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Teaming up with Hi-Rez for some Halloween SMITE

Patrick Mackey — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Events (In-Game), PvP, Opinion, Free-to-Play, Hands-On, First Impressions, MOBA

Halloween is a holiday when people typically dress up in outlandish costumes and go out hunting for treats. This year, I got to put a bit of a different spin on it by dressing up as a mythological god and going out to hunt for gold and items in some games of SMITE. Hi-Rez invited Massively along for its Halloween stream earlier this week, and I tagged along for some great fun. Despite being relatively inexperienced with the game, Reason Gaming's Lassiz was along for the ride as well, and his professional play helped lead us to a decisive victory.

Although it's still in closed beta, SMITE currently boasts a surprisingly large playerbase with hundreds of thousands of players and a very unique twist on the MOBA style. If you're looking for more information or a way to try the game for yourself, read on!

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Teaming up with Hi-Rez for some Halloween SMITE originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 02 Nov 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Five Diablo III Wizard myths tested and debunked

Brendan Drain — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Classes, Game Mechanics, PvE, Guides, Diablo III

When building your Diablo III Wizard, you have two main schools of thought on weapon type: use a high-damage two handed weapon with low attack speed or use a one-handed weapon and offhand and stack as much attack speed as possible. Items with increased attack speed on them greatly increase damage per second on paper, but there is some confusion in the Wizard community as to which spells are affected by it. Some players contend that Blizzard and Hydra are unaffected by attack speed; others report that channeled spells ignore both critical hit chance and attack speed.

To find out the truth, I bought a two-handed weapon with 0.9 attack speed and a one-handed weapon with 1.6, both with the same rated damage per second. I then tested every spell on the zombies at the start of Act 1 in hell mode dozens of times and checked the damage difference, finally adding attack speed rings and amulets and re-testing both weapons. For almost every spell, the one-handed setup dealt lower damage but hit more frequently, averaging to the same damage per second. But the story was a little different for Hydra, Blizzard, and channeled spells.

In this guide, I put five popular Diablo III Wizard myths to the test and discover the inner workings of Energy Armour, Hydra, Blizzard, Critical Mass, and other abilities.

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Five Diablo III Wizard myths tested and debunked originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 16 Jun 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hear ye, hear ye! Castlot has entered open beta!

Justin Olivetti — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 12:30:00 EST

Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Free-to-Play, Browser, Promotions

ClapAlong's MMO venture into Arthurian myths and legends has transitioned out of closed and into open beta. Castlot is now available to try for any and all curious knights, and ClapAlong is not shy with the efforts to woo them to this round table.

In addition to featuring several improvements from the closed beta, including a newcomer's guide and ransack function, the open beta will feature daily login bonuses. ClapAlong is also promising to roll over 150% of any in-game currency you purchase to the live edition, even if you spend the currency in the closed beta. Finally, there are prizes to be had to the first player who spots and reports a bug, and to anyone who is willing to do a little Facebook promotion for the game.

This browser-based title gives players a choice between joining the "light" side of King Arthur or the "dark" side of Lord Blackmore. There's a variety of gameplay elements at work, including both turn-based and real-time combat depending on your particular venue.

You can sign up for the open beta over on the Castlot official site.

Hear ye, hear ye! Castlot has entered open beta! originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 31 Oct 2011 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wings Over Atreia: Drop -n- shop

MJ Guthrie — Mon, 09 May 2011 14:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, Opinion, Wings Over Atreia

Hot topic! Hot topic! Fresh outta the community oven!

In a much-hyped announcement a while back, NCsoft proclaimed that drop rates in Aion were being significantly increased in the 2.1 patch. The company even employed a certain wide-eyed Shugo named Victor to outline his experiments and prove that drops now rained from the skies.

For a while, there was much rejoicing in the lands of Atreia. *cue Monty Python soundtrack* Oh, there were some naysayers who cried that an end to the economy as we knew it was at hand (not totally incorrect), but for the most part, Elyos and Asmodians alike flocked back to Aion with the promise of more wealth and gold loot. I even found that my bags could not hold everything that dropped during Taloc's Hollow runs, forcing me to to delete items in order to pick more up.

Alas -- that was then, and this is now. The pendulum has quietly swung back the other way to the what-exactly-does-a-loot-drop-look-like side. From personal experience, I can attest that getting drops now is about like pulling Stormwing's teeth... with only your bare hands and maybe some dental floss. The change is obvious, so why all the hush-hush? Currently it feels like a classic bait and switch: Market an enticing feature loudly to get players then remove it with equal secrecy and stealth. And to top that off, there are murmurs that the devs plan to implement changes that put a halt to the popular selling of loot rights. Aw, don't kick us while we are down!

Make sure you aren't on cool-down and zone past the cut to explore this bane of many a Daeva's life (drop rates) as well as the practice of selling loot rights within Aion.

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Wings Over Atreia: Drop -n- shop originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 09 May 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Enter At Your Own Rift: Dispelling the WoWhammer myth

Karen Bryan — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Opinion, RIFT, Enter at Your Own Rift

If you've participated in RIFT's beta events at all, you're probably wishing you had a nickel for every time you heard a player claim that RIFT is just like World of Warcraft or Warhammer Online -- WAR because of the comparison of rifts to public quests, and WoW mainly because it's the gold standard of MMOs today. Last week, my colleague Justin gave a great argument as to why the familiar isn't necessarily a bad thing. But while RIFT does have several familiar features, it manages in several ways to set itself apart from the pack.

This week, I'm going to tackle the argument that RIFT is just like WoW and Warhammer Online. Join me for a look at what makes this game stand out from the crowd, and see why it's time to dispel the WoWhammer myth.

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Enter At Your Own Rift: Dispelling the WoWhammer myth originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 09 Feb 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wings Over Atreia: Hit or myth?

MJ Guthrie — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, Opinion, Wings Over Atreia

You know they are out there. You hear them -- sometimes whispered in reverence, sometimes shouted by a particularly spazzy groupmate. Whether treated as ancient wisdom or snickered at, they cannot be avoided. But how much do you believe in them?

Superstitions.

Superstitions (myths, legends, folklore) are not by definition bad or even incorrect. In fact, superstitions are another way for a community to bond; shared beliefs go a long way towards creating a cohesive group. Every culture has superstitions, and gaming -- a unique culture, but a culture nonetheless -- is no different. And each game has its own unique collection of folklore. Whether they consist of avoiding specific loot, crafting with a full DP bar, or something almost whimsical (such as turning around in a full circle before my second attempt at Miragent's leggings), Aion is full of little snippets specific to the world of Atreia.

What superstitions are prevalent in Aion today and just how much truth do they hold? Knock on wood and cross over the break to check it out.

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Wings Over Atreia: Hit or myth? originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 17 Jan 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dispelling myths to launch Free Realms

James Egan — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Business Models, Events (Real-World), MMO Industry, Free Realms, Kids

The MI6 conference is an annual gathering in San Francisco which focuses largely on marketing in the video game industry. One speaker at the April 8th conference was Laura Naviaux-Sturr from Sony Online Entertainment, who discussed the upcoming kid-friendly MMO Free Realms.

She addressed the challenges in shifting focus away from hardcore fantasy enthusiasts (largely male) to a younger demographic that includes more female gamers. Naviaux said, "Turning to a youth and female audience was like turning a ship." It required SOE to re-evaluate some of the 'myths' the company held, which was the focus of Naviaux's talk. She brought up several key areas that the company needed to address if Free Realms is to succeed, ranging from putting the backstory and creativity in the hands of the gamers rather than spelling it out for them, to the music in Free Realms, which is a departure from what SOE has done in the past. If you're curious about how SOE is approaching this new title, you should have a look at Chris Remo's article at Gamasutra titled "MI6: SOE's Naviaux on Dispelling Myths to Launch FreeRealms."

Gallery: Free Realms

Dispelling myths to launch Free Realms originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 15 Apr 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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