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[En Masse Entertainment wraps up TERA closed beta weekends]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/04/13/en-masse-entertainment-wraps-up-tera-closed-beta-weekends/http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/04/13/en-masse-entertainment-wraps-up-tera-closed-beta-weekends/http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/04/13/en-masse-entertainment-wraps-up-tera-closed-beta-weekends/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Screenshot -- TERA
The fifth and final TERA closed beta weekend went out with a bang last weekend, heralding the beginning of the final steps toward the game's May launch. But before En Masse Entertainment opens the floodgates of open beta testing, it has decided to release some interesting details and statistics regarding the closed beta test weekends.

For instance, over the course of the closed beta weekends, players formed 90,000 parties and over 3,600 guilds in order to hunt down and destroy over 7.6 billion monsters. In the process, they earned a total of over 14.5 billion gold, collected 20 million items, and bit the dust almost 2 million times. Castanics reigned surpreme as the most commonly chosen race (with Humans and High Elves not far behind), while the most popular class was the Warrior, followed closely by Sorcerer and Slayer. Of course, players can expect to blow these numbers out of the water when open beta begins on April 19th.

[Source: En Masse Entertainment press release]

MassivelyEn Masse Entertainment wraps up TERA closed beta weekends originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 13 Apr 2012 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>betabetasblueholebluehole-studioscbtclosed-beta-weekendclosed-beta-weekendsen-masseen-masse-entertainmentfantasylies-damn-lies-and-statisticsobtopen-betastatisticsterawrap-upFri, 13 Apr 2012 13:30:00 EST<![CDATA[Choose My Adventure: Farewell, Vanguard]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/10/27/choose-my-adventure-farewell-vanguard/http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/10/27/choose-my-adventure-farewell-vanguard/http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/10/27/choose-my-adventure-farewell-vanguard/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

It's been an interesting six weeks in Vanguard, but the time has come to wind down and leave the lands of Telon behind. From massive landscapes to odd bugs, it has been a varied adventure. For the final week I'd wanted to tackle one of the larger in-game dungeons as opposed to the mini-dungeons that Orin and I had been taking on, but sadly that wasn't to be. Despite attempting to look around in the LFG tool and sending requests over continent chat, I wound up spending the remaining time soloing or checking out things like player housing.

Curious about my final thoughts on this MMO? Join me after the break as I look over the last six weeks and give my impressions on the adventure you chose for me!

Gallery: Choose My Adventure: Vanguard

The young diplomatThe Aspect of Zalaz (before the first smackdown)Closing portals, killing imps, freeing villagers.Hobgoblins who want to try to kill me with fire.Apseth, the Raki Disciple

Continue reading Choose My Adventure: Farewell, Vanguard

MassivelyChoose My Adventure: Farewell, Vanguard originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 27 Oct 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>choose-my-adventurecmafeaturedopinionoverviewsoesony-online-entertainmentvanguardVanguard-Saga-of-Heroeswrap-upWed, 27 Oct 2010 13:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Choose My Adventure: Star Wars Galaxies wrap-up]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/08/18/choose-my-adventure-star-wars-galaxies-wrap-up/http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/08/18/choose-my-adventure-star-wars-galaxies-wrap-up/http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/08/18/choose-my-adventure-star-wars-galaxies-wrap-up/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Join me as I brave my way through lands unknown in an adventure dictated entirely by you, the Massively readers! Vote for everything from game played to character creation to ultimate goal and watch it unfold in a series of posts and galleries here on the site. Then, as our two months are up, we'll do it all over again in a new game!

This week I wrap up my time in Sony Online Entertainment's Star Wars Galaxies here on Choose My Adventure. From the basics of character creation onwards through the first steps in this familiar-yet-strange land and more, you all have had a chance to see some of the many things to do in this world. For those who are joining us late, our readers chose my locale, server, gender, race, tied on profession (class), and gave me great advice along the way. In this week's column I get a chance to sit down and record my overall impressions of what I've seen.

All caught up? Great! Join me behind the break as I look over my weeks spent in Star Wars Galaxies!

Gallery: Choose my Adventure: Star Wars Galaxies

In a strange new place, looking for the scum and villainy.Bantha! Don't try to run them over in your landspeeder. It doesn't work very well.If the terminator was Mon Calamari...Say hello to Bintall. He's very handy with a blaster!Mo'ag and I had to put the Tuskens in their place.

Continue reading Choose My Adventure: Star Wars Galaxies wrap-up

MassivelyChoose My Adventure: Star Wars Galaxies wrap-up originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 18 Aug 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>choose-my-adventurecmafeaturedimpressionsop-edopinionrocky-horror-picture-showsoesony-online-entertainmentstar-warsstar-wars-galaxiesswgwrap-upwrapupWed, 18 Aug 2010 12:00:00 EST<![CDATA[LotRO Book 14 launch day: Where to begin?]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/07/22/lotro-book-14-launch-day-where-to-begin/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/07/22/lotro-book-14-launch-day-where-to-begin/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/07/22/lotro-book-14-launch-day-where-to-begin/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , ,

So you took our advice and pre-patched your Lord of the Rings Online client before the servers went live today. You're now ready to dive head-first into the new content, but you might realize that you don't know where to start. The official Book 14 patch notes might seem a bit daunting, so we've compiled this quick wrap-up of our best Book 14 posts for your knowledge and enjoyment.

Massively's exclusive tour of LotRO Book 14
In this five-part article, we will explore the initial storyline where the Fellowship finally leaves Rivendell for Moria, a new type of Critter Play that takes you back through history, battlefield defense instances, housing upgrades and a complete new set of screenshots for you to enjoy.
LotRO Dev Diary: Moving the Fellowship
The time has arrived for the Fellowship to finally leave Rivendell. For the players who enjoy the game's connection to Tolkien's work, this is truly an exciting time. For the game developers, it's a fairly unique challenge.
LotRO's Legendary Weapon system explained
A good chunk of this interview centers around the new Legendary Weapons that we'll see with Mines of Moria. These weapons will be something like a living part of your character, almost like a companion.
Changes to Monster Play in LotRO's Book 14
Finally, what we've all been waiting for: emotes for the monsters! This large list includes such favorites as cheer, dance1 and tantrum. It's certainly about time the monsters got a little RP love, too!
LotRO dev diary: Book 14 instance updates
We've heard so many recent reports about the upcoming changes with Lord of the Rings Online's Book 14, including class improvements, new emotes and large-scale events. In a recent dev diary, we now get word of some changes that will be implemented regarding the instances of LotRO.

MassivelyLotRO Book 14 launch day: Where to begin? originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 22 Jul 2008 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>codemasterslaunchlotrolotro-book-14turbinewrap-upTue, 22 Jul 2008 16:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Age of Conan opens its doors to the bloodthirsty hordes]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/05/20/age-of-conan-opens-its-doors-to-the-bloodthirsty-hordes/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/05/20/age-of-conan-opens-its-doors-to-the-bloodthirsty-hordes/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/05/20/age-of-conan-opens-its-doors-to-the-bloodthirsty-hordes/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

It's been a long time coming - some four and a half years for the developers at Funcom. But finally, finally, the gates to Hyboria open. Today Age of Conan officially launches. We've got an enormous wrap-up of all the recent content we've had here on the site. We've also got a few more pieces up our sleeves for later today, just in case you didn't take the day off of work to play. For the moment, though, you'll have to be happy with Massively's "best of": Age of Conan.
Six reasons to be excited about Age of Conan
Everyone seems to be aware of one or two great features coming with Age of Conan, but we realized that not everybody has a complete view of some of the coolest ones -- which has led us to sort of a blind men and the elephant situation.
Ask Massively: Age of Conan survival guide (for your computer)
I have been playing the Age of Conan beta, and, like you, I had some fairly severe issues with frame rate. I was able to tweak a few settings in the game that improved my game play experience immensely. In fact, it improved it so much that I created a new character and leveled her to 10 in the time it used to take to load a zone in some of the older beta clients.
Player vs. Everything: Age of Conan closed beta impressions
Everyone and their brother seems to be writing about Age of Conan over the last few days, but hopefully you're hungry for a little more. I've spent the last day and a half trying out different classes and playing through the various starting missions, and I'm ready to serve up some impressions.
Read on below the cut for our full coverage roster.

Continue reading Age of Conan opens its doors to the bloodthirsty hordes

MassivelyAge of Conan opens its doors to the bloodthirsty hordes originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 20 May 2008 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>age-of-conanage-of-conan-launchaocbreakingfuncomwrap-upTue, 20 May 2008 09:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Pirates of the Burning Sea developer wrap-up]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/04/28/pirates-of-the-burning-sea-developer-wrap-up/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/04/28/pirates-of-the-burning-sea-developer-wrap-up/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/04/28/pirates-of-the-burning-sea-developer-wrap-up/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , ,


In his post-launch developer wrap-up, Flying Lab CEO and co-founder Russell Williams talks about how Pirates of the Burning Sea went from an idea to a game, and what they learned after it launched. Their great idea: kick-ass ship combat, PvP that affected the world, a robust economy and great stories. In 2002, that was all they had -- an idea and a sense that the player should never have to look around too hard to find the fun. What followed was six long years of progress and setbacks as they put that simple idea into code and watched World of Warcraft completely change the face of MMOs.

Players who played PotBS once it went live played completely differently than the beta players. They had tuned the game based on beta testing, but that led them false as players who might, in beta, have spent a substantial amount of time on the open sea, instead spent it on land or in instanced missions. Without the needs of world PvP-ers driving the economy, the economy itself hit a reef. They have a solution for that about ready to go. Williams feels the game plays well to its strength -- ship-to-ship combat, though he acknowledges that many of missions were created with a template, and look it. Could the avatar play better? Yes, he says: and they plan to reduce the instancing in towns and open up more combat options in upcoming patch 1.4.

Players are eager these days to try the new game, play it for awhile, then move on to something new. It's hard to get a hook into these people, but Flying Lab has seen what people actually like best about the game now that PotBS has launched, and will keep playing to strengths and addressing weaknesses as it settles into its niche.

MassivelyPirates of the Burning Sea developer wrap-up originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 28 Apr 2008 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>avatardeveloperflying-labpirates-of-the-burning-seapotbspotbs-patch-1.4russell-williamsship-to-ship-combatworld-of-warcraftwowwrap-upMon, 28 Apr 2008 16:00:00 EST<![CDATA[24 hours of Tabula Rasa: Hour 24]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2007/11/03/tr-giveaway-24/http://massively.joystiq.com/2007/11/03/tr-giveaway-24/http://massively.joystiq.com/2007/11/03/tr-giveaway-24/#commentsFiled under: ,


Here we are, a full 24 hours since we started this crazy round of Tabula Rasa giveaways, and it occurs to us that we haven't really touched on the PvP aspects of TR too much. Now we can't speak for you all, but there's something about facing a superhuman whos-a-chargin-his-lazor that just sends a cold chill up our spine. Sure, the guy in the picture above has a great big gun and some pretty heavy armor, but it looks to us like he's about to become laser flambe. What's worse, it looks like he knows he's about to be burnt to a crisp.

Luckily for you, we have no lasers -- we just have swag! So for this, our final round of the Massively Tabula Rasa giveaways, we're handing out one final TR hat and one final poster to two lucky commenters. (18 & up, US residents only, official rules, blahblah) Now this doesn't mean the fun is over -- far from it. As we mentioned in our post yesterday, we have two full weeks worth of goodies to give away! So even if you didn't win something in this round of giveaways, be sure to pop back and check us out. You may pick up some really cool game swag from any number of games.

With that, we'd like to say a huge thanks to NCsoft for showering us with lots of birthday swag and this cool grand prize (you still have an hour to register for that one too) to give out to all of you, and you for making this the massive first day of our launch party. Good luck!

Massively24 hours of Tabula Rasa: Hour 24 originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 03 Nov 2007 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>launch-partymassive-giveawaysncsofttabula-rasatime-for-sleeptr-launch-giveawayswrap-upSat, 03 Nov 2007 07:00:00 EST