Virtual World News
New CCP interview recaps recent EVE turmoil, looks forward
May 03, 2012
Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Game mechanics, Interviews, MMO industry, News items, DUST 514, Sandbox
The "their" Lander refers to is the game's playerbase, of course, and he tells GamesIndustry.biz that despite the turmoil of the last 12 months, the EVE property is none the worse for wear (and in fact it may be getting stronger due to a design re-focus and the imminent arrival of DUST 514).
Ultimately the interview brings no new information to the table, but it does serve as a handy recap of recent EVE events. It also offers up more than a few juicy quotes from both Lander and lead game designer Kristoffer "CCP Soundwave" Touborg.
New CCP interview recaps recent EVE turmoil, looks forward originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 03 May 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
- Source: GamesIndustry.biz
Glitch swaps out XP for imagination, tweaks UI
May 03, 2012
Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Game mechanics, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Free-to-play, Browser, Sandbox
What the heck is imagination? Well, glitches now have imagination (iMG) instead of XP. You gain iMG by questing, crafting, and collecting (i.e., by playing the game), and you can spend it on upgrades and various other gizmos still in the works. In short, iMG allows you to "create, grow, and customize the world and your character." It also serves as a nifty way of explaining new game abilities as opposed to boring old XP.
TinySpeck has authored a FAQ on the imagination changeover. Give it a read-through before you log in, as both the level curve and your character's accumulated XP have undergone significant changes.
[Thanks to Halldorr for the tip!]
Glitch swaps out XP for imagination, tweaks UI originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 03 May 2012 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
- Source: Patch announcement
Bethesda confirms Elder Scrolls MMO, three-faction PvP
May 03, 2012
Filed under: Fantasy, Game mechanics, MMO industry, New titles, News items
Despite a professed lack of interest in MMOs from Elder Scrolls notable Todd Howard, the project has been ongoing for a number of years now, according to Bethesda's latest press release. The dev team is headed up by Matt Firor, known primarily to gamers for his work on Dark Age of Camelot. Like DaoC, the new Elder Scrolls title will feature three-faction PvP. We'll keep you updated as Bethesda releases additional details.
Bethesda confirms Elder Scrolls MMO, three-faction PvP originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 03 May 2012 12:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
- Source: Game Informer
The Perfect Ten: Guild Wars 2 gravestone epitaphs
May 03, 2012
Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Guild Wars 2, Humor, Perfect Ten, Miscellaneous
Outside of Divinity's Reach in Guild Wars 2 is a graveyard. It's the type of place that you run through quickly on your way to more lively settings, unless a zombie attack emerges. It was the type of place that I was running through quickly during the previous beta weekend when I realized that the gravestones could be examined -- and each and every one of them had an interesting epitaph to read. Some crazy ArenaNet writer sat down one afternoon and wrote out dozens and dozens of gravestone inscriptions on the off-chance that any of us would slow down enough to read them. It paid off in my case.
This may be one of the most trivial Perfect Tens I've ever done, so forgive me with being absolutely fascinated by the epitaphs that came up during my explorations. With an absolute economy of words, each gravestone tells a complete story. Some are funny, some are dark, some play into the lore, and some actually managed to be quite moving.
Here are my 10 most favorite that I found. Maybe they'll haunt you as they do me.
Continue reading The Perfect Ten: Guild Wars 2 gravestone epitaphs
The Perfect Ten: Guild Wars 2 gravestone epitaphs originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 03 May 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
EVE producer: F2P converts were "failing," subs still viable
May 03, 2012
Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Business models, Culture, Interviews, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Free-to-play, DUST 514, Sandbox
"You look at the companies who did go free-to-play. They retrofitted it on, and that was because their games were failing. They didn't care about the tiny nugget of players who were still playing, because they knew they would get a huge number of other players and it would be more profitable," Lander told PC Gamer, before going on to explain how such a retrofit would kill EVE's essence.
Overall quality and the desire for long-term play also factor into a title's business model, Lander says. "If you have a really good game [...] and people want to spend a long time playing it, not like a month or two but like EVE players for years at a time, they're prepared to pay a subscription fee for a good quality gaming experience."
He also mentions EVE's PLEX system, which allows for real-world money to be injected into the EVE economy sans shady third-party brokers. And of course CCP is experimenting with free-to-play via its new DUST 514 shooter, which Lander says was built from the ground up for the new business model. It's not necessarily the future, though. "People say the subscription MMO is dead. I fundamentally disagree with that. It's simply not the case," he says. Hit the jump for video excerpts from the interview.
Continue reading EVE producer: F2P converts were "failing," subs still viable
EVE producer: F2P converts were "failing," subs still viable originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 03 May 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
- Source: PC Gamer
DDO's Menace of the Underdark expansion beta starts May 10th
May 03, 2012
Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Galleries, Screenshots, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Expansions, MMO industry, News items, Free-to-play
Turbine has also told us that the expansion closed beta will kick off on May 10th. The testing period will be exclusive to pre-order purchasers of MotU, so head to the official DDO site to learn more!
[Source: Turbine press release]
DDO's Menace of the Underdark expansion beta starts May 10th originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 03 May 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
EVE producer: F2P converts were 'failing,' subs still viable
May 03, 2012
Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Business models, Culture, Interviews, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Free-to-play, DUST 514, Sandbox
"You look at the companies who did go free-to-play. They retrofitted it on, and that was because their games were failing. They didn't care about the tiny nugget of players who were still playing, because they knew they would get a huge number of other players and it would be more profitable," Lander told PC Gamer, before going on to explain how such a retrofit would kill EVE's essence.
Overall quality and the desire for long-term play also factor into a title's business model, Lander says. "If you have a really good game [...] and people want to spend a long time playing it, not like a month or two but like EVE players for years at a time, they're prepared to pay a subscription fee for a good quality gaming experience."
He also mentions EVE's PLEX system, which allows for real-world money to be injected into the EVE economy sans shady third-party brokers. And of course, CCP is experimenting with free-to-play via its new DUST 514 shooter, which Lander says was built from the ground up for the new business model. It's not necessarily the future, though. "People say the subscription MMO is dead. I fundamentally disagree with that. It's simply not the case," he says. Hit the jump for video excerpts from the interview.
Continue reading EVE producer: F2P converts were 'failing,' subs still viable
EVE producer: F2P converts were 'failing,' subs still viable originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 03 May 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
- Source: PC Gamer
The Secret War draws over 200,000 players to its Facebook battle
May 03, 2012
Filed under: Betas, Horror, Sci-fi, Events, in-game, The Secret World
Over the course of two weeks, participants have unleashed 50 million agents as part of the event, visited the site 1,200,000 times, and spent an average of 20 minutes each visit participating in the game. Since launching The Secret War, Funcom's added goals for the factions to work toward each week. The current prize is a Heart of Africa health talisman.
Two-hundred thousand participants is a solid win for Senior Vice President Morten Larssen, who sees this as an excellent way to prepare players for the factional struggle of the MMO: "This conflict has always been a key driver for activity in our own community, and we are excited to see that more and more people are coming in to join the conflict from outside the community as well."
[Source: Funcom press release]
The Secret War draws over 200,000 players to its Facebook battle originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 03 May 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
TERA subscription error affects thousands
May 03, 2012
Filed under: Fantasy, Bugs, Launches, TERA
En Masse posted that it is aware of the situation and is working to resolve it. The studio says that players who purchased a physical copy of the game and signed up for a subscription before entering their game code triggered this problem. However, we've also had reports of players who have encountered this error when dealing with digital copies.
Affected players should now be able to log in to TERA while En Masse works on fixing the error.
[Thanks to Andrew, Schippie, and Alex for the tip!]
TERA subscription error affects thousands originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 03 May 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
- Source: TERA Customer Support, TERA Forums, TERA answers
The Guild Counsel: What's your guild really worth?
May 03, 2012
Filed under: Guilds, MMO industry, Opinion, The Guild Counsel, Miscellaneous
It's a complicated issue for sure, but it's mainly centered around one single character. But what if it involved an entire guild? That's a question that players have had to tackle recently in World of Warcraft, as the practice of buying and selling guilds has become more and more popular. Would you buy a guild if you were just starting out? And would you sell your guild if you were done with the game? As usual, there are three sides to this coin, and it's something that we might see more of in other MMOs, so let's take a look at some of the arguments both for and against in today's Guild Counsel.
Continue reading The Guild Counsel: What's your guild really worth?
The Guild Counsel: What's your guild really worth? originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 03 May 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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