Virtual World News
Filed under: Fantasy, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Patches, News items, Free-to-play, MMORTS
Animal distributions will now take habitats, breeding, and migration into account, and players will notice various critters moving around the map and behaving in a more logical manner. "Now, each pack or herd of animals will be tracked in real time, its population increasing over time, and the pack splitting when the population grows to a certain point. Players will be able to dramatically impact the sizes of animal populations, which will have multiple consequences," says Illyriad founder James Niesewand.
The tweaks are part of a warmup to the game's extended trade and economic revamp which is due later this year.
[Source: Illyriad Games press release]
Illyriad MMORTS adding emergent mob distribution originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 22 Apr 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Filed under: Sci-fi, Super-hero, Galleries, Screenshots, City of Heroes, Massively Meta, One Shots, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Miscellaneous
The beta for Issue 23 of CoH has just gone live with a new parallel world of spookiness. While exploring around, I saw a familiar (yet strangely colored) police box. Looks like Paragon called in an expert to help fix those wibbly wobbly timey wimey problems.The image isn't bigger on the inside, but it is after the cut alongside two more reader pics!
Continue reading One Shots: City of who?
One Shots: City of who? originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 22 Apr 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Economy, Expansions, Game mechanics, Professions, PvE, Opinion, EVE Evolved, Sandbox
If someone asked you where all the minerals come from to build the thousands of ships destroyed in EVE on a daily basis, you might say that you assume most of it comes from mined ore. Mining was originally the biggest source of minerals in the game and one of the most profitable professions, but over the years, that's changed. When level 4 missions added an infinite source of battleship-sized NPCs to high-security space, mission-running quickly overtook mining as the most profitable profession, and bizarrely, as a very good source of minerals. When the drone regions were later released, ratting there also became a huge mineral faucet far in excess of that produced through mining.
In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at the problems faced by mining as a source of minerals and speculate on what will happen to mining as a profession when the Inferno expansion hits.
Continue reading EVE Evolved: Mining returns with Inferno
EVE Evolved: Mining returns with Inferno originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 22 Apr 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Trailers, Video, Game mechanics, MMO industry, New titles, News items, ArcheAge, Sandbox
Why Tencent Games instead of XLGAMES? Because Tencent is publishing the fantasy sandbox in China, and the aforementioned trailer is meant to endear the game to the huge number of MMO players that make up the Chinese market. European and American release plans for ArcheAge are still unknown, so commiserate with us by gazing wistfully at the full clip after the cut.
Continue reading New ArcheAge video makes western audiences sad
New ArcheAge video makes western audiences sad originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 22 Apr 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
- Source: YouTube
Filed under: Massively Meta, Week in Review, Miscellaneous
To everyone but legal scholars and fanboys, the ongoing NCsoft/TERA copyright duel probably seems beyond bizarre, but the latest bout was conducted this week through En Masse's bellicose official statements in response to media and fan concern over recent South Korean court proceedings, which confirmed the convictions of former Lineage 3 developers accused of taking assets and trade secrets to Bluehole Studios. Nevertheless, seemingly unhindered for the moment, TERA's launch marches onward with an open beta weekend, launch trailer, and prologue cinematic.
Read on for this week's other top MMO stories.
Continue reading MMO Week in Review: To the pain
MMO Week in Review: To the pain originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 22 Apr 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Video, Events, real-world, PvP, Free-to-play, Blade & Soul
In two filmed videos by ThisIsGame.com, testers give the game's intense, kinetic action a workout during a 20v20 PvP match. The characters' full range of motion is on display in these clips, as are their various methods of impaling, soul-sucking, and fireballing opponents.
Blade & Soul recently announced its adorable Summoner class, which will be playable when the game heads into its third closed beta test on May 9th. And yes, you have our full permission to stay up past your bedtime to watch the following PvP bout.
Continue reading Watch 17 minutes of unadulterated Blade & Soul PvP footage
Watch 17 minutes of unadulterated Blade & Soul PvP footage originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 22 Apr 2012 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
- Source: MMO Culture
Filed under: Game mechanics, MMO industry, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Humor, Miscellaneous
Customizable housing in an open-world sandbox setting brings its own set of problems, however, starting with the reality that most players aren't taking time out of their professional architect day jobs to play the game. Consequently, most player homes are decked out in bold colors and tacky tchotchkes and cleverly placed roof tiles that spell "LOL." I don't know about you guys, but my real-life house doesn't have an Escher fountain and mounted fish hanging on the second-story facade (although perhaps it should).
What do you think -- is customizable housing a tribute to creativity and freedom or an eyesore immersion-breaker inflicted ruthlessly on every passerby and neighbor? Is that freedom worth the pain?
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: Is customizable housing worth the inevitable eyesores? originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 21 Apr 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Filed under: Massively Meta, Miscellaneous
This week's WRUP isn't really about nostalgia. Sure, it's always about what the Massively staff is playing over the weekend, but our usual bonus question isn't nostalgic either. Instead, it's about what game mechanic we'd like to see excised for all time. So jump on past the break to see what we'll be up to over this fine weekend, and let us know your own plans down in the comments.
Continue reading WRUP: Pangolin edition
WRUP: Pangolin edition originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 21 Apr 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Events, in-game, Free-to-play, The Road to Mordor, Anniversary
Let me tell you, those Tuckborough Library raids were brutal back then!
So it has indeed been five years since Lord of the Rings Online released, a half-decade of Middle-earth stomping, Brandywine swimming, and Weathertop free-climbing. I can't even believe that this is the third such anniversary that I've covered for Massively; boy, how the time flies.
Perhaps to make up for last year's lackluster and flawed anniversary celebration, Turbine's pulled out all the stops to make LotRO's birthday an event to remember. We've got a lot to cover and plenty of fireworks left to shoot off, so let's get to it!
Continue reading The Road to Mordor: Happy fifth anniversary, LotRO!
The Road to Mordor: Happy fifth anniversary, LotRO! originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 21 Apr 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Filed under: Sci-fi, Game mechanics, MMO industry, News items, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Community Q&A
Combat designer Cameron Winston fields a query about SWTOR's threat mechanics, while lead designer Damion Schubert talks about the logic behind the equipment available at commendation vendors. "We don't want you to get all of the pieces of an armor set from any one source of gear. We want you to do multiple activities in the game to build out a full set of gear. This is a conscious decision on our part to encourage and reward playing multiple facets of the game. So you should do other things -- heroics, check the GTN, etc. -- the full set of gear is out there," he explains.
BioWare has also made two new discussion threads available on the forums: one for this week's questions and one for next week's Q&A.
BioWare publishes this week's SWTOR community Q&A, preps for next week originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 21 Apr 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
- Source: Q&A