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Wings Over Atreia: Bite-sized Aion
November 05, 2012

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Wings Over Atreia Bitesized Aion
It happens. No matter how much you enjoy Aion, there just comes a time when you can't do marathon gaming sessions, with snacks stockpiled next to you and no regard for the clock. Sometimes life demands attention, and you just can't really delve in and lose yourself for untold hours on end. It could be flooding or house fires (been there, done that), a change in employment, a move, impending term papers, or a change in your household. Regardless the reason, any number of things -- from the mundane to the truly unbelievable -- can occur and prevent solid chunks of gaming time.

Such has been my case over the past couple of months. Sadly, real life intervened in both some wonderful and some tragic ways that have prevented me from spending any length of time in-game at one sitting. And even when I did get in, I'd feel so paralyzed by how much I need to do that I'd end up doing nothing. So what's a Daeva to do?

Well, just because you or I cannot spend hours at a time in Atreia doesn't mean we can't still enjoy it! Even if you find yourself temporarily unable to spend quantity time in Aion, you can still indulge in quality time; there are plenty of smaller tasks that move you toward your goals without requiring inordinate amounts of time to actually accomplish. Today, Wings Over Atreia explores some of those bite-sized bits of Aion that can be enjoyed when only quick bursts of gaming time are available.

Continue reading Wings Over Atreia: Bite-sized Aion

MassivelyWings Over Atreia: Bite-sized Aion originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 05 Nov 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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    Guild Wars 2 reveals schedule for the Lost Shores
    November 05, 2012

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    Again - we can see the shores. They're not all that lost.
    If you're a Guild Wars 2 fan, you probably don't want to miss a minute of the upcoming Lost Shores event. Of course, that means you need a little time to plan your days -- beg off of visiting relatives, pretend you're sick for work, stock up on canned food, and so forth. In foresight of precisely this eventuality, the Guild Wars 2 community team has revealed the event's schedule so that everyone can prepare accordingly before this one-time event goes live.

    At 3 p.m. EST on November 16th, the first event chain will kick off. This will be followed by another kickoff event on November 17th and a final culmination on November 18th, both mirroring the 3 p.m. EST start time. While the 16th and 17th will still have content for players who miss the starting bell, the 18th's event will run for several hours and will not come back around, meaning that if you only catch one part of the event, be there for the ending.

    MassivelyGuild Wars 2 reveals schedule for the Lost Shores originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 05 Nov 2012 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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    Not So Massively: Halloween events, tournaments and character reveals
    November 05, 2012

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    Not So Massively title image
    League of Legends introduced its upcoming third competitive season with an article explaining how European teams can qualify to enter next year's championship and compete for massive cash prizes. Dota 2 temporarily turned MMO this week with its Diretide Halloween map that turns the game into a collection quest and then a 10-man raid.

    SMITE revealed its new god Loki, adding a deadly backstabbing assassin to the game's growing roster of characters. Guardians of Middle-Earth also released its first two real hard carries this week with a Battle Profile on Ori and Agandaûr, two characters whose ability power scales up with each use. Heroes of Newerth's inclusive competitive league HoNTour got off to a great start this week despite early setbacks.

    Upcoming action RPG Path of Exile spruced up its website this week and released its anticipated PvP arena patch. Diablo III players have reported that monsters with the Reflect Damage affix are almost impossible to kill in higher Monster Power levels. Finally, the first Firefall Fest saw special guests Athene, Felicia Day, and Wil Wheaton trying the game for the first time, and Blacklight: Retribution released its Evacuation update.

    Continue reading Not So Massively: Halloween events, tournaments and character reveals

    MassivelyNot So Massively: Halloween events, tournaments and character reveals originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 05 Nov 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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      The Daily Grind: Are you for or against casting while moving?
      November 04, 2012

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      The Daily Grind Are you for or against casting while moving
      With the new guard of MMOs this year comes an unexpectedly interesting shift in game design: the removal of movement restrictions from casting. Titles like The Secret World and Guild Wars 2 have thrown out this age-old tradition in favor of a more mobile casting environment. All of the sudden, spellcasters have found their "game legs" -- but is this a good thing? And do you want to see it spread across the MMO industry?

      Those in the traditionalist camp might say that allowing casters to discover the joys of bipedal locomotion will greatly unbalance games as we know them. They claim that it's a necessary weakness to counterbalance the massive ranged damage and abilities that such classes are capable of doing. And there is the possibility that it is another spot of erosion on the uniqueness defining these roles.

      Let's give it up to you to decide today: Are you for or against casting while moving?

      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: Are you for or against casting while moving? originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 04 Nov 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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        One Shots: A fool's game
        November 04, 2012

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        One Shots A fool's game
        That's one big chicken, Scott. A big chicken indeed. Why do you need a chicken that big? Should we alert the authorities about animal abuse? Is this a Scandinavian Thanksgiving ritual? Are you attempting to prove the Rooster Road Theorem?

        Perhaps I should let Scott explain: "I was recently informed you guys brought back One Shots. Well, here I am bringing you three one of my escapades in Guild Wars 2. Here, Nerrath's found dinner! You guys may or may not remember the several screenshots from Champions Online's Legion of Laughter that made it into the previous iteration of One Shots. Well, we're still going strong on the Crystal Desert server as the Order of the Fool!"

        Feast your eyes on Scott's chicken and more after the break.

        Continue reading One Shots: A fool's game

        MassivelyOne Shots: A fool's game originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 04 Nov 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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          Rise and Shiny revisit: Asheron's Call
          November 04, 2012

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          Asheron's Callcharacter creation
          Another week of this column makes me amazed at how yet another older title, this time Asheron's Call, got so much right and yet remains so under-appreciated. A lot of this dismissal of past MMOs comes from the simple fact that humans do not enjoy something they have seen before, at least not the same as they enjoyed it when they first found it. In other words, we loved games like Asheron's Call, but they have fallen out of favor because we have moved on to bigger, newer, shinier things. After all, most of us don't sit around a fire and swap stories for entertainment anymore; we watch television. Although, damn, a fire sounds nice doesn't it?

          The warm feeling that I might feel from an evening swapping tales in front of the hearth is the same one I get from older titles like Asheron's Call. These elder titles have a charm built in, thanks to dated graphics that remind us of younger years and times of discovery.

          But there's something else going on here. These older games, games like Asheron's Call, are still really good.

          Continue reading Rise and Shiny revisit: Asheron's Call

          MassivelyRise and Shiny revisit: Asheron's Call originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 04 Nov 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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            Guild Wars 2 reserved names to be released on Nov 8th
            November 04, 2012

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            Guild Wars 2 reserved names to be released on Nov 8
            Way, way back in time, when Guild Wars 2 first launched, character names in the original Guild Wars were reserved for those who had linked their accounts. Originally, the intent was that those names would be reserved for the headstart weekend and launch day, then released so that if someone had been sitting on Legolas Greenleaf but didn't claim it, that coveted name could be put to use. In response to a veritable flood of account issues and support tickets, however, ArenaNet postponed the release of those names -- until now. Well, not precisely now, but November 8th.

            Previously reserved names will be put up for grabs on the 8th at 5:00 p.m. EST. That means if you've been putting off getting one of your own reserved names onto a new character, mark your calendars!

            MassivelyGuild Wars 2 reserved names to be released on Nov 8th originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 04 Nov 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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            EVE Evolved: Merging EVE with DUST 514
            November 04, 2012

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            EVE Evolved title image
            When console MMOFPS DUST 514 was first announced, players were cautious of the game's ambitious goals. Developers promised that DUST battles would decide the ownership of planets inside PC MMO EVE Online, and that this would tie into system sovereignty and ultimately ownership of entire regions of space. We expected the two games to have separate communities and economies that would interact only when EVE players hired DUST mercenaries to take over sectors of particular planets, but we couldn't have been more wrong.

            Two years later, CCP blew our expectations out of the water with details of how DUST and EVE will be practically joined at the hip. We learned that the two games would share the exact same corporations and that ISK would be transferable between games. We also got a glimpse of the incredible plans for realtime integration, with EVE ships able to deliver air strikes to planets and DUST players able to shoot down ships in orbit with ground cannon. But have those ambitious goals stayed in focus during development, and what can we expect from DUST when it launches early next year?

            In this week's EVE Evolved opinion piece, I look through the public information on DUST 514's launch integration with EVE Online and speculate on how the link may evolve after release.

            Continue reading EVE Evolved: Merging EVE with DUST 514

            MassivelyEVE Evolved: Merging EVE with DUST 514 originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 04 Nov 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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              MMO Week in Review: The Mouse House
              November 04, 2012

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              MMO Week in Review
              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.

              If you ever wanted to see what a geek supernova looks like, you only had to pay attention to the internet as Disney announced this week that it purchased LucasArts and is making several new Star Wars films. Of course, MMO gamers are certainly wondering how this might impact the several Star Wars-themed properties we enjoy (or have enjoyed). Will this added focus on the Star Wars franchise be the shot in the arm that SWTOR needs on the verge of free-to-play?

              The rest of the week's top MMO stories are beyond the cut.

              Continue reading MMO Week in Review: The Mouse House

              MassivelyMMO Week in Review: The Mouse House originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 04 Nov 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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                Daybreak action MMO aims for global release
                November 04, 2012

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                daybreak new mmo, videos
                Chinese developer Linekong is bringing Daybreak to the global market. "That's great," you may say, "but what is Daybreak?"

                Daybreak is an action MMORPG to which players can connect either through a client or browser. The game currently has four classes, all gender-locked: the Knight, Hunter, Puppet Master, and Mage. Among other features are a handful of PvP modes, upgradeable mounts, pets that evolve, and bosses both in dungeons and the open world. Despite that action moniker, Daybreak currently doesn't allow players to attack while jumping or swing their weapons while running. A fatigue system for entering dungeons and other in-game systems is augmented by heavy emphasis on the cash shop, at least on the game's current Chinese server.

                Skip below the cut to check out some trailer and gameplay videos for yourself.

                Continue reading Daybreak action MMO aims for global release

                MassivelyDaybreak action MMO aims for global release originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 04 Nov 2012 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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