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[BioWare: Average SWTOR play session tops four hours]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/02/24/bioware-average-swtor-play-session-tops-four-hours/http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/02/24/bioware-average-swtor-play-session-tops-four-hours/http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/02/24/bioware-average-swtor-play-session-tops-four-hours/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

Star Wars: The Old Republic - Twi'lek Smuggler girl
Star Wars: The Old Republic players are consuming game content in four- to six-hour sessions on average, according to Kotaku and BioWare bigwig Greg Zeschuk. "When they play, their sessions are absurd," he said recently.

Zeschuk goes on to say both that the retention is a sign of the title's addictive "just-one-more" gameplay and that the firm is pulling an "intense amount of analytics and telemetry" from the title.

Finally, he hints at the theory that most SWTOR players are happy due to a general drop in forum tomfoolery. "You can tell when things are going really well in the game," Zeschuk explains. "The amount of forum chatter drops. People don't go to forums. They just play."

Take that as you will, and let us know how long your average SWTOR session lasts.

MassivelyBioWare: Average SWTOR play session tops four hours originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 24 Feb 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>analyticsbiowareeaea-biowareElectronic-Artsgreg-zeschukinterviewmetricsmmo-industrysci-fistar-wars-the-old-republicswtorthe-old-republictorFri, 24 Feb 2012 12:00:00 EST<![CDATA[GDC Online 2011: SWTOR's Georg Zoeller on analyzing in-game feedback]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/10/13/gdc-austin-2011-swtors-georg-zoeller-on-analyzing-in-game-feed/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/10/13/gdc-austin-2011-swtors-georg-zoeller-on-analyzing-in-game-feed/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/10/13/gdc-austin-2011-swtors-georg-zoeller-on-analyzing-in-game-feed/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , ,

Georg Zoeller
Star Wars the Old Republic is rapidly approaching its launch date, and questions constantly pop up about what the game will be like. Some longtime MMO veterans are even a bit skeptical about whether BioWare will be able to release a game of this scope in a finished state. At this year's GDC Online Principal Lead Combat Designer Georg Zoeller demonstrated some of the tools that the team uses to analyze player feedback and data, and then he explained how, through sophisticated technology, the team can make appropriate adjustments to the game as it wraps up beta testing and prepares for launch.

Continue reading GDC Online 2011: SWTOR's Georg Zoeller on analyzing in-game feedback

MassivelyGDC Online 2011: SWTOR's Georg Zoeller on analyzing in-game feedback originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 13 Oct 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>biowareeaElectronic-Artsfeaturedgdcgdc-onlineGDC-Online-2011georg-zoellermetricsord-mantellpanelstar-warsstar-wars-the-old-republicswtortatooinethe-old-republictortythonThu, 13 Oct 2011 12:00:00 EST<![CDATA[GDC Online 2011: BioWare's Damion Schubert takes a wrecking ball to the casual vs. hardcore model]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/10/13/gdc-austin-2011-biowares-damion-schubert-takes-a-wrecking-ball/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/10/13/gdc-austin-2011-biowares-damion-schubert-takes-a-wrecking-ball/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/10/13/gdc-austin-2011-biowares-damion-schubert-takes-a-wrecking-ball/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

GDC - Damion Schubert
"I'm trying to finish a product, Star Wars: The Old Republic, which I am not going to talk about today." Thus began BioWare's Damion Schubert's seminar, Double Coding: Making Online Games for Both the Casual and the Hardcore, at this year's GDC Online. "This is more of a weary man, sort of stream-of-consciousness design theory talk."

Schubert wanted to call the talk "Moving Beyond Double Coding," which is a term that comes from cartoons, of all places. Double coding is content that reaches two different groups of people at the same time. Looney Tunes, for example, would entertain both adults and kids because the writers and animators designed it so.

With MMOs, Schubert says that devs are often trying to double code the games for both casual and hardcore players. This is where the well-known slogan "easy to play, hard to master" originates. He held up Blizzard as a primary example of this model. Blizzard's "donut," as Schubert calls it, has a casual outer ring and a hardcore center for both types of players. By double coding, Blizzard ensures that casual players can invite their hardcore friends to experience the game and vice-versa.

However, this model is faltering, and Schubert pinpoints why after the jump!

Continue reading GDC Online 2011: BioWare's Damion Schubert takes a wrecking ball to the casual vs. hardcore model

MassivelyGDC Online 2011: BioWare's Damion Schubert takes a wrecking ball to the casual vs. hardcore model originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 13 Oct 2011 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>benchmarksbiowareblizzardcasualclassesconventiondamien-schubertdamion-schubertdesign-theoryeventfeaturedgame-design-theorygdcgdc-2011gdc-onlineGDC-Online-2011hardcoreinvestmentlifestylemetricspainrolesspectrumstar-wars-the-old-republicswtorworld-of-warcraftwowThu, 13 Oct 2011 10:30:00 EST<![CDATA[Battlestar Galactica Online adding new ships this month, surpasses 5M registered players]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/09/07/battlestar-galactica-online-adding-new-ships-this-month-surpass/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/09/07/battlestar-galactica-online-adding-new-ships-this-month-surpass/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/09/07/battlestar-galactica-online-adding-new-ships-this-month-surpass/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , ,

Battlestar Galactica - the fleet
Bigpoint just can't seem to stay out of the news today, and whether its the incendiary pay-to-win remarks of an executive or an update to its Battlestar Galactica browser MMO, there's a lot of interesting buzz swirling around the company of late.

The devs are adding a new line of fleet recon ships to Battlestar Galactica Online, and the craft will enable both Colonial and Cylon players to jump directly to their targets while "in proximity of an erupting battle." The ships will debut in mid-September and are modeled on the Raptor and Heavy Raider craft from the beloved Syfy television series. Bigpoint's latest press release also mentions that the Brimir-class carrier will be "available this fall, though its size, complexity, and impact on game balance must be optimized before its general release."

Finally, the company is trumpeting some new metrics, and the release says that BSGO has surpassed the five million registered player mark.

[Source: Bigpoint press release]

MassivelyBattlestar Galactica Online adding new ships this month, surpasses 5M registered players originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 07 Sep 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>5-milliion-registered-playersall-this-has-happened-before-and-it-will-happen-againbattlestar-galacticabattlestar-galactica-onlinebigpointbrimirBrimir-class-carrierbsgbsgocolonialcyloncylon-raiderf2pfilmheavy metalHeavyMetalmetricsnew-shipsplayer-metricspress-releasesci-fiWed, 07 Sep 2011 13:00:00 EST<![CDATA[GamersFirst welcomes World of Warcraft to 'the free-to-play revolution']]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/06/29/gamersfirst-welcomes-world-of-warcraft-to-the-free-to-play-revo/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/06/29/gamersfirst-welcomes-world-of-warcraft-to-the-free-to-play-revo/http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/06/29/gamersfirst-welcomes-world-of-warcraft-to-the-free-to-play-revo/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

Sarcastic, genuine, or merely self-promoting? An open letter from GamersFirst's Joshua Hong to Activision-Blizzard's Bobby Kotick following World of Warcraft's surprise move to an indefinite free trial could be all three. "I wanted to congratulate you on taking your first big step to join the Free2Play(R) revolution," Hong writes.

He certainly isn't shy in expressing what he sees as GamersFirst's great accomplishments in the market: "Having created this market in the western hemisphere, it's very encouraging for us to see the last bastion of the subscription-only online gaming business joining the Free2Play movement... Given our recent success in reviving APB Reloaded, which launched as a subscription-based game we transitioned to Free2Play, we know that the first steps are often the hardest. But the proof is in the metrics, as APB now has more than three times the active player base than when it initially launched as a subscription product. We also plan to repeat this success with Fallen Earth."

Hong continues the letter by "extending [his] friendship and support" to Blizzard, inviting Kotick to the free-to-play party at Gamescom, and hoping that the company's entire library will be made free in the future.

MassivelyGamersFirst welcomes World of Warcraft to 'the free-to-play revolution' originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 29 Jun 2011 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>activision-blizzardall-points-bulletinapbapb-reloadedblizzardblizzard-entertainmentbobby-kotickf2pfree-to-playfree2playgamersfirstgamescomjosh-hongjoshua-hongmetricsopen-letterrobert-kotickworld-of-warcraftwowWed, 29 Jun 2011 10:30:00 EST<![CDATA[Massively's in-depth interview with SWTOR Community Manager Stephen Reid]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/11/18/massivelys-in-depth-interview-with-swtor-community-manager-step/http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/11/18/massivelys-in-depth-interview-with-swtor-community-manager-step/http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/11/18/massivelys-in-depth-interview-with-swtor-community-manager-step/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

Last Friday, Star Wars: The Old Republic finally revealed the Crew Skills crafting system. In a slightly less important announcement, BioWare also announced its new Community Manager, Stephen Reid. OK, I'm teasing. It is very important announcement. Since Sean Dahlberg stepped down, the community team has been without a face and voice to the community. Those left behind had to put in extra effort into providing the fans with the latest releases from the SWTOR news room, and for a while, the community was unsure who, if anyone, would be able to fill the shoes. Now, Stephen Reid has taken the helm of the massive community starship.

Now since we have a new voice of the SWTOR community team, Massively thought it would be interesting to get his thoughts on the game, on the community, and on how we, the fans, could best make Star Wars: The Old Republic the game it should be. Massively Senior Editor Brianna Royce sat down with Stephen at a recent LucasArts event for an in-depth interview -- join us past the break to see what he had to say!

Continue reading Massively's in-depth interview with SWTOR Community Manager Stephen Reid

MassivelyMassively's in-depth interview with SWTOR Community Manager Stephen Reid originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 18 Nov 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>AlderaanBioWarebioware-eacommunitycommunity-debatescommunity-managercommunity-teamdevelopersdialogueeaElectronic-Artsfeaturedgazilliongazillion-entertainmentimmersionLucasArtsmetricsroleplayRolePlayingsingle-player-MMOStar-Warsstar-wars-the-old-republicStephen-Reidstoryswtorthe-old-republictortriontrion-worldsThu, 18 Nov 2010 12:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Games Day '09: All about Warhammer Online's live events with Mark Davis pt. 2]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/05/13/games-day-09-all-about-warhammer-onlines-live-events-with-pt2/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/05/13/games-day-09-all-about-warhammer-onlines-live-events-with-pt2/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/05/13/games-day-09-all-about-warhammer-onlines-live-events-with-pt2/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , ,


How long does it take to put together your average live event?

We usually take about three to six weeks for brainstorming and conception. Then there's the approval process, where I send the ideas to my boss, who sends them to "The Hickman," who sends them upstairs, who sends that to Games Workshop to make sure we're staying true to their concepts. Plus we have to coordinate with all of the other departments, like RvR, the items team, and Combat and Careers.

Then the production side takes another three weeks to maybe seven weeks on top of that. We'll be planning and producing the event usually the version before the live event is scheduled to take place, otherwise it would never be done in time. Then after that we'll have the playtesting and the QA sessions to make sure the bugs are worked out, and that takes another week to two weeks.

So, in short, you're looking at three months of work from inception to the final event.

And these aren't available on the test server, right?

Well... they're not suppose to be available on the test server. They're suppose to be hidden.. *smiles* But we have little breaks where the live events show up on the test server for a couple seconds.

"Just the sheer joy these events provide players should be reason enough for another developer [to make them.]"
It amazes me because in that short period of time when the live event is available, somebody will screenshot all of the objectives for all of the quests and then have that up on the internet before we can get the live event down. We try our best, but it always seems to slip out for a matter of seconds.

We want to be secretive and we want players to have a sense of discovery with our live events, plus they really can't be tested publically in such a short window. Live events focus on the whole world, and getting testing and feedback done is not all that useful to us.

What's your favorite part about the most recent live event?

From a developer's perspective, it was the opening cinematic to the RvR public quests. We did a custom cinematic with an airship flying in and exploding which results in the start of the RvR PQs. That was surely my favorite part, it was glorious!

From a player's perspective, it was the RvR that occured because of the live event. We created a center point for RvR in the event in Thunder Mountain. There were a number of different tasks that centered on this one area and that area was a hot spot for RvR the whole week. From the warcamp landing to the hot spot, the travel time was only about 3 minutes, but people in my warband would be killing others the entire way there. Thunder Mountain was locked most of the time when I was fighting in this event, but the RvR was just hot all the time. Whenever I was looking for a fight, I just went to Thunder Mountain because I knew it would be there.

We had warbands coming in and attempting to camp the area, but they could only hold it for a small amount of time before another warband came in to unseat them. It was a lot of fun.

Many other developers don't bother with live events. Plus when they give out exclusive items, they always seem to show up later and become unexclusive. So what would you say to another developer who was thinking of doing these exclusive live events?

Just look at the metrics. For our game we get more gameplay, more people in the game, and a lot of positive feedback. These events are only a limited time, so players come in and play and the realize all of the possiblities our game has to offer in that limited time. Just the sheer joy these events provide players should be reason enough for another developer.

"Live events gets to take all of that great stuff and put it all together into this nice package of fun."
We even see all of this in the cold metrics. Look server population the day of the event and the day after the event, and the event population will be higher.

Every game has its niche. For Warhammer, it's the RvR, the public quests, the living guilds, the city sieges. You hear us harp on this stuff over and over, because it's what we do. Live events gets to take all of that great stuff and put it all together into this nice package of fun. We bring to the front what we do the best through our live events.

We've got events planned for the rest of the year. We just put up the Northern Watch weekend event, and it was immensely successful. There was only a title offered as the reward, and it was easily one of the most successful events we've done.

Any sneak peeks you can give us as to what's coming?

Ah... well I can't really say anything because we need to go through all of that long approval process first, but the live event in the summer is going to be doing something that I don't think any MMO has done before. Ever. It's that level of magnitude for that event. We're going to challenge what people have come to expect out of our live events, I will say that much.

Ha ha, sweet! Ok then, let's end it out. Order or Destruction?

Order all the way. Engineer, baby! I feel like the combat and careers guys made that class for me. You blow stuff up, you shoot people, you have explosions! What could be better?
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!

MassivelyGames Day '09: All about Warhammer Online's live events with Mark Davis pt. 2 originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 13 May 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>developerdeveloper-interviewgames-day-2009land-of-the-deadlive-eventsmark-davismetricsmythic-entertainmentpqsproductionpublic-questsrise-of-the-tomb-kingsrvrwarwarhammer-onlineWed, 13 May 2009 12:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Games Day '09: All about Warhammer Online's live events with Mark Davis]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/05/13/games-day-09-all-about-warhammer-onlines-live-events-with-mar/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/05/13/games-day-09-all-about-warhammer-onlines-live-events-with-mar/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/05/13/games-day-09-all-about-warhammer-onlines-live-events-with-mar/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , ,


Mark Davis knows Warhammer Online's live events well. He should, because he's the man behind them! During Games Day '09, we had the chance to catch up with the live events lead and discuss some shop talk with him -- including a look at the newest live event, "Rise of the Tomb Kings," and a little about what goes on behind the scenes.

How long does it take for a live event to be produced? What are some of Mark's favorite moments? What can we expect in the live events to come? And, most importantly, what are we going to find in the Rise of the Tomb Kings? All of these questions, and more, are answered within!

Continue reading Games Day '09: All about Warhammer Online's live events with Mark Davis

MassivelyGames Day '09: All about Warhammer Online's live events with Mark Davis originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 13 May 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>developerdeveloper-interviewfeaturedgames-day-2009games-workshopinterviewsjoystiqfeaturesland-of-the-deadlive-eventsmark-davismetricspqspublic-questsrealm-vs-realmrise-of-the-tomb-kingsrvrwarwarhammer-onlineWed, 13 May 2009 12:00:00 EST<![CDATA[How much do guilds matter?]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/03/25/how-much-do-guilds-matter/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/03/25/how-much-do-guilds-matter/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/03/25/how-much-do-guilds-matter/#commentsFiled under: , ,


Today, we have another in a continuing series of articles written by the highly talented Sanya Weathers for GamerDNA. In this, her latest column, Sanya runs down some interesting and illuminating statistics about players and guilds, and just how they fit in to the macrocosm of MMOs.

A long time ago, in a fantasy world far far away, I wrangled guilds as part of my job. At first, I wrangled them because it was terribly efficient for one person struggling with a beta. Why deal with thousands of individuals when I could deal with fifty, and put them in charge of their own groups? Guild leaders will always be more informed, more tuned in, and better suited to herding their own cats than a studio representative could ever be.

But what started as expediency turned in to more.

As a community weenie, I had my dearly beloved "frequent flyers" - people who sent in feedback, usually through email no matter how many systems I built for them to use, with a regularity previously reserved for clocks, robots, and dripping faucets. If it was 3 PM on a Thursday, it was time to get mail from him, him, her, and what I was pretty sure was a him but hadn't ever asked.

Continue reading How much do guilds matter?

MassivelyHow much do guilds matter? originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 25 Mar 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>change-in-levelclass-breakdownfeaturedgamer-dnagamerdnaguildguilded-vs-unguildedguildsjoystiqfeaturesmetricssanya-weathersstatisticstime-playedunguildedWed, 25 Mar 2009 16:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Is Age of Conan a rousing success or a stinking failure?]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/07/08/is-age-of-conan-a-rousing-success-or-a-stinking-failure/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/07/08/is-age-of-conan-a-rousing-success-or-a-stinking-failure/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/07/08/is-age-of-conan-a-rousing-success-or-a-stinking-failure/#commentsFiled under: , , ,


There's plenty of doom and gloom discussion surrounding Funcom's Age of Conan. The hours played and reported by X-fire users plummeted since it hit desktops. Possibly the wackiest and most critical bug ever seen in an MMOG ever won't be fixed anytime soon. Unfinished content has diminished Age of Conan's reputation in the later parts of the game. The rap sheet goes on; however, a strong demand exists for a new MMOG as an astonishing 700,000 accounts were registered in the first month alone. That number is quite a feat, but the overall number of subscriptions four or six months down the road comes into question as most players that leave after their first month tend to be very unforgiving.

Stropp, an MMOG blogger, remains optimistic in his post entitled "Why Age of Conan Will Succeed" and points out all the advantages that Age of Conan and Funcom possess. While Stropp did cancel his Age of Conan account he believes the game will not die anytime soon and projects long-term success. Funcom is certainly a capable company with experience, but how many subscribers are needed to claim rousing success or do the crude pitfalls from an all-to-soon-launch already make Age of Conan a failure from a business standpoint? You decide.

MassivelyIs Age of Conan a rousing success or a stinking failure? originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 08 Jul 2008 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>age-of-conanaocconanfuncommetricsopinionretentionstroppsubscriptionTue, 08 Jul 2008 21:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Exteel's top ranking players and clans now viewable online]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/06/28/exteels-top-ranking-players-and-clans-now-viewable-online/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/06/28/exteels-top-ranking-players-and-clans-now-viewable-online/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/06/28/exteels-top-ranking-players-and-clans-now-viewable-online/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,


You guys sure do talk a lot of crap in-game. Let's see if those bragging rights really do belong to your clan. Now everyone really knows who the heck the top bots in Exteel are with the latest ranking feature on the Exteel website is live which displays player and clan ranks. There is no extra software to install, no manual profiles to keep up to date, all you have to do is log on and smash each other into smithereens. You can also search for clans and pilots too see where they stand, there's actually some jerk out there named Legolas. You know what to do if you see that player roaming in-game. Both ranking lists will update every 24 hours, early in the morning and the ranking system is currently in-beta so players can expect more features later down the road.

Be sure to check out our Exteel coverage, or jump right into the game by downloading the Exteel client.

MassivelyExteel's top ranking players and clans now viewable online originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 28 Jun 2008 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>exteelfree-to-playgame-rankingsmechanaughtmechsmetricsncsoftplayer-rankspvpranksrobotsSat, 28 Jun 2008 20:00:00 EST