Virtual World News
EverQuest II adds dungeon finder, double Station Cash weekend on tap for Europe
October 06, 2011
Filed under: Fantasy, EverQuest II, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Patches, News items, Free-to-play, Dungeons
Adventurers can queue solo or as a group by clicking the dungeon finder icon on their EQII menus, and it's worth noting that signing up for a random dungeon will net you a 25% XP boost.
Other patch details worth mentioning include a, ahem, rebalance of the Dirge mythical effect as well as a Troubador revamp. Finally, European EQII fans should be pleased to know that this weekend features a double Station Cash promotion to celebrate the availability of pre-paid SOE game cards at retailers throughout the region.
EverQuest II adds dungeon finder, double Station Cash weekend on tap for Europe originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 06 Oct 2011 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
- Source: EQII dungeon finder
- Via: EQ2Wire
Trion announces Red Door publishing and development platform
October 06, 2011
Filed under: Business models, MMO industry, News items, RIFT, Miscellaneous
What games are those, you might ask?
Well there's RIFT, of course, and the company is also developing End of Nations and Defiance. Red Door aims to allow third-parties to build and run games of similar scope via "fast real-time updates and versatile monetization models." Trion CEO Lars Buttler says that the company's goal is to "revolutionize premium games and help the industry realize its potential in the connected era."
[Source: Trion press release]
Trion announces Red Door publishing and development platform originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 06 Oct 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Trickster Online's Episode 6 woos players with magic!
October 06, 2011
Filed under: Fantasy, Patches, Free-to-play
Trickster's latest update features the final part of its current story arc as well as a heapload of new content for players to explore. The episode adds 23 additional areas to the game, 56 more quests, an escort system, and a treasure hunt for billionaire Don Cavalier's loot.
SG Interactive's Chris Lee says to not look at Episode 6 so much as an ending, but as a new beginning: "The new episode will put the finishing touch to our storyline while providing engaging contents for all players, from beginners to high level players. In addition to concluding the current storyline, this update marks the beginning of more new adventures in Trickster Online, and players should anticipate big celebrations in and out of the game coming soon."
Be sure to check out the trailer for Episode 6: Songs of Love and Fate!
Trickster Online's Episode 6 woos players with magic! originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 06 Oct 2011 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
- Source: Trickster Online
Dark Age of Camelot quest revamp in the works
October 06, 2011
Filed under: Fantasy, Dark Age of Camelot, Game mechanics, MMO industry, News items, Dev Diaries
Mythic's Kai Schober says that new and returning players "may be hard-pressed to find their way at the outset of their journey," and as such the devs have set about revisiting many of the game's famous towns and villages with an eye towards modernizing the progression path.
New types of quests are also in store, and the diary describes them as full of "moral deliberation" that will make for "diverse gameplay experiences as well as provide unique item rewards." Read more at the official DAoC website.
Dark Age of Camelot quest revamp in the works originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 06 Oct 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
- Source: DAoC dev diary
Fighting the EverQuest hacking wildfire
October 06, 2011
Filed under: Fantasy, EverQuest, Bugs
In a three-part series, Ten Ton Hammer exposes the systematic problem of rampant hacking in the game, especially on the new progression servers. While guilds are doing their part to crack down on hackers in their midst, it doesn't seem to be enough to stem the flow, especially as with a much smaller team in place these days.
Ultimately, fighting this problem does not seem to be SOE's current priority. EQ Producer Thom Terazzas addressed the issue of hacking by saying, "The expansion is something that we're really focused on right now. That has gotten, I would say, 80 percent of the focus here. So doing anything that dramatically combats the hacking is something that we would really like to do, but it is not something we've been able to do."
Terazzas followed that up by talking with the Customer Service team, and promised that the hackings will receive higher priority once the expansion crunch is over. In the meantime, he urged players to file reports with CS if hacking was observed.
Fighting the EverQuest hacking wildfire originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 06 Oct 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
- Source: Ten Ton Hammer
Preparing for the apocalypse (again): GamersFirst on Fallen Earth's F2P shift
October 06, 2011
Filed under: Sci-fi, Fallen Earth, Business models, Interviews, Free-to-play, Post-Apocalyptic, Sandbox
Like many current players and potential clones, we are understandably curious about the implications and (pardon the pun) fallout from such a fundamental shift in the business model. Will F2P be the savior of this niche game? What's being done to prepare for the change? To answer these questions and more, we talked to Joseph Willmon, an associate game director for GamersFirst.
Massively: How are you preparing your servers for the added influx of free-to-play tourists?
Joseph Willmon: We're still wrapping up some of the final stages of settling the Fallen Earth servers into their new homes at GamersFirst, so soon they'll be as optimized as we want them to be. We're lucky in that Fallen Earth was designed from the ground up to support lots of people playing -- we'd have to blow all estimates out of the water really quickly in order for population to be an issue, which wouldn't be such a bad problem to have!
Continue reading Preparing for the apocalypse (again): GamersFirst on Fallen Earth's F2P shift
Preparing for the apocalypse (again): GamersFirst on Fallen Earth's F2P shift originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 06 Oct 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
The Perfect Ten: Excuses for ditching a dungeon run (from least to most insane)
October 06, 2011
Filed under: Culture, Humor, Perfect Ten, Miscellaneous, Dungeons
I'm not saying that all dungeons are boring or anything, but rather that when you start one, you've kind of committed to seeing it through (unless you're the jerk who always teams up with me through the LFG tool). Unfortunately, that means you're locked into an unknowable span of time during which narcolepsy, hunger, and brilliant flashes of insight about how to cure Chronic Giggling Syndrome (CGS) can strike. What can you do? Usually, nothing other than to suffer through the slow plodding of your four other ball-and-chains and start burning small sacrifices to your deity of choice in hopes that this run will end soon.
Or you can pull out an excuse and get out of Dodge. I'm not saying you should use these every night -- you will build up a very negative reputation, quickly, if you do so -- but sometimes you just need an escape hatch so you can go sleep, eat or call the CGS laboratories in Albuquerque. That's what I'm here to help you with today by providing 10 tested excuses to ditching that disastrous dungeon run and getting on with your life.
Continue reading The Perfect Ten: Excuses for ditching a dungeon run (from least to most insane)
The Perfect Ten: Excuses for ditching a dungeon run (from least to most insane) originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 06 Oct 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Firefall dev says new MMO shooter will transcend the 'circle of suck'
October 06, 2011
Filed under: Sci-fi, Game mechanics, Interviews, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Free-to-play, MMOFPS, Sandbox
So why is he heading up the development of Firefall, a free-to-play MMO/shooter hybrid that aims to stand genre convention on its head? Well, precisely because it aims to stand genre convention on its head. "If I see another action MMO combat game with exclamation points over quest givers, I'm going to commit seppuku! We're pouring so much money [into] a very stale formula," he recently told PC Gamer.
Previous attempts at blending MMO and shooter gameplay have resulted in what Kern colorfully terms the "circle of suck," but Firefall will break that mold due to its unique mind meld of both genres. "Let's get the shooting right, and selectively add in the MMO elements. Let's take the idea of open world sandbox play and feature hundreds of players instead of four- or eight-player co-op. Let's take towns, crafting, and resources and combine it all together. And that group would be a much more fun game when we started playing it than anything we'd tried before," Kern says.
Firefall dev says new MMO shooter will transcend the 'circle of suck' originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 06 Oct 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
- Source: PC Gamer
Otherland dev talks timelines and Tad Williams' influence
October 06, 2011
Filed under: Sci-fi, Interviews, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Otherland
Then there's Otherland, gamigo's ambitious MMO based on Tad Williams' famous sci-fi cycle. A new interview with gamigo CEO Patrick Streppel sheds a bit of light on the title's timeline and canon and teases fans with glimpses of what they'll see and do when they plug in to what amounts to a virtual world set in a virtual world.
"Tad [Williams] has been very involved in the project from the beginning and provided lots of input to the development team on top of the source material. He is truly passionate about his vision being turned into a game," Streppel says. How will the game present that vision? It is "essentially a sequel" to the novels, and as a result of the dramatic conclusion at the end of the fourth and final book, it will now "be up to the players to get [Otherland] back online." The interview also delves briefly into gameplay topics, character creation, and more, so head to MPOGD.com to have a look.
Otherland dev talks timelines and Tad Williams' influence originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 06 Oct 2011 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
- Source: MPOGD.com
Ask Massively: Unpopular decisions edition
October 06, 2011
Filed under: Opinion, Massively meta, One Shots, Ask Massively, Miscellaneous
You probably all know what I'm talking about already, so go ahead and jump past the break for the explanation and a bit of discussion. As always, your questions are welcome in the comments or via mail to ask@massively.com for inclusion in a future installment of the column, hopefully one in which I go back to posting public domain artwork as the header before rambling on about elephants. I like those introductions better.
Continue reading Ask Massively: Unpopular decisions edition
Ask Massively: Unpopular decisions edition originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 06 Oct 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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