Posts tagged wow 
The Road to Mordor: Five ways LotRO should be streamlined
You would think that growth and expansion is nothing but a good thing for MMOs -- after all, those are the hallmarks of the genre. But as these games get bigger, issues emerge as the developers add new zones, features, and systems. In short, maturing MMOs gravitate toward complexity, and this can ...
Why I Play: RIFT
Is it possible for a top-tier MMO to come out of nowhere and bowl you over? Considering that I follow these games not only for a hobby but as a writer for Massively, I always assumed the answer to that was "no." Until it happened, that is. Until RIFT. It's not as though RIFT was a big secret ...
Massively Speaking Episode 201: No more secrets
Massively Speaking Episode 201 gets into all of your dirty little secrets -- not to mention Funcom's, as well! We're joined by Jef, who gives us the full scoop on The Secret World now that the NDA's come tumbling down. Will this be another Failcom or possibly a Fabulouscom? Only Jef knows, and ...
Not So Massively: Diablo III launch and DreamHack Summer 2012
Diablo III became potentially the most pre-ordered PC game in history this week, breaking both Blizzard's personal pre-order records and online retailer Amazon's. The game is set to launch at midnight tonight, unlocking physical copies and digital installers. Diablo-inspired free-to-play dungeon ...
The Guild Counsel: Saluting Scott Andrews on five years of valuable guild advice
This past Monday marked the fifth anniversary of Scott Andrews' Officers' Quarters, a weekly column on WoW Insider that deals with guild issues in World of Warcraft. He's also the author of The Guild Leader's Handbook, which is a must-read for any guild leader. It's a terrific accomplishment to ...
World of Warcraft unveils cross-realm zones
One common issue with MMOs is that certain zones become sparsely populated as the playerbase outlevels them or skips them in favor of newer, more exciting zones, which can lead to frustration for players who want or need to complete group content in those zones. Blizzard is aiming to nip that ...
World of Warcraft holding steady at 10.2 million subscribers
World of Warcraft's subscriber numbers had been falling at the end of last year, but they appear to have stabilized once again. According to president Michael Morhaime, the game continues to remain steady at 10.2 million subscribers through the end of March, the same as the number seen in ...
The Daily Grind: How far would you go for cosmetic gear?
Massively's got so many cosmetic-gear gurus and sandbox aficionados on staff that sometimes I suspect no amount of character customization and housing and achievements and titles would ever be enough for us. We'd do just about anything for more ways to distinguish our characters in an MMO. But ...
Artist plagiarizes Guild Wars 2, World of Warcraft illustrators
If you're going to steal, steal big -- or so Romanian artist Iani Papadopol thought. Papadopol put on an exhibit called "UpDate 3D loading" featuring fantastic landscapes and scenery. The only problem? Instead of painting them himself, he ripped off several well-known illustrators, including ...
Red 5 Studios CEO denounces consoles and publishers
"Who needs publishers any more? I certainly don't. I couldn't care less about them at this stage," said Red 5 Studios CEO Mark Kern. In a candid interview with Eurogamer, Kern ripped into both consoles and publisher-led models as relics on their way out the door. Kern said that the pressure ...
