Archives for Jun 27th, 2013
The Guild Counsel: Three problem players and how to handle them
Guild drama is something that can bring headaches to a guild leader. When you have dozens of players with a variety of personalities under the same virtual roof, there are bound to be some conflicts. On top of that, players don't have the benefit of being face to face, so there's room for misinterp...
The Think Tank: Do you play single-player games as well as MMOs?
As gamers, most of us enjoy a wide variety of game genres. The social interaction of an MMO is great, but sometimes you just want to hide in the corner of a single-player game and forget that the healer in that raid PUG today didn't heal or that XxXGrImReApErYoLo420XxX is better at PlanetSide 2 tha...
The Summoner's Guidebook: League of Legends is hard but satisfying
I am not the only person to ever say League of Legends is a hard game. If you've ever read a message board for a game that isn't LoL (or any general gaming board), you have likely heard about how hard League of Legends is compared to whatever other game is being discussed. Some veterans insist t...
DUST 514 prepares to deploy Uprising 1.2
CCP is promising to roll out new DUST 514 updates on a "near-monthly basis" and is preparing to roll out Uprising 1.2 for the game on July 2nd. "We have decided to move into a faster, more iterative update cycle," said CCP Praetorian. "This is unique in the console space, only possible because o...
Pathfinder to feature hands-on construction, building, planning
Many modern-day MMOs have relegated crafting to an automated afterthought. Not Pathfinder Online, though. No sirree, GoblinWorks' crowdfunding sandbox will feature plenty of hands-on construction, according to the firm's latest blog post. "While it may be easier to wave your hand and decree that yo...
EverQuest starts testing Heart of Fear update
The latest chapter in EverQuest's epic story has gone into beta. The fourth tier of this expansion cycle is called Heart of Fear, and players can check it out on the test server starting today. Heart of Fear's story began back in 2010's House of Thule and continued through EverQuest's various ex...
Blizzard brings out the Diablo III banhammer
If there is one particular group of fools that Blizzard Entertainment cannot suffer, it is nefarious tricksters attempting to sneak an advantage in its games through the use of hacks, bots, and other malicious cheats. The company has just confirmed its latest round of mass-bannings in Diablo III, a...
PlanetSide 2 is letting players make the missions
The world of PlanetSide 2 is a battlefield, one that is constantly evolving and changing. Sometimes you need a commander who can come up with some off-the-wall strategies, a desperate flank, an ambush for a pursuing force, something like that. So the developers at Sony Online Entertainment are givi...
Talk about internet spaceships and lose money at EVE Vegas 2013
EVE Fanfest is the biggest gathering of EVE Online fans in the world. There's just one small problem for folks who live in North America: Fanfest is in Iceland, which is very far away. Like, super far. You probably couldn't even drive there. The distance between the Americas and Iceland is one r...
MU Rebirth begins beta sign-ups
Never get to attached to an upcoming game title in this industry, as it can change at the drop of a hat. Webzen has renamed MU Chronicle R to the somewhat-less-unwieldy MU Rebirth and announced that the title is now accepting sign-ups for its closed beta test. MU Rebirth is a remake of MU Online...
The next chapter of The Aurora World launches with in-game events
Not one to dilly-dally around (it moved The Aurora World from closed to open beta in less than a month, after all), GBE Games launched the next chapter of the free-to-play fantasy game today. This content update includes a level cap increase to 70, new areas, upgraded servers, and Nation War PvP. ...
Beat the heat with new Dragon's Prophet Wintertide screenshots
At E3 we were introduced to Wintertide, a new land coming in the next big beta content patch for Dragon's Prophet. With constant harsh weather in the endless tundras, dense forests, and sky-scraping mountains, adventurers will brave bitter cold when traversing the wilds of Wintertide. To give playe...
ArcheAge player guide shows how to compose your own music
A couple months ago, someone quietly posted a video of folks actually playing music in ArcheAge. As much excitement as that generated for music lovers, not much information was given in that short clip other than a Guitar Hero-style guitar was utilized to create what was heard in the sandbox game. ...
Why I Play: RIFT
I've heard the common complaints. Heck, I've been the one issuing them from time to time. RIFT is too much like World of Warcraft. Its story often feels bland. Its 50-to-60 journey takes just this side of forever. Its cities are more like "one building and a couple of adjoining huts." Its dynamic c...
Lost Continent: ArcheAge needs a business model, too
Massively's Eliot Lefebvre recently speculated on what WildStar's business model might look like, and even if you're not a huge fan of the upcoming sci-fantasy opus, it's worth a read. It's also a column topic worth stealing, and I'm going to do just that this week and apply it to ArcheAge. Like...
The Daily Grind: What's your pre-order spending limit?
I was paging through the comments for our recent MechWarrior Online Phoenix Project post yesterday, and it struck me as somewhat nutty that Piranha has basically been operating the game for a year, has already offered a $120 founder's program, and is now offering what amounts to another pre-order p...
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