Global Agenda

Among the Massively staff, I'm known as the obsessive competitor who plays every game in a hardcore fashion. It's no surprise that I gravitate toward high-skill, difficult games that test skill instead of the typical MMO grinds. But it should be a bit of a surprise that I don't really like competitive shooters. Shooters take a lot of the elements I really love about competition such as mindgames and positioning and marginalize them in favor of raw aiming and twitch reflexes. I'm fond of saying "You must be this tall to ride this ride" when it comes to shooters that are very twitch-based.

Global Agenda is a different beast than other shooters, though. The competitive shooter market is saturated with class-based shooters whose emphasis is more on teamwork than on aiming, and Global Agenda really takes it to eleven. Aiming is still important, but it's hardly the most important skill in the game, and every class has a way of minimizing the need for aiming skill. In fact, most of the more effective builds in GA don't require aiming. The emphasis in GA is on teamwork, mobility, and good decision-making. Even though it's a shooter, I find it really easy to spend far too much of my time playing it. It's just great fun.

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It's been a crazy week at GDC, and though I've already gotten the skinny on both PlanetSide 2 and DUST 514, there's more on the way when it comes to online shooter news. Yesterday morning I headed over to the Hi-Rez Studios booth on the main show floor, where COO Todd Harris had some exciting news to share with fans of the firm's Tribes: Ascend title.

The free-to-play shooter will officially launch on April 12th, and Hi-Rez has also released a new parody trailer that pays homage to Dead Island and shows off the perils of the dreaded "llama capture" (if you're a Tribes newb, just know that speed equals survival when it comes to flag-grabs).

Join me after the cut for some Tribes-related chit-chat as well news of new content on the way for Global Agenda.

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So you missed out on some of Massively's wonderful livestreams, huh? You had to go out and hang out with actual human beings and missed some of the most exciting live game playing you could have imagined? Shame. Shame on you. Don't worry, though; I've taken the time to collect some of the very best moments from the previous week's shows and combine them into one easy, one-stop-shop for your viewing pleasure.

Really, it's no trouble. Do be a dear and bookmark our MassivelyTV Guide for future reference!

So what do we have this week? Some pretty awesome stuff, actually. Richie jumps back into some Guild Wars, Mike takes an explosive swing at EVE Online once again and then hops into RIFT, Psykopig slowly finds himself falling in love with Wizard101 despite his attempts at resistance, Karen and the team from Allods Online embark on a tour of high-level content and Astral ships, I get invited to a real wedding inside Luvinia Online, and Tboo does her usual best by shooting people in the face in APB: Reloaded.

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You! Yeah, you! You still haven't played Global Agenda, have you? I know, I know, you're going to get around to it, it's on your list, blah blah and etc. While you've been dilly-dallying about, Hi-Rez Studios' sci-fi shooter has gone and turned two years old!

That's OK, though, because the game has more options, more content, and more pew-pew than at any time in its history, and thanks to a gaggle of anniversary events, now is the perfect time to saddle up.

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We told you earlier today that Hi-Rez is handing out prizes in honor of Global Agenda's second anniversary, and while that's pretty awesome, we've got a little something extra for those players who have the good taste to also be Massively readers.

We've got some booster codes to give away: three days of extra experience, credits, and tokens, free for the taking. Picking one up for yourself is a snap: Go to our giveaway page to pick up your code, then log into game and type "/claimpromotion Promocode". Enter your code and that's it -- you've got your three-day booster!

Enjoy your booster code and join us in thanking Hi-Rez for the gift!

Time flies when you're fragging newbs, and Global Agenda fans have been doing just that for the better part of two years now. Hi-Rez Studios' sci-fi shooter launched on February 1st, 2010, and for this week's anniversary, the firm is offering up some exclusive prizes as well as trotting out a few old flair favorites.

Starting today, any Global Agenda player who wins an instanced PvE or PvP mission before February 6th will receive a mini Switchblade pet to parade around Dome City in between matches. Hi-Rez is also sponsoring a 6-on-6 PvP tourney that features a dragon helmet for all participants and an unnamed exclusive item and cash prize for the winning team.

But wait, there's more! Check out Chloe's Burning Fashion for an extensive back catalog of previously retired flair pieces. There are over 100 items available for purchase using Hi-Rez's cash shop currency, including some headgear from past holiday events.

Finally, check out this Friday's The Firing Line for more info on Global Agenda at the two-year mark.

[Source: Hi-Rez press release]

2011 was an odd duck of a year for MMO news. A huge chunk of the year felt devoid of significant releases, but that was mitigated somewhat by the major launches of RIFT and Star Wars: The Old Republic. Titles got shoved back to 2012 or beyond, MMOs that we thought never would go free-to-play did, and the industry continually surprised us with revelations, ideas, and controversy.

So in my last Perfect Ten of 2011, I put together the 10 most significant MMO stories of the year. Ten seems like an awfully small number for such a great big field, so I had the rest of the staff members chime in with their nominations just to make sure I wasn't too off-base with any of these.

It was a whopper of a year, and Massively was there for all of it -- the ups, the downs, the queues, and the QQs. It's time to wrap it up with a pretty bow and dedicate it to the history museum!

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OK, so you've heard about this whole Global Agenda thing, and you've talked yourself into giving it a shot. It's completely free-to-play from start to finish these days, and the Unreal graphics, sci-fi setting, and strange mixture of hyper-competitive PvP and ultra-accessible PvE have always held a certain appeal.

You're not sure, but you think it's kind of an MMO, given that it has persistent territory control, lots of quests, and plenty of progression-based gameplay. Maybe you're a pro skillz baller, or maybe the extent of your shooter knowledge is which end of the gun gets pointed at the bad guys.

Either way, you'll likely have a good time in Hi-Rez's spy-fi action title, and you'll have an even better time if you understand a few key points about the game prior to diving in.

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Hello shooter fans, and welcome back to Massively's Firing Line. Last week's inaugural column hit the ground running with a visit to Hi-Rez Studios and a preview of the company's new Tribes: Ascend title. This week I'd like to pull back a little bit and lay the groundwork for some of the things we'll be talking about over time.

When I talk about MMO shooters with friends and colleagues, one of the first things mentioned is the definition of the term. Everyone knows what a shooter is (or at least what he thinks it is), and everyone knows what an MMO is (although thanks to MOBAs and the social networking explosion, the definition of the latter grows murkier by the day).

Can we all agree on the definition of an MMO shooter, though? Probably not, and to be honest, that's perfectly OK.

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Global Agenda's Recursive Colony expansion has been up and running for a few weeks now, and if you didn't get in right away, you might think it's too late to catch up.

In the spirit of "it's never too late," we've partnered with Hi-Rez Studios to offer you just the thing to bring you up to speed: booster codes! When applied to your account, booster codes give you double XP, tokens, and credits as well as apply 2,000 tokens to your account every day. Booster codes can be purchased in the Global Agenda store, but we've got some free three-day codes here.

[Update: To apply your code, type "/claimpromotion" in-game rather than applying the code on the Global Agenda site.]

Fans of games that tread the line between MMORPG and FPS will be pleased at this news: Today brings the launch of Global Agenda's Recursive Colony expansion, a free update and the "largest content update in the history" of the game, according to Hi-Rez Studios' official website. Chief among the new additions is a new mid- to high-level open zone with a storyline and quests meant to provide an alternate leveling experience for more RPG-minded players. The expansion also includes new daily repeatable quests, a new PvP map called Push Dust, new tutorials, quality-of-life enhancements, crafting tweaks, and a slew of pets, dyes, and other fluff.

To kick off patch day and show off the highlights of the update, Hi-Rez has released a brand-new trailer with a satisfying blend of explosions, robots, and yellowy post-apocalyptic zones. Find it after the cut!

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Today's One Shots comes from the high-tech world of Global Agenda. Reader Aeronca says:

I don't really go in for ugly armor, but I will say that Global Agenda offers some truly hideous dyes and garish "flair" head pieces that are always a hit with the silly crowd. Case in point is my minotaur helm here. I can't remember how or when I got it, but I think it might have been during one of those week-long special events that Hi-Rez likes to run.

They've also given out quite a bit of Christmas, New Year's, and other holiday-related headgear that can be mixed and matched with otherwise slick-looking sci-fi armor for some really atrocious fashion faux pas.

It's ugly armor week all week on One Shots, so whether you have an eye-searing color scheme, a set of armor pieces that clash like crazy, or something that you just put together for a laugh, we want to see.

Next week we'll be revisiting starting zones, so if you want to get a jump on things, grab a screenshot of your favorite starting zone and send it in to oneshots@massively.com and we'll feature it in next week's One Shots!

What can be said about PAX Prime in Seattle, Washington that hasn't been said already? Everyone knows that it is the largest public gaming event in North America. Attendance totaled 67,600 last year, not including press and exhibitors. And this year, even more gamers will descend on the Washington State Convention and Trade Center. The latest and greatest games -- released and unreleased -- will be available for public consumption. Developers will mill around the showroom floor, answering your questions. Not to mention that no one will look at you funny because you play video games!

This year, MMORPGs really stand out in the crowd. Seattle native NCsoft has a huge presence at the convention, borrowing a theater just to showcase its games. BioWare comes armed with its heavy-hitter, Star Wars: The Old Republic. And free-to-play titles like Firefall, Lord of the Rings Online, and Wakfu promise to strut their stuff at this year's PAX.

Punch past the break as Massively outlines the must-see booths for MMO fans. And don't forget the panels, including a couple of MMO spotlights for PAX Dev, the gathering of fans and developers at Sheraton Seattle Hotel on the 24th and 25th.

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Hi-Rez Studios has big plans for Global Agenda, and the autumn months will see the sci-fi shooter's largest expansion to date made available to everyone for free. The Recursive Colony patch (version 1.5 if you're counting at home) will include a new open zone with instanced missions, quest chains, social spaces, and mid- to high-level content. New enemies, daily repeatable quests, and further avatar customization options are also on the way.

"Players seeking a quest-driven, narrative experience post level 20 can now level up in the new open zone as an alternative to, or in addition to, our instanced missions," said Hi Rez's Todd Harris. "We've also included a new set of instanced PvE and PvP content for players at all levels."

Said PvP content takes the form of a new mercenary map (Push Dust) and a new acquisition map (Colony Caverns). Finally, if you're going to be at PAX Prime this weekend, stop by the Hi-Rez booth (number 252) and be the first to check out the new content.

If you've never been to Gamescom before, let's simply put it this way: It's big. Really, really big. Forget most any convention you've attended; this is likely to be even bigger. Billing itself as the world's largest games event, Gamescom sees well over a quarter-million fans, journalists and exhibitors crowd into the Koelnmesse in Cologne, Germany to check out hundreds of games and companies.

Due to its size and worldwide prominence, Gamescom is a significant event for anyone following the MMO genre (and video games in general). There are plenty of MMO studios gearing up to share first looks, exclusive reveals, detailed Q&A sessions, and exciting hands-on demos for attendees.

Naturally, Massively will be paying close attention to all of the news coming out of Gamescom this week. For those attending the convention or merely looking to keep abreast of all of the games, studios, and information forthcoming, we've compiled a guide to the hottest tickets at Gamescom as well as a comprehensive exhibitor list of MMO studios after the break.

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