Filed under: News items

Aion developers acting to correct server imbalances

by Rubi Bayer Jul 31st 2010 at 9:00AM

Aion's July community address mentions the upcoming 2.0 patch, of course, but that's not what grabbed the attention of the fans.

The recent server merge created some predictable imbalances, and the Aion team has made a few decisions on how to begin rectifying them. NCsoft's Lance Stites, who penned this month's address, tells fans that server transfers have been temporarily disabled while the devs sort things out: "All the associated Aion teams are working on a solution to allow character transfers to resume with appropriate limits in place to prevent radically unbalanced servers."

Furthermore, race creation is "selectively" limited on each server, in the hopes that it will help balance things out. "For instance, if you're playing on a predominantly Elyos server, Asmodian creation will be the only race available for new characters," says Stites.

The situation is only temporary, and hopefully only a first step in sorting things out on the newly-consolidated Aion servers. Take a look at the Aion site for the full July community address.

July letter available from Warhammer Online's executive producer

by Eliot Lefebvre Jul 30th 2010 at 8:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Events, in-game, Patches, Previews, PvP, Warhammer Online, News items

Back when she was first placed in the position of Executive Producer for Warhammer Online, Carrie Gouskos promised to try for a letter every month. She's stayed true to that promise, and as the end of July approaches at breakneck speeds, there's a new letter for the fans. After a quick recap of the known news about the game (the testing of patch 1.3.6 and the European migration), there are several other updates, starting with the return of the Wild Hunt to the game with the coming patch.

The letter also contains the promise of a new 6v6 scenario for the Weekend Warfront rotation, citing the matchup as a popular format that needs more representation. We also get a hint of future plans to help encourage RvR whilst leveling, said plans involving new enemies with high XP values being added to the RvR lakes. There's also a promise of a rework to the mechanics of some of the ranged classes, a coda to the most recent letter which should have several points of interest for dedicated Warhammer Online fans.

Frogster releases Mythos cinematic

by Jef Reahard Jul 30th 2010 at 7:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Trailers, Video, New titles, News items, Mythos, Free-to-play

Looking to get your Mythos fix prior to the game's 2011 release? Look no further than the just-released trailer courtesy of Frogster. The video, which runs a little over a minute and a half, serves as both a teaser and the upcoming free-to-play MMO's opening cinematic.

Mythos, a throw-back dungeon crawler, has somewhat of a checkered history, given that it was originally developed by now-defunct Flagship Studios before being shuttered and subsequently kick-started by HanbitSoft. The game is now being published by Redbana in North America and Frogster in Europe, and it features solo and group PvP, three distinct classes, and a unique visual style inspired by comic books.

Check out our interview with the Mythos dev team and don't forget to sample the trailer after the cut.

Soul of the Ultimate Nation sees the spreading Shadow

by Eliot Lefebvre Jul 30th 2010 at 6:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Galleries, Trailers, Classes, Patches, Previews, News items, Free-to-play, Soul of the Ultimate Nation

It might seem like everything is all fine and dandy in Soul of the Ultimate Nation, but there's a shadow on the horizon. More specifically, there's Shadow, the newest character added to the game. A combination of dark sorcery and assassin skills form Shadow's potent, solo-friendly skillset, something the game's development team had been hinting at since the beginning of the year. But that's hardly all that's new in the game, which has expanded the high-level content as well.

Player characters over level 100 have access to nearly two hundred added quests, as well as new high-level areas in Helron's Castle. Neville's Swamp and Bronze Moon City, as well as the area conquest for the aforementioned castle, are all open. To cap off the experience, players have access to the fourth village in Soul of the Ultimate Nation, giving high-end players a spot where they can congregate with one another. Rather than forcing you to just read the text, however, we have both a set of preview images in our gallery, and two trailers for the update embedded past the cut.

Gallery: S.U.N.: Shadows Fall

Party like a rock star in Final Fantasy XIV

by Eliot Lefebvre Jul 30th 2010 at 5:00PM

Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Game mechanics, Previews, News items, Final Fantasy XIV

There are players out there who might be dreading parties in Final Fantasy XIV. Well, not precisely; they might well be dreading that the mechanics will be similar to the parties from Final Fantasy XI, where some classes could seemingly wait for ages without a trace of a group. Mercifully, the fine bilingual team at FFXIVCore has continued its apparent tradition of translating information to coincide with the new beta testing, with the newest translation being a guide to getting a working group in the game.

Guildleves are the game's core leveling mechanics, but new ones can only be accepted every so often, and they can be hard to complete on higher settings alone. By grouping up, players gain access to more guildleves from other players and more support in tackling the game's bigger challenges. The full translation has information on everything from the interface to form a party to the game's battle regiments, the equivalent of Final Fantasy XI's skillchains. (We're guessing they meant regimens, but that's the challenge of translation.) Final Fantasy XIV fans are advised to take a look at the article to start gearing up for the game's release in two months.

Wall Street Journal examines SOE's and Turbine's switch to free-to-play

by Rubi Bayer Jul 30th 2010 at 11:00AM

Filed under: Dungeons and Dragons Online, EverQuest II, Lord of the Rings Online, MMO industry, News items, Free-to-play

The growing trend toward the free-to-play business model in the MMO industry has caught the attention of the Wall Street Journal.

The feature story in the paper's weekly Digital Media section is entitled "First, Give Away the Game," and focuses heavily on some of the recent free-to-play announcements from high-profile MMO developers. Warner Brothers President Martin Tremblay spoke to the WSJ regarding DDO's dramatic turnaround last year as well. "The game was almost dead," said Tremblay, saying that DDO is now "very healthy" financially, thanks to the switch to free-to-play. He stated that the change was "a big reason" for the decision to acquire Turbine, and the reason Warner Brothers plans to follow the business model for other games. "This is the way we believe customers want to consume games in the future."

It's an interesting look at the growth of microtransactions and the F2P model in the Western market. The full story can be read on the Wall Street Journal's Digital Network.

Richard Garriott wins lawsuit against NCsoft

by Rubi Bayer Jul 30th 2010 at 9:00AM

Filed under: MMO industry, News items, Legal

Over a year ago, Richard Garriott filed a lawsuit against his former employer, NCsoft.

There was a lot of back and forth regarding who said what, but the crux of the suit was that Garriott claimed NCsoft terminated him, costing him millions, as he was forced to sell his stock options at a bad time. NCsoft claimed that the opposite was true: Garriott left voluntarily. There was quite a bit more regarding a forged letter and the handling of Tabula Rasa, but in the end, the decision focused on the loss of profit from the stock options.

After several hours of deliberation, the jury awarded Garriott $28M USD to compensate for that loss. Garriott is "extremely pleased," but NCsoft is not finished yet. The company plans to look over its options and continue fighting the suit. Keep your eye on Massively for any updates on the case.

Guild Wars 2 level cap confirmed at 80

by Rubi Bayer Jul 29th 2010 at 10:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Game mechanics, New titles, News items, Guild Wars 2

It's been a huge question for months: What will be the level cap for Guild Wars 2? Eager fans have grabbed onto every piece of information looking for clues over time, and tonight Isaiah "Izzy" Cartwright, Guild Wars 2 game designer, confirmed it: the level cap will be 80.

No, hold on, there's still no grind. Grind in most games with a high level cap comes in because it takes longer to level the higher you go. In Guild Wars 2, this is not an issue, says Izzy: "Instead of taking longer and longer to reach each level, it takes about the same time to go through each level."

In short, it's still all about the content and the journey, and you won't find yourself stuck at level 60, endlessly grinding the same mob to advance. Check out the newest ArenaNet blog post for all the information.

DC Universe Online releases new video developer Q&A

by Rubi Bayer Jul 29th 2010 at 9:00PM

Filed under: Super-hero, Video, News items, DC Universe Online

Episode 6 of DC Universe Online's video dev diary Inside the Studio has been released on Facebook, with Game Director Chris Cao and Creative Director Jens Andersen answering the latest round of fan questions.

The questions, of course, were pulled from Facebook comments, and the 10-minute video covered quite a few subjects. The developers confirmed that you will have powers which allow you to shapeshift into various animals, taking on their powers. They gave more details on weapons, powers, and the combinations thereof, details about flight, story arcs, and much more.

Check out the full video on Facebook for all the answers, and keep an eye out for Episode 7.

Lineage II: Freya PTS open, launch date and patch notes released

by Rubi Bayer Jul 29th 2010 at 8:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Video, Lineage 2, Patches, News items

The Lineage II Freya patch has been in the works for a while, and NCsoft let us know last week that it's nearing completion.

The company promised more information soon, and it arrived today along with access to the Play Test Server. The official release date for the Freya patch was given today -- Freya will be available to everyone on August 24th.

The full patch notes were released today as well, and if you want to read through them be prepared to spend some time. The list of bug fixes, new items, content additions, and so on is long enough to warrant 13 forum posts from the community manager. The notes may be long, but they're broken down into manageable sections this way, which helps quite a bit.

Until the August 24th release date, feel free to download the Play Test Server to get a feel for the patch. For a bit more of a preview, follow along after the jump for a new video depicting some brand-new emotes.

What to do in Limsa Lominsa when you're in the Final Fantasy XIV beta

by Eliot Lefebvre Jul 29th 2010 at 7:00PM

Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Video, Previews, News items, Consoles, Races, Final Fantasy XIV

If you're one of the lucky souls in Final Fantasy XIV's recently expanded beta testing, you might well be a new arrival. And even though the beta build isn't the final release of the game, there's still a lot of different things to do. So where do you begin? Thankfully, there's a new guide available from Famitsu (translated by FFXIVCore) that should give a fair picture of where players can start. It covers everything from sights in the city to the options available for retainers.

Once players pick a race for the retainer, a wide variety of appearance is available, but said assistant's name is fixed. You can give a nickname, however, which opens up a number of affectionate (and horrible) possibilities. Of course, that does little for the players not involved in the Final Fantasy XIV beta, but Square-Enix has also released a video on the development of character models and customization in the game. Embedded past the cut, the trailer won't quite take the edge off being unable to use the guide in practice, but it's the next best thing.

Pirates of the Burning Sea exchange shops detailed

by Jef Reahard Jul 29th 2010 at 6:00PM

Filed under: Historical, Pirates of the Burning Sea, Expansions, News items

We know what you're thinking, because it's the same thing we thought when we heard the words "exchange shop" uttered in concert with Pirates of the Burning Sea. Surprisingly, this isn't yet another free-to-play conversion announcement but rather a look at one of the new features sailing your way in the forthcoming Power and Prestige expansion.

The new content, scheduled to launch August 24th, will enable Collection Exchange Shops on every junk buyer in a particular game region. In a nutshell, the shops streamline the loot collection and turn-in process, and a new dev blog over at the official Pirates of the Burning Sea website has all the details. "We have done some number crunching and decided to increase the value of low level loot in order to give new players another way to generate capital while roaming the open sea," the post says.

Furthermore, Flying Lab has also added Career Reward Exchange Shops to the expansion. Due to the extensive ship changes coming with the patch, it's quite probable that many veteran players will want to respec their previously earned career rewards. Many career mission NPCs will now feature the ability to swap ship outfittings free of charge.

The end of Exteel

by Justin Olivetti Jul 29th 2010 at 9:00AM

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

Set the flags to half-mast, put on your blackest mech armor, and raise a glass with us: As of September 1st, Exteel is shutting its doors and powering down its giant fighting 'bots. NCsoft announced the game's cancellation with a bittersweet consolation prize in the form of a late August event where all parts and mechs will be sold for one NCcoin apiece.

Exteel has been around since December 2007, a mere month after Massively itself opened its doors. While it was never a title to garner a huge amount of attention, Exteel's combination of a mech-based setting, PvP-centric play and microtransaction funding made it unique to the MMO genre.

NCsoft said that the game was no longer "financially viable," adding, "We know that we have many loyal players who love Exteel. Although this decision was a painful one, in the end it was a business decision that had to be made. We encourage everyone to play and have fun with the game that you love in the time you have left."

Third video diary for Going Rogue explores City of Heroes lore and powers

by Eliot Lefebvre Jul 28th 2010 at 10:00PM

Filed under: Super-hero, Video, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Game mechanics, Previews, News items

With only a short stretch of time left until the release of Going Rogue, Paragon Studios has released a new video documentary about the anticipated City of Heroes expansion. This time, the focus is split between the new characters and powers to be featured within the expansion, diving into the lore that surrounds Praetoria and the Emperor's entourage. Much like previous installments, the documentary both serves to preview some new material to existing fans and show off what's coming for new players or those long absent.

Emperor Cole, naturally, gets to show off front and center, as does Calvin Scott of the Resistance. The designers stress that the intent is to create two sides of very different moral character in Praetoria, rather than a simple choice between good and evil. We also get a look at some of the Kinetic Melee and Electric Control powers in action, and of course, more of the cityscapes players can look forward to with the expansion. Check out the video embedded after the cut, which shows that City of Heroes isn't at risk of slowing down too soon.

Phase 2 arrives tonight for Final Fantasy XIV's testers

by Eliot Lefebvre Jul 28th 2010 at 9:00PM

Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, News items, Consoles, Final Fantasy XIV

Whether you're playing to find potentially game-breaking bugs or just to get a sense of the game before it launches, betas are a magical time for all involved. Specifically, the magic of Final Fantasy XIV's beta has been the sort of magic that ends the world every so often. But luckily for everyone involved in the testing, tonight is the start of phase 2 of the testing, and that marks an important change in the nature of the tests.

Prior to this point, testing was only available when the servers were up, which was not constant. Starting tonight at 7:00 PM PDT (or 10:00 PM EDT), the servers will be up at all times for the second phase of testing. That's according to an official tweet on the game's Twitter feed, which is good news for any and all testers of Final Fantasy XIV. No word yet on whether or not phase 3 involves profit, but the increased availability should be profitable to the players.

Massively Features

Events Calendar

Name	Date
GenCon Indy	Aug 5-8, 2010
SOE Fan Faire	Aug 5-8, 2010
Xsyon Prelude Launch	Aug 15, 2010
GamesCom Expo	Aug 18-22, 2010
Earthrise Launch	Q3 2010
Dragon*Con	Sep 3-6, 2010
PAX Prime	Sep 3-5, 2010
Final Fantasy XIV Launch	Sep 30, 2010
GDC Online	Oct 5-8, 2010
LEGO Universe Launch	Oct 26, 2010
DCUO Launch	Nov 2, 2010

Massively Staff

Name	Title
Shawn Schuster	Editor-in-Chief
Seraphina Brennan	Senior Editor
Brianna Royce	West Coast Editor
Dan O'Halloran	Features Coordinator
Brendan Drain	Contributing Editor
Eliot Lefebvre	Contributing Editor
Jef Reahard	Contributing Editor
Justin Olivetti	Contributing Editor
Krystalle Voecks	Contributing Editor
Rubi Bayer	Contributing Editor
Tateru Nino	Contributing Editor
Beau Hindman	Columnist
Edward Marshall	Columnist
Greg Waller	Columnist
Jeremy Stratton	Columnist
Larry Everett	Columnist
MJ Guthrie	Columnist
Patrick Mackey	Columnist
Ryan Greene	Columnist
Lisa Poisso	Columnist