Virtual World News
Filed under: Fantasy, Business models, Game mechanics, PvP, News items, Guild Wars 2, Dev Diaries
Right now, players are able to compete in structured automated tournaments. These free tournaments pit eight teams of five against each other, with reward chests, glory, and rank going to the top four teams. Soon, players will also be able to participate in paid automated tournaments. Tickets for entry can be found in reward chests from free tournaments, bought in the gem store, or received whenever a player hits a new sPvP rank. Every team in the paid tournaments will receive a reward, but the four teams with the best performance will get better loot -- including gems.
What better way to hone your skills for paid tournaments than by renting custom arenas in which to practice? Custom arenas can be rented by players with options for password protection, scrimmage hosting, and setting a custom map rotation. Sharp promised more information about custom arenas in a future blog post, and said that after paid tournaments and custom arenas come online, the team will turn its focus to other key features for making Guild Wars 2 sPvP even better.
ArenaNet explains upcoming Guild Wars 2 PvP features originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 08 Oct 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
- Source: GW2 blog
Filed under: Betas, Contests, Culture, Events, real-world, Game mechanics, New titles, Patches, PvP, Endgame, News items, PvE, Not So Massively, MOBA, League of Legends, Diablo III
North America's hopes of winning the League of Legends World Championship were dashed this week as all three US teams were knocked out of the competition along with Dota 2 world champions Invictus Gaming. Heroes of Newerth fought back with its new competitive HoN Tour event, which aims to give hundreds of cash prizes away to players of all skill levels.
Dota 2 released classic hero Magnus this week, SMITE revealed its newest god Ares, and Guardians of Middle-earth showed off its two newest additions: Nori and Wulfrun. Finally, Russian MOBA success Prime World revealed some details on its PvEvP Dragonwald game mode ahead of the release of its North American and European beta tests.
Continue reading Not So Massively: LoL World Championship, HoN Tour, and D3 patch 1.0.5
Not So Massively: LoL World Championship, HoN Tour, and D3 patch 1.0.5 originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 08 Oct 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Filed under: Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous
Considering that you're likely in a game that's overflowing with food items, either from crafting or as background ambiance, it's understandable why you might want to get a bite to eat. And if you're just going to go back to playing after you're done eating, why wait?
Sometimes you really can't eat at your desk (or wherever you play), and sometimes you don't want to. But as a rule, do you eat while you play your game of choice? Or do you step away from the game to have a snack?
Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!The Daily Grind: Do you eat while you play? originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 07 Oct 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Filed under: World of Warcraft, Galleries, Screenshots, Guild Wars 2, Massively Meta, One Shots, TERA, Miscellaneous
This screenshot is a little bit of a spoiler, so I won't actually say much about what's in it, but needless to say, this is one of my favourite scenes from the Pandaren starting area. The art design is fantastic in Blizzard's new expansion!Also, panda in a balloon! William's color image is tucked after the break along with a few more of your One Shots-worthy images.
Continue reading One Shots: Beautiful balloon
One Shots: Beautiful balloon originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 07 Oct 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Filed under: Galleries, Culture, Events, real-world, MMO industry, Opinion, Massively Meta, Massively Interviews, Massively Event Coverage
Check out the video just after the break, and stay tuned for the final video later today -- a full interview with some of the people responsible for Guild Wars 2!
Continue reading EB Games Expo 2012: The people have a voice!
EB Games Expo 2012: The people have a voice! originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 07 Oct 2012 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Video, Game mechanics, MMO industry, New titles, News items, ArcheAge, Sandbox
While all ArcheAge mounts may be used in combat, battle pets are significantly stronger. Both pet types have their own character screens and equipment, but battle pets feature more active skills. You'll also need to be level 25 to obtain the battle pet quest (as opposed to level 5 for basic mounts).
Also like mounts, battle pets have their own levels which are advanced through hunting mobs (gathering, crafting, and quest turn-in XP does not affect either pet type). Finally, battle pets can die and will lose XP when they do. Head to ArcheAge Source for a lengthy system breakdown, and check out the baby wolf video after the cut.
[Thanks to Dengar for the tip!]
Continue reading ArcheAge's pet system turns cute baby wolves into fearsome battle wargs
ArcheAge's pet system turns cute baby wolves into fearsome battle wargs originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 07 Oct 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
- Source: ArcheAge Source
Filed under: Fantasy, Horror, Galleries, Screenshots, Video, Bugs, Game mechanics, Previews, PvP, Opinion, Virtual worlds, Rise and Shiny, Livestream, Sandbox
Games like Mortal Online provoke questions like "Why is nudity an option at all?" and "Why is there stamina (and other realistic features) alongside magic and no permanent death?" I've learned to forget those questions and just take each specific FFA MMO as it is. Mortal Online stands alone in many ways. Unfortunately, being known as a buggy mess is one of those. I've played many buggy MMOs in my time but have enjoyed myself immensely in some of them (remember, I hosted an early Vanguard: Saga of Heroes podcast!), so I wasn't scared of jumping into an MMO that was supposed to be rough to say the least.
What did I find? Well, I found a ton -- and I mean a ton -- of bugs. But I also found a pretty cool community (yes, I just said that) and some grand adventure. Let me break it down.
Continue reading Rise and Shiny: Mortal Online
Rise and Shiny: Mortal Online originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 07 Oct 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Filed under: Culture, Events, real-world, PvP, News items, Free-to-play, MOBA, League of Legends
A huge screen showed the match in action to event attendees, with two smaller screens showing each team's in-game map with the positions of their players. Competitors were told to face forward at all times, but controversy erupted last night when livestream viewers at home noticed players turning their heads and looking up away from the screen. It was argued that those players were cheating by looking at the opposing team's minimap to check the positions of their players.
Riot Games e-sports coordinator RiotTiza was lead referee for the tournament and released the following statement:
"We keep a constant watch on all the players on stage at all times. We have cameras as well as live people walking onto stage to keep tabs in everything. All players are told that they need to remain sitting, facing forward, and with headphones on at all times, including during pauses. I can personally confirm that no WE player looked at the minimap at any point during the match."
League of Legends cheating controversy puts $2,000,000 on the line originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 07 Oct 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
- Source: LoL forum thread, Reddit thread
Filed under: Massively Meta, Week in Review, Miscellaneous
"Disappointing" was the word analysts initially used to describe Mists of Pandaria's launch, but this week, analysts who've apparently heard of these newfangled "digital downloads" predicted stronger sales numbers for World of Warcraft's fourth expansion... and have thus far been proven right. In fact, so far, Blizzard has sold 2.7 million copies of MoP and reports subscription tallies over 10 million, up nearly a million from the 9.1 million measured last summer. And that's before China weighs in and the first major content patch arrives.
The rest of this week's top MMO stories are rounded up beyond the break!
Continue reading MMO Week in Review: Pandaria invites analysts to savor some delicious crow
MMO Week in Review: Pandaria invites analysts to savor some delicious crow originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 07 Oct 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Culture, Expansions, Game mechanics, Patches, PvP, PvE, EVE Evolved, Dev Diaries, Sandbox
The new Crimewatch system not only gets rid of old, undocumented code that was written when dinosaurs roamed the earth but also has far-reaching consequences for pirates, people engaging in PvE and the upcoming bounty hunting revamp. Pirates will now be able to escape into high-security space without police intervention, loot thieves will be subjected to mob justice, nullsec ratters won't be as safe as they think, and neutral remote repairing will be a thing of the past.
In this week's EVE Evolved, I delve into Crimewatch 2.0 and how the Retribution expansion will change the game for pirates, ratters, and people engaging in PvP across New Eden.
Continue reading EVE Evolved: Player justice in Retribution
EVE Evolved: Player justice in Retribution originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 07 Oct 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.