Massively http://massively.joystiq.com Massively http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif Massively http://massively.joystiq.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[EVE Evolved: New info from Fanfest 2012]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/03/25/eve-evolved-new-info-from-fanfest-2012/http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/03/25/eve-evolved-new-info-from-fanfest-2012/http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/03/25/eve-evolved-new-info-from-fanfest-2012/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

EVE Evolved title image
The annual EVE Online Fanfest is starting to become a major event in the gaming calendar, thanks to CCP's partnership with Sony and the addition of DUST 514 and World of Darkness talks to the event schedule. This year, CCP flew gaming journalists to the event to give the press hands-on time with DUST and demonstrate the game's impressive realtime integration with EVE Online. Massively, unfortunately, is not permitted to accept such travel stipends, which meant that we couldn't produce in-depth coverage and interviews as we did last year, so instead we've pieced together information from the talks that were streamed to viewers at home.

The theme of this year's Fanfest was unmistakably DUST 514 and its integration with EVE Online. Attendees got first-hand experience with DUST 514 and a free pass to enter the beta in April. There was even a live demonstration of the EVE-DUST link during which a battleship delivered an air strike directly into a DUST match in realtime. There were several talks on EVE's upcoming Inferno expansion and its PvP revamp, with details of new modules and gameplay designed to shake up the PvP landscape for the first time in several years. Players report leaving Fanfest this year with a very real sense that CCP is back on track and recovering from the aftermath of Monoclegate.

In this week's colossal EVE Evolved, I piece together some of the information from EVE Fanfest 2012 and consider what it means for EVE players.

Continue reading EVE Evolved: New info from Fanfest 2012

MassivelyEVE Evolved: New info from Fanfest 2012 originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 25 Mar 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>ccpccp-gamesccp-veritasconsolecrucibledustdust-514eveeve-evolvedeve-fanfesteve-fanfest-2012eve-onlineexpansionexpansionsfanfestfanfest-2012featuredfpshilmar-peturssonincarnainfernolagmmofpsplaystationplaystation-3ps3sandboxsci-fishootertime-dilationtorfi-frans-olafssontrailertrailersvideovideosSun, 25 Mar 2012 18:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Silkroad-R adding new server, gearing up for re-launch]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/12/27/silkroad-r-adding-new-server-gearing-up-for-re-launch/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/12/27/silkroad-r-adding-new-server-gearing-up-for-re-launch/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/12/27/silkroad-r-adding-new-server-gearing-up-for-re-launch/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

Silkroad-R banner
When we heard about Silkroad-R, our first thought was buhwhat? Is Joymax getting into race cars or something? As it turns out, the "R" stands for rebirth, and the free-to-play fantasy MMO is being groomed for a new launch in 2012 (sans some of the problems that plagued it in its original run).

A new Joymax press release describes the leaner, meaner Silkroad as "the all-new, light and easy- to-play massively multiplayer online role-playing game that picks up where the original left off." The company is also touting a "bot-free and lag-free experience" that includes a new server to cope with the expected new-user demand.

Open beta testing is going on now through January 17th, 2012, and you can learn more about the reboot at the official Silkroad website.

[Source: Joymax press release]

MassivelySilkroad-R adding new server, gearing up for re-launch originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 27 Dec 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>bot-freebotsf2pfantasyfree-to-playjoymaxlaglag-freere-launchrebirthrelaunchsilkroadsilkroad-onlinesilkroad-rsilkroad-rebirthTue, 27 Dec 2011 18:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Hyperspace Beacon: End of beta impressions]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/12/06/hyperspace-beacon-end-of-beta-impressions/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/12/06/hyperspace-beacon-end-of-beta-impressions/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/12/06/hyperspace-beacon-end-of-beta-impressions/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

Hyperspace Beacon: End of beta impressions
I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened. Oh no! Something did happen! Beta testing for Star Wars: The Old Republic ended. A full nine days without SWTOR -- I think our lives are over! (Hopefully, you noted the sarcasm in the last statement.) Yes, it's true that our favorite beta came to an end at 1:03 a.m. EST Monday morning. Appropriately, the last thing posted to general chat was "Keapen bids everyone farewell." We all know that this isn't actually the end; it's truly the beginning of the game.

I count myself among the lucky people who were able to play in the beta for an extended period of time. I played through the origin world of all but two classes, and three times I leveled my characters past level 20. (I usually stopped about level 28 so that I would not ruin the ending of the story.) I wanted to get a good feel for all the class stories, so most of my characters got to about about level 15. Once I found out that the beta would end well before early access began, I decided to take in all the classes I could so that I could give you a well-rounded opinion.

Follow me beyond the break as I navigate the asteroid field of SWTOR.

Continue reading Hyperspace Beacon: End of beta impressions

MassivelyHyperspace Beacon: End of beta impressions originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 06 Dec 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>betaBioWaredarth-haterEAElectronic-Artsend-of-betafeaturedgameplaygary-gannonimpressionsjustin-lowelaglatencyLucasArtsopinionpyrofoxStar-Warsstar-wars-the-old-republicstoryswtortorTue, 06 Dec 2011 15:00:00 EST<![CDATA[EVE Evolved: Looking forward to the winter expansion]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/10/09/eve-evolved-looking-forward-to-the-winter-expansion/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/10/09/eve-evolved-looking-forward-to-the-winter-expansion/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/10/09/eve-evolved-looking-forward-to-the-winter-expansion/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , , ,

EVE Evolved title image
Since EVE Online's release in 2003, CCP Games has been the center of one of the most interesting success stories in the games industry. Produced by a tiny indie development studio on a frozen volcanic rock, EVE was the perfect example of how to do things right. The game's publishing deal with Simon & Schuster allowed CCP to buy back the rights to the game several months after its initial release. With no publisher taking a cut of the profits, CCP ploughed subscriptions back into the game's development and grew the development team organically. As a one-game company, CCP worked closely with players to make EVE the best game possible for its loyal playerbase.

In a recent letter to the players, CCP CEO Hilmar laments that somewhere along the line, things changed for the worse. The CCP of today bears little resemblance to the "little indie studio that could" of 2003, not just housing over 600 employees in offices around the world but also developing upcoming MMOs DUST 514 and World of Darkness. Resources are spread thin, and EVE Online has suffered for it. Last month I looked back at the blockbuster Apocrypha expansion and asked why every expansion since then has cut down on the in-space development players want. Hilmar's letter and its accompanying devblog answered that question this week with a solid plan for iteration on flying in space features during the winter development period.

In this week's EVE Evolved, I look forward to the winter expansion and explain why each of the issues being tackled in the coming expansion is a big deal to players.

Continue reading EVE Evolved: Looking forward to the winter expansion

MassivelyEVE Evolved: Looking forward to the winter expansion originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 09 Oct 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>assault-shipsbalanceblastersCaptains-quartersccpccp-eveccp-gamesestablishmentseveeve-ccpeve-evolvedeve-mmorpgeve-onlineexpansionfaction-warfarefactional-warfarefeaturedfonthilmarincarnalagmmo-industrymothershipmothershipsnerfnullsecomg-a-new-fontopinionpvepvpship-spinningsovereigntysupercapital-nerfsupercarriersupercarrierstime-dilationtitantitanswarfarewinteryaySun, 09 Oct 2011 18:00:00 EST<![CDATA[EVE Evolved: Time dilation and the war on lag]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/10/02/eve-evolved-time-dilation-and-the-war-on-lag/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/10/02/eve-evolved-time-dilation-and-the-war-on-lag/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/10/02/eve-evolved-time-dilation-and-the-war-on-lag/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

EVE Evolved title image
When EVE Online launched back in 2003, it quickly gained a following of over 40,000 subscribing players. With around 5,000 solar systems for players to explore, those players spread themselves throughout the galaxy rather than gathering in one place. Players would often come together to trade or make war, but the server generally kept up with the action. As the number of subscribers rose, the size of the average PvP fleet increased and CCP upgraded the EVE server to handle the additional load. 2005 saw EVE's subscriber numbers explode from just over 50,000 to around 100,000 players. Server upgrades suddenly didn't cut it any more, and lag began to set in during large fleet battles.

Ever since then, CCP has waged a largely unseen war against the impossibility of keeping all of EVE's players in one single-shard universe. Holding on to that core ideal that's made EVE the successful sandbox game it is today, developers have pursued every avenue in the fight against lag. While funding research into Python's Stackless IO and constantly optimising code, CCP built the biggest supercomputer in the games industry to house New Eden's growing population. With over 400,000 players now inhabiting the same world and a typically weekly peak concurrency of over 50,000 characters, CCP has been forced to develop some big guns in the war on lag.

In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at some of the biggest developments CCP has made in the war on lag, including the new Time Dilation feature that literally slows down time to let the server catch its breath.

Continue reading EVE Evolved: Time dilation and the war on lag

MassivelyEVE Evolved: Time dilation and the war on lag originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 02 Oct 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>ccpccp-atroposccp-eveccp-gamesccp-veritascutting-edgeeveeve-ccpeve-evolvedeve-mmorpgeve-onlinefeaturedhardwarelagmmo-industryrad-game-toolsserverserverssupercomputerteam-gridlocktechnologytelemetrythin-clienttime-dilationwar-on-lagSun, 02 Oct 2011 18:00:00 EST<![CDATA[All Points Bulletin slays lag and improves matches]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/08/10/all-points-bulletin-slays-lag-and-improves-matches/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/08/10/all-points-bulletin-slays-lag-and-improves-matches/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/08/10/all-points-bulletin-slays-lag-and-improves-matches/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

Car flight, however, remains.
The relaunch of All Points Bulletin has brought with it quite a bit more buzz than the game had during its first go-around, but there are still issues to be addressed and kinks to be worked out. Fortunately for the devoted players of the game, the team behind the shooter has been working diligently to try and hammer things out as fast as possible. That starts with the ugly issue of server-side lag, which the most recent developer post claims to have slain for good. That's in addition to NVidia SLI support, a good thing for players who want to run the game at truly breathtaking settings.

Beyond the technical side, however, there have been some adjustments and re-examination of the game's threat level system. The rating system is meant to ensure that players fight against other players of roughly equal skill, but due to some issues with the data the average players wound up being pushed into a handful of tiers, resulting in a few tiers with huge variances in levels. The blog entry outlines the changes being put into place to fix the issue, as well as future updates for the game in its current incarnation.

MassivelyAll Points Bulletin slays lag and improves matches originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 10 Aug 2011 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>all-points-bulletinapbapb-reloadedf2pfree-to-playgamersfirstlagmatchingmatchmakingrealtime-worldsserver-issuesserver-lagthreat-levelsWed, 10 Aug 2011 20:30:00 EST<![CDATA[EVE Online shows off new toys in the war on lag]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/07/27/eve-online-shows-off-new-toys-in-the-war-on-lag/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/07/27/eve-online-shows-off-new-toys-in-the-war-on-lag/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/07/27/eve-online-shows-off-new-toys-in-the-war-on-lag/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , ,

It's a bit of a cliche to solve a problem by declaring war on it, but in the case of EVE Online's war on lag the analogy really does seem to fit. The ever-increasing number of players places a growing strain on EVE's single-shard universe, and developers fight a constant battle to keep server performance acceptable. This time last year, the members of CCP's lag-busting development group Team Gridlock released a series of devblogs delving into all the work going on behind the scenes to fight lag and new tools like the thin client and mass testing events.

In a new video devblog, CCP Veritas from Team Gridlock shows off the latest toy in the fight against fleet lag. The Telemetry profiler gives developers millisecond-accurate details of what's happening on a server node, from physics calculations and database accesses to sending and receiving of data. By capturing telemetry of laggy fleet battles on the main EVE server, Veritas will be able to directly analyse the logs to find out where optimisations are most needed so that EVE can once again support battles with thousands of players per side. Head over to the official devblog webpage or skip past the cut to watch the video.

Continue reading EVE Online shows off new toys in the war on lag

MassivelyEVE Online shows off new toys in the war on lag originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 27 Jul 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>ccpccp-eveccp-gamesccp-veritasdev-diarydevblogeveeve-ccpeve-mmorpgeve-onlinelagteam-gridlockvideowar-on-lagWed, 27 Jul 2011 20:00:00 EST<![CDATA[ArcheAge parkour video shows off city architecture]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/07/11/archeage-parkour-video-shows-off-city-architecture/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/07/11/archeage-parkour-video-shows-off-city-architecture/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/07/11/archeage-parkour-video-shows-off-city-architecture/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

It's been a while since we've seen an ArcheAge video, and AAportal has come through with an interesting clip that was recorded during the closed beta test at the end of May. The three-minute jaunt is heavy on urban exploration -- or what passes for urban in a fantasy context -- and the protagonist engages in a bit of free-running to see the sights in and around one of the fantasy title's huge cities.

There's a bit of lag on display, as well as a lack of real danger given that the player character walks away from several high falls, but the clip is worth watching due to ArcheAge's gorgeous architecture. Check it out after the cut, then head to AAportal to join the discussion.

Continue reading ArcheAge parkour video shows off city architecture

MassivelyArcheAge parkour video shows off city architecture originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 11 Jul 2011 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>arche-agearcheagearchitecturefantasyfree-runninglagparkoursandboxsandparksceneryvideoxlxl-gamesMon, 11 Jul 2011 10:30:00 EST<![CDATA[EVE Evolved: Eight years of EVE Online]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/05/01/eve-evolved-eight-years-of-eve-online/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/05/01/eve-evolved-eight-years-of-eve-online/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/05/01/eve-evolved-eight-years-of-eve-online/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , ,

In last week's EVE Evolved column, I celebrated the third anniversary of the column with a competition to win one of three prizes worth over 500 million ISK. Congratulations go to Uniqdragon, mdubs28 and Thorium88, who will be contacted via email to arrange receipt of their prizes. In a bizarre twist that I can't believe I haven't noticed for three years, it turns out that the anniversary of my column occurs just over a week before EVE Online's own birthday on May 6th. With that in mind, this week's column is dedicated to the game's anniversary and to looking back at another successful year.

The past eight years have been a wild ride for EVE Online and its developer CCP Games. EVE has grown from a fledgling niche game with under 40,000 launch subscriptions to a global melting pot of over 360,000 actively subscribed accounts. The company itself has seem similar expansion, starting from humble beginnings as a small independent studio in Iceland and growing into a multinational monster with offices in China, Iceland, North America and the United Kingdom.

In this huge two-page anniversary edition of EVE Evolved, I look at how EVE Online has kept up with the industry over the years and then go on to examine this past year in detail, from the highs and lows to all the scams and awesome events.

Continue reading EVE Evolved: Eight years of EVE Online

MassivelyEVE Evolved: Eight years of EVE Online originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 01 May 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>8-yearsanniversarybirthdayccpccp-eveccp-gamescouncil-of-stellar-managementcsmdominioneveeve-ccpeve-mmorpgeve-onlineexpansionfanfestfeaturedgameplaygraphicsgraphics-updateincarnaincursioniterationiterative-designlagmmo-industryopinionrmtserverserver-upgradestrinitytyranniswar-on-lagSun, 01 May 2011 18:00:00 EST<![CDATA[EVE's anti-lag Time Dilation concept explained]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/04/22/eves-anti-lag-time-dilation-concept-explained/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/04/22/eves-anti-lag-time-dilation-concept-explained/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/04/22/eves-anti-lag-time-dilation-concept-explained/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , ,

Lag and server performance have always been important issues for MMO developers, but they've always had a special significance for EVE Online developer CCP Games. With EVE's entire population living on one non-instanced server, CCP needs to support scenarios in which a large percentage of them get together in one place. Back in August, CCP published a series of devblogs detailing the issues inherent in combating lag and what was being done to combat it. Though developments like the thin client and character nodes have proven very successful, the server still struggles when massive battles take place in nullsec.

In a new devblog, CCP Veritas explains a potentially revolutionary idea for resolving lag in massive battles -- Time Dilation. Commands on the server are currently added to a queue and processed in order. If the load is more than the server can process, this queue grows at an alarming rate and the server is unable to catch up. Under time dilation, actions in the game such as firing weapons or moving would be slowed down to ensure the queue remains short and so the server stays under its maximum load. Instead of fights becoming laggy and unplayable, the entire battle would go into slow motion and remain responsive. It's no silver bullet with which to kill the lag monster, but time dilation could make massive battles a lot more playable. For more details on how the system will work, head over to the official devblog.

MassivelyEVE's anti-lag Time Dilation concept explained originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 22 Apr 2011 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>ccpccp-eveccp-gamesccp-veritasdevblogeveeve-ccpeve-mmorpgeve-onlinelagpvptime-dilationwar-on-lagFri, 22 Apr 2011 13:30:00 EST<![CDATA[EVE Online developers continuing the war on lag]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/03/25/eve-online-developers-continuing-the-war-on-lag/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/03/25/eve-online-developers-continuing-the-war-on-lag/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/03/25/eve-online-developers-continuing-the-war-on-lag/#commentsFiled under: , ,

CCP might have some fancy new hardware, but that doesn't mean the EVE Online team has dusted off its hands and called the war on lag over. On the contrary, Technical Director Derek "Yokai" Wise treated players to a third dev blog yesterday explaining the company's next steps.

The core problem outlined in this new blog is simply the passage of time and the advancement of technology. As Derek put it, "One day we woke up and our super cool database servers ... well ... weren't super cool anymore."

So what's the solution? For CCP, it's to "upgrade every aspect of our systems, leaving no trace of the old environment." RAM, storage network, CPU, you name it and it got an overhaul -- resulting in an average transfer rate that was more than twice the previous speed. You can check out all the details, graphs, and specs over at the EVE Online site.

MassivelyEVE Online developers continuing the war on lag originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 25 Mar 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>ccpCCP-Gamesderek-wisederek-yokai-wisedev-blogeveeve-onlinehardwarelagyokaiFri, 25 Mar 2011 09:00:00 EST<![CDATA[CCP acquires new FCP hardware to fight EVE Online lag]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/03/23/ccp-acquires-new-fcp-hardware-to-fight-eve-online-lag/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/03/23/ccp-acquires-new-fcp-hardware-to-fight-eve-online-lag/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/03/23/ccp-acquires-new-fcp-hardware-to-fight-eve-online-lag/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

Insomnia can be dealt with in different ways. Some people count sheep. Others pop pills. For those of us whose eyes are prone to glazing over upon hearing computer-related techno-babble, reading a dev blog such as the new network performance-related piece from CCP might be just the thing we need to start nodding off.

All kidding aside, though, EVE Online is continually waging a war against lag, and unlike multi-shard MMOs with servers spread across different physical locations, CCP's sci-fi sandbox is beset with numerous technical challenges stemming from its one-server setup. Making matters worse for the IT nerds at the Icelandic development studio is the fact that tons of people like EVE, and those people are constantly setting new concurrent user records and pounding the heck out of Tranquility.

CCP Mort's blog entry details the company's newly purchased Flow Control Platform (FCP), which "ties in closely with our Edge routers; it monitors all traffic to and from the game cluster, has a BGP peering relationship with the Edge routers, and monitors the pipes to our providers for bandwidth and errors." The short version is that FCP is CCP's latest offensive in the ongoing lag wars saga, and the company remains committed to perfecting the EVE Online experience going forward.

MassivelyCCP acquires new FCP hardware to fight EVE Online lag originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 23 Mar 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>ccpccp-gamesccp-mortdev-blogdev-diaryeveeve-onlinefcpflow-control-platformlagmortperformanceperformance-improvementssci-fiseries-of-tubessingle-shardtranquilityWed, 23 Mar 2011 12:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Masthead adds exploration rewards to Earthrise, hints at player-crafted vehicles]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/03/14/masthead-adds-exploration-rewards-to-earthrise-hints-at-player/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/03/14/masthead-adds-exploration-rewards-to-earthrise-hints-at-player/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/03/14/masthead-adds-exploration-rewards-to-earthrise-hints-at-player/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

It's patch time for Earthrise, and the sci-fi sandbox from indie developer Masthead Studios is looking to put the hurt on a few of its early-release gremlins. The patch notes for version 17045 indicate that players should notice a substantial reduction in lag and an overall increase in server and client performance. The patch has also added keybinding functionality to the world of Enterra as well as animation tweaks for strafing and walking.

Exploration rewards have also arrived in Earthrise, and players "will now be able to salvage materials and use them for either crafting or personal advantage." The dev team isn't stopping there, though, and producer Atanas Atanasov drops a couple of tasty hints regarding upcoming updates. "We are actively taking player feedback and requests into consideration for future releases, and have extensive developments planned for completion in the next few months, including the addition of territorial conquests and player crafted vehicles," he said via press release.

Gallery: Earthrise

MassivelyMasthead adds exploration rewards to Earthrise, hints at player-crafted vehicles originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 14 Mar 2011 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>Atanas-Atanasovbugsdesyncearthriseexplorationexploration-rewardsgallerieslagmastheadmasthead-studiospatchperformanceperformance-fixesplayer-vehiclessandboxsci-fiscreenshotsserver-lagstabilityterritory-controlupdateMon, 14 Mar 2011 16:30:00 EST<![CDATA[Xsyon release moved to March 15th]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/02/21/xsyon-release-moved-to-march-15th/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/02/21/xsyon-release-moved-to-march-15th/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/02/21/xsyon-release-moved-to-march-15th/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , ,

Building sandboxes is hard. So hard, in fact, that not many of them get built. Those that do eventually see the light of day, like the upcoming Xyson from Jordi Grau-Davis' Notorious Games, often go through laborious birthing pains, buggy betas, and delayed releases. In a post on the official Xsyon boards, the game devs have announced the decision to postpone the official release by two weeks (the new date is March 15th) due to "problems with our servers and bandwidth" brought to light by the recent headstart launch and the sudden influx of warm bodies.

The post details the forthcoming fix for the recent lag issues (a new download server) and also puts a positive face on things by bringing up the fact that the lag has caused a few hidden problems to surface. The Xsyon client and installer have also been updated, and pre-order players will have two weeks of free game time comped to their accounts.

MassivelyXsyon release moved to March 15th originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 21 Feb 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>betadelaydownload-serverjordi-grau-davislaglaunchnotorious-gamespost-apocalypticpre-orderreleasesandboxsci-fixsyonMon, 21 Feb 2011 11:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Massively's EVE Online Incursion video devblog roundup]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/01/18/massivelys-eve-online-incursion-video-devblog-roundup/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/01/18/massivelys-eve-online-incursion-video-devblog-roundup/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/01/18/massivelys-eve-online-incursion-video-devblog-roundup/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , , , , ,

Having progressed from being a small independent studio in Iceland to a successful multinational industry leader, EVE Online's developer CCP Games has always had a reputation for being very close to the game's playerbase. Back in July, this view was soured when information from devblogs and the June CSM summit seemed to suggest that EVE would receive no bug-fixes or iterations on old gameplay features for at least 18 months. Players were in an uproar, and a growing perception began to spread that CCP was selling current EVE players short in order to focus on Incarna.

In the past six months, things at CCP have take a complete 180-degree turn. Planetary Interaction has received the iteration players were promised, with gameplay tweaks and user interface fixes being deployed at a rapid pace. CCP also instituted team GridLock, whose purpose was to wage an all-out war on lag and fleet issues. In a refreshing and extremely welcome turn of affairs, CCP has been making a gargantuan effort lately to communicate with the players about upcoming changes and collect feedback. Though regular technical devblogs and pre-released test-server patches, players have been kept more informed than ever about what's going on behind the scenes at CCP HQ.

Most recently, a series of 18 developer videos was released leading up to the Incursion expansion's final release today. Topics covered include battle reports from the ongoing war on lag, information on server optimisations that have been made recently, updates to planetary interaction, and other interesting topics. Skip past the cut for a detailed roundup of all 18 videos, all hosted on CCP's official YouTube page.

Continue reading Massively's EVE Online Incursion video devblog roundup

MassivelyMassively's EVE Online Incursion video devblog roundup originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 18 Jan 2011 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>ccpccp-eveccp-gamesccp-greyscaledev-diarydevblogeveeve-ccpeve-mmorpgeve-onlinefeaturedfighter-bombersfleetfleetsincursionincursionslagmass-testingmothershipsneural-remappingplanetplanetary-interactionplanetssanshasanshas-nationserversupercarriersteam-gridlockthin-clientvideoTue, 18 Jan 2011 15:30:00 EST<![CDATA[An inside look at EVE Online's CSM: From June to December]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/01/12/eve-onlines-csm-from-june-to-december/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/01/12/eve-onlines-csm-from-june-to-december/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/01/12/eve-onlines-csm-from-june-to-december/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

Keith Neilson is a Massively guest-writer who's here to recount his experiences at the recent Council of Stellar Management summit in Reykjavik. He writes regularly about EVE Online and has been playing the game since early 2004.

It is undeniable that EVE Online is unique among MMORPGs in many ways. One of these is its Council of Stellar Management, an elected committee of nine players who play an active role in the development of the game, bringing player concerns and proposals for the future direction of the game directly to CCP at biannual summits in Iceland. Until this year, the perception of the CSM among players was that the Council is a marketing tool that does not fulfill its stated role of representing the playerbase. But in June, all of that changed.

This term of the CSM brought in some major changes to the way the Council is organised, specifically with the removal of term limits (previously delegates could only serve two terms on the CSM) and the extension of terms from six months to a year. In addition to this, the CSM has been given "stakeholder" status within CCP. This means that the Council members have an equal say in the planning of future development along with the internal teams at CCP. This has allowed the fifth CSM to have a significant influence on the future development of EVE.

Continue reading An inside look at EVE Online's CSM: From June to December

MassivelyAn inside look at EVE Online's CSM: From June to December originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 12 Jan 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>ccpccp-eveccp-gamescommunicationcouncil-of-stellar-managementCSMdeliverdierdra-vaaleveeve-ccpeve-mmorpgeve-onlineexcellencefeaturedIcelandlagplexreykjaviksummitteam-gridlockTorfi-frans-olafssonWed, 12 Jan 2011 18:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Dark Age of Camelot keeps its eyes firmly fixed on RvR for 2011]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/01/08/dark-age-of-camelot-keeps-its-eyes-firmly-fixed-on-rvr-for-2011/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/01/08/dark-age-of-camelot-keeps-its-eyes-firmly-fixed-on-rvr-for-2011/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/01/08/dark-age-of-camelot-keeps-its-eyes-firmly-fixed-on-rvr-for-2011/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

"Realm vs. Realm combat is what keeps you here year after year," Stuart Zissu concludes in the Dark Age of Camelot's January newsletter. Because of this fact, Zissu reassures players that Mythic is firmly committed to strengthening and focusing on DAoC's RvR in 2011.

Zissu first addresses a number of important issues that the team is tackling, such as lag ghosting. Realm abilities are also being adjusted to include several additional levels. While these new levels won't add to the overall strength of the abilities, they do allow players to fine-tune just how much (or little) of these abilities they want to have. A few of the realm abilities will be improved on a case-by-case basis, however.

He also highlights the next upcoming live event, which will revolve around the return of demonic invasions. Those wacky demons -- like frat boys out of control, they are!

You can read the full newsletter over on the Camelot Herald.

MassivelyDark Age of Camelot keeps its eyes firmly fixed on RvR for 2011 originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 08 Jan 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>camelotcamelot-heralddaocdark-age-of-camelotdemonic-invasionea-mythiclaglag-ghostinglive-eventlive-eventsmythicmythic-entertainmentnewsletterpvprealm-abilitiesrealm-vs-realmrvrstuart-zissuSat, 08 Jan 2011 13:00:00 EST<![CDATA[The Perfect Ten: Most controversial MMO stories of 2010]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/12/16/the-perfect-ten-most-controversial-mmo-stories-of-2010/http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/12/16/the-perfect-ten-most-controversial-mmo-stories-of-2010/http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/12/16/the-perfect-ten-most-controversial-mmo-stories-of-2010/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Well, this is it, folks. The end of the year. A time of reflection, of massive weight gain and of lists. Man, we like our lists, do we not? Fortunately, at Perfect Ten Industries, we've been excelling in lists for months now. Frankly, we're just getting warmed up!

While 2010 may not have been much to write home about in terms of newly launched MMOs, there was more than enough controversy to keep the discussion brewing for months. MMOs are big business, and when every move you make is closely scrutinized by millions of gamers, there's no room to slip up unless you like forum hyenas pouncing all over you, snapping and snarling at your faulty flesh.

So let's take a jaunt down our top 10 list of the most controversial stories of 2010 on Massively, keeping in mind that it was devilishly hard just to keep this list to 10 at all. What's a week without being riled up about pixels and polygons, after all?

Continue reading The Perfect Ten: Most controversial MMO stories of 2010

MassivelyThe Perfect Ten: Most controversial MMO stories of 2010 originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 16 Dec 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>advisory-councilalganonallodsallods-onlineapocryphaAtaribethesdaBethesda-Softworksc-storeccpCCP-GamescodemasterscontroversyCraig-Zinkievichcrypticcryptic-studiosdavid-allenddoddo-offer-walldelayderek-smartdungeons-and-dragons-onlineeaea-lousElectronic-Artsend-of-the-year-2010europeeuropean-games-awardseveeve-onlinefeaturedfinal-fantasy-14final-fantasy-xivgpotatointerplaylaglawsuitlegallord-of-the-rings-onlinelotromythicMythic-Entertainmentoffer-wallragequitsquare-enixstar-trek-onlinestar-wars-the-old-republicstostockstockholderswtorthe-old-republictorturbinewarWarhammer-OnlineThu, 16 Dec 2010 17:00:00 EST<![CDATA[EVE devblogs discuss developments in the war on lag and RMT]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/12/14/eve-devblogs-discuss-developments-in-the-war-on-lag-and-rmt/http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/12/14/eve-devblogs-discuss-developments-in-the-war-on-lag-and-rmt/http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/12/14/eve-devblogs-discuss-developments-in-the-war-on-lag-and-rmt/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

With the Incursion expansion's second phase almost ready to deploy, it's been a busy few weeks for the developers at CCP Games. Work is well underway, but a few of the folks at CCP have taken time out of their busy schedules this week to explain some of the interesting developments that have recently gone on behind the scenes. GM Grimmi, well-known for his work battling EVE's RMT (Real Money Trading) problem, delivered an update on the problem and what CCP is doing to tackle it. Similarly, aptly named developer CCP Masterplan wrote two in-depth devblogs detailing the latest developments in the war on lag.

Lag has always been an issue in EVE Online's territorial warfare, as each side in a fight will try to bring as many ships as possible to major battles. The point at which the EVE server lags and server nodes begin to drop has been increased over the years through hardware upgrades and software performance optimisations, allowing much larger fights than were previously possible. With the playerbase growing every year, however, the number of players who can potentially meet in one place for a major battle has similarly risen and the issue of lag has persisted.

Skip past the cut for a roundup of three new devblogs detailing CCP's progress in the war on lag, recently deployed optimisations for fleet battles, and the progress made in the fight against RMT and botting.

Continue reading EVE devblogs discuss developments in the war on lag and RMT

MassivelyEVE devblogs discuss developments in the war on lag and RMT originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 14 Dec 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>ccpccp-eveccp-gamesccp-masterplandevblogeveeve-ccpeve-mmorpgeve-onlinefeaturedgm-grimmilagprogrammingrmtserverthin-clientunholy-rageTue, 14 Dec 2010 19:00:00 EST<![CDATA[EVE Online devblog discusses recent 3000-player battle and server stability]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/11/09/eve-online-devblog-discusses-recent-3000-player-battle-and-serve/http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/11/09/eve-online-devblog-discusses-recent-3000-player-battle-and-serve/http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/11/09/eve-online-devblog-discusses-recent-3000-player-battle-and-serve/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Recently, we reported on the largest battle ever held in EVE Online. Over 3200 pilots clashed in the lawless nullsec system LXQ2-T. What was meant to be a titanic battle between the Northern Coalition political conglomeration and its rival Russian power block from the drone regions was quickly overcome with lag. Although it's impressive that the server didn't crash, pilots reported delays of several minutes between issuing a command and the server's carrying it out. In a new devblog, CCP Veritas looks at exactly what went on behind the scenes at that colossal battle.

While we play EVE Online in realtime, the server essentially queues up our commands and processes them in order. If the load becomes so high that more commands enter the queue every second than can be processed, our commands begin to be delayed and we experience that as lag. If you've ever been interested in what goes on under the hood of EVE's massively complex server, this devblog is definitely worth a read. If nothing else, it reinforces the fact that lag is a much more complex issue than we sometimes expect and progress in combating it involves painstaking work. In a future devblog, Veritas will present a historical look at the EVE server's performance and how it's been improved in the last few months as part of CCP's ongoing war on lag.

MassivelyEVE Online devblog discusses recent 3000-player battle and server stability originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 09 Nov 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>battleccpccp-eveccp-gamesdevdev-diarydevblogdeveloperdevelopmenteveeve-ccpeve-mmorpgeve-onlinelagnullsecpvpwarwarfareTue, 09 Nov 2010 18:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Age of Conan 2.0.7 coming today after extended downtime]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/10/06/age-of-conan-2-0-7-coming-today-after-extended-downtime/http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/10/06/age-of-conan-2-0-7-coming-today-after-extended-downtime/http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/10/06/age-of-conan-2-0-7-coming-today-after-extended-downtime/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

If you had your heart set on a little Hyborian hooky this afternoon, go ahead and cancel that sick day and head on in to the office. Funcom is in the process of uploading Age of Conan version 2.0.7 to the live servers, and according to a post on the official boards by senior community manager Tarib, the downtime has been extended from six to a full eight hours (it began early this morning at 7:00 a.m. EDT).

The good news is that the patch looks to improve performance in Khitai's Northern Grasslands zone (often called Northern Crashlands due to its low framerates and frequent lockups). While the jury is still out on the success of this aspect of the patch, it's gratifying to see Funcom taking action on the matter. 2.0.7 is also tweaking the ranger class (yes, again), in the seemingly neverending struggle to bring Hyboria's bow and crossbow crowd into line with the rest of the classes. This time it's not a nerf but rather a series of mini-buffs, including more damage for the deft stabs skill, a better snare effect on pin down, and more.

You can view the patch notes from the Test Live server, but you'll need to sign in with a Test Live forum account.

MassivelyAge of Conan 2.0.7 coming today after extended downtime originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 06 Oct 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>2.0.7age-of-conanaocbuffsdeft-stabsfuncomlagnorthern-grasslandspatchperformance-optimizationspin-downrangerrangerssnaretaribtest-liveupdateWed, 06 Oct 2010 11:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Hyperspace Beacon: Testing the SWTOR waters]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/09/14/hyperspace-beacon-testing-the-swtor-waters/http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/09/14/hyperspace-beacon-testing-the-swtor-waters/http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/09/14/hyperspace-beacon-testing-the-swtor-waters/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , , , ,

Hyperspace Beacon: Testing the SWTOR waters
If you didn't know already, just over a week ago three writers from Massively, including me, traveled to Seattle, Washington for PAX Prime. During that time, besides catching the flu, we were able to catch a glimpse of some of the games that have yet to be released. We were able to play games like TERA, The Force Unleashed II, Guild Wars 2, RIFT, End of Nations, and many, many others. Some were pretty good; others, not-so-much -- but most seemed very polished and perfect for presentation.

Of course, you all know I was there to see Star Wars: The Old Republic. I caught a lot of it. There were six of the eight classes available for demo at the gorgeous LucasArts booth. (BioWare did have a booth there, too, but the team was displaying some small game it was trying to get off the ground called Dragon Age 2.) Visitors had a chance to try out the smuggler, trooper, agent, bounty hunter, and both Sith classes. Because of the enormous lines that constantly encircled the booth, I was only able to play three of the classes: smuggler, trooper, and Sith inquisitor.

For this edition of the Hyperspace Beacon, I will give you my impressions of the gameplay for those classes. However, I want to take a slightly different look at them. At E3, Massively's editor Seraphina Brennan was able to give her impressions of the smuggler class -- she covered the mechanics and so on. Although I will touch on the combat mechanics, I have decided to focus on some of the features BioWare is famous for: cinematics, character development, and overall storytelling. Follow after the break, and I will give you an honest breakdown of how SWTOR measures up to its predecessors.

Continue reading Hyperspace Beacon: Testing the SWTOR waters

MassivelyHyperspace Beacon: Testing the SWTOR waters originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 14 Sep 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>alyson-bridgeBioWareblaine-christinecinematiccinematographyclassesdaniel-ericksondialoguedialogue-designeaElectronic-Artsfeaturedfire-extinguisherhands-oninquisitorjennifer-halelaglatencyLucasArtsopinionoverhead-mappax-2010pax-prime-2010QuestsrpgsmugglerStar-Warsstar-wars-the-old-republicswtorswtor-hands-onthe-old-republictortroopervoice-overswarpingTue, 14 Sep 2010 15:00:00 EST<![CDATA[TERA's Patrick Wyatt talks lag, security, and an M-rating]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/08/31/teras-patrick-wyatt-talks-lag-security-and-an-m-rating/http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/08/31/teras-patrick-wyatt-talks-lag-security-and-an-m-rating/http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/08/31/teras-patrick-wyatt-talks-lag-security-and-an-m-rating/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,


TERA is shaping up to be a huge hit with international audiences, and nowhere is this more evident than in En Masse Entertainment's willingness to reach out to fan communities outside the U.S. The latest example comes courtesy of TERAHispano, as they recently sat down with En Masse COO Patrick Wyatt for a round of questions regarding everything from microtransactions, to account security, to lag.

Wyatt has lots to say in the lengthy interview, and among the more interesting nuggets is the fact that En Masse expects TERA to ship with an M-rating. He also touches on performance issues, pointing to the Focus Group Tests as evidence that lag won't be an issue for the game's action combat system. "When we built the first Western servers for TERA, we selected a QA datacenter just a few miles from our offices in Seattle, which meant that European players who joined our Focus Group Tests were playing on servers over 5000 miles away. Based on the forum posts, polls, and informal surveys from those events, we didn't see lag problems," Wyatt says.

Finally, he reiterates that TERA will not be a microtransaction-based title, and also discusses GameGuard and alternatives to the intrusive anti-cheat software.

MassivelyTERA's Patrick Wyatt talks lag, security, and an M-rating originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 31 Aug 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>en-masseen-masse-entertainmentfocus-group-testgameguardinterviewlaglatencym-ratingpatrick-wyattserversteratera-onlineterahispanoTue, 31 Aug 2010 16:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Darkfall EU server latency issues to be corrected]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/08/30/darkfall-eu-server-latency-issues-to-be-corrected/http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/08/30/darkfall-eu-server-latency-issues-to-be-corrected/http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/08/30/darkfall-eu-server-latency-issues-to-be-corrected/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Denizens of Darkfall's European shard have been subjected to a rough ride of late, and not just from the title's relentless PvP action. Due to a Storage Area Network hardware failure at Aventurine's third-party hosting center, players have seen high amounts of latency over the last week.

The bad news is that Aventurine doesn't have a specific timetable for correcting the problem. The good news is that the company is currently working on it, as well as prepping for future hardware upgrades. "Performance is an extremely serious issue with us and we're constantly working on improvements. Apart from dealing with this specific issue, we are currently working on major performance upgrades for both servers to be added during the upcoming expansion," says Darkfall's Tasos Flambouras on the game's official forums.

MassivelyDarkfall EU server latency issues to be corrected originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 30 Aug 2010 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>aventurineaventurine-sadarkfalleu-servereuropean-serverhardware-upgradelaglatencyperformance-issuesserver-lagserver-upgradetasostasos-flambourasMon, 30 Aug 2010 21:00:00 EST<![CDATA[EVE Evolved: The war on lag]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/08/22/eve-evolved-the-war-on-lag/http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/08/22/eve-evolved-the-war-on-lag/http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/08/22/eve-evolved-the-war-on-lag/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

It seems as though everywhere I go to read about EVE Online, someone is complaining about lag. Throughout the game's seven-year history, developers and server engineers have waged a constant battle against the lag monster. Frequent upgrades and code overhauls have ensured that the capacity of each server cluster increased at pace with the growing subscriber numbers. When the Dominion expansion came, something in it caused lag to get a lot worse. The issue has yet to be corrected and has even spurred some players to put media pressure on CCP to correct the issue.

Until recently, the developers at CCP had been very quiet on the topic of lag and their efforts to combat it. Aside from the occasional fleet-fight mass testing event on the test server and the news that there was actually an entire team dedicated to lag, players were left largely in the dark as to what was being done to address the issue. In the absence of strong evidence to the contrary, many players began to assert that EVE's developers weren't working on lag at all. Earlier this week, we posted that CCP was planning a series of devblogs on lag to showcase the progress it's made. In a surprisingly rapid turn-around, four devblogs on lag and another on CCP's core technology groups have already been posted. They cover such topics as server scalability, the results of recent mass testing events, and CCP's new "thin client" testing tool.

In this week's EVE Evolved, I introduce each of CCP's four recent devblogs on lag with a quick summary.

Continue reading EVE Evolved: The war on lag

MassivelyEVE Evolved: The war on lag originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 22 Aug 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>ccpccp-atlasccp-atroposccp-eveccp-gamesccp-tanisccp-warlockdevblogeveeve-ccpeve-evolvedeve-mmorpgeve-onlinefeaturedlaglatencymass-testingserverserver-architecturesingle-shardtesttestingthin-clientSun, 22 Aug 2010 18:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Upcoming EVE devblog series to show CCP's lag-busting efforts]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/08/16/upcoming-eve-devblog-series-to-show-ccps-lag-busting-efforts/http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/08/16/upcoming-eve-devblog-series-to-show-ccps-lag-busting-efforts/http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/08/16/upcoming-eve-devblog-series-to-show-ccps-lag-busting-efforts/#commentsFiled under: , ,

With EVE Online's single-shard universe, the server hardware and game code have to be continually updated to cope with the game's constantly expanding playerbase. Each time the server is upgraded, node stability and lag in large fleet battles improves significantly. Unfortunately, this trend of periodic improvements took something of a wrong turn when the Dominion expansion came along. Before Dominion, fleet battles took place with over a thousand ships on each side and no crippling lag or node deaths in sight. Since the expansion's release, however, fleets of only a few hundred have regularly experienced unplayable conditions.

Frustrated by CCP's lack of visible progress in tackling lag, members of the EVE community have been making their outrage known. A recent appeal to the gaming media by a few players resulted in the issue getting very high exposure, which could be bad for CCP's public image. CCP issued a response explaining that lag is a high priority, and that there is even an entire development team dedicated to tackling it. Earlier this week, CCP Zulu expanded on CCP's lag-busting efforts in the first of a new EVE devblog series dedicated entirely to lag.

Continue reading Upcoming EVE devblog series to show CCP's lag-busting efforts

MassivelyUpcoming EVE devblog series to show CCP's lag-busting efforts originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 16 Aug 2010 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>ccpccp-atroposccp-eveccp-gamesccp-tanisccp-unifexccp-warlockccp-zuluccp-zuluparkcommunitydevblogdominioneveeve-ccpeve-mmorpgeve-onlinefleetlagpingserverMon, 16 Aug 2010 21:00:00 EST<![CDATA[One Shots: Boing!]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/08/14/one-shots-boing/http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/08/14/one-shots-boing/http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/08/14/one-shots-boing/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

When it comes to springing up in the air in an MMO, you might immediately think of the super jump travel power in City of Heroes, or perhaps some other superhero game with a similar mechanic. You most likely wouldn't ever think about Dungeons and Dragons Online, but according to today's screenshot from Varun, you can actually bounce yourself up into the air there too! As proof, we have today's weird screenshot taken recently from the game, which he sent in along with this note:

"I just read your Suspension (of disbelief) bridge post and wanted to share a similar screenshot from Dungeons and Dragons Online. I am not exactly sure what causes this, but I think if the net lags a bit and you keep on pressing the jump button, 2-3 seconds later you sort of get a super jump!"

Have you captured a screenshot of a strange moment from your favorite MMO? If so, why not share it with us? We'd love to see it! Just email it in to us here at oneshots@massively.com along with your name, the name of the game, and a description of what we're seeing in the post. We'll post it out here and give you the credit for sending it in.

Gallery: One Shots: Gallery II

MassivelyOne Shots: Boing! originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 14 Aug 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>ddodungeons-and-dragons-onlineglitchlagone-shotsscreenshotScreenshotsturbineturbine-entertainmentvarunSat, 14 Aug 2010 14:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Help EVE's developers get to the bottom of fleet lag this Saturday]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/05/25/help-eves-developers-get-to-the-bottom-of-fleet-lag-this-saturd/http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/05/25/help-eves-developers-get-to-the-bottom-of-fleet-lag-this-saturd/http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/05/25/help-eves-developers-get-to-the-bottom-of-fleet-lag-this-saturd/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

The down side to EVE Online's truly massive single-server design that puts all players in the same universe is that lag has been a constant problem since the game's launch. For the most part, the game runs smoothly and lag doesn't affect the day-to-day lives of players. It's when too many players congregate in one place that the server node they're on begins to grind to a halt. Circumstances can rapidly go from bad to worse, with server nodes collapsing under the strain and database failures occurring.

It's been noticed by players that lag in fleet battles has gotten considerably worse since the Dominion expansion came out. To get to the bottom of the issue, CCP Tanis has been scheduling regular test-server events in an effort to replicate the conditions experienced on the main EVE server. By logging a fleet battle in action, CCP hope to find ways to resolve fleet lag and prevent further lag-causing defects from reaching the main server unnoticed. On Saturday 29th May between 20:00 and 21:00 EVE time, CCP will be running an important hour-long testing session. They're asking players to turn up and help out, as they need at least 300 pilots to begin testing and ideally would want over 500. For information on what the testing consists of and how to access the EVE test-server, visit the official mass testing sticky thread on the EVE forums.

MassivelyHelp EVE's developers get to the bottom of fleet lag this Saturday originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 25 May 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>ccpccp-eveccp-gamesccp-taniseveeve-ccpeve-mmorpgeve-onlinefleetlagmass-testingpvpsingularitytesttest-servertestingTue, 25 May 2010 13:00:00 EST<![CDATA[EVE Online blogger provides insight on alliance warfare in Dominion]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/16/eve-online-blogger-provides-insight-on-alliance-warfare-in-domin/http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/16/eve-online-blogger-provides-insight-on-alliance-warfare-in-domin/http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/02/16/eve-online-blogger-provides-insight-on-alliance-warfare-in-domin/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , ,

Alliance warfare has always been a huge part of EVE Online's endgame PvP, with alliances fighting over resources, expanding their borders or just settling age-old political grudges. The Dominion expansion made sweeping changes to alliance warfare and the transition hasn't been easy on all the alliances. Since Dominion went live, it's been difficult to judge just how effective the expansion has been at revitalising territorial warfare or how alliances are using the new system. EVE Blogger Wensley has been involved in the recent war against CVA in Providence region and he's been posting some of the valuable insights he's gleaned on territorial warfare over at his blog Rifter Drifter.

In part 1 of his series "Catch 22" on the most recent parts of the war, he details the reasoning behind CVA's territorial expansion from Providence into the Catch region. In part 2, Wensley describes the details of the actual war so far and provides some useful insights into the mechanics of territorial warfare. He suggests that since alliances now get to choose the rough time their systems are fought over by way of the new reinforcement timers, they should have picked a time zone that would be inconvenient for their enemies. Instead, they had set their reinforcement timer to their enemy's peak play time, allowing them to easily amass huge fleets for the attack. He goes on to blame CVA's poor performance on a lack of preparedness, suggesting that if they had gotten their fleet together and into the threatened system first, any lag occuring when enemy players jump in would have been in their favour. If you're following the war in Providence region or just interested in how territorial warfare is fought now in EVE, Rifter Drifter's on-going Catch 22 series is definitely worth a read.

MassivelyEVE Online blogger provides insight on alliance warfare in Dominion originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 16 Feb 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>alliancealliance-warfareblogbloggerccpccp-eveccp-gamescuratores-veritatis-alliancecvadominioneveeve-ccpeve-mmorpgeve-onlinelagprovidencepvprifterrifter-drifterterritorial-controlwarfareTue, 16 Feb 2010 15:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Mass Testing in EVE, Wednesday, to determine source of lag in fleet battles]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/01/26/mass-testing-in-eve-wednesday-to-determine-source-of-lag-in-fl/http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/01/26/mass-testing-in-eve-wednesday-to-determine-source-of-lag-in-fl/http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/01/26/mass-testing-in-eve-wednesday-to-determine-source-of-lag-in-fl/#commentsFiled under: , , ,


EVE Online's latest expansion, Dominion, brought sweeping changes to how alliances claim and hold space, and more recently revamped capital ship warfare. However, there has been a downside of late in terms of server stability and lag. Twitter is pretty much aflame with players lamenting the server issues, not to mention the forums, and it's something CCP Games needs to address right away.

To that end, CCP is looking to the playerbase for help with "Mass Testing" on Wednesday, to determine the source of lag in large fleet battles. The devs will be looking into the problems widely reported with medium and large scale fleet combat and will need at least 50 pilots, though if 200 or more showed up this would be even better, says CCP Tanis. Players interested in helping out should hop on the Singularity test server on Wednesday, January 27, at 17:00 UTC. Mass Testing participants should join the "MassTesting" channel in-game on the test server as well. All EVE pilots who want to get involved should see CCP Navigator's announcement for more info about tomorrow's fleet combat tests and the discussion in a related forum thread.

MassivelyMass Testing in EVE, Wednesday, to determine source of lag in fleet battles originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 26 Jan 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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First Champions, and now Aion. It seems that no game can find that smooth stride regarding their beta testing these days, but thankfully that's what beta testing is for -- squashing bugs. (No matter how much marketing we seem to lump atop these tests these days.)

The Aion development team has heard the community's call regarding the lag, authentication server, gameguard anti-cheating program, forum authentication script, and beta key release schedule. They understand that the problems with the lag experienced by North American users, as well as the login server not working, is frustrating. However, they are devoting resources to finding out the cause and will be patching the game ASAP.

Continue reading Aion open beta hits some hiccups, but patches are on the way

MassivelyAion open beta hits some hiccups, but patches are on the way originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 11 Sep 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>aionaion-onlineaion-the-tower-of-eternitybetabugsgameguardlaglogin-serverncsoftnorth-americaopen-betaproblemstestingFri, 11 Sep 2009 13:00:00 EST<![CDATA[EVE Evolved: Has faction warfare been abandoned?]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/05/18/eve-evolved-has-faction-warfare-been-abandoned/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/05/18/eve-evolved-has-faction-warfare-been-abandoned/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/05/18/eve-evolved-has-faction-warfare-been-abandoned/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , , , , , , ,



EVE Online's Faction Warfare system was released almost one year ago with the Empyrean Age expansion and was initially a complete success. It provided a stage on which thousands of players waged war. From fleets of over a hundred players to gangs as small as two or three pilots, everyone found their own place in the conflict. After the initial wave of success, questions began to arise on the lack of rewards to offset the cost of losing ships in PvP. In addition, while the point of faction warfare initially revolved around capturing systems, holding an enemy system provided no benefits beyond bragging rights. Almost a year on from its initial release, faction warfare has barely changed, prompting very real concerns from players that EVE's developers CCP have entirely abandoned it. These issues have even made it as far as the Council of Stellar Management.

In this article, I take a retrospective look at how faction warfare has (or hasn't) progressed in this past year and ask the question "Has Faction Warfare been abandoned?".

Continue reading EVE Evolved: Has faction warfare been abandoned?

MassivelyEVE Evolved: Has faction warfare been abandoned? originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 18 May 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>Caldariccpccp-gameseveeve-evolvedeve-onlinefactional-warfarefactionsfleetGallenteganglagopinionpvpstorylinetrailerwarwarfareMon, 18 May 2009 16:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Blood, sweat, and valor in Darkfall]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/03/26/blood-sweat-and-valor-in-darkfall/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/03/26/blood-sweat-and-valor-in-darkfall/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/03/26/blood-sweat-and-valor-in-darkfall/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , ,


Paragus has continued his stories about adventuring through the Darkfall world on MMOCrunch, this time centering on the concepts of alliances and city sieges. While many aspects seem similar to EVE Online's corporation wars, Paragus's retelling of what it's like to be on the front lines of a siege battle makes Darkfall sound more like 300.

His overall report is in Darkfall's favor, commenting on how well the game seems to be holding up when there are huge amounts of players fighting in the same area. Certainly there are still client crashes and disconnects, but the performance is overall very stable for mass combat.

The only downfall to the whole system lies in the rules of the siege challenge. One of the rules states that if the attacking guild's leader drops offline at any time during the battle, the challenge is immediately lost. During Paragus's siege, the guild leader suffered a timeout, and the guild found themselves losing the challenge all due to connection problems.

While Aventurine patches up all of the problems, the overall report of sieges is good, in Paragus's opinion. For the full details, head on over and check out his writeup of the event.

MassivelyBlood, sweat, and valor in Darkfall originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 26 Mar 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This is probably a first in the MMO industry... EVE Online announced higher performance server reservations for large scale PvP battles. Unlike most other MMO titles where you choose a server to play on with your friends, EVE Online doesn't make you choose. Although the server cluster is made up of hundreds of IBM blade servers, from a player's perspective, it's all one galaxy with over 5000 solar systems. This is good for a 'sandbox' game, where players are allowed to do whatever they feel like within the rules of that place. It creates a huge galaxy where everyone can potentially interact... or kill each other. But it comes with a rather substantial drawback at times: lag.

This 'single server' approach makes EVE Online a game where players hope to have large-scale fleet battles not unlike all those sci-fi shows and films we grew up with. But the harsh reality is that there are limitations of server technology that hinder large scale conflicts. Bring a few hundred of your friends to a fleet battle in EVE and you might not be fighting so much as watching a slide show. Definitely not the most fun to be had in the game.

Continue reading Making fleet battle reservations in EVE Online?

MassivelyMaking fleet battle reservations in EVE Online? originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 05 Dec 2008 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>0.0alliancesccpccp-gamescorporationsdeveloperseveeve-onlinefleet-battlesfleet-combatgame-mastergame-mechanicsgmguildsinternal-affairslagnullsecpvpsci-fiserverstranquilityvirtual-world-operationsFri, 05 Dec 2008 12:00:00 EST<![CDATA[EVE's call to arms: Thursday fleet battles on test server to help combat lag]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/11/19/eves-call-to-arms-thursday-fleet-battles-on-test-server-to-hel/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/11/19/eves-call-to-arms-thursday-fleet-battles-on-test-server-to-hel/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/11/19/eves-call-to-arms-thursday-fleet-battles-on-test-server-to-hel/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , ,


EVE Online's latest expansion Quantum Rise brought some new features for the industry crowd, and a few enhancements aimed at PvP pilots as well. But some of the broad changes they've made to the game mechanics have triggered lag, and lots of it, which CCP Games is hoping to combat with the help of the players themselves. CCP Tanis says, "We take this issue very seriously and as a result, our engineering team has been in high-gear working on fixing the problem and we think we are close, but we need your help."

The help CCP Games is looking for requires relatively little from players, aside from logging into the Singularity test server and entering the fray, blasting each other apart in battleships. The Wednesday tests were already underway when we got word of this, but they're looking to get a large group of pilots (200 or more) for the Thursday fleet engagements on Singularity. The test will take place on Thursday at 11:00 GMT, and another is tentatively slated for 15:00, dependent upon what CCP learns from the previous fights. CCP Tanis lays out how players can get involved:

Continue reading EVE's call to arms: Thursday fleet battles on test server to help combat lag

MassivelyEVE's call to arms: Thursday fleet battles on test server to help combat lag originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 19 Nov 2008 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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"CCP fix lag nao!!" That's essentially what this writer has been hearing from players since he began EVE Online, and most assuredly it was being uttered long before that. Whether it's a typical forum whine or something much more clever, the message remains the same: Players really want to have fleet battles with several hundred people at once. After all, the shardless galaxy that players populate, in theory, should allow for that. But in practice, lag can turn such engagements into a slide show. Is it unrealistic to assume that 1000-player fleet battles will ever be a reality in EVE? Time will tell. Still, you'd think that CCP Games didn't care about wiping out lag from much of what you read on the forums.

They're making some inroads with their new server technologies and ongoing initiatives to improve performance, but players still wonder what goes on behind the scenes. The latest in the recent blitz of dev blogs from CCP Games comes from CCP Tanis, "Introducing: the EVE Performance Group," and is an attempt to explain how this group of developers works to make EVE "run better, faster, and smarter." CCP Tanis lays out how they using monitoring, profiling, and debugging tools to try and reduce server load and increase performance.

Continue reading The EVE Performance Group

MassivelyThe EVE Performance Group originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 17 Oct 2008 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There's been much talk of late about EVE Online's servers and the underlying technology that powers over 5000 solar systems in New Eden. CCP Explorer's latest dev blog, "EVE64", focuses on the tech side of EVE, and discusses StacklessIO, the blade cluster, and the migration of the EVE servers to 64-bit.

The server enhancements, while not without some issues, are showing some promise according to CCP Explorer. "This Monday, 29 September, we saw a fleet battle with over 1100 pilots reported in local. Field reports indicate that the fight was quite responsive for the first 10 minutes but then the node 'missed its heart beat'... and was removed from the cluster...," he says. Despite such setbacks, it's good to see that CCP is doing something about the server issues resulting from an ever-increasing number of pilots in New Eden. Player response to this dev blog seems positive, with a few reporting their experiences being in combat with 1100+ players on the official forums, and even more players weighing in on the server changes at Scrapheap Challenge.

MassivelyEVE server upgrades open possibilities for 1000+ player combat originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 02 Oct 2008 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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One of the most misunderstood concepts in any online medium is lag. Lag essentially refers to a delay. Most commonly we're referring to the delay between when you expect something to happen and when it actually does happen.

What makes lag difficult to understand is that it is a syndrome. There are multiple possible causes for lag, some under your control, and some not -- all of which contribute to that molasses-like feeling, and occasionally crashes or disconnections.

To help you make the most of your Second Life experience, we'll look over how to easily and simply identify what kind of lag you're getting, and what (if anything) you can do to reduce it.

Jump to a section:

Are you a part of the most widely-known collaborative virtual environment or keeping a close eye on it? Massively's Second Life coverage keeps you in the loop.

MassivelyMassively's guide to reducing your Second Life lag originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 29 Sep 2008 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>featuredguideshow-tojoystiqfeatureslagsecond-lifetips-and-tricksMon, 29 Sep 2008 10:00:00 EST<![CDATA[EVE Evolved: EVE Online's server model]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/09/28/eve-evolved-eve-onlines-server-model/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/09/28/eve-evolved-eve-onlines-server-model/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/09/28/eve-evolved-eve-onlines-server-model/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , , ,


Almost any time a discussion about EVE Online comes up, one way or another we end up talking about the server. EVE Online is unique among today's most popular MMOs for its single-server approach. While most MMOs deal with large number of users by starting up large numbers of separate servers with identical game universes, EVE maintains only a single copy of its game universe on a massive cluster of servers. CCP's decision to go with a server model that doesn't use any sharding or instancing whatsoever has had a major impact on in-game activities and how the game has developed.

Server woes:
Unfortunately for CCP, maintaining their vision of a single game universe has proven a lot more difficult and costly than anyone anticipated. Working with IBM, the EVE server cluster is maintained in London and is currently the largest supercomputer employed in the gaming industry. Even with this massive power behind the EVE universe, there are still problems as CCP tries to keep the server upgraded ahead of its ever-expanding playerbase.

In this article, I discuss the unique gameplay that is possible thanks to EVE's server model, the problems the server currently faces and what CCP is planning to do about it.

Continue reading EVE Evolved: EVE Online's server model

MassivelyEVE Evolved: EVE Online's server model originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 28 Sep 2008 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The latest EVE Online dev blog comes to use from CCP Atlas, and deals with some sweeping changes to that most problematic of systems in the game: Jita. In "A Tale of Two Cities," CCP Atlas makes an analogy between the conveniences of city life and the similar situation of pilots seeking convenience in EVE, often needing to cross through the busy system to reach a destination. CCP's solution is to decentralize Jita from routes between solar systems. In effect, limiting the non-commerce presence in the Jita system, so it can -- hopefully -- continue in its established role as a market hub in New Eden without being a detriment to the players in terms of lag.

Once the changes go into effect, players will no longer need to navigate through Jita to reach their destination (namely the Ruomo constellation), nor run agent missions in Jita. That is to say, Jita, as previously announced, will be a dead zone for mission agents; mission runners given missions from agents outside of Jita will not be sent into or through Jita as part of their mission completion.

Continue reading CCP dev blog addresses lag issues, new features

MassivelyCCP dev blog addresses lag issues, new features originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 25 Sep 2008 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>avoidance-listccpccp-atlasccp-gamescommerceconstellationdevdev-blogeveeve-onlinegame-mechanicsjitalagmarket-hubnonnipopulation-limitsreykjavikruomosci-fitradetrade-hubThu, 25 Sep 2008 09:00:00 EST