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The Game Archaeologist looks at Guild Wars Utopia

Justin Olivetti — Tue, 08 May 2012 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Guild Wars, Classes, Expansions, Guild Wars 2, The Game Archaeologist

Aztecs. Chronomancers. Mounts. Halberds. Golems. Dual wielding.

These are all but a hint of what a fourth Guild Wars campaign could have been, a campaign that was under development in the mid-2000s but was scrapped by 2007. Replacing it was the expansion Guild Wars Eye of the North and the workings of a super-secret sequel to the game (which you've probably never heard of). It was the forgotten campaign, swept under a rug while it was still under the rug.

But what if, in some alternative timeline, ArenaNet had gone ahead with this campaign? What if it became an established part of the Guild Wars legacy, as familiar to us today as Nightfall and Factions?

What if Guild Wars Utopia had lived?

Continue reading The Game Archaeologist looks at Guild Wars Utopia

The Game Archaeologist looks at Guild Wars Utopia originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 08 May 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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League of Legends runs Make-A-Wish charity campaign

Brendan Drain — Sun, 06 May 2012 14:00:00 EST

Filed under: News items, Promotions, MOBA, League of Legends

The Make-A-Wish foundation is a charity that helps make seriously ill children's dreams come true. Several months ago, Riot Games worked with the foundation to bring 17-year-old League of Legends fan and cancer sufferer Joe up to the studio where his favourite game is made. Riot was so inspired by Joe's visit that developers decided to give back to the Make-A-Wish in any way they could to make more children's dreams come true.

Following on from the success of community donations to the Red Cross during Japan's earthquake and tsunami, this week Riot announced a new donation drive in support of the Make-A-Wish foundation.

"From now, May 4, until 10:30 a.m. PT on May 18, 2012, Riot Games will donate 100 percent of the RP sale price for Joe's favorite champion, Jax, and his Jaximus skin to Make-A-Wish. To make it easier to help, we'll also be lowering the price of both the champion and skin by 50% during this period."

League of Legends runs Make-A-Wish charity campaign originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 06 May 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Pocket Legends goes under the big top with Nuri's Hallows

Justin Olivetti — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 11:30:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Trailers, Video, Expansions, Patches, Free-to-play, Mobile

Pocket Legends, the pint-sized popular MMO with charm and quirkiness to spare, is enlisting players for a stint at the circus. While some of us may indeed qualify to join the sideshow freaks, Spacetime Studios is hoping that adventurers will instead help lift the curse of an unfortunate traveling circus.

With the recently released Nuri's Hallows campaign pack, players can now push up to level 60 as they investigate the cursed circus and its fascinating inhabitants. Amidst fighting the Strongman or navigating the twisted passageways of the House of Pain, there's tons of new loot to be found. Best of all, Spacetime is offering this campaign for free.

Pocket Legends is available on iOS devices, and you can watch the trailer for Nuri's Hallows after the jump. Remember, kids, all the best things in life come after the jump!

Continue reading Pocket Legends goes under the big top with Nuri's Hallows

Pocket Legends goes under the big top with Nuri's Hallows originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 02 Sep 2011 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Game Archaeologist uncovers Shadowbane: Talking with Josef Hall and Todd Coleman, part 1

Justin Olivetti — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 12:30:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Interviews, MMO industry, PvP, Massively Interviews, The Game Archaeologist

After a couple of weeks of talking with players about their favorite experiences in Shadowbane, I decided it was high time to flip the discussion from those who played it to those who made it.

Today we're going to kick off a two-part interview with the makers of Shadowbane, Josef Hall and Todd Coleman. It's interesting to realize that while MMOs come and go, many developers remain in the industry, moving between projects in surprising ways. In this case, both Hall and Coleman went from the brutal lands of cutthroat PvP to a colorful kids title: Wizard101. It's hard to imagine two MMOs being more different, but that goes to show you that developers, like gamers, don't always like being pigeonholed into specific roles. The duo were extremely eager to talk about Shadowbane, as you'll see from this interview. Buckle up -- you're in for a treat!

The Game Archaeologist: Can you introduce yourself to us and explain how you became involved with Shadowbane?

Josef Hall: I'm Josef Hall, co-founder of Wolfpack Studios, the creator of Shadowbane. Currently, I'm the Vice President of Development at KingsIsle Entertainment, creator of Wizard101.

Todd Coleman: And I'm Todd Coleman, co-founder of Wolfpack. I'm currently the VP of Production and Creative for KingsIsle. Josef and I still work together; we were the two first people brought in start the dev studio for KingsIsle here in Austin.

Hall: In fact, Wizard101 was our idea, which is a bit odd, given that we were also the first two people to come up with the core idea behind Shadowbane.

Continue reading The Game Archaeologist uncovers Shadowbane: Talking with Josef Hall and Todd Coleman, part 1

The Game Archaeologist uncovers Shadowbane: Talking with Josef Hall and Todd Coleman, part 1 originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 23 Aug 2011 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Waging WAR: The taboo of cross-realming

Greg Waller — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Game mechanics, Warhammer Online, Opinion, Waging WAR

What happens when you take Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (which offers arguably the best PvP in any MMO currently available) and mix it with controversy, corruption, and a heaping helping of taboo? Well, for one, you get this week's topic for Waging WAR: cross-realming. Today's issue takes a look at the what, why, and how of it all.

Recently, during a conversation with a guildmate, it was suggested that achieving renown rank 80 was a simple matter, requiring little time or effort. At the time, I was flabbergasted. There I sat, at RR74 (after having spent innumerable months getting there), listening to someone tell me that all my effort was somehow misplaced. It was no coincidence that we were also talking about what my guildmate referred to as "organized dueling." It is my unwavering belief that WAR is not balanced nor designed to be a system of careers and classes based on 1v1 (or similar) odds. Thus, dueling in WAR has always seemed to me to be an effort in futility, and every time the subject comes up in the realm's general chat, I've been outspoken against it. I believe the addition of a duel mechanism would be detrimental to the base concept of RvR, and would inevitably detract from the very essence of group-based, organized combat. Indeed, my vision of dueling in WAR would resemble some sort of fight-club held in one of the old, abandoned Fortresses far away from any keeps, warbands or sieges, as combatants from both realms enter a pit from which only one will emerge as the victor (the other emerging a few moments later, after shaking off the effects of resurrection sickness).

"But Greg," you ask, "doesn't that sound more like cross-realming to you?" Indeed it does. Let's talk more after the break.

Continue reading Waging WAR: The taboo of cross-realming

Waging WAR: The taboo of cross-realming originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 31 Jul 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Daily Grind: How would you make a D&D MMO?

Justin Olivetti — Wed, 26 May 2010 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind

We've made it no secret here at the Massively offices that we love us some Dungeons & Dragons Online (especially with our regular Wednesday evening guild play), but we'd be naive to think that DDO is the last D&D MMO we'll ever see. Considering that the franchise has a long tradition of console titles, PC games and MMOs (dating back to 1991's Neverwinter Nights), we'd go as far as saying that another D&D MMO is probably closer than we'd expect.

So if you could define the parameters of this theoretical new game, what would you choose? What studio would handle it? What D&D setting would you like to play in the most? What edition of the rules? How would you overcome the difficulties of transitioning the pen-and-paper game into a MMORPG? Would it follow DDO's highly instanced format, or be something else entirely?

Cast your level one spell of Creative Thought, and let us know: how would you make a D&D MMO?

The Daily Grind: How would you make a D&D MMO? originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 26 May 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The breakdown of Final Fantasy XI's VanaFest 2010 announcements

Eliot Lefebvre — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Final Fantasy XI, Classes, Events, real-world, Game mechanics, News items

After a month of heavy anticipation from the fans, VanaFest 2010 finally has come and given us all the information that we could want about where the game is heading from here. And the show did stay focused upon Final Fantasy XI -- the only mention of Final Fantasy XIV was the announcement that its first wave of beta testing will start on March 11th with a limited number of participants. That left quite a bit of show left to detail all of the changes coming to the game.

And there was certainly a lot of news to be shared. An increase in level cap, new add-on zones, job reviews, conclusions to existing content, server merges, new seasonal gear -- there was no shortage of surprising announcements. Continue on past the cut for the short version of what came out during the show and what players can expect.

Continue reading The breakdown of Final Fantasy XI's VanaFest 2010 announcements

The breakdown of Final Fantasy XI's VanaFest 2010 announcements originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 28 Feb 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Final Fantasy XI's July version update lands on the servers

Seraphina Brennan — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Final Fantasy XI, Expansions, Launches, Patches, PvE, Consoles

Kupo, fellow adventurers! The July version update is here, and it has brought many tasty treats with it including the brand new add-on pack, "A Moogle Kupo d'Etat!"

We here at Massively have kept you up with all of the developments in the July version update including the new job abilities for ninja, the new additions coming to the Fields of Valor quest system and the new blue mage spells, and the brand new item augmentations for characters over level 50. Even with all of that coverage, however, we still didn't get everything that's been added in this new update!

More campaign missions, more mazes for Moblin Maze Mongers, new campaign areas, and the brand new addition of the "union" party system to the Campaign lets more players play together to save past Vana'diel from the destruction of the beastmen and win wonderful brand new items!

For all of the changes and additions, check out the patch notes page available on the Final Fantasy XI main site, and enjoy all of the new content!

Final Fantasy XI's July version update lands on the servers originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 20 Jul 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MMO racism: the No Elves! movement picks up steam

Brooke Pilley — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Video, News items, MMOFPS, Global Agenda, Humor

To some it is unadulterated racial hatred; to others, pure marketing genius. Ok, perhaps I'm sensationalizing just a bit, but since its release, the No Elves! trailer for Global Agenda has generated quite a buzz. A recent newsletter announcement by Hi-Rez Studios details how they plan to capitalize on it.

Those willing to show their support for the No Elves! movement can now buy a few different t-shirts from the Hi-Rez store, join a Facebook group, and download a media kit full of high quality videos and images. After launching the campaign initially, it appears Hi-Rez wants the community to take it over and spread the word. I believe the term is "viral marketing?"

According to one of the developers, Hi-Rez first used the "No Elves" tagline on a staff recruitment banner 3 or 4 years ago. Another forum-goer pointed out a "No More Elves" promotion developed by Reakktor for Neocron 2 in 2005. It seems there is an abundance of pointy-eared hate because a number of MMO bloggers formed a No Elf Club recently as well. Come on folks, "can we all get along?"

MMO racism: the No Elves! movement picks up steam originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 11 Jun 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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July version update scheduled for Final Fantasy XI

Seraphina Brennan — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 17:30:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Final Fantasy XI, Game mechanics, Patches, News items, PvE, Consoles

Yes, yes, you're all clamoring about Final Fantasy XIV, but let's get real here people and get to the present. Final Fantasy XI isn't dead yet and it's getting itself a nice version update.

The upcoming version update will bring a new slew of Wings of the Goddess missions as usual, but players will also be able to look forward to seeing brand new areas of past Vana'diel being made available, more job adjustments like what was done with the White Mage, more additions to campaign and Moblin Maze Mongers, and even more that's still being kept secret.

The update is currently being scheduled for late July, but more information about the update will be released in the coming weeks. Keep your eyes peeled for more new things coming to FFXI!

July version update scheduled for Final Fantasy XI originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 09 Jun 2009 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Games Day '09: Managing realm vs. realm combat with Jeff Skalski pt. 2

Seraphina Brennan — Tue, 19 May 2009 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Game mechanics, PvP, Warhammer Online, Massively Interviews, Massively Event Coverage

On top of that, we are aggressively looking at city sieges. On the RvR team, that's where the big focus is. The last big improvement in the open RvR arena was adding a second ramp to the keeps, but now our focus is on the city. We want to make sure that players know what's going on, like with the stages of the city. It's really three stages -- contested when you enter in, then the attackers can push it to pillaged so the warlord PQs open up, then it goes to captured and you unlock the king's instance for a set amount of time.

"Our goal is to make the city siege RvR, not RvE."

Our goal is to make the city siege RvR, not RvE. We want to put more focus on killing players, capturing and holding objectives, and we want that to be the front from beginning to end so there's always RvR in the game. So that's what we're looking at right now, working with those concepts and fleshing out those ideas.

Any previews or details on that yet?

It's really too early to say. We just started meeting with our core testers and explaining to them the ideas we have, and we're throwing things out there while finalizing what we want to do. I can say that for the players out there who are saying, "Oh, make it more epic, make it more epic," well that's what we're focusing on. We're trying to bring the quality of epic up, but at the same time we have many other things going on too. There's always bug fixing and things to work on, so we have to be careful. We want to react quickly and get it done now rather work on it for 10 months and fix it next year.

What would you say to a player who holds the opinion that something like Warcraft's PvP is superior to Warhammer's RvR?

This is my opinion, but I find when I talk to players who have that opinion that it's about convenience as to why they prefer the WoW model of PvP over the WAR model. We're really seeing a change. So, for you and I, we've been playing MMOs for a while. But there are people out there who have never touched any other MMO except for WoW. That game is all they know. They don't know what EQ was like, they don't know what UO was like, they don't know what MUDs are, so they don't have this broad concept. They just want stuff now and they want to get out quickly. They want instant gratification and they want to be constantly patted on the back with an enthusiastic, "Good job, good job!"

"Then we added in the token system because we understand that at the end of the day you just may not get that loot roll."

So when WAR was launched, we didn't have anything like the token system. We just took the approach of, "Well, you're just going to have to work for it. I'm sorry, but you have to go out, fight enemies, get through their keeps, and go for it." What ended up happening was the players began taking the path of least resistance. Players even went to lengths to avoid one another, and that really confused us. We thought they had bought our game to RvR, but they're avoiding enemies! Then we had things like keep trading and round robin keeps going on, so that's why we went to zone domination. It's why we took the rewards off of flipping a keep and put it on flipping the zone. That way you're not just hopping from pairing to pairing and going around, and around, and around. Now they want to capture and fight for that zone.

Then we added in the token system because we understand that at the end of the day you just may not get that loot roll. I, honestly, have horrible luck. I rarely, if ever, get the gold bag. Now for participating you get this token. Sure, you need a lot of them, but you know you're getting somewhere.

We're learning a lot about the player base. We hear all of the feedback from the players and hear what they're complaining about. When I come into work in the morning I have, from multiple sources, the top five issues of the game. And that helps me and the other producers determine exactly what we need to put our teams on. What needs to be hotfixed before the weekend, what needs to be put into the next patch, or whatever.

So they game is getting better. The game is better today than it was at launch in terms of stability, performance, and how the systems are working. We have teams dedicated to it and we just keep pushing it.

The sands of the Tomb Kings are coming as the final release in the Call to Arms live expansion, the Land of the Dead approaches! Massively has your back with coverage from Mythic Entertainment at Games Day '09, so get your WAAGGGHHH ready for RvR mayhem as Massively re-arms for WAR!

Games Day '09: Managing realm vs. realm combat with Jeff Skalski pt. 2 originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 19 May 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Massively's hands-on with Final Fantasy XI's April version update pt. 2

Seraphina Brennan — Mon, 04 May 2009 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Final Fantasy XI, Expansions, Game mechanics, New titles, Reviews, Opinion, Consoles, Massively Hands-on

The Crystal War Missions of Campaign

The new missions in the Campaign area of the game offer some tough challenges and nice rewards for players looking to further the storyline of Wings of the Goddess. Of special note are the cutscenes, which were very emotional and also very beautiful. Compared to some of the original cutscenes that the game shipped with, these new scenes are very active and dramatic. Funny characters, camaderie, and full blown combat were abound in the seven minute cutscene I watched -- all which included my character fighting back to back with some of Windurst's most talented military heroes.

The boss battle I got to participate in was tied directly into the events of the prior cutscene, as players need to use clues from the cutscenes to locate where to go and what to do. In our battle, one of the Mithras was injured as she fended off hordes of beastmen with a slew of grenades, forcing our party to find her and help defend her. Unfortunately, once we located her door, we were attacked by a group of beastmen that included a very powerful boss. Even with five well geared level 75 players, including me as the white mage with my brand new white mage abilities, the boss took a considerable amount of time (and a little cheating) to defeat. As to the fate of the injured Mithra... let me just say that I was a little heartbroken by the end of the cutscene, and I only knew the character for ten minutes.

Our overall impressions of the version update and mini-expansion are...

For a game that's close to seven years old to feature challenging, engaging content, well-written story, and beautiful graphics is in itself amazing. The version update even seems to be slowly upending the former hardcore playstyle of FFXI, creating a more welcoming game for newbies and veteran players alike. If you have Final Fantasy XI and have let your account lapse, my suggestion is to certainly come back and give the new version update a try -- especially regarding additions like the Fields of Valor.

FFXI has evolved from a game of ruthless intentions into a challenging, but rewarding experience for those who are willing to stick with it. Additions like being able to add your own stats to items via item enhancement only make the game more approachable for today's World of Warcraft audiences. The version update brings much to the game and makes for a thumbs up.

A Crystalline Prophecy, however, is a little shaky. While the content starts at level 30, it cannot be finished until the player is level 75. The storyline looks to be decent and the end reward seems to be worth 10 dollar price tag, but the level 75 requirement pushes this one into the territory of "buy it if you can finish it." This isn't an expansion I would recommend for players just starting with the game, but it certainly is a purchase for those who are already FFXI veterans. But, newbies, if you can afford the 10 dollar price tag and have a character at or over level 30, go ahead and grab it. It's a nice addition to the game, especially for a price of 10 bucks.

Massively's hands-on with Final Fantasy XI's April version update pt. 2 originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 04 May 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Final Fantasy XI's April version update to include a mog house full of new features

Seraphina Brennan — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Final Fantasy XI, Game mechanics, Patches, News items, PvE, Consoles

The version update is a special time for all Final Fantasy XI players. A time where people gather around Tetra Master while they wait for the servers to come back up, a time when people cry nerf when Square-Enix changed how their class worked, but especially a time to drool over all of the coming new features.

We already heard that Square-Enix would be expanding the Fields of Valor and Moblin Maze Mongers systems, but now we get to see that there's much more in store for April's update. Things like brand new nation missions, more areas in game that support treasure casket drops, notorious (elite) monsters appearing in the campaign system, and the huge announcement of "item augmentation," a type of enchanting system for pieces of equipment.

For a game over six years old, FFXI keeps proving to its community that it can keep up with the features of newer MMOs, as well as deploy features that aid the playability of the game. As more information comes in regarding all of these new changes, we'll keep you updated with all of the juicy details.

Final Fantasy XI's April version update to include a mog house full of new features originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 23 Mar 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Previews of the June Final Fantasy XI update

Michael Zenke — Sun, 25 May 2008 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Final Fantasy XI, Patches, PvE

We've previously mentioned the June update coming for Final Fantasy XI. In the last week or so numerous small preview pieces have trickled out on the official site, bringing us further into the loop on what sounds like a pretty big series of tweaks. There are numerous small quality of life improvements, quest refinements, and what sounds like couple of big changes to the campaign system. Here's the FFXI June patch highlight reel:

High Quality item synthesis will see a few new items added onto the rolls, to make the experience more lucrative.
Some furnishings will see extra storage space added, and some armor sets that weren't previously placeable on mannequins can now be displayed in that fashion.
The burgs of Selbina and Mhaura will now have their very own nomad Moogles and delivery NPCs.
An automatic item sort is being added into the game, which will stack items as they're gained by players.
NPC Fellows can now be summoned in parts of Vana'diel's past, are receiving a few new personalities, and will soon be eligible to level up to 70.
The Campaign system will see the most concerted changes, with new healer NPCs being deployed to both sides of the skirmish and brand-new medals for distinguished service. Players will now also be able to exchange their points with successful soldiers behind opposing national lines. In this way, players will be able to obtain items offered by nations other than their own.

The official site also notes that the 2008 Vana'diel Collection is now available for lapsed players looking to come back with some of the newer expansions. Kupo!

Previews of the June Final Fantasy XI update originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 25 May 2008 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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