world-of-warcraft posts

World of Warcraft in China remains hopelessly mired

by Eliot Lefebvre Feb 8th 2010 at 8:00PM

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, MMO industry, News items, Legal

In much of the world, current complaints about World of Warcraft center around the resolution of the storyline of the latest expansion and whether or not it's had a negative effect on MMOs as a whole. In China, current complaints about World of Warcraft are more focused on the fact that the game is still mired knee-deep in government infighting to try and make it playable again. After the last salvo, it seemed as if an end was close in sight... but as it turns out, NetEase has been forced to suspend any new player registrations for a week.

The studio is re-applying for a license to host World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, with no mention being made of Wrath of the Lich King, which doesn't bode very well for the hopes of that expansion ever seeing release in China. Having been stuck in the middle of two squabbling agencies for quite some time, and with no clear resolution in sight, it seems like a stretch to assume that the expansion will be released in China before the next one is due to arrive stateside. Our condolences to Chinese players affected by the latest round of bickering, and we can only hope that this long struggle will soon come to a conclusion.

Tags: china, gapp, legal-issues, netease, release-issues, tbc, the-burning-crusade, world-of-warcraft, world-of-warcraft-china, wotlk, wow, wow-china, wrath-of-the-lich-king

One Shots: Hanging with the boss

by Krystalle Voecks Feb 8th 2010 at 2:00PM

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Screenshots, One Shots

While our sister site, WoW.com, gets the lion's share of World of Warcraft screenshots for their daily Around Azeroth column, we do still get the occasional screenshot from a player -- albeit few and far between! Today's overlook screenshot comes to us from occasional contributor Deadend from the Exodar server, who writes in: Here is Mimiron's joint. Mimiron is, from a game play standpoint, probably one of my all time favorite bosses in WoW.

If you're one of the millions of players who have played World of Warcraft and would like to send in a screenshot, we'd welcome your contribution. All you need to do is email a screenshot to us at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, and a quick description of what's WoWing you in the screenshot. Please make sure your image is at least 1024 pixels wide and has as little visible UI as possible. Yours may be next!

Gallery: One Shots

Tags: blizzard, blizzard-entertainment, deadend, one-shots, screenshot, screenshots, world-of-warcraft, wow

Love is in the air in your favorite MMOs

by Robin Torres Feb 7th 2010 at 12:00PM

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Events, in-game

Love is in the air in World of Warcraft and the event has completely changed this year over previous years. WoW.com has the latest on this Valentine's Day-themed event.

Fool for Love Achievement: If you are into holiday achievements, the Overachiever guide has all of the details.
Love is in the air FAQ: Answers any event questions you may have.
New Boss Loot: The list of the loot from the three new bosses. Naughty, naughty loot.

But WoW is not the only MMO that has an event going on now or soon:

Spring Fling in City of Heroes
City of Heroes also has a Secret Admirer's contest
A chocolate related Valentine's event begins Tuesday in 4Story.
Valentione's Day in Final Fantasy XI
Lover's Jubilee in Lineage II
MapleStory has become a world of romance.
Double experience next weekend for Aion.
Valentine's Day UStream event for all SOE games on Friday, February 12th, which includes EverQuest, EverQuest II, Free Realms, Planetside, and Star Wars Galaxies.

Which MMO do you think does this romantic holiday best?

Tags: blizzard, blizzard-entertainment, love-is-in-the-air, valentines, valentines-day, valentines-day-2010, world-of-warcraft, wow

The Daily Grind: How do you like side applications?

by Eliot Lefebvre Feb 5th 2010 at 8:00AM

Filed under: Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind

If you're playing World of Warcraft, increasingly, you have options available to keep you playing the game even if you're logged off. With several apps running off the Armory and the recent announcement of a planned Auction House access feature as a premium, there's almost no reason to log in at all. Unless you want to level up, quest, roleplay, raid, PvP, explore... okay, there's plenty of reason to log in, but there are more options than ever to let you handle matters inside the game while not even close to your computer.

It's not unprecedented by any means, as both Fallen Earth (coming soon) and Champions Online also offer applications for the iPhone to help take care of the game's management functions while you're away from your computer. With the continued advent of more functional mobile devices and more robust web environments through services such as Facebook, games can offload many of the more tedious bits of gameplay into applications players just run through quickly on a break at their day job. What do you think of the increasing trend? Are you happy to have the option to take care of administrative tasks when not near your computer, or do you see it as intrusive and unnecessary?

Tags: champions-online, co, facebook, fallen-earth, fe, iphone, smartphone, tdg, the-daily-grind, world-of-warcraft, world-of-warcraft-armory, wow, wow-armory

How consistency softens the grind

by Eliot Lefebvre Feb 3rd 2010 at 5:00PM

Filed under: Culture, Game mechanics, Opinion

"Grind" is on the verge of becoming what "nerf" already is -- a word thrown around so frequently and with such broad possible meaning that it's essentially meaningless. After all, the word now gets used for any part of a game the player finds boring and repetitive, rather than the process of repeating something over and over. It's the latter meaning that Kill Ten Rats discusses with an intersting thesis -- we don't mind a grind so much as we mind one we can't advance without breaks.

Using the Guild Wars Wintersday redux as an example, the point is made that the holiday events are a straight-up grind -- but they're a constant one that you can pick up and start with no downtime, then stop whenever you want. Lord of the Rings Online and World of Warcraft have both taken the same approach with Skirmishes and the Dungeon Finder, taking the slow march to being ready for an instance out of the equation.

It's an interesting idea, that what we really dislike aren't the grinds but being stuck unable to make much progress in them. If you tend to think that grinds are the worst thing in MMOs today, it might be an opportunity to re-examine that stance.

Tags: downtime, dungeon-finder, grind, guild-wars, gw, kill-ten-rats, lord-of-the-rings-onlne, lotro, nerf, progress, skirmish, wintersday, wintersday-redux, world-of-warcraft, wow

The Digital Continuum: The 'Next Big Thing' in MMOs

by Kyle Horner Feb 1st 2010 at 12:00PM

Filed under: MMO industry, New titles, Opinion, The Digital Continuum, All Points Bulletin, Crime

Is All Points Bulletin the "Next Big Thing" in MMOs? While I'm fully aware that Realtime Worlds doesn't specifically prefer to associate the game with this genre, it's very much a part of it -- but it also orbits the fringes of what we commonly refer to as a massively multiplayer online game.

Guild Wars, Guild Wars 2 and All Points Bulletin come from a different school of business models. These games hinge on the idea that most people dislike coughing up 15 bucks a month to keep playing their favorite title. Just look to the success of the original Guild Wars, having a year ago passed six million copies sold. That's a pretty great start for non-subscription MMOs, and because of that success we now have GW's sequel and APB on the way.

Tags: all-points-bulletin, all-points-bulletin-game, apb, apb-ea, apb-game, arenanet, blizzard, brutal-legend, crimecraft, double-fine, ea, ea-all-points-bulletin, ea-apb, ea-games, ea-partners, electronic-arts, electronic-arts-all-points-bulletin, featured, gamerankings, guild-wars, jack-black, metacritic, ncsoft, opinion, realtime-worlds, the-digital-continuum, world-of-warcraft, wow

The myth of the World of Warcraft tourist

by Eliot Lefebvre Jan 26th 2010 at 11:00AM

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Culture, Opinion, Rumors

Last time we took a look at an elusive breed in the MMO universe, it was the sometimes spotted but never conclusively studied console MMO. This time, however, we should take a look at the World of Warcraft tourist, which should be compared to a brontosaurus. Not because it's a slow-witted lumbering creature -- because it doesn't exist except in the minds of people who find the concept easier than the real state of affairs.

As Serial Ganker points out, most people playing World of Warcraft aren't doing so until something better comes along -- they're doing so because they enjoy playing the game. The players who are lumped in as "tourists" are people who, more often than not, had already left the game and were looking for a new game to call home. This, in no small part, is why it's hard for games that clone WoW to find an audience, as the people who are looking for a new game want something different.

The ultimate conclusion is that the idea of a tourist shifts the blame from developers to players -- that the game was fine, but people just jumped ship because they really wanted to go back to WoW anyway. It's a convenient myth, but really, we'll all be better off if we just put the right head with the right skeleton.

Tags: blizzard-entertainment, brontosaurus, things-that-dont-exist, tourism, tourist, world-of-warcraft, wow, wow-tourism, wow-tourist

When crafting community, little goes a long way

by Eliot Lefebvre Jan 21st 2010 at 10:00PM

Filed under: Culture, Forums, Grouping, Opinion

Yes, that looks like a typo in the subject line and it ought to be "a little goes a long way." It isn't. Little itself goes a long way in making a community, as discussed in this recent post by Eric Heimburg. Speaking from his experiences both on Asheron's Call 2 as a producer and Aion as a player, his core contention is that smaller communities decrease anonymity and make politeness far more common for interactions among strangers.

One of the core reasons behind this is the question of reliance. The community of group-based games tends to be stonger than that of games where you can be almost wholly independent, since you rely upon others to work with you. By way of contrast, examine some of the behavior found in World of Warcraft's random dungeon tool, where you find yourself working with people whom you're statistically unlikely to ever see again.

One of the laments about solo-friendly games is the death of community, and while that's not altogether true, Heimburg's post certainly makes a number of compelling points. Well worth examining if you're interested in building a community or just in the ways groups develop.

Tags: ac, ac2, aion, anonymity, asherons-call, asherons-call-2, blizzard, community, community-building, elder-game, eric-heimburg, manners, ncsoft, politeness, turbine, world-of-warcraft, wow

Anti-Aliased: I've got nothing to hide

by Seraphina Brennan Jan 21st 2010 at 1:00PM

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Culture, Game mechanics, Opinion, Anti-Aliased

So, it's late night on Wednesday night, I just got done watching Top Gear, and I need something to write about. Lucky for me that Blizzard has given me the perfect topic -- MMO privacy. Thanks to a new development in their World of Warcraft Armory program, privacy advocates are up in arms and I've got a topic to discuss.

For all those of you who may be late to the game, Blizzard is adding RSS feeds to the Armory. Basically, the Armory will now report on the exact time you do an "Armory worthy" activity, such as boss kills, achievements, item pickups, and more. People can subscribe to your RSS feed, so then they know exactly when you do something in World of Warcraft.

This has, of course, sent privacy advocates into a tailspin of anger. There's no opt-out button for the Armory, so your playing style in World of Warcraft is going to be exposed whether you like it or not. The topic has even spawned a 59+ page thread on the European forums!

So what's my take on it? Well, I'm glad you asked. Here at Anti-Aliased, I've got nothing to hide.

Tags: anti-aliased, arguments, armory, blizzard, blizzard-entertainment, featured, frivolous, player-privacy, privacy, rss-feed, silly, theres-a-twist-at-the-end-so-you-better-not-complain, world-of-warcraft, world-of-warcraft-armory

The problem with 'exciting' starting zones

by Kyle Horner Jan 19th 2010 at 9:00PM

Filed under: MMO industry, News items, Opinion

We love it when game designers make an observation that sometimes escapes us, like Dusty Monk's insightful post about the issue surrounding starting zones -- specifically in Cryptic Studio's last three games. His problem stems from the way in which the developer is responding to gamers' demands of a starting zone experience that doesn't involve a newly minted character thwacking sickly rabbits with a twig. It's an old -- almost passe -- gripe that was well founded back in the first half of the 00's.

As many of you no doubt know, City of Villains, Champions Online and Star Trek Online tutorials all begin by inundating the character with chaotic immediacy, and information. Dusty's problem is the combination of these two elements. He posits that any sense of urgency is killed immediately upon the opening of a substantially novella-like text window. On the flip side of that problem, he contends that it's tough to learn a new system(s) while a Hollywoood blockbuster is taking place around you.

And like any good person with an opinion, he's got a solution for the problem, too.

Tags: arenanet, blizzard, blockbuster, champions-online, city-of-villains, cov, cryptic-studios, ddo, dungeons-and-dragons-online, dusty-monk, guild-wars, hollywood, ncsoft, rabbits, sickly-rabbits, star-trek-online, sto, turbine, tutorial, twig, world-of-warcraft, wow

Blizzard CEO calls shipping an unfinished product, 'devastating'

by Kyle Horner Jan 19th 2010 at 8:00PM

Filed under: World of Warcraft, MMO industry, News items

When you're going to make a statement, you may as well make it a good one, right? Well, Blizzard CEO Paul Sams has delivered in that regard. Speaking with Gamesindustry.biz (a free account is required to read the whole article) Sams went on to make a bevy of remarks that reinforce the developer's stance of, "It's done when it's done." while also commenting on the "devastating" effects of shipping an unfinished product.

So what gets devastated? The people who put in all those long hours of hard work, says Sams. We believe it, too. This kind of issue is bad for any game, but for an MMO we can only begin to imagine the sort of downtrodden emotions that can permeate a dev team after seeing their work pushed out into the world before it's ready. And while we all know MMOs are living, breathing things that are never "Finished." there's still a point where more gestation time is far better than getting pushed out the door prematurely.

Tags: blizzard, blizzard-fps-mmo, blizzard-mmo, gamesindustry.biz, mmo, paul-sams, world-of-warcraft, wow

One Shots: The Purification of Quel'Delar

by Krystalle Voecks Jan 19th 2010 at 2:00PM

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Screenshots, One Shots

When we recently said we didn't get very many World of Warcraft screenshots, a few readers heard the call and decided to send in some truly lovely images to us. Today's One Shots is one such screenshot that we received from Michelyne of the Caelestrasz (US Oceanic) server. She wrote in to tell us a bit more of the scene: My recent best shot is when I was doing The Purification of Quel'Delar at Sunwell Plateau - part of the Quel'Delar chain quest. I was lucky to win the Battered Hilt on the first day, during my first run after the patch! This quest sent me back to Sunwell plateau, and the chamber is absolutely beautiful! I'll recommend the player who gets this item, don't sell them (even they are selling like 12K+ on my server) -- do this quest! You will be stunned by the amazing experience. It comes with an achievement too!

We love to hear about fun moments while out gaming - and if they're in beautiful areas, all the better! Just snag a screenshot and send it in to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a quick description. We'll post it out here and give you the credit.

Gallery: One Shots

Tags: blizzard, blizzard-entertainment, Michelyne, one-shots, screenshot, screenshots, world-of-warcraft, wow

Confessions of a gold scammer and identity thief

by Eliot Lefebvre Jan 19th 2010 at 10:00AM

Filed under: Video, Exploits, Interviews, Making money

"We have met the enemy and he is us." The player identified as "Patrick" is not the malevolent monstrosity we'd like to see. Nor is he a victim of circumstance, at that. He acts for all the world like a perfectly normal gamer, and if you didn't know he'd scammed between $10,000 and $20,000 in a year of reprehensible behavior, you certainly wouldn't be able to guess. That's what makes a video interview with him, mirrored and annotated at PlayNoEvil and originally recorded by Marcus Eikenberry, so odd on many levels.

The full interview lasts thiry-eight minutes, which makes it a bit long for casual viewing. The article which mirrors the video notes some of the highlights, including when he almost breathlessly exhorts the moment he realized that there was nothing in PayPal's EULA that prevented him from not transferring his EVE Online account to a purchaser on Craigslist.

His rationalizing of the actions include the loss of his job and financial instability, even as he begins the interview explaining how he would scam players in both EVE Online and World of Warcraft for fun. His words are unsettling, but what makes them all the more eerie is the fact that without the foreknowledge... there's no way to tell his voice from any of ours. When you have the time, the whole interview is well worth looking at if you're at all interested in account security and the culture of scammers.

Tags: account-security, account-theft, con-man, confidence-game, craigslist, eve, eve-online, patrick, paypal, playnoevil, scammer, scams, world-of-warcraft, wow

CEO of SecurePlay discusses account security

by Rubi Bayer Jan 18th 2010 at 1:00PM

Filed under: Interviews, News items, Massively Interviews

Anyone even slightly in touch with the MMO community is aware that account security has been an even bigger concern than usual for the past few months. While it's more in the forefront of everyone's mind these days, it's important to remember that this isn't a brand new problem. It's very important for people on both sides of a game -- both the player side and the development side -- to work to make player accounts as safe as possible.

Steven Davis, CEO of SecurePlay and the mind behind PlayNoEvil, has been watching the events with interest and spent some time recently talking to us about his take on the situation as well as overall account security. Follow along after the jump and see what he had to say.

Tags: Account-Security, account-theft, aion, arenanet, blizzard, featured, gold-farmers, gold-frauders, guild-wars, hacking, interview, john-smedley, ncsoft, playnoevil, protecting-games, secureplay, steven-davis, world-of-warcraft

Evolution as it does and doesn't apply to MMOs

by Eliot Lefebvre Jan 17th 2010 at 8:00PM

Filed under: Game mechanics, MMO industry, Opinion

A few days ago, we discussed the lack of innovation in the MMO market at the moment, as well as some of the underlying reasons behind it. The topic prompted We Fly Spitfires to postulate the idea that we needed an MMO that broke most if not all of the established and accepted rules of the genre. In his own parlance, we needed a mutation instead of a steady evolution.

Those of you familiar with evolutionary science might be quirking your eyebrow a bit, as did Of Teeth and Claws, where it was pointed out that mutation is a part of evolution. Continuing the analogy, it's a part of the slow improvement we see in our genre of choice, as the source leading to feature implementation and improvement. And as Killed in a Smiling Accident added, evolution is not a straight line, nor does it select features based on inherent quality -- the current "standard features" have evolved because they're best at succeeding in the current environment (that is, the market).

Ultimately, aside from fascinating extension of the analogy, the biggest point to be taken away from both this discussion and the previous one is that change in the genre isn't something which will happen overnight. While the powerful influence that World of Warcraft has placed upon the genre is beginning to abate a bit, it'll be quite some time before it's discarded wholesale.

Tags: evolution, game-development, game-features, genre-improvement, improvement, innovation, killed-in-a-smiling-accident, mutation, of-teeth-and-claws, we-fly-spitfires, world-of-warcraft, wow