The week in Massively features
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DC Universe Online goes beyond questing To that end, the designers are seeking to push content on players, rather than make players seek them out with their precious game time. Calling them 'encounters' rather than quests, these experiences are totally changeable based on developer intentions, and local conditions. DCUO offers traditional questing as well, with well-known quest givers and amazing quest content ... but they're definitely seeking something new in encounters. |
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Massively's WAR Camp: Capturing and defending keeps From Tier 2 onwards, players of Warhammer Online have the option of mustering an army to go forth into the RvR lakes and capture keeps. There are numerous benefits to capturing a keep — renown bonuses and set-piece loot await a victorious party, as well as a chance to claim the keep in their guild's name, and push the zone control meter forward for their realm. |
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DC Universe Online concept art sneak peek Batman. Superman. Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter. Black Canary, Oracle, The Question. The world of DC Comics is populated with amazing characters and fantastic stories. The entire four-color experience is coming to fans of the MMO genre in the form of DC Universe Online, a title in Sony Online Entertainment's stable of next-gen MMOs. |
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Lego Universe could eventually include Star Wars, Indiana Jones We recently had the chance to speak with Ryan Seabury, Producer for Netdevil's in-development Lego Universe. Along with Project Lead Mark Hansen, Seabury gave us an insider's look at the exciting create/play/explore world of Legos online. The two men were extremely confident in their vision for the project, and we couldn't help but be impressed by their passion for bringing this millions-of-kids strong product to the world of MMO gaming. |
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The Best of Massively: Our top 5 weirdest news stories We're still counting down to Massively's first birthday by compiling the best and most entertaining coverage we've done. So far we've listed our most important interviews and our most helpful guides. This time around, we're looking back at the top five strangest, weirdest and sometimes-raciest news stories we've covered since we launched last November. |
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The Best of Massively: Hands-on with upcoming games Massively's first birthday is only a couple of weeks a way! We've been having fun looking back at our first year of coverage — first with our ten most important interviews, then our most helpful guides, and most recently our top 5 weirdest news stories. This week we've compiled six of our hands-on previews of games that are yet to be released. |
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Superstruct: The world's first massively multiplayer forecasting game Forget what you typically expect from your average client-based MMO. In fact, the title you're going to read about here differs markedly from the type of game we normally cover at Massively, but that makes it no less interesting. Superstruct is truly something different — a futuristic alternate reality game that launches today (October 6) and lasts only 6 weeks, developed by a team at The Institute for the Future (IFTF) — a not-for-profit think tank based in Palo Alto, California. |
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MMOGology: I lost a friend to WAR Last week I wrote about Blizzard's Recruit-a-Friend program and my experience leveling through World of Warcraft with triple XP. The Recruit-a-Friend program is a seemingly brilliant strategy on Blizzard's part. In addition to recruiting new players, it also serves as way of keeping existing players occupied while waiting for Wrath of the Lich King; players that might otherwise divert their attention to Warhammer: Age of Reckoning. |
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Ask Massively: How to avoid being 'that guy' This week's Ask Massively is a radical departure from recent weeks' columns. I'm not going to criticize anybody, nor will I blame you, the player, for the ills of the MMO industry. It will be a difficult job, but that's why they pay me the big bucks. (I almost kept a straight face... honest!) |
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The Digital Continuum: WAR's resistant early gratifitanktion Crubz is standing on my screen with a choppa in one hand and a blocka in the other, waiting for me to select him and log into Warhammer Online for some RvR action. My cursor glides onto the "character" button. I'd feel bad for what I'm about to do if it didn't seem so right. I stare into the load screen for Blighted Isle and wonder if I'll come to regret my penultimate choice — the career I truly want isn't available to me, yet. |
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Behind the Curtain: Guilds are serious business How serious are you when you're either creating a guild, when you're inviting people to join, or when you're looking to join one yourself? |
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EVE Evolved: The cost of failure The harsh death penalty in EVE Online is something that's talked about a lot. I even touched on the issue myself when I compared EVE Online's style of PvP to Age of Conan and when I investigated the phenomenon of suicide ganking. In EVE, your ship being destroyed means millions of your hard-earned isk is flushed down the drain. I |
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Making/Money: Auctioneer Wishlist A few weeks ago, a reader e-mailed me with questions about some Auctioneer data that they have been collecting. Though the question was regarding trying to determine inflation patterns on their server, it got me to thinking about what Auctioneer actually captures. And what other data points would be most helpful in making evaluations of item pricing or looking into economic trending. |