Virtual World News
Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Culture, Game mechanics, MMO industry, News items, PvE
Irenic recently reached level 90 in Mists of Pandaria with a grand total of zero creatures killed, 92 total damage done, and one completed quest. "The one quest I got is a new unavoidable quest that is now auto-flagged as complete for all factions. It registered after I hit 86," Irenic explains on WoW's forums.
How did he manage it without a single kill? "Since the entrance to Pandaria isn't designed to be entered without questing and killing, I spent all my time doing archaeology and gathering in Kalimdor," Irenic wrote.
World of Warcraft Druid reaches 90 without a kill originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 14 Oct 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
- Source: WoW forums
Filed under: Fantasy, Culture, MMO industry, PvP, News items, Free-to-play, MOBA, League of Legends
Team Player Behavior is a group of 30 developers tasked with reducing negativity, abuse, and offensive language, and it includes PhDs in statistics, human factors psychology, and cognitive neuroscience. "We're never going to come to a place where there's no toxicity in League of Legends," says Jeffrey Lin, LoL's lead designer of social systems. "We're never going to get there. But we're finding different strategies [for situations where] if toxic behavior happens, how do we shield players from it? How do we reduce the frequency of it?"
Riot is tinkering with solutions ranging from the recently released honor system to turning off chat by default. The company has also seen some success with its tribunal system, and Lin cites an instance where a 10-year-old LoL player responded positively to the disciplinary action handed down via a Riot reform card.
"I showed [the boy's response] to the team and I said 'can you guys see the difference you're making in peoples' lives? This is not about games anymore, you guys are impacting these players,'" Lin explained.
Riot killing bad League of Legends behavior with science originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 14 Oct 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
- Source: The Verge
Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Culture, Economy, Expansions, Game mechanics, Previews, PvP, Endgame, Opinion, EVE Evolved, Sandbox
As if that weren't enough, players will even be able to enforce the law on their own terms, trawling high-security space for criminals and lighting them up for everyone to kill. Corporate- and alliance-level bounties will push grudges to new levels, enabling a new type of passive financial warfare. The new bounty system can also be used as a tool to motivate troops into battle, a way to incentivise boring but necessary starbase warfare, and even a method for running tournaments.
In this week's EVE Evolved, I get ridiculously excited about EVE's upcoming bounty hunting revamp and explain why it makes the Retribution expansion a complete game-changer.
Continue reading EVE Evolved: Bounty hunting and revenge
EVE Evolved: Bounty hunting and revenge originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 14 Oct 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Filed under: Sci-fi, Trailers, Video, Events, real-world, News items, Free-to-play, Transformers Universe
Transformers Universe will be free-to-play with microtransaction support. Jagex has announced plans to keep the game running for at least 10 years, allowing for exploration to take players to the stars -- even to Cybertron itself.
Skip below the cut to feast your eyes upon the glory of Transformers Universe!
[Thanks to groovy webizen Guy for the tip!]
Continue reading NYCC 2012: Transformers Universe trailer unveiled
NYCC 2012: Transformers Universe trailer unveiled originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 14 Oct 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Filed under: Business models, Events, real-world, MMO industry, Free-to-play, Massively Meta, Week in Review, Miscellaneous
F2P is the "platform of the future!" No, F2P is "entertainment socialism" that preys on the mentally ill! The participants in this year's GDC Online in Austin, Texas, didn't exactly solve the business model problems posed by the modern MMO industry, but they sure did provoke some passionate commentary from the folks at home.
Massively's GDC Online reporters heard from notables like John Smedley, Raph Koster, Ultima Forever's Paul Barnett, SWTOR's Damion Schubert, Guild Wars 2's Cameron Dunn, and SOE's Linda Carlson; slaughtered zombies in The War Z; took a peek at World of Warplanes, Age of Wushu, and Otherland; and raised their eyebrows at the results of the Developer's Choice awards.
Read on for a look at this week's other top MMO stories.
Continue reading MMO Week in Review: GDC Online's business model battle
MMO Week in Review: GDC Online's business model battle originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 14 Oct 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Filed under: Expansions, Game mechanics, Patches, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous
Unfortunately, sometimes later comes around and you don't recognize the game any longer.
Obviously, no game will freeze in place as we take care of other issues; updates will happen and the game will change. But sometimes you turn to go back to an old favorite and find out that the game's entire progression method has been redesigned, stats have been altered, and your favorite classes or skills are nearly unrecognizable. You no longer see the game you want to return to, and you don't want to start the game all over. So what game do you feel has changed too much for you to ever go back, even if you might be tempted?
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: What game do you feel has changed too much for you to return? originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 13 Oct 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Filed under: Massively Meta, Miscellaneous
It's important to put everything into context, so there you go.
Now that that's out of the way, we hope you enjoy this week's installment of WRUP! It's the Massively staff's rundown of our weekend plans. We also discuss how much gaming time we get on average, which seems to be a pretty solid average. Take a look past the jump, and let us know what your plans are down in the comments. Keeping context in mind, of course.
Continue reading WRUP: Context edition
WRUP: Context edition originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 13 Oct 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Expansions, Launches, Free-to-play, Massively Meta, The Road to Mordor, Guides
With just two days to go until players can head into Rohan, we're running out of time to prepare, and I'm not just talking about pre-purchasing the game (although that too). Riders of Rohan contains a host of content and changes, not the least of which is the new mounted combat system. I don't know about you, but I hate heading into expansions completely blind, so I decided to spend this week putting together a big roundup of everything you need to know about LotRO's fourth expansion.
Read well, my friends, but get your rest as well. You may not get it this coming week.
Continue reading The Road to Mordor: Riders of Rohan pre-launch guide
The Road to Mordor: Riders of Rohan pre-launch guide originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 13 Oct 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Filed under: Fantasy, Final Fantasy XI, Expansions, Opinion, Consoles, The Mog Log
As a result, on one level I'm not surprised that we know virtually nothing about Final Fantasy XI's next expansion beyond the upcoming jobs and the fact that it's not going to be released for the PlayStation 2 here in America. I am also completely baffled that in the time since the expansion's announcement we have heard nothing about it. We first found out that the expansion existed in any form back in June, and we've learned pretty much nothing new since... and that's not a good sign.
Continue reading The Mog Log: Where in the world is Seekers of Adoulin?
The Mog Log: Where in the world is Seekers of Adoulin? originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 13 Oct 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Filed under: EverQuest II, Culture, Events, real-world, MMO industry, Massively Event Coverage, The Tattered Notebook, Miscellaneous
In the talk, though, she not only gave advice on how to run a community management team but also shared some interesting observations about some of SOE's online communities in general. In this week's Tattered Notebook, we'll look at some of the highlights.
Continue reading The Tattered Notebook: Linda Carlson on goat herding and community management
The Tattered Notebook: Linda Carlson on goat herding and community management originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 13 Oct 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.