Massively's DDO Unlimited developer tour, part 2
Filed under: Fantasy, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Massively Hands-on
turbine posts
Massively's DDO Unlimited developer tour
Filed under: Fantasy, Dungeons and Dragons Online, News items, Massively Hands-on
I was lucky enough to be given a developer tour of the Dungeons and Dragons Online Unlimited beta last Friday, and had a thoroughly good time. The DDO Store is a streamlined and snappy experience. The store doesn't simply attempt to shove its wares onto the unsuspecting player. Instead, it attempts -- and largely succeeds -- in being a helpful, generally friendly addition to the game.
Lord of the Rings Online coming to China later in the year
Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, MMO industry
Despite what are said to be significant changes in the game from the version now played in North America, Europe, Russia and South Korea, the Chinese closed beta has been going very well for CDC with an 80 percent activation rate. These 'significant changes' include an enhanced PvP function, which CDC believes will cater more towards the Chinese playerbase that they already know so well.
Considering CDC Games' work with F2P games, we're curious about other 'significant changes' including a new business model for China, although there has been no official word on this.
One Shots: A ways from Weathertop
Filed under: Fantasy, Screenshots, Lord of the Rings Online, One Shots
While it is true that Lord of the Rings Online doesn't look quite as lush in DX9, it's still a good-looking game. More importantly, making the graphics more accessible means that more people get to experience the beauty of The Lord of the Rings Online; Middle-earth in MMO format! Today's One Shots entry from Jason shows off one of the more important areas for lore at a nice distance. He writes in to tell us a bit more: This shot is of Weathertop located in the Lone Lands. This was my second time through the area and though I was aware that Weathertop was in the Lone Lands I hadn't seen it from afar. I just had to take a screenshot for you guys. (This is the place where Frodo is stabbed by one of the ring wraiths.)
DX9, DX10 - it makes no difference to us. We just love to see where you're spending your MMO time. So gather up your tired, your... wait, wrong speech... your interesting, your funny, and email them to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a brief description. We'll post them here, pin it on you, and add it to ourdesktop wallpaper collection gallery.
DX9, DX10 - it makes no difference to us. We just love to see where you're spending your MMO time. So gather up your tired, your... wait, wrong speech... your interesting, your funny, and email them to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a brief description. We'll post them here, pin it on you, and add it to our
LotRO dev diary looks at this year's Summer Festival
Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Events, in-game
The developer diary goes on to talk about two big events that are taking place during the Festival, The Keg Races at Thorin's Hall and The Taste of Hobbiton. Each of these events has four contestants, and you can learn a lot more about them at the diary. Lastly, it unfortunately looks like the Festival Run Horse Races won't be held this year. However, it's not all bad news: "The festival run token is still being offered as a reward to those who can generate a sizeable quantity of barter tokens. This means the Lithe horse and pony will still be available to those who look forward to owning this eye-catching mount."
DDO: Eberron Unlimited details surface, new class revealed
Filed under: Fantasy, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Classes, News items
As for the new class, it's been revealed to be the Favored Soul. According to Turbine's press release, "Favored souls draw on divine magic to both heal and destroy. Like clerics, favored souls have access to powerful healing spells, but they are also more skilled with weapons than any other spell caster. Like sorcerers, they get a larger number of spell points than other spell casters and cannot freely switch spells at taverns or rest shrines." So it sounds like we're dealing with a cross between a Cleric and a Sorcerer, which is pretty awesome actually. What sorts of weapons -- and screens of the class itself -- remains to be seen, sadly.
Still, we should have even more details in the coming weeks and hopefully Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited will launch sometime this summer.
LotRO Book 8 launches today in the US; Thursday 25th slated as tentative European release
Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Patches
- The Epic Book 8 quest line, involving the thwarting of Gorothúl, sorcerer of Dol Guldur
- The Summer Festival, including two new events, located at The Shire and the area outside Thorin's Hall
- A huge crafting revamp
- Numerous class tweaks
- A barter system for First Age Legendary Items
- Changes to Lothlorien Gift Boxes
- A boat NPC for Lake Everswim... er, Evendim!
The other good news is that we now know that Thursday the 25th is the tentative release date for Book 8 on the European servers. It was first spotted on the LotRO-Europe Twitter, and later backed up by Community Officer Faya on the forums. We're expecting official confirmation of the European launch date within the next 24 hours.
Server merges in LotRO? Heck no!
Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, News items
When VG247 caught up with Live Producer Aaron Campbell and asked him about any potential server merges, he had this to say: "If anything, The Lord of the Rings Online is growing. We have no plans to merge servers." Since Turbine nefariously refuses to release subscription numbers for any of their MMOs, I guess we'll have to take his word for it.
Is it really that difficult to believe though when you consider the steady stream of content Turbine releases in the form of new Books? They also launched a strong second anniversary campaign, which included a digital download of the original game plus the Mines of Moria expansion for only $9.99. This pricing is still available.
LotRO Book 8 releases June 23, pre-patching offered
Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Patches, News items
Massively has been following the latest content update for Lord of the Rings Online, which is Volume II Book 8: Scourge of Khazad-Dûm. We've now learned via MMeOw that Scourge of Khazad-Dûm will release on June 23 (US/Oceanic)! As a bonus, players can already download the patch; the update weighs in at a fairly hefty 600mb and links can be found in the official announcement on the LotRO forums. The patch notes are epic in length, and it might just be quicker to re-read one of Tolkien's works, but they seem to cover everything that's changing in Lord of the Rings Online.
If the 23rd and the release of Scourge of Khazad-Dûm can't come soon enough for you, have a look through the dev tour that Turbine gave us, showing a bit of the content you'll soon be playing in Volume II Book 8.
DDO Unlimited screens show off in-game store
Filed under: Betas, Screenshots, Dungeons and Dragons Online, News items
It's pretty interesting to see a previously pure subscription style game go this direction, and we're very curious to see how it plays out for Turbine and the Dungeons & Dragons Online community. This business model shift could bring in a lot of new blood, and may in the long run bring about additional content that wouldn't have been possible to develop otherwise.
If you really want to know more about the upcoming changes and exactly what they mean for DDO and its community, check out our interview with Turbine on the subject, our write-up on the topic by Massively's Colin Brennan or our recent Massively Speaking podcast with DDOCast host Jerry Snook. Can you tell we're interested in this one yet?
The Daily Grind: What MMO would you like to see go free to play?
Filed under: Business models, MMO industry, Opinion, The Daily Grind
Yet, Dungeons and Dragons Online has shown that it's certainly not impossible for developers to embrace a new business model. So that now begs the question, "What game would you jump all over if it went free to play?" If you could choose any game in the whole MMO genre, what game would it be?
Furthermore, why that particular game? What about it makes you want it to be free, so you can get your paws all over it? Speak to us, oh readers, via that little comment box below, and shout your opinions to the internet beyond!
Massively Speaking Episode 57: DDO with Jerry Snook
Filed under: Fantasy, Podcasts, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Interviews, Opinion, Free-to-play, Massively meta, Massively Speaking
Massively Speaking Episode 57 returns this week with an entire episode dedicated to Dungeons and Dragons Online and their recent announcement about going free-to-play. Shawn is joined by DDOCast host Jerry Snook as they discuss the ins and outs, good and bad of a 3-year-old game going F2P.Have a comment for the podcasters? Shoot us an email to podcast AT massively DOT com. Maybe we'll read your letter on the air!
Get the podcast:
[iTunes] Subscribe to Massively Speaking directly in iTunes.
[Zune] Subscribe to Massively Speaking via the Zune service.
[RSS] Add Massively Speaking to your RSS aggregator.
[Digg] Like the show? Digg it.
[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.
[VW] Listen at VirginWorlds.com
Listen here on the page:
Read below the cut for the full show notes.
Changes to instances and raids in LotRO's upcoming Book 8
Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Game mechanics, Patches
This dev journal goes into a bit more depth from the technical side of what we can expect from the new instances, changes to existing instances and the changes to item drops in instances and raids. Amlug also explains the drop rate changes for First Age weapons per Watcher run, and the increased availability of Radiance gear for those runs. You can check out the complete journal over at Amlug's mylotro.com page, and keep an eye on Massively as we get closer to Book 8's release, later this month.
LotRO dev diary looks at Bree-land overhaul in Volume 2: Book 8
Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Patches, Leveling
As Bree-land will become more commonly used by Tier 2 players, the crafting nodes in the area will also be changed to their Tier 2 versions. New repeatable "bounty quests" will be available, and existing quest rewards have been completely revised to ensure their usefulness for players in the adjusted level range. To learn more about all of the above changes, make sure to read the full dev diary.
One Shots: Heading for the weekend
Filed under: Fantasy, Screenshots, Lord of the Rings Online, One Shots
Something old, something new, something freaky, something... well, anything really. We're all about MMO screenshots from all the different worlds out there. Just send them in to oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name/server/guild and a brief description. Your screenshot(s) could be among the next ones featured here on Massively!
_thumbnail.jpg "Aion Beta: Asmodian Ascension Quest")
