sure is a lot of thought and angst devoted to the items that fall from various AI-creature piñatas -- who got the best stuff, who didn't get any stuff, and how it's not fair that he got better stuff than you did.
Different games may offer different methods of loot distribution, like a round-robin option or Guild Wars' pre-assigned drops, but need before greed is still a long-standing and familiar method. So what do you think? Does the system, which relies largely on players rolling fairly, still work well, or has its time passed?
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!The Daily Grind: Do you like need vs. greed loot distribution? originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 17 Jan 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Filed under: Fantasy, Launches, MMO industry, New titles, News items, TERA
In the meantime, En Masse is accepting beta applications and the company also promises "lots more in store" for the month of January.
TERA was originally developed by Bluehole Studio, and the title launched in Korea in early 2011. The game is a high fantasy MMORPG focused around action combat and featuring an endgame political system.
[Update]: Frogster has also announced that the EU version of TERA will be available on May 3rd.
TERA launching May 1st in North America [Updated] originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 17 Jan 2012 09:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
- Source: Announcement
Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Patches, Free-to-play
Some of the changes include eliminating dyes from lootboxes, a nerf to Minstrel codas, many tweaks to the Tower of Orthanc raid, the option to timestamp chat messages, and small improvements to the treasure hunt. The devs have also posted an updated list of known issues for the game.
As always, it's worth going through the patch notes to try to find the funny asides. In this update? "Addressed a number of typos. Probably added some new ones."
LotRO Update 5.1 shoots Saruman in the knee originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 17 Jan 2012 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
- Source: LotRO patch notes
Filed under: Horror, Video, Interviews, News items, World of Darkness, Miscellaneous
McDonough also talks in depth about turning the game into an MMO, claiming that a pen-and-paper game naturally translates into an MMO better than other properties because of the lack of iconic characters who players wish to play. The challenge, of course, is bringing over some of the feel of a tabletop setting into an online environment, with McDonough explaining that several of the computer games such as Vampire: The Masquerade -- Bloodlines have been used as a point of common reference. Click past the break to see the full interview.
Continue reading Chris McDonough talks about the development of the World of Darkness
Chris McDonough talks about the development of the World of Darkness originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 17 Jan 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
- Via: VE3D
Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, Patches, News items, Free-to-play, Dungeons
One of the two dungeons is an instanced dungeon, but the other one is a social dungeon, allowing multiple groups to explore it at the same time and reap the rewards for braving its perils. Players will be tasked with exploring the structure left by the ancient Atlanteans, hoping to discover the evil that befell this ancient race of people. You can check out the latest screenshots of the update in the gallery below, or you can log in and start exploring the dungeons now.
[Source: Funcom press release]
Age of Conan opens up the House of Crom originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Filed under: Fantasy, Galleries, Screenshots, Game mechanics, MMO industry, News items, Xsyon, Post-Apocalyptic, Sandbox, Crafting
Notorious is intent on showing off what it calls player architecture, as Xsyon is one of the few games on the current MMO market that actually allows for unique creations in terms of buildings, structures, and even town layouts. You can see a few of the choice shots in our Xsyon gallery below, but you'll need to head to the game's official website to see them all.
[Source: Notorious Games press release]
Xsyon architecture gallery shows off unique player-made structures originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
- Source: Architecture gallery
Filed under: Fantasy, Video, EverQuest II, Game mechanics, MMO industry, News items, Free-to-play
First up is the Storm Tower Isle, an evil-themed island refuge with a Tower of Bone replica and a bunch of pristine beach, salt spray, and stormy atmospherics. Next is the Secluded Sanctum, and long-time EverQuest II players will recognize it as a portion of Sullon Zek's dungeon. SOE left the canopy beds and raised dais in place, and we can't wait to see what some of Norrath's premier interior decorators do with the place. Both homes will be available in the Station Cash store very soon, and you can get a guided video tour after the cut.
Continue reading SOE readying new EQII prestige homes
SOE readying new EQII prestige homes originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 17 Jan 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
- Source: YouTube