Don't panic -- Massively's getting a makeover! [Update #5]
Blizzard isn't the only team around preparing for a cataclysm. The perceptive among you might have noticed a few subtle changes around Massively today and wondered what was going on. Is it the end times?!
Nope! In fact, we have exciting news! Tonight (Monday, November 22nd) and continuing through the week, we'll be rolling out our brand-new site. That's right, folks: Massively's getting a much-deserved facelift meant to bring the site in line with our community's needs and position us a bit more prominently alongside our sister site, Joystiq. We'll not only be easier on the eyes but easier to navigate, and best of all, we'll have a new and improved login and comment system. Rejoice! We'll get a new URL too -- massively.joystiq.com -- although www.massively.com will continue to redirect just fine to all the content you love, old and new.
Over the next week, Massively might be a little bit weird as our Gnomish Engineers scramble to get a site of this size into its new outfit, so please bear with us while we tinker. Just to quell any remaining fears -- we're not closing down, we've not been bought out, and we're not selling out to corporate overlords. We've always been part of the Joystiq network; it's just going to be a bit more obvious now. The same bloggers will still be bringing you the same MMO posts and features as before. We're just going to look a whole lot more stylish doing it. We'll keep you posted as the rollout continues!
[Ongoing updates are behind the cut! Last update was at 11:05 a.m. EST on Wednesday, November 24th. -Bree]
[Update #1: 11/22/2010 9:30 p.m. EST -- The new site is slowly trickling out tonight; some of you are probably seeing weird things happening as our old site and new site converge. We're terribly sorry about the mess in the interim. I know some of you can't log in and that comments are a pain right now and that the sites aren't forwarding correctly. The gnomes are working on it as fast as they can, I promise! If you want to leave us feedback as we move forward, you can leave us a comment, click the bright red tip us button, or send us a tweet. Thanks everyone! -Bree]
[Update #2: 11/22/2010 10:45 p.m. EST -- Site logins and commenting should now work again. If you're showing up as "unverified," you need to register for a new account and claim a username. If you've commented on Joystiq or Engadget in the past, you should already have a username. -Bree]
[Update #3: 11/23/2010 11:50 a.m. EST -- We've gotten a lot of feedback about the new white background. It's not wildly different from the old one, but we hear you. I cannot promise you it will be changing, guys. We didn't get that kind of pull to begin with -- when the network says we're doing it, we're probably stuck doing it. But keep letting us know what you think -- civilly. In the meantime, if you're using Firefox or Chrome, you can hunt down addons like this, this, this, or this to tweak the site to your heart's content. For example, the following tweak to the site was done in about 30 seconds using Chrome's "Change Colors" plugin. -Bree]
[Update #4: 11/23/2010 2:40 p.m. EST -- Thank you folks for all your feedback so far. We've been told our techies are reading through and jotting down legitimate bug issues (yay!). I assume they'll see your opinions on the site colors too (please note: I am not promising you anything). The techs are still working on the site and I doubt every single issue will be fixed right away, so please have patience with us. It'll probably take them the better part of the week. Several of you also mailed in to ask how to change the user avatars to something other than the WoW "W" -- we hate it too, trust me. Here's how I got mine working: I logged into the site fresh in Firefox, went to my profile, and uploaded the new pic. I could not get it to work in Chrome, unfortunately. Try FF for this and let us know whether it works for you. -Bree]
[Update #5: 11/24/2010 11:05 a.m. EST -- Thanks to you guys who are leaving constructive and helpful feedback, really! We're not doing anything formal or scheduled, but you are welcome to dust off your IRC program and log into irc.quakenet.org and jump into #massively (or use QuakeNet's webchat. We hang out there on and off all day, so please feel free to jump in and discuss the redesign in real time. -Rubi]
