Not So Massively

Well-known World of Warcraft guild Method secured a world first kill on Diablo III's Skeleton King in inferno mode just a few days after launch but was beaten to the game's completion by a single person. Players have been in outrage all week as server instabilities and login difficulties plagued the game's launch.

League of Legends revealed upcoming champion Darius this week and announced huge client updates that seem set to double the game's frame rate. Blacklight: Retribution released a new Netwar game mode, combining capture the flag and control point gameplay. Heroes of Newerth released its new support hero Riftwalker, Dota 2 released classic hero Treant, and Rise of Immortals took a close look at melee damage-dealer Tzai. Upcoming MOBA Smite will be entering closed beta at the end of the month, and Torchlight II's beta will soon end for the last time.

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Diablo III became potentially the most pre-ordered PC game in history this week, breaking both Blizzard's personal pre-order records and online retailer Amazon's. The game is set to launch at midnight tonight, unlocking physical copies and digital installers. Diablo-inspired free-to-play dungeon crawler Path of Exile approaches its own launch this week with the release of its penultimate version 0.9.9 patch.

League of Legends announced its upcoming MSI Beat IT tournament at DreamHack Summer 2012, with a prize fund of $40,000 US and a series of public online qualifiers. Bloodline Champions revealed its own $10,000 DreamHack tournament, with open in-game qualifiers scheduled for next weekend. Valve announced details of the second Dota 2 world championship, a series that started with last year's $1.6 million US tournament.

Blizzard settled its lawsuit with Valve this week, renaming Blizzard DOTA to Blizzard All-Stars but securing the continued non-commercial use of the DotA name for the fan community. Heroes of Newerth released its incredibly successful new Midwars game mode, and Rise of Immortals put forth its official immortal spotlight for new immortal Nauria.

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With just over a week to go until Diablo III is released, Blizzard revealed the final details of the real money auction house, released some fantastic new class wallpapers, and launched a TV advertising campaign. Meanwhile, Torchlight II showed off the impressive final result of its earlier armour design contest and encouraged players to produce armour mods when the game is released.

Heroes of Newerth released a brand-new community-inspired MidWars game map this week to lend official support to the popular unofficial game mode. League of Legends revealed upcoming champion Varus with a full run-down of his abilities and a great art spotlight video. Dota 2 fixed some bizarre bugs and introduced classic hero Phantom Lancer. Rise of Immortals revealed details of its upcoming immortal Nauria, the Angel of Agony. Finally, Wrath of Heroes announced the controversial addition of health potions to its microtransaction store.

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This week, League of Legends revealed plans to buff support tanks in the Varus patch and change several ability power items. Riot also plans to buff Master Yi and nerf Ryze's ability to tank and deal damage at the same time. Dota 2 released an updated user interface designed to take all the pain out of using the courier, and Bloodline Champions revealed its massive $10,000 DreamHack Summer 2012 tournament.

Diablo III revealed the Witch Doctor this week, giving Diablo II necromancer fans a peek at the closest replacement they'll get in the upcoming title. Blizzard's Jay Wilson also confirmed that PvP arenas will be released long before the end of the year. Heroes of Newerth released its new support hero Ellonia, an ice mage whose abilities focus around a stacking slow debuff. Rise of Immortals released a new immortal spotlight video on popular area-effect damage-dealer Netheurgist and encouraged players to start guilds with a contest to win 1,000 prestige points for every guild member.

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Diablo III's open beta weekend was a huge success, giving developers the chance to stress test the servers that will be used when the game goes live in just over three weeks. Torchlight II teased fans this week with the release of its official opening trailer, which picks up the story from the end of the first game. Web series Extra Credits ran a special episode this week discussing Firefall's plan to let players work together to push back the map boundaries and unlock new content.

Rise of Immortals rolled out a new guild system in this week's patch and released its new area-effect tank immortal, Shard. Dota 2 added classic hero Brewmaster to the beta roster, and Bloodline Champions began preparing patch 2.4 with its new healer bloodline, Dryad. Wrath of Heroes released a hero spotlight video on melee fighter Bax Dreadtoof, and League of Legends highlighted some awesome fan-made art.

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With just less than a month until Diablo III hits the shelves, Blizzard released another 275,000 beta keys into the wild. The share meter on the game's social media microsite also reached 30% this week and unlocked the first three pieces of exclusive content. Meanwhile, Path of Exile celebrated an incredibly successful pre-order campaign, netting over $200,000 in just six days and selling 13 of its $1,000 diamond packages.

In the land of MOBAs, League of Legends looked back on PAX East this week and celebrated some of the incredible costumes that fans turned up in. Dota 2 fixed a few behavioural problems with bots, added the ability to skip straight to kills in a game replay, and brought back the popular Random Draft game mode. Bloodline Champions revealed its new bloodline Dryad, and Rise of Immortals revealed its new crystalline tank immortal Shard. Heroes of Newerth released its third ranged agility hero in a row this week, the unfortunately named Artillery.

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With five weeks left until Diablo III launches, Blizzard started its pre-launch marketing campaign this week with a new series exploring each of the five classes. This week kicks off with a preview of the Demon Hunter. Meanwhile, Torchlight II revealed details of a new charge bar mechanic designed to keep a rapid pace of action, and dungeon crawler Path of Exile started gearing up for release with some tempting pre-order packages.

Penny Arcade made a guest appearance in League of Legends this week with a special comic introducing upcoming champion Varus. Riot also revealed the next champion due for release, armoured spectral warrior Hecarim. Rise of Immortals got the Penny Arcade treatment this week too when joke character Karapyss the Crabomancer was actually released. Bloodline Champions launched an Easter egg painting contest this week and asked players whether grades should be reset for the current competitive season.

Blacklight: Retribution officially launched this week and celebrated with the release of its first new gun, the heavy assault rifle. Finally, Wrath of heroes released its first hero spotlight video this week, introducing hybrid damage-dealer Nethys.

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It's that time of year again when we all forget to check our calendars and get suckered into believing outrageous April Fool's gags. This week's Not So Massively is a blend of yesterday's joke posts and the week's real news from games that aren't quite MMOs. League of Legends announced a joke 3-D mode, released the winners of the I Heart LoL contest, and delved into the game's North American playerbase as part of the ongoing world tour. Dota 2 added classic hero Lone Druid this week, and Firefall revealed its plans to scale up the beta soon.

Heroes of Newerth launched a new art contest and released its new mobile ganker Blitz, while Bloodline Champions laid on the April Fool's mischief with its Catch the Ranid game mode announcement and plans for a tournament with cheeseburgers for prizes. Rise of Immortals joined in the festivities with the announcement of its new immortal Karapyss the Crabomancer.

Blacklight: Retribution explained its datanode system and released a new troll face taunt, and Diablo III teased players with its joke Zergotchi authenticator. Diablo fansite Diablofans revealed changes to the upcoming game's Inferno mode and wrote a great April Fool's joke about releasing on the Wii. Path of Exile took a step closer to launch with a public stress test this weekend, and Torchlight II revealed the game's pets and announced that the latest build of the game will be playable at PAX East.

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This week's Torchlight II developer update visits the game's animation department, and Path of Exile reset all beta players' passive skills this week following the launch of patch 0.9.7. Blacklight: Retribution revealed some impressive usage statistics from its first few weeks of open beta, and Firefall showed off its impressive Mourningstar and Typhon costumes at gaming convention SXSW.

In the world of MOBAs, League of Legends released its new champion Lulu this week and published her official champion spotlight video. Dota 2 added classic hero Lycan and introduced a new private rating system to help players track which heroes they're good at playing. Finally, Wrath of Heroes has entered open beta and is already selling items in its cash shop.

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The big announcement we've all been waiting for has finally arrived: Diablo III has a release date! This week the beta was wiped to prepare for launch, and Blizzard's Jay Wilson responded to questions about the cash auction house in hardcore mode. Competing title Path of Exile continued development toward its own release, and Torchlight II gave players a unique look under the hood of the game with a breakdown of item drop statistics. Runic Games congratulated the Diablo team on its release date announcement and published an open letter to fans urging them to just wait a little longer for their Torchlight fix.

In MOBA news, League of Legends revealed its next champion, Lulu, and explored the game's rapidly growing German community. Dota 2 added classic DotA hero Shadow Demon and performed some much-needed tweaks to bots, and Rise of Immortals released the official Azcadelia immortal spotlight. Heroes of Newerth released Gunblade, an original ranged agility carry hero that was been met with some strong disapproval in the community. Blacklight: Retribution's open beta updates continued this week with the release of its Vertigo map, a battleground set in the roofspaces of a sprawling industrial complex.

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Diablo III saw its clearest signs of release ever this week after a succinct tweet from Jay Wilson and the announcement that PvP is being cut from release in favour of getting the game out sooner. Firefall revealed its plans for attending events and trade shows this year and showed off its world-building tools and talent in an awesome new video devblog. Blacklight: Retribution continued its open beta with the release of a new map set in a laboratory during a virus outbreak. Developers also revealed the game's newest hero, Grendel the heavy weapons and explosives specialist.

It's been a slow week for news in the MOBA world, with developers pulling out all the stops for GDC 2012 and planning for upcoming events at PAX East 2012 and beyond. This week League of Legends announced that several of the game's classic skins will soon be retired and are available temporarily for a 75% discount. Riot Games detailed plans for its upcoming events at PAX East, and the IntelEM tournament finals went off without a hitch. The latest Dota 2 patch added a new passive bot difficulty mode that forces bots to stay in their lanes and introduced a series of balance tweaks.

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League of Legends announced a new photo contest this week and continued its world tour series with a look at the game's French playerbase. Fans have also been preparing for the Intel Extreme Masters world championship. Dota 2 implemented a new co-op matchmaking mode that pits players against bots, and the studio released classic hero Atropos, the Bane Elemental.

The Diablo III beta grew significantly this week with the first round of European invites making its way to potential players. Blizzard confirmed that a big game announcement is almost here and discussed its recent layoff of over 600 employees. Blacklight: Retribution celebrated its open beta this week with a new an impressive new trailer filmed with entirely in-engine footage.

Heroes of Newerth celebrated its 100th hero this week with the gripping intelligence hero Kinesis, who deals massive damage by hurling trees and creeps at foes. Rise of Immortals released its spotlight on Kaos and revealed details of upcoming immortal Azcadelia.

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This week Diablo III's Bashiok caused a stir over a cheeky forum post asking a fan to lower his expectations of the upcoming title. He continues posting rampantly to the forum this week to defend recent game design decisions. Dota 2 delivered its first test build using its new deployment system, and Gaming With Gizmoh raised over $1,000 US for Child's Play with a 24-hour marathon of the beta. League of Legends took a look at its Filipino playerbase, while Heroes of Newerth was struck by a massive exploit that saw the European servers taken offline for days.

Web show Extra Credits teamed up with Red 5 Studios to offer its support for the studio's ambitious development plans for Firefall. The month-long Blacklight: Retribution open beta started today, with the introduction of three beta events with prizes and a new video tutorial for the Heavy Metal map. Rise of Immortals celebrated its first anniversary of unveiling the game to the public this week and offered a sneak peek of its creepy new Immortal Azcadelia. Finally, Torchlight II developer Patrick Blank talks about polishing content and delivers an update on where the team is in development.

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League of Legends discussed the Chinese community this week as part of its World Tour series. Dota 2 delivered three weeks worth of beta updates at once, including a new single draft game mode and matchmaking system. Heroes of Newerth released its latest hero this week, the fire-breathing dragon Draconis, who has massive farming capabilities. Rise of Immortals launched its latest immortal Kaos, a seemingly mortal US Marine lost in the game's fantasy land.

Diablo III took another step toward release this week by finalising a replacement for the scrapped rune stone system and cutting socketable runes from the list of potential features at the same time. Torchlight II teased players with six new screenshots, and Path of Exile discussed the design process behind the game's unique items. Finally, Blacklight: Retribution announced its public open beta, which is due to start next week.

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League of Legends revealed Nautilus this week, continued its world tour with a look at the community in Singapore and Malaysia, and announced impending nerfs to Sona, Soraka and Vladimir. Dota 2 fans faced yet another week without updates as Valve was busy this week installing new servers. Bloodline Champions released a gameplay video of its new bloodline, Headhunter, and Rise of Immortals revealed that its next character will unexpectedly be a US marine. Upcoming FPS Firefall tackled the question of whether it's an MMO this week, while futuristic FPS Blacklight: Retribution released a new Intel Report video on its Piledriver map.

Diablo III revealed further details of the game's difficulty modes this week, confirmed a Q2 2012 release target, and launched the Battle.Net Balance service. We also discovered new map restrictions coming to the beta that will stop players from playing with the map permanently open. Torchlight II's website was overhauled this week, and Runic Games revealed that the game's beta will be starting soon. Dungeon crawler Path of Exile continued its own beta this week with patch 0.9.6 and showed just how complicated its passive skill tree is with a new calculator.

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