Archives for Nov 15th, 2012
EverQuest, Ultima Online, and World of Warcraft among Time's top 100 games
We tend to think of MMOs as being different from other video games, but the genre has had a pretty major impact on all areas of gaming. As a result, it's no real surprise to see that three of the all-time most important MMOs show up on Time's recent list of the Top 100 Video Games of All Time. Ev...
The Summoner's Guidebook: League of Legends' revamped 3v3 mode
I really liked playing on the Twisted Treeline prior to the recent revamp. It felt like Summoner's Rift lite: a way to practice the key SR skills in a gametype that didn't require quite as much map awareness. Now, League of Legends' 3v3 mode has taken on a different face, and it doesn't feel much...
The Guild Counsel: Can guilds and lone wolves coexist?
There are some things in life that naturally go together. Peanut butter and chocolate, peas and carrots, peaches and cream, the Captain and Tennille. But two groups that tend to not mix are guilds and shy players. I was inspired to write this column after seeing the comments in last week's col...
EA given best workplace title for LGBT employees
If there's one thing reading Massively's comments has taught me, it's that major big-budget game companies are evil and probably kill kittens. But a recent rating by the Human Rights Campaign might work towards changing your mind about EA a bit. The Human Rights Campaign has given the company ...
Age of Wushu closed beta begins today
If you've been looking forward to Snail Games' upcoming martial arts title, Age of Wushu, then you should prepare to get your Wuxia on. The studio has announced that the game's closed beta test begins today and will go on until the 25th of November. While the beta was originally going to be open ...
The Elder Scrolls Online grapples with questions of race, story, and setting
You have questions about The Elder Scroll Online (probably many questions, yes?), and ZeniMax has a few answers in return. The developers took on a half-dozen queries from the community, many of which were concerned with setting and story, not to mention why typical adversaries are working togeth...
SOE releases Vanguard's City of Brass update
It's already been quite a week for AAA MMO updates. We've had expansions from RIFT and EverQuest II and a meaty patch from The Secret World. Fashionably late to the party is Vanguard, another SOE fantasy title that has just released its City of Brass patch. We previewed the new content at last...
Everything you need to know about Star Wars: The Old Republic's free-to-play update
Listen up, pilots: The devs have made a critical update, and the time for our return has come. Star Wars: The Old Republic is releasing both Update 1.5 and its free-to-play transition today, which means that the doors are open for both new and returning players to join BioWare's flock. That's rig...
Ask Massively: Reviewing and re-reviewing MMOs
Back in September, Star Trek Online Producer Daniel Stahl gave an interview that proposed to tell game journalists how to do their jobs. That's only fair; we're always telling developers how to do their jobs, right? Stahl told [a]listdaily, "The whole game rating business doesn't necessarily do...
Massively Exclusive: New Vindictus video showcases Season 2
Last week, we brought you an exclusive detailing the new Season 2 content hitting Vindictus, including a boss that can swallow players whole. Today, we have a new video so you can see that content in action! Have you ever wanted to grapple with a gigantic anthropomorphic octopus with spiked te...
RIFT going F2P in Korea, courting wage controversy in China
While Trion is basking in the glow of RIFT's successful Storm Legion expansion launch here in the States, things aren't looking as rosy abroad. You might recall that Trion exported its subscription-powered fantasy opus to Korea and China earlier this year, but now the former is offering up the fi...
New Darkfall dev diary vid talks art direction, Unholy Wars changes
So Darkfall 1.0 has come and gone, as Aventurine has officially closed the servers in preparation for the Unholy Wars reboot. The firm has also released a five-minute dev diary video featuring creative lead Adam Oikonomopoulos, who talks at length about the game's art direction updates and AV's e...
Massively Exclusive: RaiderZ announces launch date with new screens and a video
Since the beta doors opened on October 24th, more folks have been checking out the action of RaiderZ, banding together to engage massive bosses and even using mobs' own limbs as weapons against them. But if you were waiting for launch to jump in and experience the free-form class system and monst...
Chaos Theory: Why you should be excited for The Secret World's Issue #4
Dayum. I have to say that The Secret World's Issue #4 update looks pretty funking sweet. Despite the tough times endured by the title over the summer and after the subsequent Funcom layoffs, all signs point to growth for the game and its dedicated players going forward. Join me after the cut for...
A (spoiler-free) jaunt through Guild Wars 2's Lost Shores
Guild Wars 2's Lost Shores update is just around the corner -- that is, if you can consider nighttime to be a corner. What I'm trying to say is that Lost Shores goes live tomorrow. We brought you a content primer a couple of days ago to give you the basics of what's going on. Now it's time to t...
The Daily Grind: Do you play similarly themed MMOs simultaneously?
So RIFT and EverQuest II are both expanding this week, and I've got something of a conundrum when it comes to spending my game time. On the one hand, EQII has more features than any other themepark in existence, and I've got a long, fun history with the game. On the other hand, RIFT is newer, shi...
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Massively Speaking Episode 331: The long goodbye
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