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Want to be Massively's next Guild Wars columnist?

Shawn Schuster — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:30:00 EST

Filed under: Guild Wars, Guild Wars 2, Massively Meta, Miscellaneous

ArenaNet's Guild Wars is a fascinating MMO. The original released almost seven years ago, with the sequel set to release later this year. There's no doubt that Guild Wars 2 tops the list of the most anticipated MMO for 2012, which makes writing about it all the more fun and exciting.

That's where you come in. After learning that our own Rubi Bayer will be whisked away by an as-yet unnamable job offer, we're in desperate need of someone to fill her weekly Guild Wars/Guild Wars 2 columnist spot on the site*.

Follow along after the jump for the full details!

*Keeping us in line and making "that's what she said" jokes optional.

Continue reading Want to be Massively's next Guild Wars columnist?

Want to be Massively's next Guild Wars columnist? originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ArcheAge gears up for its fourth closed beta test

Justin Olivetti — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, ArcheAge, Sandbox

Eager sandbox fans have been waiting -- some without showers or nutrition -- for word of the next phase of ArcheAge's beta testing for a while now. Happily, they can go spruce up their hygiene and eat a Big Mac now that XL Games has revealed the details about the upcoming closed beta test 4.

The good folks over on the ArcheAge blog have translated the news for us. If you've already been a part of the third beta test, you'll automatically be rolled over into this next one. If you haven't gotten into the beta yet, you can apply for CBT4 from today through Sunday, December 4th. Of course, you might need to brush up on your Korean if you do.

Lucky beta testers will be informed of their status by December 7th, with the beta test kicking off on the 8th of next month. ArcheAge's closed beta test 4 will have approximately 5,000 players when all is said and done.

ArcheAge gears up for its fourth closed beta test originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 08 Nov 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Daily Grind: How involved should guild applications be?

Eliot Lefebvre — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Guilds, Opinion, The Daily Grind

Call them linkshells, call them supergroups, call them fleets -- a guild by any other name is still a gathering of players in a loose hierarchy with shared goals. Back in the salad days of MMOs, getting into a guild was a fairly simple procedure, but now it's a rare guild that doesn't have some sort of application policy. It could be as simple as spending a little time as a provisional member, or it could be a relentless grilling of the applicant before they are allowed to start gazing at the wonder of the guild forums.

On the one hand, an involved application process ensures you know who you're getting involved with, and it can help avoid drama further down the line. On the other hand it's just a guild, and even if you plan to take it into wars there's a point where the intensity gets silly. How involved do you think guild applications should be -- and do you come at the question from the side oof the applicant, or an officer in a guild reviewing applications?

The Daily Grind: How involved should guild applications be? originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 10 Sep 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Storyboard: Guilding the lily

Eliot Lefebvre — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Guilds, Opinion, Roleplaying, Humor, Storyboard

If guilds exist for any purpose in MMOs, it's providing drama for the customer support team to secretly observe and laugh about behind closed doors. (That's my suspicion, at least. I wouldn't blame them.) But as a presumably unintentional side effect of that, guilds are a great way for players to get together and bond over common interests within the game. Considering that roleplaying is one of the most group-intensive activities in any game... well, you see where I'm going here. Getting a good guild can be the difference between a consistent storyline and a few disjointed RP sessions followed by uninstalling the client.

Unfortunately, if there's a magical formula for getting a guild that suits your needs perfectly in every game, I haven't yet found it. There's a process that works fairly well as a general flow, however, and while it hasn't always gotten me into the guild I wound up sticking with, it has at least pointed me in the right direction. So without further ado, this week's Storyboard is dedicated to finding you a guild. (By which I mean telling you about how to find a guild, after you click the "Read More" link. Which counts as further ado, I guess.)

Continue reading Storyboard: Guilding the lily

Storyboard: Guilding the lily originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 06 Aug 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVE Evolved: A community guide to EVE Online

Brendan Drain — Sun, 02 May 2010 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Culture, Hands-on, EVE Evolved, Guides

Some time ago, Massively started up a whole slew of new weekly columns, each covering a specific MMO. Each week, they bring guides, editorials, interviews and community news in a similar way to what I've been doing with EVE Evolved over the past two years. Each of the new columns started with a definitive community guide showcasing handy links to useful websites, blogs and tools. This week it's my turn to give EVE Online the community guide treatment. This article will be updated periodically with new links as they make themselves known. If you have a useful EVE link you think would belong in the community guide, leave a comment with it.

Skip past the cut for a breakdown of some of EVE's most important community links.

Continue reading EVE Evolved: A community guide to EVE Online

EVE Evolved: A community guide to EVE Online originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 02 May 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TERA looking for focus group participants

Jef Reahard — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, MMO industry, New titles, News items, TERA

Bluehole Studios' upcoming TERA MMORPG is looking for a few good focus group members for their second round of closed testing. A notice appeared yesterday on the game's official site, encouraging interested parties to complete a quick application process.

"Applicant selection will be based on community participation, activity, quality of feedback, and the above application information. This will occur in [the] coming weeks," the site says.

TERA recently wowed us at the Game Developer's Conference, and judging by the number of replies in an 11-page (as of press time) forum thread discussing the announcement, we'd suggest getting your Focus Group Test #2 application done in a hurry.

TERA looking for focus group participants originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 20 Mar 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Champions Online announces iPhone app: Champions Companion

Seraphina Brennan — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Super-hero, News items, Champions Online

It seems like these past two days have been "everyone gets an iPhone app" days. Developers, we love you, but did you all have to release your apps at the same time?

Anyway, back to the original point, Champions Online is on your iPhone. Thanks to the Champions Companion app, you can take CO wherever you go. Much more than a simple "armory" application that lets you look at your character's stats and show your hero off to friends, the Companion lets you view the in-game news, view your friends list and friend activity streams, and even send and receive in-game e-mails. Companion is free for all account holders, so jump over to the iTunes store and grab yourself the app today.

So, next time you're out at the mall and your best friend logs into Champions, you can shoot them an e-mail while you're sitting in front of the Express and waiting for your girlfriend. Be super, wherever you go.

Champions Online announces iPhone app: Champions Companion originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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CrimeCraft heading for Facebook and iPhones

Kyle Horner — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: New titles, News items, CrimeCraft

There's no doubt CrimeCraft has been seeing some tough times since its launch. Nevertheless, that's not stopping Vogster Entertainment from paving new development paths. They're currently working on CrimeCraft: Kingpin, which is essentially a way to interface with the game through Facebook or the iPhone application.

While details aren't clear at this point, Vogster is saying players will be able to complete missions, build gangs, buy weapons and equipment and develop rivalries in battles all while climbing up leaderboards. The top player will of course earn the rank of -- you guessed it -- Kingpin.

Integration into the PC game offers CrimeCraft: Kingpin an opportunity to stand out amongst the ever-growing crowd of Facebook and iPhone apps. Leveraging that advantage will go a long way to getting people interested in the newly free-to-play model of the game.

CrimeCraft heading for Facebook and iPhones originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 13 Oct 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVE Evolved: Top five EVE Online apps

Brendan Drain — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: At a glance, Sci-fi, EVE Online, Culture, Tips and tricks, Opinion, EVE Evolved

Back in 2004, a friend introduced me to a relatively new space MMO called EVE Online, where the markets were run by the players and there were undiscovered frontiers to chart. A short time after, I became obsessed with pre-calculating everything in the game. I thought that if the game server can calculate everything we do, I must be able to replicate the process and come up with some interesting results. I wasn't alone, many other pilots had previously created simple spreadsheets and web-databases of EVE's items. Rather than the game's developers hoarding the information required for such an undertaking, they took an unusual stance and released large portions of their main database for player-study. Websites began popping up listing information from the data dumps and it wasn't long before the first pioneering apps came about in the form of handy spreadsheets and interactive web-pages, my own fairly popular tanking spreadsheet among them.

In this article, I look at how player-developed apps came about in EVE and give details on my top five EVE apps. Once you've tried these programs, you won't know how you lived without them.

Continue reading EVE Evolved: Top five EVE Online apps

EVE Evolved: Top five EVE Online apps originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 09 Aug 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A guild application you won't soon forget

Kyle Horner — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Culture, Guilds, News items

Some people go the distance when it comes to applying for a guild. Others, like this guy right here, take it to a whole other level. As our sister site WoW Insider said, this is probably the best guild application, ever. Although we're reminded of what Commissioner Gordon said, "We start carrying semi-automatics, they buy automatics. We start wearing Kevlar... they buy armor-piercing rounds." So what's next? Are we going to start getting webisode-style applications complete with song and dance? Maybe Felicia Day could make a cameo, that would probably get just about anyone into any guild.

Keep in mind that the application itself is rather long. So you probably don't want to commit to it unless you're willing to watch it the whole way through. And seriously, next time you apply to a guild ramp things up a little bit. Maybe send the GM some flowers or candy? What GM doesn't like candy?

A guild application you won't soon forget originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 14 Sep 2008 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sign up for the EverQuest: Seeds of Destruction beta test

Samuel Axon — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, EverQuest, News items

Players of the venerable EverQuest take note: SOE has put up a new expansion beta sign-up page. Feel free to sign up to test the Seeds of Destruction expansion right now! The sign-up process works a little differently now than it did before. You won't have to camp out looking for a very narrow window of opportunity during which to sign up. Now the beta application will always be online.

Last month, Senior Producer Clint Worley promised that the beta would start in August. It looks like everything is still on track. Seeds of Destruction will be EverQuest's fifteenth expansion. The word is it'll be more of the same -- lots and lots of faction grinding! Whatever floats your boat, man.

Sign up for the EverQuest: Seeds of Destruction beta test originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 11 Aug 2008 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Have Clone, Will Travel: 3 Essential Tools for Capsuleers

David Perry — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 06:30:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Guides, Reviews, Tips and tricks, Opinion, Maps, Hands-on, Have Clone, Will Travel

With Empyrean Age finally released, I wanted to give it a try to get this old Carebear in some pew pew action. Since my main character, Treenara Mazouk, was part of an industrial corporation that wanted to remain neutral throughout this war time, I decided to create an alternate character (Alt) to test out Factional Warfare.

What I didn't know, and didn't expect, was being humbled by the whole experience. You see, I've been immersed in EVE Online for almost four years now, and playing a new character reminded me how much work new players have to go through to get ahead. Talk about a major flashback!

Despite my experience and knowledge of the game, I still felt very limited by my new characters (lack of) abilities, assets and skills. It reminded me of my early days in New Eden, and how little I knew of what to do, where to go or who to ask. Through it all, I've gained a respect for the brave new players who start off in New Eden.

I felt I needed to do something about this. Something more then the initial list I had made a few months back. The following is a list of 3 basic tools that I feel every new capsuleer should have in order to survive the harsh landscape of the EVE universe. So strap yourselves in, buckle-up and start taking notes.

Continue reading Have Clone, Will Travel: 3 Essential Tools for Capsuleers

Have Clone, Will Travel: 3 Essential Tools for Capsuleers originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 19 Jun 2008 06:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Warrior Epic now in closed beta; accepting applications

Akela Talamasca — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Events, real-world, Events, in-game, Launches, New titles, Wallpapers, News items, Warrior Epic

We've been excited for this MMO for a while now, and now Possibility Space have announced that Warrior Epic is finally in closed beta. All you need to do to submit your application for inclusion is to go to their homepage and choose 'Apply for CB' in the control panel.

There's also a new wallpaper available showcasing a new, previously-unreleased warrior class; check it out in the wallpaper section. Possibility Space is limiting this closed beta to 500 users, so if you want in, you'd better sign up right away. And speaking of possibilities, there might be an opportunity for a few lucky Massively readers to join the fun ... stay tuned to this channel for further developments!

Warrior Epic now in closed beta; accepting applications originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 29 Feb 2008 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Blizzard founder talks about WoW mobile

Michael Zenke — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 11:15:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Business models, Economy, Guilds, News items, Mobile

The MTV Multiplayer site is a very reliable source for original games news reporting. Those MTV guys and gals are well connected, and last week they had the chance to chat with Blizzard co-founder Frank Pearce in the waning moments of the DICE event. Pearce delved into his pocket, pulled out his Blackberry, and began dreaming of a day when World of Warcraft players would be able to chat with their guild from external sources.

There's no guarantee it is going to happen anytime soon, but (essentially confirming earlier rumors) Pearce expressed a lot of admiration for the possibilities of mobile applications. Another application they'd love to give players would be one that allows buying and selling of items via their faction Auction House remotely - again, probably from a cell phone. Mr. Pearce went on to expound on other subjects like the timeless quality of WoW graphics, and the benefits of the title's beautiful music and sound effects. Most interestingly, the Blizzard honcho was very excited about the possibility of a new version of World of Warcraft that could be streamed to players and have them in-game within 10 minutes or so.

MTV's interview offers a number of fascinating looks into the future of the biggest show in town. Joystiq has a discussion going on this subject as well; What would you want in your WoW mobile app?

Blizzard founder talks about WoW mobile originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 13 Feb 2008 11:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rumor: Blizzard working on a cell application for World of Warcraft?

Michael Zenke — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 15:30:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Business models, MMO industry, News items, Opinion, Mobile, Rumors

Now that would be cool. It's just a rumour, but Pocket Gamer is reporting that Blizzard Entertainment may be working on a cellphone application for World of Warcraft players. They received this information from word on the ground at the Mobile Games Forum event this week, where several people seemed to think this was the real deal. Directly from Vivendi Games Mobile boss Paul Maglione also comes the quote "Mobile aspects will become part of all MMOs."

The article runs down a few possibilities of what could be involved in that mobile application - whether it's a whole new gaming experience, a standalone experience in the WoW lore, or some sort of small way to hook into the larger world of Azeroth.

Cameron at Random Battle has a few thoughts on this subject, seeing the 'hook into Azeroth as the most likely option Blizz/Activision will explore. I tend to agree, as this is something we've seen other Massive developers talk about exploring. CCP has threatened to offer us a way to set skills in Eve Online for some time now, in fact.

What option do you thing Blizzard's mobile app (if it's real) will follow? Would you craft or chat with your guildies from your cell if you had the opportunity?

Rumor: Blizzard working on a cell application for World of Warcraft? originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 25 Jan 2008 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVEMon was down with API update, is now back up and working

Mike Schramm — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 23:32:00 EST

Filed under: Expansions, Patches, Leveling, Tips and tricks, Server downtime

The good news on this one is that there is no news: EVEMon, the out-of-game app that is a must-have for EVE players, wasn't working for most people after the Trinity patch this week, but a series of bug reports over on the developer website (EVEMon is open sourced) confirms that the problem was just that CCP had taken down the API for testing. By now, EVEMon should be back up and running, ready to help you plan those skill changes out.

And in other EVEMon news, the New Features page over on the developer site is a fun read, too, if you haven't seen it in a while. Very cool to see all the new features planned for the next release: Battleclinic loadouts, a new plan printing feature, and updates to the Ship and Item browser. EVEMon is already a terrific app (definitely the best MMO-related out-of-game app I've ever seen), and it's great to see the devs are hard at work making it better.

EVEMon was down with API update, is now back up and working originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 06 Dec 2007 23:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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