Massively

TERA's store experiences massive failure, En Masse sending out beta invites by hand

Justin Olivetti — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 16:30:00 EST

Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Bugs, Business models, TERA

While TERA's second closed beta event is in full swing right this very second, plenty of potential testers are raging at the heavens because the online store won't complete pre-order purchases and deliver the codes. Pre-ordering the title was the guaranteed path to beta, so it's understandable that players who had hoped to be giving this title a test drive are disappointed.

En Masse responded with an explanation and solution for the store snafu. According to the studio, the store provider experienced a "massive systems failure" yesterday, which caused the issues with saving purchases to the hard drives. The vendor is attempting to fix it, but there is no ETA on when the task might be completed.

The good news is that En Masse is watching the purchase logs and will be sending out game codes manually every two hours to pre-order customers. The studio assures everyone that his purchase will be recognized when the system is fixed and that if anyone accidentally purchased more than one copy by accident, the additional copies will be fully refunded.

TERA's store experiences massive failure, En Masse sending out beta invites by hand originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 24 Feb 2012 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Blizzard introduces RMT loophole in World of Warcraft

Justin Olivetti — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Business models

Normally, the introduction of yet another pet in Blizzard's online pet store wouldn't raise any eyebrows. This time, however, the company is making one small change with a vanity pet that could have huge consequences in the game itself.

World of Warcraft's newly announced Guardian Cub is on its way to the pet store and will retail for $10. The difference between this and other pets available in the store is that the Cub will not bind to the player who purchased it but rather will remain bind-on-equip -- and tradable -- until it is used. Effectively, this turns the Cub into a $10 currency item that can be traded for in-game gold, a fact that Blizzard openly acknowledges in the pet's FAQ:

While our goal is to offer players alternative ways to add a Pet Store pet to their collection, we're OK with it if some players choose to use the Guardian Cub as a safe and secure way to try to acquire a little extra in-game gold without turning to third-party gold-selling services. However, please keep in mind that there's never any guarantee that someone will purchase what you put up for sale in the auction house, or how much they'll pay for it. Also, it's important to note that we take a firm stance against buying gold from outside sources because in most cases, the gold these companies offer has been stolen from compromised accounts. While some players might be able to acquire some extra gold by putting the Guardian Cub in the auction house, that's preferable to players contributing to the gold-selling "black market" and account theft.

Player reaction has been strong and varied, with many seeing this as a full endorsement of RMT in WoW.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

Blizzard introduces RMT loophole in World of Warcraft originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 11 Oct 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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World of Tanks rumbles into retail stores

Jef Reahard — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 10:30:00 EST

Filed under: Historical, Real life, Business models, MMO industry, News items, War, Free-to-play, World of Tanks, Miscellaneous

It's official: You can now purchase World of Tanks in a retail store near you. Wargaming.net has shipped boxes of its free-to-play World War II heavy armor MMO to stores, including GameStop, Wal-Mart, Fry's, and others, and the retail package comes loaded with $30 worth of in-game items.

Players will receive a T2 light tank, one week's worth of premium account access, 1,050,000 credits, and 1,800 gold -- all for $19.99. If you can't make it out to your local games dealer, you'll find the World of Tanks retail box for sale at many online stores as well, including Best Buy.com, New Egg, and Amazon.

World of Tanks rumbles into retail stores originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 01 Sep 2011 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mortal Online pre-orders delayed by two weeks

James Egan — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:30:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Business models, New titles, News items, Mortal Online

We announced some details about the Mortal Online pre-order which was slated to kick off today in the game's online store. However the Mortal Online developers, Star Vault, announced there will be a two-week delay with the launch of the Mortal Online online store.

Star Vault CEO Henrik Nystrom announced: "On the 25th of June we brought you some good stuff, but today we have to bring you bad news. We have been working very hard to get the shop up and for it to accept different methods of payment, however it's not obvious we have been too optimistic this time as we have encountered several last-minute problems.

More information and a new schedule will be announced on the Mortal Online game store soon."

(Thanks for the tip, Rhys)

Mortal Online pre-orders delayed by two weeks originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A copy of Darkfall: More evasive than a cheetah on speed

Seraphina Brennan — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Darkfall, Business models, Forums, Launches, News items

Darkfall may have launched, but that doesn't mean you're going to be able to get your hands on it. The team at Aventurine is still holding a tight grip over the game's population and the sale of the game through the online store.

Each day, the store is opening at an unannounced time to offer a limited number of copies of Darkfall to the players. Once their goal for the day is met, the store shuts down immediately and the prospective buyers with empty hands have to go home pouting until the next day. This has lead to some players becoming demoralized while others use their expertise to suggest solutions to Aventurine. It is an odd time on the forums indeed.

Now, we here at Massively understand that finding the Darkfall shop is like finding a unicorn. If you're having trouble finding where the button to go to the shop is even located, it's on the account page after you sign in. After that, however, you're on your own. Good luck though!

A copy of Darkfall: More evasive than a cheetah on speed originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 04 Mar 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cheyenne Mountain opens merchandise shop for Stargate Worlds

Shawn Schuster — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 19:30:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Economy, MMO industry, New titles, Stargate Worlds

Ordinarily, the opening of an online merchandise shop for an MMO wouldn't exactly be news, but there are two reasons why the new Stargate Worlds store raised a few eyebrows: The game hasn't been released yet, and the recent rumor of unpaid employees has fans worried (we're at 34 days now!).

It has been speculated already that this store may be a "last ditch effort" to fund the Stargate MMO, but we'd hope that's not entirely the case. Regardless of how you would view preliminary funding through the sale of merchandise (even if it is on CafePress), this could actually be seen as a good thing. What's really wrong with helping to support a game you'd really like to see make it to launch, and getting a pretty sweet t-shirt in the process? Well, unless the game never launched...

[Via FileFront]

Cheyenne Mountain opens merchandise shop for Stargate Worlds originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 17 Dec 2008 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Age of Conan direct download available on Steam

Samuel Axon — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, MMO industry

Age of Conan is now available for purchase and download on Steam, the direct download service run by Half-Life 2 publisher/developer Valve Software. It joins EVE Online in representing the genre in the massive digital store.

To celebrate the game's launch, Funcom and Valve are selling the game for 10% off -- at $45 instead of $50. We doubt that $5 are the difference between you buying this game and not, but if you've been planning to do it anyway this is a good way to go. Not only is it cheaper, but Steam will let you download it at any time, so you won't have to worry about losing the discs.

Then again, a complete installation of AoC is more than 20 gigabytes. Maybe that's more than you want to download. Up to you!

[Thanks, Ted!]

Having fun in Conan's homeland? Make sure to check out all of our previous Age of Conan coverage, and stick with Massively for more news from the Hyborian Age!

Age of Conan direct download available on Steam originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 06 Sep 2008 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Blizzard says sorry, offers 3000 more BlizzCon tickets

Kyle Horner — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 05:15:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Events, real-world, News items

A personal apology given by Mike Morhaime should spark a light of hope in those who missed out on getting any BlizzCon tickets due to large amounts of technical difficulties. In addition to the promise of this whole thing never happening again, there are now going to be an additional 3,000 tickets available for purchase. The news comes in light of the convention hall planning being rearranged to accommodate more attendees. Anyone thinking about picking up one of these tickets should know that the offer is only open to those with an active Blizzard Account as of 9:00 PM PDT on August 12th, which is when the "Sold Out" notice was originally posted.

As WoW Insider notes, while 3,000 more tickets are nice, it's probably not going to cover the breadth of everybody who was left out in the cold by technical issues. Can we really ask for any more than this, though? It's not like Blizzard is in a position where they really had to make this choice. They do run the biggest subscription-based MMO on the face of the planet. However you may feel about this whole thing, we can be certain to agree on hoping that it's truly the last time we see such a big technical slip-up from Blizzard.

One of Azeroth's millions of citizens? Check out our ongoing coverage of the World of Warcraft, and be sure to touch base with our sister site WoW Insider for all your Lich King needs!

Blizzard says sorry, offers 3000 more BlizzCon tickets originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 14 Aug 2008 05:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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[Updated] Blizzcon tickets now on sale, maybe

Krystalle Voecks — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 10:15:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Events, real-world, Server downtime, News items, Humor

We've been keeping a watchful eye on the Blizzcon site this morning, as we knew that tickets for the event were set to go on sale today. Even with the hefty $100 pricetag, these golden tickets of Blizzard fun are expected to sell out extremely quickly. However, if you're in the market for a Blizzcon ticket, we have some mixed news for you.

While it does appear that the tickets are showing up on the Blizzcon site, and they are allowing you to add up to 5 per cart -- we've not heard of a single purchase that has gone through as yet. It would appear that while Blizzard has done a great job of balancing the load on many of the World of Warcraft servers, the Blizzard store is not handling the zerg rush of thousands of Blizzard fans hitting it all at once very well.

So if you're hoping to land Blizzcon tickets, we suggest you grab a drink and settle in for some quality time with the fail murloc and your F5 key. We'll be right there with you.

[Update 11:13 AM EST] - Aredek on the WoW forums says that their Webfolk are looking into the problems with ordering. In the meantime, we've learned that the fail murloc enjoys mrglrgrrrlgl, long walks by the mggrgrlllrgrm, and enjoys playing gllllrmgrl when not hanging out in our web browsers.

[Update 6:03 PM EST] - While registration was open briefly this afternoon, most people have been unable to purchase tickets due to the heavy traffic on the Blizzcon site. Server fall down go boom. As of now, the site appears to be back in a maintenance phase. From what we have heard, the tickets are not sold out currently.

[Update 7:40 PM EST] The Blizzcon site is back online, however with it returns Failoc, the dreaded murloc of fail. Of course, that's when we're not seeing errors due to the server being overloaded.

[Update 12:10 AM EST] Finally managed to get an order through and confirmed. Looks like some of the WoW Insider crew have also been able to get tickets, but others are still getting Failoc'd. Good luck, everyone!

[Update 12:45 AM EST] According to Eyonix on the Blizzard forums, they are pulling down ticket ordering for the night:

We are continuing our work on bringing the website back up, however, we have decided that we do not want to make everyone wait until the early hours of the morning, hoping at a chance to purchase tickets. Thus, we will not bring up the website until after the beginning of business day tomorrow, Tuesday, August 12. We want to assure everyone that a great majority of tickets are still available for purchase.

If you've been waiting up to purchase a ticket, looks like it's time to head for bedfordshire and try again in the morning.

[Updated] Blizzcon tickets now on sale, maybe originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 11 Aug 2008 10:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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