World of Warcraft

Finding the sweet spot in an MMO that applies to both casual and hardcore players might be the holy grail of the industry, but Carbine is convinced that it can deliver with WildStar -- and do so in a way that World of Warcraft no longer can.

Game Design Producer Stephan Frost was bold in his statements to MCV, saying that WildStar will be a true success story. "We're making something that's different," he said. "We're coming out at a time when WoW is losing subscribers, and we can fill the void for people who want an MMO that's deep, hardcore but also accessible to people. We've found through betas and trade shows that MMO players understand our game. They can see the improvements we've made and notice that this game is something pretty cool."

In the olden days of World of Warcraft, it took 40 dedicated people to down some of the game's toughest content. It wasn't easy to keep a guild stocked with the necessary number of people to make these raids possible, and Blizzard reduced raid sizes to 10- and 25-man encounters starting with the Burning Crusade expansion in the hopes of making raiding more accessible for smaller guilds and raid leaders working with busy real-life humans.

It is with this same accessibility in mind that Blizzard has just announced Flexible Raids, a new form of raid content that will debut with the game's upcoming 5.4 patch. In the simplest terms, these raids automatically adjust their difficulty based on how many players are present, supporting any number between 10 and 25. The difficulty resets week-to-week; if 22 people come one week and 13 the next, the new raiders won't be locked into last week's numbers.

A new tier of item that falls between the Raid Finder and Normal difficulties is being introduced for Flexible Raiders, and Flexible Raid lockouts will be separate from those of Normal and Heroic attempts. Blizzard has also promised additional rewards for those who participate in Flexible, Normal, and Heroic raids -- rewards that will be unavailable to Raid Finder groups.

Flexible Raiding will be made available piece by piece as Blizzard tweaks the formula. It should be launching on the test realm Soon™.

Have you ever sat down with a realtor and tried to haggle down the price of a house based on the fact that it previously housed a scheming black dragon? Hopefully not, as black dragons do not actually exist. But if you have, you'll be happy to know that World of Warcraft's Stormwind Keep has now been priced out by what we are assured are reputable realtors with an eye toward setting this in-game structure's retail price in US dollars. About $10 million, as it happens.

So why? Well, based on how much space it seems to cover and the value of a comparable real-world castle in Wales, the Keep winds up with a fairly modest price tag for a castle. Then again, there's only one accessible floor, and as we mentioned it does have a bit of a problem with dragons. (Exterminators can never really get all the eggs out.) So if you find yourself transported to Azeroth with $10 million that becomes the equivalent in gold, you can walk up and... well... not buy it, because it's not for sale. But you'd know how much it was worth.

If you're looking to do any World of Warcraft race changes, name changes, appearance changes, or server transfers, there's no time like the present. More specifically, Blizzard is running a 50% off sale this week for all of those services.

WoW Insider notes that realm transfers involve a bit of logistics and planning. You'll need to empty your mailbox and make sure you're not heading up any arena teams. Also be aware that some of your add-ons may require some rejiggering after the transfer is complete.

Rumors have swirled around the oft-delayed and reportedly troubled World of Warcraft movie for years, but Legendary Pictures finally appears to be ready to move forward with production. Producer Charles Roven confirmed to SlashFilm that World of Warcraft: The Movie 3D IMAX Experience (suggested title) begins shooting in early 2014.

Says Roven, "First quarter 2014 we're going to shoot that movie."

Duncan Jones, director of Moon and Source Code, is taking the helm. Legendary still hasn't announced a release date or any plot details, but we can assume that the release date is Soon™ and the plot will revolve around humans, orcs, and a whole lot of sparkleponies.

If after looking over the state of MMOs lately you've been left singing, "Where have all the big games gone?" to yourself, Ramin Shokrizade has an answer just for you. A virtual world economist, Shokrizade states that up until EVE Online and World of Warcraft, games grew in size and scope and then stopped. Why? Because it was never about getting big; it was about protecting and ensuring the equity of the gamers.

Shokrizade delves into why equity -- the sum of gamers' in-game efforts, such as levels and possessions -- is so important in a game and why those games that ignore protecting this equity don't measure up when it comes to success. He discusses how microtransactions that deal in in-game content destroy equity as well as how expansions that make previous content (such as crafting tiers) obsolete do the same thing. He then goes on to discuss the games that get it right, like League of Legends and World of Tanks.

When I took over Massively last fall, I made myself a little digital post-it note in Gmail Notes that read, "Remember: You work for Joystiq, not studios." Today, I've amended that to also read, "And not commenters."

I love commenters, even the trolls sometimes when you make me laugh. You guys provide instant feedback and adoration but also entertainment and skepticism of our ideas. You're the much-maligned vocal minority of readers, and interacting with you guys and being enlightened by your mad and witty and insane posts is a highlight of my work day.

But it has to be said that the most bizarre feature of working at Massively is that legions of commenters have deemed themselves better-equipped than we are to decide what we can cover.

Continue Reading

It's easy to forget that in all of these game worlds that we're adventuring through, some people allegedly live and work in these lands! Even in the very, very scary places! Reader Xexanos found this run-down house in a dark corner of The Secret World and found himself entranced by the mystery of it.

"I stumbled upon this place during my exploration of the Shadowy Forest (the name really tells you everything)," he said. "I wonder what the history behind this is."

I had just found that last week myself and was wondering that too. If any lore experts want to fill us in, please do so, otherwise head past the jump and check out all of the other great reader screenshots we have in store for you this week!

Continue Reading

Hey Gwen, how's it hanging? Find that flute yet? Yeah, don't worry, I'm sure it'll turn up around here somewhere. Don't get too near the river there, girl; those skale have a nasty bite! Say, what's that sulfurous smell in the air? And those distant screams that are drawing nearer at an incredible rate? And a sudden looming premonition that the property values around here are about to take a nosedive?

Reader Sharvis sent in this Guild Wars picture with a modicum of pity: "Here is Gwen moments before the Searing. Poor girl."

Don't feel too sorry for her, Sharvis! She gets an entire expansion, after all!

Continue Reading

If you thought World of Warcraft losing 14% of its users -- over one million -- during the first quarter of the year was bad, just wait; according to Activision-Blizzard, subscription numbers are expected to dip even further. Of course, even with the loss, WoW is still the most popular sub-based game in the world, but shares in the studio still dropped after the announcement was made to investors, down by nearly 5% on Wednesday .

The loss of players is coming primarily from the East, and Activision-Blizzard points to the rise of free-to-play games as the culprit. Chief Executive Bobby Kotick stated to investors, "It's important to note that the nature of online games has changed, and with the environment becoming far more competitive." So what's to be done? "To address this," he continued, "we're working to release new content more frequently to keep our players engaged longer and make it easier for lapsed players to come back into the game."

There's only one Western subscription MMO that can stand to lose 1.3 million subs in three months and shrug it off: World of Warcraft. But shrug it off doesn't appear to what Activision-Blizzard is doing. During the investor call that revealed the heavy sub losses, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick acknowledged the changing market and his plans to adapt with speedier content. "It's important to note that the nature of online games has changed," he said, "and [that] the environment [is] becoming far more competitive, especially with free-to-play games." And Blizzard president Mike Morhaime suggested the company is "studying" the comings and goings of players and how to entice former players to return.

Well, we don't have to look much further than Star Wars: The Old Republic's recent rejuvenation to figure out that free-to-play is one of the better ways to entice gamers to return (and open their wallets). Surely, Blizzard has to be wondering whether F2P might be a huge boost to the game as it's approaching its ninth birthday later this year. What do you think -- will World of Warcraft eventually go free-to-play, and more importantly, should it?

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!

Are you anticipating World of Warcraft's 5.3 patch that's on the horizon? If so, Blizzard offers a handy preparation guide to help you get ready for it. Among the proffered hints is one to keep ahold of some of the currencies earned throughout patch 5.2 as the gear-upgrading Void Binders are returning. The guide offers a breakdown of associated costs for various gear and the different currencies. Also revealed is an 33% reduction in the XP needed to level from 85 to 90.

The guide continues with suggestions for item level requirements for various scenarios and dungeons, information on changes to lesser charms of good fortune, and an update on PvP Season 13. And if you haven't played in a while but intend to after the patch, save some time by making sure your game is up-to-date as well as any UI add-ons.

After my so-so review of The Burning Crusade's score a few months ago, I'm sure a few of you thought I was barking mad. World of Warcraft is well-known for great orchestra pieces, but I stick by saying that most of the brilliant stuff stayed the heck away from Outland. Fortunately, the sound quality got a lot better when we went up north for Wrath of the Lich King in 2008.

The score was composed and arranged by Russell Brower, Derek Duke, Matt Uelmen, Neal Acree, and Glenn Stafford. As to be expected by that name sandwich, the score features a lot of variety. While there are epic chants and the like that are to be expected from WoW, there's also a lonely, savage feel to the music that represents these far-off lands. There's also a lot of blowing wind that segues between tracks if you listen to the album straight through, and if that doesn't make you envision a snow-blasted landscape, I don't know what would.

The liner notes say that "this is the music of ice and despair, a dirge and a call to arms." I couldn't put it better myself. Let's dive into my picks for the best tracks from this score, shall we?

Continue Reading