Massively^™

Mainstream media seems to pick up on this odd, new 'MMO-thing' occasionally, but now and again they turn up something interesting. A piece from The New York Times does just that, in an article about one of EVE Online's most powerful alliances -- Band of Brothers (BoB).

The alliance holds a player gathering each year, the most recent of which was a weeklong get-together in Copenhagen for over 150 members of BoB. The alliance's leader, SirMolle (real name: Par Molen), announced a new direction that Band of Brothers will take in EVE in the coming months, which he calls 'MAX' -- as in 'maximum damage.' MAX, if SirMolle is able to make good on his pledge, will be a different direction for Band of Brothers. Rather than establishing sovereignty over as much of EVE's galaxy as possible, BoB will attempt to lay waste to the vessels, holdings, and power structures of their numerous enemies in New Eden.

Some MMOs are fairly straightforward, and we have come to expect a certain formula. Create a character, gain levels as quickly as possible, cram as many skills as you possibly can on your modded interface and get that phat lewt before the next guy, right? Well, what happens if someone comes along and introduces a new type of game? is it difficult to acclimate to this new type of gameplay?

A great example of this is with Guild Wars. The gameplay is based on strategy and working with what you have available to you at that time. This is a point that Shamus Young over at Twentysided has admittedly just realized. In his recent post about GW strategy gameplay, he explains that eureka moment he had when he realized that GW is not like the games he's used to, but it's more like a card game, where the skills you have in your 8-slot skillbar are the only ones you can use once you leave for a quest or mission. His new-found respect for the game is inspiring, as you can tell from the comments. If you find yourself confused on the purpose of GW gameplay, check out this post.

A new MMORPG by the name of Atlantica Online is set to enter its closed beta phase this July. The game will reportedly employ a turn-based strategy combat system, and developer Ndoors Interactive hopes that this will help it to stand out from other MMOs. Players are able to form groups of up to 3 people and wage war across ancient lands. There will be a heavy focus on long term planning and strategy, with players having to manage both cities and countries, keeping factors like industry, commerce, and culture in mind.

Visiting Atlantica's official website, we found a handful of screenshots, a teaser video (with no gameplay unfortunately) and a simple form to enter just an email address to register for the closed beta. Turn-based strategy games tend to divide gamers, but fans of the genre could really get into such a title taken to the level of complexity that MMOs can offer -- if done well. We'll report back when we find out more.

[Via Worlds in Motion]

Legendary game designer Sid Meier (Civilization, Pirates!, Alpha Centauri) mentioned the prospect of a Civilization MMO (again) when fielding user-submitted questions at GameDaily. In fact, he mentioned it twice.

First he was asked about the Civ MMO specifically. "A Civ MMO is a really intriguing idea," he said. "We're spending time thinking about how we could make it the fun, addictive experience Civ players expect." Later in the Q&A, a fan asked where Meier sees Civilization evolving in the future. He again suggested that he's interested in making an MMO.

How would it work? Would it be like those browser-based strategy games in which players only get a few moves a day? Would everyone co-exist in one enormous map? We'd be fascinated to hear what Meier and friends are planning. Unfortunately, we'll probably be waiting a while. He didn't confirm that the MMO will be his next project. He's mulling over a couple of other ideas as well. Here's to hoping, though!

[Via Big Download]

The TIGSource Procedural Generation Competition is nearing it's finish, and one of the more polished entries takes a fascinating look at MMOs. Titled MMORPG Tycoon, it gives you an MMORPG and demands that you fix it to please the player base. And that's easier said than done.

You have the ability to control most aspects of the game world, from where towns are placed, to how high which stats are per class, to where players respawn, to which levels can use which zones. You can also name your MMORPG anything you like as well, meaning that if you want to have your game be called "World of Warhammer EVE Rasa", you can do so!

When patch 1.6 hit the live servers, Tabula Rasa's grinding game as we knew it was shaken up. Experience modifiers were bumped up as high as 6x the normal rates and a new system was implemented that allows players to collect universal CP assault and defend tokens in exchange for worthwhile items like attribute respecs and 50% experience boosters. With these changes, grinding capture points has never been a bigger part of the Tabula Rasa experience.

While battling our way from zone to zone, we've seen a lot of players falling into the same mistakes and meeting their untimely demise. In an effort to assure that everybody enjoys the CP capturing experience as much as we do, we've assembled a two-part guide to Tabula Rasa capture points, with tips, strategies, and common etiquette that should help take your TR experience to the next level. For part one, we'll give you some useful tips for that always difficult task of assaulting enemy CPs.

Tip 1: Prioritize your targets and take them out with hit and run tactics

One of the mistakes that most frequently leads to a player's early demise is rushing in to assault a capture point without properly assessing a situation. Sure it looks like there's only a few lightbenders guarding the gate to the base, but if you swing a few degrees closer to the door, you'll see they've got a whole slew of buddies waiting just inside the force field to come make hamburger out of your face. The smart player will identify the enemies he has to deal with and, if he's alone, attack in a series of hit and run maneuvers, taking out a few enemies at a time. Start with the healers and shield drones, and work your way down the order of importance. Those Thrax might be easier to kill, but it doesn't do you a lick of good killing them if a Caretaker just rezzes them right after you run away.

Tip 2: Turn solitary shield drones against the enemy

One of the most loathsome sights in the game is seeing a huge mob of Bane running towards you completely protected by a swarm of shield drones. While shield drones are generally a huge pain in the ass, and fairly high on the hit list, that doesn't mean you shouldn't use them to your advantage when you can. If you're inside their yellow dome of energy, you receive the same protective benefits as the enemy. So instead of destroying that lone shield drone sitting in front of the base, consider using it as a staging area. They'll only be to scratch you once they're inside the bubble too, so wail on them before they can close range.

Tip 3: Don't rush to capture that CP

One of the rookie mistakes a lot of people make is immediately rushing in and trying to capture a CP when the force field comes down. This rarely works because all it takes is one enemy shot to interrupt the capture process. And there's usually at least one enemy lingering around waiting to take a pot shot at you. Do your clean up first, then capture. One should also consider their surroundings and whether that CP is even worth capturing. If other people were assaulting a CP before you got there, make sure to ask if they're grinding for assault tokens. It would be awfully rude to rush in and snipe the CP they've been working on. If you hadn't considered farming the CP yourself, you should. Capturing a CP basically cuts off enemy reinforcements, meaning that your experience modifier and your supply of assault tokens comes to an abrupt end.

Tip 4: Kite away big targets like bosses, Kael, and Striders

While a lot of players (especially Spies) seem to pride themselves in their ability to take down hard targets quickly, it's usually a much wiser decision to kite these guys away from big groups and take them on by yourself or with the help of other players or AI troops. Kael, Striders, and especially boss characters (as denoted by their white aura and unique name) can be extremely tough nuts to crack,. It's hard to even out-damage their considerable regenerative abilities, especially when you've got a group of ten other guys plunking away at you in the meantime. So pull those big guys from the crowd and take them out before going back in and cleaning up the dregs.

As a secondary point, don't be afraid to run away! Even specialists with their repair tools equipped can be quickly and efficiently downed under sustained fire from a boss and a big group of lackeys. If it looks like things aren't going to go your way, high-tail it out of there and save yourself the rez sickness.

Tip 5: If you need more guys to kill, just knock on the door

If you're running around outside a CP and find yourself needing enemies to kill, just plunk one or two shots into the force field covering the gate and you should get a fresh supply of enemies to come out and try and make paste of your face. If they don't try and drop-ship down on your head, they should come rushing out of the base like bats out of hell. We're not sure if they have some sort of psychic connection to the door or if it's got some sort of doorbell function we weren't made aware of, but it works. Still, it's a crucial point of order in keeping your experience modifier alive.

The massively-multiplayer real-time-strategy genre has never had a breakthrough title. There have been obscure, niche MMORTSes, but we'll bet most of you haven't even played one! Well, Korean companies Blueside and Phantagram intend to bring the genre into the mainstream with their sequel to the 2001 XBox title Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders.

This new game, like the original title, will feature a mesh of action and RTS gameplay elements. There will be a complete single-player campaign in addition to the MMO mode; that's starting to look like a trend now. Oh, and if you didn't notice ... it's beautiful. CVG has a few more screenshots for your pleasure, as well.

Expect Kingdom Under Fire II on PC and "consoles" -- presumably XBox 360 and PlayStation 3 -- next year.

The Lord of the Rings Online's PvP system is unique. In the main PvE game, you can't play as an evil soldier who serves Sauron, the Witch-king, or Saruman; you can only play as a member of the Free Peoples of Middle-earth. Obviously, when every one's on the same side, coming up with a good PvP scenario becomes problematic.

Turbine solved the problem by letting players log into pre-made but customizable evil characters whose functions are limited to PvP. Other players take their normal good-guy characters into the battlefield to fight the "Monster Players." It works pretty well. The PvP in LotRO is surprisingly deep for something that at present occurs in only one zone.

Deep means complex, though; there's a lot to learn. That's why fans at the official LotRO forums decided to put together a comprehensive strategy guide to playing a Monster Character. It's a great resource, and the community is still updating it with new strategies.