Massively

Star Wars: The Old Republic goes dark in preparation for launch

Justin Olivetti — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 18:30:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Launches, Star Wars: The Old Republic

It's as if a million gamers cried out in... you know what? We've done that joke too many times, as has everyone else. We're officially declaring it off-limits for the remainder of this game's history. It's a trap, trust us.

And you thought that intro smelled bad... on the outside!

OK, it's all out of our system -- as is Star Wars: The Old Republic. As the game nears its official December 20th launch date, BioWare is bringing down both the servers and the website in preparation for the momentous event. From 7:00 p.m. until 12:01 a.m. EST, SWTOR will be inaccessible.

BioWare says that as the game comes back online at midnight, the studio will be adding "a large number of new servers" to facilitate the influx of launch players. Even so, the studio predicts that queues on popular servers will be present and urges players to consider rolling characters on lesser-populated realms.

Because of the recently instituted grace period, early access players have until 3:00 a.m. EST on December 22nd to register their product codes or be cut off from gameplay.

Star Wars: The Old Republic goes dark in preparation for launch originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 19 Dec 2011 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

GamersFirst's Fallen Earth account transitions begin today

Jef Reahard — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Fallen Earth, Business models, MMO industry, News items, Free-to-play, Post-Apocalyptic

Today's the big day for Fallen Earth and GamersFirst account integration, and the Icarus team has posted a brief how-to on the game's official website. Fallen Earth will go dark at approximately 5:00 p.m. EDT, and "the process is expected to take quite some time."

When the server comes back up, players will need a free GamersFirst account to log in, and they'll also be prompted to merge their old Icarus accounts with the new account before continuing. Credit card payment information will automatically transfer, but Paypal users will need to manually update their info on the account settings page.

Finally, ClickandBuy will no longer be an option for subscription accounts, and the Fallen Earth team is inviting former users to continue their subs via Paypal or traditional credit card payments. Icarus also points out that today's migration has nothing to do with either game content or the impending free-to-play conversion (i.e., subscriptions will still be required for game access after today's merge is complete).

GamersFirst's Fallen Earth account transitions begin today originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 29 Jul 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Not So Massively: Dreamhack tournament edition

Brendan Drain — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Video, Culture, New titles, Patches, News items, Free-to-play, Not So Massively

Welcome to Not So Massively, our weekly roundup of the top news from popular multiplayer online battle arenas (MOBAs) and other multiplayer online games that aren't quite MMOs. Published every Saturday, the column covers games such as League of Legends, Heroes of Newerth, Rise of Immortals, Bloodline Champions, and more.

Last week was massive for gaming, with a ton of exciting news pouring out of E3. We shared news of the next three champions coming to League of Legends and got talking to developers at Riot Games to find out what's on the game's horizon. We also got an in-depth look at Vorp!, the Asteroids-esque shooter by END Games. We heard about plans to add a new DotA mode to Vorp! and found out that the game could feasibly be ported to smartphones and other platforms in the future. We also looked at Realm of the Titans' crystal upgrade system and showed a MOBA Champions interview with Rise of Immortals' community manager Matthew Anderson.

Following last week's deluge of news, this week's Not So Massively offerings are a little more muted as most of the current MOBAs prepare for competitive tournaments at Dreamhack 2011 in Sweden. Competitive online gaming as a profession is an old idea, but it's one that has seen growing support in the West over the past few years. Dreamhack is the world's largest LAN party and possibly the biggest event in the competitive gaming calendar, with dozens of companies sponsoring tournaments with massive cash prizes. We also get a look at Aida Arenas' Arena Hustle gameplay mode and new online World War II RTS Operation Gamma 41.

Continue reading Not So Massively: Dreamhack tournament edition

Not So Massively: Dreamhack tournament edition originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 18 Jun 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

EVE Online server offline due to DDOS attack

Brendan Drain — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 14:30:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, MMO industry, News items

Just over an hour ago, the EVE Online login and website servers became unresponsive and went offline. A Twitter user purporting to represent the group responsible for the major PSN outage earlier this month is claiming credit for the EVE server outage. According to the user, the DDOS is part of a series of attacks today that has also shut down the Minecraft login servers and The Escapist magazine's website.

CCP released an update on Facebook and Twitter stating that the issue is currently under investigation. "EVE Online and related services are currently offline and will return as soon as possible following investigation of some issues." CCP was unable to comment further on the outage but urges players to watch the EVE Facebook and Twitter feeds for further updates as they become available.

EVE Online server offline due to DDOS attack originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 14 Jun 2011 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Not So Massively: Overpowered characters edition

Brendan Drain — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Galleries, Screenshots, Video, Game mechanics, News items, Not So Massively

Welcome to Not So Massively, our weekly roundup of the top news from popular multiplayer online battle arenas (MOBAs) and other multiplayer online games that aren't quite MMOs. Published every Saturday, the column covers games such as League of Legends, Heroes of Newerth, Defense of the Ancients, Bloodline Champions, and more.

Each week here at Massively, we're inundated with news about multiplayer games that are clearly massively popular but aren't quite MMOs. With the growing popularity of online gaming, many MOBAs and other online games have have developed bigger communities than some popular MMOs, and their developers have adopted ideas from the MMO genre.

Last week, we looked at Ubisoft's upcoming online FPS Ghost Recon Online and the huge Bloodline Champions patch 1.2 update. We also looked at Diablo III's runestone system, the Rise of Immortals cash shop and co-op PvE maps, and the Heroes of Newerth servers coming under attack. The big news of last week was undoubtedly League of Legends' ambitious player-mediated banning Tribunal going into full live testing, putting the fates of offensive players into the hands of their milder-mannered counterparts.

In this week's Not So Massively, we take an in-depth look at Heroes of Newerth's latest overpowered hero Amun Ra and League of Legends' devastating new clockwork champion Orianna. We also get a first look at the Rise of Immortals 3vE map layout, Realm of the Titans' hero Abraxas and Karma Online's upcoming closed beta.

Continue reading Not So Massively: Overpowered characters edition

Not So Massively: Overpowered characters edition originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 04 Jun 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Not So Massively: Dudes smashing other dudes to bits

Brendan Drain — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Video, Culture, Free-to-play, Dev Diaries, Not So Massively

There are plenty of games out there that are almost MMOs but have a different take on persistence or aren't quite massive enough. Last week saw the start of Not So Massively, our brand-new weekly column dedicated to all those games that aren't quite MMOs. We covered some exciting news from a variety of multiplayer online battle arena games, including the results of League of Legends' charity drive in aid of Japan, a first look at a new hero on the way for Heroes of Newerth, Rise of Immortals officially launching closed beta, and development plans for Bloodline Champions.

In this week's Not So Massively, I look at Heroes of Newerth's Engineer changes, League of Legends' new champion Brand, and first details of Rise of Immortals character Ichorr.

Continue reading Not So Massively: Dudes smashing other dudes to bits

Not So Massively: Dudes smashing other dudes to bits originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 16 Apr 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Mog Log: Back in the high life again

Eliot Lefebvre — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Final Fantasy XI, Opinion, Consoles, Final Fantasy XIV, The Mog Log

The good news is that both Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV should be back online as of Friday. (I'm writing this on Thursday, so watch some last-minute wrench get tossed into the works.) The bad news is... well, really, that's all the news over the past couple of weeks. While the team has been working, it seems like improving a video game hasn't been at the top of anyone's priority list in the wake of the earthquake and subsequent devastation.

If I hadn't made this clear enough last week, that's pretty much the only reasonable response to what's been happening. It's astonishing that anyone has even been going on and working on the games, much less actively keeping players up to date about the status of the servers.

There's the distinct chance that you weren't able to log in as soon as the servers went live again yesterday, and even if you did, it was mostly a matter of checking back in and lounging for a few moments. So let's take a look at some of the ways to re-acquaint yourself with the games.

Continue reading The Mog Log: Back in the high life again

The Mog Log: Back in the high life again originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 26 Mar 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Choose My Adventure: And so it began... again

MJ Guthrie — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: New titles, PvE, Opinion, Massively Meta, Hands-on, Humor, Choose My Adventure, Xsyon

Well, this week has certainly been interesting. And by interesting, I mean not really usual. Then again, if any of you know me very well, that really should not come as much of a surprise; normal and MJ usually do not coexist in the same stratosphere. I am also not one to shy away from the untrodden path, and I tend to take off on my own tangents. Who needs easy when you can have interesting? Perhaps this quality alone made me a decent match for tackling the world of Xsyon for this round of Choose My Adventure. That, and a measure of patience.

In my first true week of playing Xsyon, I really didn't get to "play" much of anything. Not in any sense of the word that most MMO gamers would be familiar with. That isn't to say that I didn't have any fun; on the contrary, I really enjoyed the time I did get in, and I look forward to really digging my toes into that rich Tahoe soil. Well, my shovel, really.

So what were the unusual circumstances surrounding my first adventures? Hike past the cut for a deeper look at the week and some helpful tips for anyone planning to jump into game come launch.

Continue reading Choose My Adventure: And so it began... again

Choose My Adventure: And so it began... again originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 16 Mar 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

NCsoft offers Aion double XP olive branch over server outages

Jef Reahard — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, Events, in-game, PvP, News items, PvE

The thunderous roar you just heard was the sound of thousands of Daevas clapping their hands, stamping their feet, and beating the air with their wings in unison. You may have even heard a few huzzahs and hell-yeahs tossed in for good measure. Why all the fuss? Double XP is returning to Aion. In fact, it's already here, as NCsoft turned on the firehose this morning at server restart.

The bonus runs through next Wednesday, and instance timer lockouts have also been reset (i.e., if you ran Taloc's Hollow last night, feel free to run it again today rather than 46 hours hence). The sudden rash of goodwill stems from the server outages this past Wednesday, many of which occurred during prime time and forced Daevas to seek their entertainment elsewhere.

You can read the official announcement on the Aion website.

NCsoft offers Aion double XP olive branch over server outages originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 04 Feb 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Blizzard prepares to destroy the world... of Warcraft

Brendan Drain — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Events, in-game, Expansions, Launches, News items

World of Warcraft's third major expansion, Cataclysm, is set to launch in just two weeks. Like previous expansions, Cataclysm will be adding a few extra levels to the cap and a series of pieces of new endgame dungeons and raids for players to explore. Unlike previous expansions, however, Cataclysm contains a revamp of the entire old game world. Blizzard's design standards have changed drastically since WoW was first launched back in 2004, and Cataclysm represents an opportunity to bring all the game's original content up to those new design standards. This monumental revamp of the low-level game experience is sure to bring many players back who have gotten bored of the early levels. In lore terms, the world is about to be rended apart by The Shattering, releasing the ancient and deadly Warcraft dragon Deathwing.

Our friends over at World of Warcraft Insider have been looking forward to the shattering patch. With only two weeks to go until Cataclysm's launch, they suspect that the world will be forever changed during tomorrow's extended server downtime. Important changes that will be going live when the shattering occurs include a reduction in the experience requirements from level 71 to 80 and the removal of the entire Zul'Gurub zone. The anticipated new race and class combinations will also be going into effect, but players will have to wait for the official Cataclysm launch to try out the new Goblin and Worgen races. Skip over to WoW Insider for the full story and more Cataclysm launch coverage.

Blizzard prepares to destroy the world... of Warcraft originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 22 Nov 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

CCP explains plan to get rid of EVE's daily downtime

Brendan Drain — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, News items

The often-repeated joke that EVE Online is a 23/7 game may soon be put to rest. EVE currently has an hour each day, between 11AM and noon GMT, designated for server maintenance. During this time, important tasks that ensure the smooth functioning of the game are carried out, such as respawning asteroids and load-balancing the server. Over the past year or so, CCP Games has been working to reduce the daily downtime by changing many of these essential downtime functions to happen while the server is up without impacting game performance.

CCP's efforts have not been in vain, as the past few years have seen the duration of downtime drop from an average of 50-60 minutes to under 20 minutes. In a new devblog, CCP Hunter explains what has been done to reduce downtime and what the future holds for New Eden's daily slumber. The devblog reveals that most of the current downtime is taken up by server shutdown and startup procedures, with only five minutes of actual maintenance processes per day. Once all the processes required for the daily downtime are removed, the plan is to have the server running permanently.

CCP explains plan to get rid of EVE's daily downtime originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 30 Oct 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

ArenaNet announces planned server downtime for Guild Wars

Rubi Bayer — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Guild Wars, News items

Last year, Massively took a look at the top five features that make Guild Wars a great game. The first thing on the list was a near-total absence of server downtime. In the five-plus years the game has been around, incidents of server downtime are practically nonexistent.

For this reason, Guild Wars players were surprised to see an announcement of planned server downtime: "On Tuesday, August 10th, we will be moving the Guild Wars live database to a new data center. This will require a temporary interruption in service beginning at 12:01AM Pacific time on that date. Service may be suspended for up to 24 hours, although we will do everything we can to expedite the process. Thank you in advance for your patience and understanding during this rare interruption!"

The fact that it's such an unusual occurrence will likely prevent it from being a frustrating one, and players should be back in Tyria in under 24 hours.

[Update: The move has been delayed until Wednesday, August 11th]

ArenaNet announces planned server downtime for Guild Wars originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 07 Aug 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

EVE Online server move delayed by database issues

Brendan Drain — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, MMO industry, News items

Last week, CCP Games announced that the EVE Online server was heading for a move and a bit of an upgrade. Hidden within a few cabinets in a single datacenter is everything that makes up the EVE universe, from characters and ships to planets and the market. The cluster of hardware has been expanded over the years and now exceeds the limitations of the hardware cabinets it occupies. Moving the cluster to a new location within the datacenter should help support future upgrades to keep up with the game's growing subscriber-base.

The shuffle began early yesterday morning at 09:00 UTC and was planned to be completed by 15:00 UTC the same day. Unfortunately, the transition to a new locale has had some unforeseen side-effects for Tranquility. After a long day of server work, final testing of the cluster revealed database issues that must be corrected before the game can go live. At 03:00 UTC this morning, the estimate for restoring Tranquility and the EVE website was mid-day today. With that time having now passed, CCP has released a new estimate of 16:00 UTC. If necessary, further delays will be announced on the official EVE Facebook page, the CCP Games Twitter page and the game's main website.

UPDATE: The server is now up and players can log in again. CCP has explained the reasons behind the long downtime and detailed their plans to reimburse players with skillpoints in a news post.

EVE Online server move delayed by database issues originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 24 Jun 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Fallen Earth patch 1.5 drops tomorrow

Eliot Lefebvre — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 21:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Fallen Earth, Patches, News items

If you enjoy the post-apocalyptic environment that Fallen Earth offers, you can't help but look forward to each new patch as it comes along. Patch 1.5 promises to bring fast travel systems for higher-level characters, a new Blood Sports combat type, and the new "serendipity" system to generate more varied and interesting equipment drops for players. They're all enticing additions, and as a result it should be welcome news that the patch is slated to go live tomorrow.

Naturally, this comes with a bit of extra downtime for the servers -- in this case, between 6 AM to 11 AM EST. There's also a warning that any clones in the Deadfall region tomorrow might want to keep their eyes open for Outsider activity or other suspicious goings-on. Take a look at the full patch notes if you're logged in to the Fallen Earth forums, and get ready for tomorrow's patch and all the associated festivities.

Fallen Earth patch 1.5 drops tomorrow originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 07 Jun 2010 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Turbine announces individual fix for Dungeons and Dragons Online account downgrades

Rubi Bayer — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Dungeons and Dragons Online, News items, Free-to-play

A large number of Dungeons and Dragons Online players have had a frustrating week. First, a glitch in Turbine's system caused some unexpected downtime. The servers were back up the same day, along with an apology and a loot boost through June 6th to thank players for their patience.

Not everyone has been able to take advantage of that, however. Once the servers returned, premium players began logging in to find that their accounts had been downgraded to free. At best, this meant no more access to purchased adventure packs. At worst, it equaled locked characters, loot and gold caps, and restrictions to auction house access. Turbine communicated fairly regularly with the playerbase as days passed, reminding everyone that they were working on it and it was a frustrating situation on both ends.

The core problem remains a mystery, but Turbine has offered up an individual fix for players while they work on things. Senior Community Representative Tolero has posted some very detailed instructions on what affected players need to do to get their account restored. The Dungeons and Dragons Online staff will presumably be inundated with these requests, and it's safe to assume that those who followed the instructions to the letter will be dealt with first. If you're an affected player, look over it carefully before submitting your ticket, and note that it could be 24 hours before you see results.

Turbine announces individual fix for Dungeons and Dragons Online account downgrades originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 01 Jun 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

EVE database issue causes thousands of items to go missing

Brendan Drain — Fri, 07 May 2010 18:45:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, News items

When the EVE Online server booted up today from its scheduled daily hour of downtime, GMs began receiving reports of missing items and disappearing market orders. After some investigation, CCP decided to shut the server down for an extended downtime to get to the bottom of the issue. The problem was eventually traced back to a database script responsible for recycling old itemIDs from trashed items and assigning them to new items. It was found that some new items being created in the database weren't getting IDs and so were becoming lost in the system. Up to 114,000 items may have gone missing during the 75 minutes that the server was up.

Continue reading EVE database issue causes thousands of items to go missing

EVE database issue causes thousands of items to go missing originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 07 May 2010 18:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Second Life grid flutters to flutter a while longer

Tateru Nino — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Server downtime, News items, Second Life, Virtual worlds

Just lately, over the last month and a half or so, regular Second Life users will have spotted an increase in subsystem outages, including transaction failures, object and teleportation problems, and just general weirdness. Systems seem to be experiencing trouble that you could just about set a watch by.

Linden Lab's Frank Ambrose explains that that is to be expected and there's some more to come as some of the oldest pieces of the Second Life infrastructure are ripped out for replacement or relocation from their original site at the San Francisco data-center.

Continue reading Second Life grid flutters to flutter a while longer

Second Life grid flutters to flutter a while longer originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 19 Jan 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

The story behind the Second Life central database upgrade

Tateru Nino — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: Patches, Server downtime, News items, Opinion, Second Life, Virtual worlds

Linden Lab's systems administrator, Charity Majors has been with the company for a while - since 2004, in fact - but we've not heard much from Majors previously. That's a shame, because Majors' latest post detailing the process behind the recent Second Life central database upgrade is a real treat. We've not seen its like for a couple of years, sadly.

The story of the recent database upgrade (which was originally attempted in 2007, with less than stellar results) is frank, detailed and informative.

It's really rather a pity that Majors isn't writing blog posts on policy and economic metrics, because Majors puts almost all the other Linden Lab bloggers to shame for precision and clarity.

Continue reading The story behind the Second Life central database upgrade

The story behind the Second Life central database upgrade originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 12 Jan 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

What happened to Gatheryn?

Seraphina Brennan — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Forums, MMO industry, News items, Free-to-play, Rumors, Gatheryn

We've recently received a tip-off to a lack of communication from the developers of the social steampunk MMO, Gatheryn, in recent months, signaling what could be the collapse of the game.

The website is still up and running, but the closed beta signup page has vanished, the download game link is broken, and the game's servers are down for the count. Players are asking for assistance or information on what's going on with the game on the beta forums, but things are very, very silent.

The current forum rumor (must have forum access to read link) is that Mindfuse Games has run out of funding and is shutting down the game, but that rumor has been posted by a forum account that only has one post and does not possess a developer tag, making the rumor extremely unverified.

We have contacted Mindfuse Games for comment, but have yet to receive a response.

[Thanks for the tip, Torsten!]

What happened to Gatheryn? originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 07 Jan 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Updated transfer list for Warhammer Online's server merge

Eliot Lefebvre — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 22:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Server downtime, Warhammer Online, News items

Mark this one down under the "good news" category, but with a lot of conditionals: Warhammer Online has updated the list of acceptable server transfers for the upcoming shutdown. We reported earlier on the planned closing of Phoenix Throne and Dark Crag, bringing the game's remaining servers to four. Unfortunately, the decision hasn't been reversed, but the former limitations on what servers could be chosen as a destination for transferred characters has been expanded. In a fresh release, it was announced that characters from the closed servers would be allowed to transfer to any of the four remaining servers.

When the announcement was first made there were a number of people who protested the selections for destinations, as players had seen some of the writing on the wall and had already begun transferring over to other servers in anticipation. This move seems to be aimed at engendering some more positive community feelings after the understandably unpopular announcement, although how much help it will actually provide remains to be seen. The announcement goes on to serve as a reminder that the server merge will be taking place on December 2nd, so if your server is on the list to be merged and you wish to say goodbye, now is the time.

Updated transfer list for Warhammer Online's server merge originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 30 Nov 2009 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

EVE Dominion patch notes long but packed with info on game changes

James Egan — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Expansions, Game mechanics, Launches, Server downtime

The Dominion expansion for EVE Online will arrive tomorrow, December 1st, after a lengthy downtime of roughly 19 hours (02:00 GMT/UTC to 21:00 GMT/UTC). Access to the EVE website and forums will be down for much of this time, as will the EVE API, but CCP Games has compiled a tome of Dominion patch notes to occupy at least some of that time. There's also a player discussion of the Dominion features and changes on the game's forums with some clarification on details from the CCP devs.

If reading through the full patch notes (10,000 words and climbing with updates) isn't really your thing, a few of the EVE bloggers have discussed the highlights of what's new in this expansion. Mynxee covers the good, the bad, and the comical in Dominion on her Life in Low Sec blog. We also recommend checking out Casiella's take on the Dominion patch notes over at the Ecliptic Rift blog. Casiella discusses the myriad features that haven't gotten much attention so far: voice fonts added to EVE Voice in chat channels; the in-game jukebox now using MP3s with playlist support; and how player actions for the Caldari race via factional warfare now impact the rival Gallente storyline missions.

EVE Dominion patch notes long but packed with info on game changes originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 30 Nov 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Champions Online updated: A rough upgrade

Tateru Nino — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: Bugs, Patches, Server downtime, News items, Champions Online

Capping off the first month for Champions Online, a fresh update this-morning has brought in quite a number of changes, fixes and enhancements, but more than a few teething problems.

The patch ran a half-hour overtime, and seemed initially fine. Unfortunately within a half-hour of going live, the character selection service stopped responding, and players were abruptly disconnected from the game servers. At 6:40AM Pacific, a notice went up indicating that Cryptic hoped to have the servers back up in approximately one hour.

That didn't happen, and things blew out another hour, and while servers were reported to have been restored by 8:30AM Pacific, the live servers crashed again almost immediately.

Continue reading Champions Online updated: A rough upgrade

Champions Online updated: A rough upgrade originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Planet Calypso, formerly Entropia Universe, converts to CryEngine 2

Seraphina Brennan — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Entropia Universe, Business models, Economy, Events, in-game, Game mechanics, Launches, MMO industry, Patches, Server downtime, News items, Virtual worlds

In just two days, Planet Calypso, formerly Project Entropia and Entropia Universe, will be shutting down for a major patch of epic proportions. The game will be undergoing a graphical refit, moving from their old graphics engine to the new CryEngine 2 -- the same engine that powers Crysis and upcoming virtual world Blue Mars. Old and busted, meet the new hotness.

The new version of the client, version 10, is now available for download before this whole conversion process takes place. The servers will be shut down on Sunday night/Monday morning at midnight UTC as version 10 is deployed to the servers. The servers will be unavailable for a few days, as the First Planet Company does a full diagnostic on the servers to make sure everything is good to go.

Continue reading Planet Calypso, formerly Entropia Universe, converts to CryEngine 2

Planet Calypso, formerly Entropia Universe, converts to CryEngine 2 originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 15 Aug 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Pirates of the Burning Sea introduces skirmish system and treasure hunts

James Egan — Wed, 27 May 2009 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Game mechanics, Patches, Server downtime, News items

By the time this post goes live, Pirates of the Burning Sea should be updated to build 1.15: "Black Bart's Gold", across the North American, European, and Australian servers. Black Bart's Gold (which introduces treasure hunting to the game) is a continuation of the Black Flags and Dread Saints story arc, which will also bring both new and altered game mechanics to PotBS. We've mentioned a few of the changes that are coming to Pirates of the Burning Sea, namely skirmish warfare and a sweeping change to loot drops. These are only a few highlights of what Black Bart's Gold will introduce to the game. The full patch notes give a much more complete picture of what build 1.15 brings, including two new ships -- the Poseidon (level 50) and the Alymer (level 1).

Pirates of the Burning Sea community manager Rhaegar gives a timetable for the expected server downtime: "We will be upgrading our North American, European & Australian SOE live servers to build 1.15: Black Bart's Gold during the usual maintenance window (1:30am - 5:00am Pacific / 9:30am - 1:00 pm British Summer Time) on Wednesday, May 27th."

Update: Rhaegar writes -- "We have unfortunately had to delay the patch until tomorrow. It will happen during the normal outage window of 1.30am-5.00am Pacific (9.30am-1.00pm BST). We apologize for any inconvenience caused."

Gallery: Pirates of the Burning Sea core gallery

Pirates of the Burning Sea introduces skirmish system and treasure hunts originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 27 May 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

EVE Online extended Thursday downtime to bring numerous fixes to game

James Egan — Wed, 13 May 2009 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Forums, Game mechanics, Patches, Server downtime

CCP Games has announced that EVE Online will be patched to Apocrypha 1.2 on Thursday, May 14, and will require extended server downtime. Downtime is expected to last from 05:00 GMT to 12:00 GMT. The game's official forums will be unavailable for at least part of the downtime, CCP states.

The sheer number of changes being made to EVE Online with this patch -- some minor, others major -- is beyond the scope of this post. However, there are a few significant aspects of Apocrypha 1.2 we'd like to point out for our readers:

Continue reading EVE Online extended Thursday downtime to bring numerous fixes to game

EVE Online extended Thursday downtime to bring numerous fixes to game originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 13 May 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Atlantica Online running bonus XP weekend with 'thank you' gifts

James Egan — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Server downtime, News items, Free-to-play, Atlantica Online

The popular free-to-play MMO Atlantica Online from NDOORS Interactive ran into difficulties with their extended server downtime earlier this past week. However, any player outcries over this haven't fallen on deaf ears. NDOORS states, "Even through the delays, you stuck through it with us, and for that we want to thank you the only way we know how - through bonus experience time!"

All players are currently receiving a 150% experience bonus which will last all weekend, ending on Sunday April 26th at 11:59pm PDT. NDOORS Interactive adds, "As an additional 'thank you', we'll be sending all logged-in players an Artisan's Cube at 1pm PDT on Saturday, April 25th, and Sunday, April 26th. This box will give you the choice of some Skill Decrease Books, Waters of Life, Growth Vials, Secret Vials of Potential, or several scrolls." If you haven't given this particular game a shot in the past, the 150% XP bonus weekend sounds to us like an ideal time to see what Atlantica Online is like.

Atlantica Online running bonus XP weekend with 'thank you' gifts originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 25 Apr 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Gaming blog Imaginary Cogs focuses on MMO operations and server technology

James Egan — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: MMO industry, Server downtime

There's a fair number of people out there blogging about their preferred massively multiplayer online games as well as the industry itself, and more all the time it seems. One area that isn't covered very often, however, is MMO operations, largely because it's something many bloggers have little direct experience with. However Bryant Durrell from Imaginary Cogs certainly does.

In the month since Durrell first started writing Imaginary Cogs he's offered up an industry insider's perspective on topics ranging from server technology to the ops that keep our games running, tapping his past work experience with Vivox and Turbine. Durrell's blog is a peek behind the curtain into how massively multiplayer online games operate. If you've ever been curious about the tech that powers massively multiplayer online games and how it's used, you might want to check out Imaginary Cogs.

[Via Zen of Design]

Gaming blog Imaginary Cogs focuses on MMO operations and server technology originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 21 Apr 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Apocrypha 1.1 patch brings a host of changes to EVE Online

James Egan — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Game mechanics, Patches

EVE Online's next iteration of the Apocrypha expansion, version 1.1, is slated to deploy on April 16th, bringing with it some major changes and a host of smaller fixes and adjustments. The patch notes are exhaustive, but this isn't a complaint. It's good that CCP Games has been thorough and not stealth-introduced these changes, many of which have been discussed on the forums already such as the ECM and stealth bomber changes. That said, some of the patch notes we've seen for EVE could be released in volumes, or at least as condensed books. The Apocrypha 1.1 patch notes are rather detailed as well; if you have a look you'll see what we mean.

Apocrypha 1.1 represents some significant changes that EVE Online's players will no doubt have some strong opinions about. With that in mind, let's have a moment of silence for the mighty Falcon; even in death your strength provokes e-rage. Its ECM effectiveness at long range has sparked no small amount of outcry from its victims while endearing itself to many Caldari recon ship pilots. From the comments connected with Apocrypha 1.1, it looks like the Falcon's death is as hotly debated as its life. Some will miss it while others are happy that CCP is changing the ship's bonuses.

More changes might be listed or adjustments made before tomorrow's downtime, and as always with the EVE Online patch notes, updated info will appear in green text.

Apocrypha 1.1 patch brings a host of changes to EVE Online originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 15 Apr 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Turbine shuts down servers/forum for problems once again

Shawn Schuster — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Asheron's Call, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Lord of the Rings Online, Forums, Server downtime

Server maintenance is common in many MMOs, and it's something we seldom report on at Massively. Usually, by the time a post would be written, linked, scheduled and posted, the server maintenance would be done, or the problem would be fixed. This doesn't exactly seem to be the case with Turbine lately.

For several weeks, many of Turbine's servers have experienced problems, whether it be with Dungeons and Dragons Online, Asheron's Call or Lord of the Rings Online. In today's latest downtime, the rubberbanding or "invisible wall" problem has been running rampant in LotRO, causing the servers to be taken down and curiously enough, the forums to be locked down with a special status message, according to a recent Turbine Twitter message. Rest assured though that the dev team is on the case, and hopefully these issues will be completely resolved soon. What can you do while you wait? Why, read our LotRO Lore articles, of course!

Turbine shuts down servers/forum for problems once again originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 06 Apr 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

EVE Online Apocrypha patch notes detail a host of improvements

James Egan — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Bugs, Game mechanics, Server downtime, News items

EVE Online's latest expansion had a fairly smooth deployment, particularly considering how many radical changes were made to the game. Premium graphics were extended to all celestial objects, with entirely new models for asteroids. The Apocrypha expansion also introduced a new, extremely deadly NPC race with an AI far more advanced than what's been experienced pre-Apocrypha. However, this huge list of new features has also led to a number of smaller issues that CCP Games will patch this week.

The patch was originally slated for today but considering the laundry list of fixes CCP plans to make, patch 1.0.2 will deploy on Thursday instead, with a slightly extended downtime. Downtime should last from 11:00 GMT to 12:30 GMT, and will fix issues with Epic Mission Arcs, the Skill Queue, and many other fixes are on the way, as detailed in the patch notes. Players into exploration (or hunting down other players) who've been taking advantage of the strength of Deep Space Scanner Probes should note that they've already been nerfed; tomorrow's patch will reduce their strength. Given that there are quite a number of minor changes being made, EVE players may want to skim over the patch notes before the end of Thursday's downtime.

EVE Online Apocrypha patch notes detail a host of improvements originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 25 Mar 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Apocrypha expansion for EVE Online launches Tuesday, March 10th

James Egan — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Expansions, Launches, Server downtime, News items

As CCP Games rolls out the most significant expansion for EVE Online to date, Apocrypha, players should prepare themselves for an extended 13-hour downtime, lasting from 03:00 GMT to (est.) 16:00 GMT on Tuesday, March 10th. Storyline updates in the form of news reports will continue throughout downtime, kicking off the backstory of the Apocrypha expansion. Massively has a solid overview of Apocrypha for you, most recently a visual tour of the expansion and a hands-on with the developers, explaining EVE's new features.

Patch Notes for this 10th EVE expansion are up as well. Updates to the patch notes will be made in green, and you can follow the highlighted links to all of the relevant dev blogs explaining the various facets of Apocrypha. We've covered much of this content at Massively, but two recent dev blogs from CCP explain how the new exploration system will work and what exactly makes the Sleeper NPC race's AI so formidable.

Continue reading Apocrypha expansion for EVE Online launches Tuesday, March 10th

Apocrypha expansion for EVE Online launches Tuesday, March 10th originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 09 Mar 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Tabula Rasa server merge to affect US servers only

James Egan — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Events, in-game, Server downtime, News items, Tabula Rasa

We've mentioned in the past that NCsoft plans to merge all four Tabula Rasa servers into one, before the final shutdown on February 28th. Their plan has changed somewhat, as only the three U.S. servers (Pegasus; Orion; Cassiopeia) will be merged into a consolidated server called Hydra.

NCsoft will perform a data capture on Monday, and it may take up to 48 hours beyond that before Hydra is active. NCsoft says, "This means that characters will appear to 'time warp' back to Monday at 12:01 AM on the new server. We do not recommend doing anything irreversible to your character after Monday's data capture, as we are not absolutely confirming the server merge at this time. We will release more details, as well as a final conformation of the server merge, early next week."

Tabula Rasa's European server, Centarus, is not being included in the server merge, and as such will have a separate 'sunset' event for European time zones.

Tabula Rasa server merge to affect US servers only originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 21 Feb 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

First Age of Conan server merge successful

James Egan — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, Events, in-game, Forums, Game mechanics, Server downtime, News items

When news of impending server merges in Age of Conan broke in December, it caused a bit of a stir -- particularly in the post's comments. Age of Conan Producer Craig Morrison later said the merges would take place in stages, but then technical issues arose, postponing these changes for roughly a month before Funcom was confident it could go off without a hitch.

Earlier today, one month after the initial plan, the first set of servers were merged in Age of Conan: Bloodspire and Hyperborea have now merged into Bloodspire. Apparently AoC's virtual realm did not implode as the worlds were spliced together. Glen 'Famine' Swan, Age of Conan's US Community Manager, jokes, "I'm currently on Bloodspire now watching the global spam." Well there you go, business as usual in Hyborea. For the Age of Conan players among our readership, did the server merge affect you in any way -- be it positive or negative?

First Age of Conan server merge successful originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 07 Jan 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

EverQuest cleaning house with server merges and character changes

James Egan — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, EverQuest, Game mechanics, Guilds, Server downtime, News items

Sony Online Entertainment has sent out a customer service notification to EverQuest players, dealing with some changes that will potentially affect your account(s). Perhaps the biggest news is an impending server merge -- "The Combine" and "Druzzil Ro (Xev)" servers will merge on January 21 at 3 a.m. PST, a process which is expected to last roughly five hours. The new server will retain the name "Druzzil Ro." While server merges tend to be portents of doom and gloom by some players, EverQuest will also add a new server in March. Players will be able to vote on which type of server it will be later this month.

The server merge will bring with it some additional changes, however. Priority for character names will be based on when that character was first created, the same follows for guild names. Characters can change names by typing "/changename" in a chat window, while guilds must kick off the process with the "/petition" command. Also, inactive characters (of six months or more) who are below level 10 will be deleted. Players with more than eight characters will only be able to log into one of those first eight, which will be listed in alphabetical order. Characters that don't make the top eight, alphabetically, won't be deleted but will be inaccessible until space is made in the top eight... by deleting one of those characters. The EverQuest announcement also details changes to shared banks, UI and character settings, and server transfers.

EverQuest cleaning house with server merges and character changes originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 06 Jan 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

US Age of Conan servers down for the merger of Bloodspire and Hyperborea

Alexis Kassan — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 07:30:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, Server downtime

Server mergers have finally come to Age of Conan. ~~Today~~ Tomorrow the US servers will be down starting around 7:00 a.m. EST (or 12 p.m. GMT) for about six hours so that Bloodspire and Hyperborea can be merged. Originally planned for early December, the mergers had been postponed when a data problem was identified that might have caused certain items to disappear in the process.

Additional details around how the mergers will be done are available on the AoC FAQ forum threads. If you have characters on these servers (or really anyone playing), it's definitely worth having a look to determine how you might be impacted. Information on further merges has not yet been released.

Update: Servers will be down tomorrow, January 7th.

US Age of Conan servers down for the merger of Bloodspire and Hyperborea originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 06 Jan 2009 07:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Lord of the Rings Online weekend server difficulties

Tateru Nino — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: Lord of the Rings Online, Bugs, Server downtime, News items

Some of Turbine's servers for Lord of the Rings Online Online have been undergoing issues, apparently stemming from unduly high loads on Saturday evening. At least that's when everything seemed to start going wrong. Initially, it was just the usual lag effects, then zones began to freeze on some servers, and the game suffered some minor rollbacks of as much as ten or fifteen minutes after an unexpected crash or emergency reboot.

Several servers were affected (the busiest ones, we're guessing), but the worst affected is Brandywine. Brandywine's South Bree zone broke entirely -- no doors could be traversed, and parts of the town were just plain missing -- necessitating an emergency shutdown of the server. Turbine has been laboring to restore systems, and Brandywine should be coming up around about now. Elendilmir and Landroval servers will be down for an hour from 11AM US ET for emergency maintenance.

Be warned, that it might be a rocky day in Eriador and Rhovanion -- and it isn't all the work of the Witch King and Sauron this time.

Lord of the Rings Online weekend server difficulties originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 07 Dec 2008 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

All LotRO servers down for a hotfix

Shawn Schuster — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 18:15:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Events, in-game, Expansions, Launches, Server downtime, News items

If you just got home from work, planning on digging into a bit of LotRO's Mines of Moria goodness before dinner, you may be pretty peeved to find out that an emergency hotfix has brought the servers down from 5:30pm - 7:30pm Eastern.

But don't fret! That gives you plenty of time to read through our launch day coverage, which includes an interview with Executive Producer Jeffrey Steefel, a Know Your LotRO Lore article featuring The Watcher in the Water, an unboxing of the Collector's Edition and more! Plus, don't forget our previous coverage that could be just as helpful today, especially our complete tour of Book 1.
Update: The servers came back up promptly at 7:30 EST. Enjoy Moria!

All LotRO servers down for a hotfix originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 18 Nov 2008 18:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

WoW's 11th-hour server issues continue

Krystalle Voecks — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Bugs, Launches, Server downtime, News items

As the axiom goes, you can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs. If that's the case, Blizzard's doing a pretty good job of setting up for the launch of Wrath of the Lich King at midnight. As many World of Warcraft players have undoubtedly noticed, the servers have been down off and on since the regular Tuesday maintenance window. However, history has shown that launches have been generally unkind to Blizzard's servers.

After the first maintenance extension, many suspected the downtime was related to the Battle.net account collation that Blizzard is implementing with Wrath. The servers came up briefly, but then the word went out that there was a problem with the in-game email system. Blizzard, trying to assure the community, sent a warning email to players letting them know that there was a problem with the in-game email system. The problem is that they notified everyone by emailing players through the messed up in-game mail system. You know, the one on the servers that were going back down to fix the mail problem. To their credit, they did post the message out on the forums, but there was a small catch there; the forums were up and down all day.

Update: As of 1pm EST, the WoW login screen states that all servers are back up and the service should be working as usual.

Continue reading WoW's 11th-hour server issues continue

WoW's 11th-hour server issues continue originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 12 Nov 2008 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Behind-the-scenes video of EVE Online expansion Quantum Rise

James Egan — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, Trailers, Video, EVE Online, Expansions, MMO industry, Server downtime

The EVE Online game servers and forums are presently down in an extended downtime, during which time the Quantum Rise expansion is being rolled out. While EVE players cope with the withdrawal shakes, CCP Games has released a behind-the-scenes video to check out, in addition to the Quantum Rise trailer.

EVE Online: Behind the Scenes is in some ways an introduction for new players to the setting of New Eden and the company that creates EVE. For gamers who are already EVE players, the video is a look inside the CCP Games office in Reykjavik, and features interviews with several developers in addition to some nice visuals of the new sub-capital industrial ship arriving with this expansion, the Orca. This video should really be seen in high resolution to appreciate the details, and can be downloaded from the temporary 'downtime news' EVE site which is up during the expansion deployment. In terms of when Quantum Rise is expected to be ready and the servers open up for players, the latest update from CCP is that they're currently on schedule, with the servers to open on November 12th at 02:00 GMT. In the meantime, we've got the 'EVE Online: Behind the Scenes' video embedded for you below the cut.

Continue reading Behind-the-scenes video of EVE Online expansion Quantum Rise

Behind-the-scenes video of EVE Online expansion Quantum Rise originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 11 Nov 2008 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

EVE's Quantum Rise expansion patch notes rival Tolstoy

James Egan — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Expansions, Game mechanics, Patches, News items

EVE Online's newest expansion, Quantum Rise, has almost arrived. EVE dev CCP Navigator writes: "The EVE Online: Quantum Rise patch will be deployed this Tuesday, 11th November. Tranquility will be down from 02:00 to 20:00 GMT. The downtime will affect the forums which will be unavailable for part of the time." The patch notes are up and are definitely worth taking a look at, as they do spell out some major changes for EVE Online.

The breadth of the changes are, quite frankly, beyond the scope of any post we could make at Massively, and we suggest you head straight to the source. As the post title implies, the Quantum Rise patch notes should have publishing rights associated with them, perhaps released as a trilogy. Sequels to the patch notes will be shown on the Quantum Rise patch notes page in green text, as CCP Games updates or revises what's currently posted. If you're one of EVE's industrialists who are looking forward to this expansion with some degree of fervor, you'll want to settle in with some hot chocolate and your copy of the Quantum Rise patch notes, and perhaps discuss the changes on the related forum thread.

EVE's Quantum Rise expansion patch notes rival Tolstoy originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 08 Nov 2008 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments