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MV Guide: February 6-12, 2012
MV Guide is a weekly rundown of the MMO gaming events planned on Massively TV. Every week, the Massively staff logs in to play various MMOs live and in person, and we'd love for you to drop by the channel and visit. We have a combination of regular weekly games and new surprises, so you'll find a variety of titles to take a look at. During our streamed events, you can participate in the live chat, ask questions to learn about the game, and simply spend some time with Massively staff and readers. (Of course, streaming is subject to the whims of outside forces like server-side gremlins once in a while.) Follow along after the jump to see what's on this week's schedule!
Previously on MV TV: Week of January 30, 2012
Welcome to Previously on MV TV! Our livestreaming schedule has picked up a lot over the past few weeks, and our readers have busy lives, so we know it's impossible to watch every single streaming event live. Fortunately for you, we save all of our streams all for posterity on Massively's Twitch TV channel, so you can view them at your leisure. Even better, we've got a roundup of a few of last week's MV TV highlights from the livestream team. Follow along after the jump for the best of the best!
MV Guide: January 30-February 5, 2012
MV Guide is a weekly rundown of the MMO gaming events planned on Massively TV. Every week, the Massively staff logs in to play various MMOs live and in person, and we'd love for you to drop by the channel and visit. We have a combination of regular weekly games and new surprises, so you'll find a variety of titles to take a look at. During our streamed events, you can participate in the live chat, ask questions to learn about the game, and simply spend some time with Massively staff and readers. (Of course, streaming is subject to the whims of outside forces like server-side gremlins once in a while.) Follow along after the jump to see what's on this week's schedule!
Previously on MV TV: Week of January 23rd
Welcome to Previously on MV TV! Our livestreaming schedule has picked up a lot over the past few weeks, and our readers have busy lives, so we know it's impossible to watch every single streaming event live. Fortunately for you, we save all of our streams all for posterity on Massively's Twitch TV channel, so you can view them at your leisure. Even better, we've got a roundup of a few of last week's MV TV highlights from the livestream team. Follow along after the jump for the best of the best, and check out our full library of videos for the other games we've streamed last week as we begin to ramp up our streaming even more in February!
MV Guide: January 23-29, 2012
MV Guide is a weekly rundown of the MMO gaming events planned on Massively TV. Every week, the Massively staff logs in to play various MMOs live and in person, and we'd love for you to drop by the channel and visit. We have a combination of regular weekly games and new surprises, so you'll find a variety of titles to take a look at. During our streamed events, you can participate in the live chat, ask questions to learn about the game, and simply spend some time with Massively staff and readers. (Of course, streaming is subject to the whims of outside forces like server-side gremlins once in a while.) Follow along after the jump to see what's on this week's schedule!
Flameseeker Chronicles: Efficient Hall of Monuments progress
Guild Wars 2 is drawing ever closer. It may not feel like it sometimes, but it's getting nearer each day. A lot of fans are easing the pain of the wait by playing through Guild Wars 1 in an effort to beef up their Hall of Monuments scores for the day GW2 arrives. The Hall of Monuments in GW might only award titles and cosmetic goodies, but we gamers do love our shinies, so lots of people are diving into present-day Tyria to make some HoM progress while they wait for GW2. I posted a series of Hall of Monuments guides almost a year and a half ago, and while most of it has stood the test of time very well, I want to revisit it. The reason I want to do this is to smooth the path a little more. So many people are still coming into Guild Wars for this reason, and starting from scratch with such an enormous goal can make a lot of them throw in the towel. Thankfully, ArenaNet has added some features into the game in the past few years that can make your Hall of Monuments progress more "hare" and less "tortoise," with the same prizes at the end. They all work together so you can get the most of your travels through Tyria in a much shorter time. This one's for the min-maxers, so follow along to read about three simple things you can keep an eye on to speed up your HoM progress!
Guild Wars is giving players another shot at hats
If you're up in New England, you may be one of the millions of people who got to experience an extra-spooky Halloween this year in light of the complete lack of power to your home. And among the many other problems you faced, you weren't able to take part in the finale of the holiday event for Guild Wars and couldn't obtain your free hat. While the developers behind the game won't replace all of your spoiled food, they are giving players a second shot at getting a hat. If you're wondering how you get hats, the post announcing the extension helpfully explains that they're obtained in exchange for Halloween items traded to a special hat vendor NPC being spawned in Lion's Arch and Kamadan. Said hat vendor will be in town most likely some time next week and will remain in place for about a week, giving everyone a chance at a special holiday hat -- albeit a little belated.
ArenaNet blog focuses on the Krait
Arenanet has updated its blog with a new post featuring the serpentine Krait race. Guild Wars players will be familiar with the shape-shifting creatures, but the blog post delves into detail beyond what most players would likely know (that is, how to make them dead). The piece details how the Krait are fond of keeping humans trapped inside great obelisks in the middle of the sea until they are ready to be sacrificed in one of the Krait's dark religious ceremonies (how messed up is that?) and more, including specifics on their society, religion, and dwellings. Also included is behind-the-scenes information from the team regarding why it has chosen to further develop the lore of this "unapologetically evil" race for Guild Wars 2.
Guild Wars 2 character artist talks costume design
One of the most prominent features of Guild Wars has always been its beautiful art style. That reputation carried over seamlessly as information about Guild Wars 2 began surfacing last year -- it was clear that the Tyria of the future would be just as gorgeous as the one we know today. One of the members of the talented team of artists at ArenaNet is Kristen Perry, the Guild Wars 2 character artist. Even if you don't know it, you're familiar with her work which she began for ArenaNet with Factions armor design, creating the majority of the Kurzick NPC clothing as well as some Ritualist and Assassin armor. In Nightfall, she designed all of the Elementalist armor as well as the most of the armor for the other professions. She's also responsible for all of Gwen's armor -- even the outfit in the Bonus Mission Pack, and her handiwork can even be seen throughout the game in the character models themselves. Kristen's no stranger to Tyria, and designing for Guild Wars 2 opened the door for a brand new series of challenges and opportunities to design something completely new. In the latest entry in the ArenaNet blog, she tells all about her latest project. Follow along after the jump to see what she had to say.
Guild Wars Community Manager talks War in Kryta
The War in Kryta campaign has garnered an incredible amount of attention from the Guild Wars community, at first because of the mystery surrounding the OBEY and DISMANTLE flyers. As time passed and it became increasingly clear that this would help bridge the gap between Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2, it became an even hotter topic among the fanbase. New content in game, talk on the forums, and a Facebook campaign all combined to make this the most exciting thing that's happened to Guild Wars in quite a while. We got the opportunity to chat with Community Manager Regina Buenaobra about War in Kryta, the latest round of costumes in game, and what's coming next for Guild Wars. Follow along after the jump to see what she had to say!
Guild Wars releases long-awaited skill update
We were told last week it was coming, but the huge Guild Wars skill balance that has been long promised finally arrived last night. The Guild Wars Live Team and Test Krewe have been working on this one for quite a while, in part because of the size and significance of the update. The unusual length of time was also partially because they were striving to address some underlying issues rather than just swinging the nerfbat at a few choice skills, only to create a new flavor of the month build to take over. While the changes to Shadow Form and the entire concept of invulnerability are creating the loudest buzz at the moment, they weren't the only things to get a look over by any means. This is one of the largest skill updates ever to come to Guild Wars, and the update notes were released at the same time as a developer update elaborating on the thought processes behind many of the changes. Watch for this Monday's Flameseeker Chronicles, when we'll take a more in depth look at the update.
Flameseeker Chronicles: It's all Kun Shao's fault
The Xunlai Tournament House in Guild Wars was a great idea in theory. Once favor was no longer tied to PvP, it served as an excellent incentive to keep PvE only players involved in the other half of the game. All players -- whether actively participating in the tournament or not -- could make predictions on the outcomes of the monthly 1 vs. 1 and Guild vs. Guild matches. Points were distributed based on the accuracy of the predictions, then traded to Tolkano for prizes, usually Zaishen Keys. Players responded very well to the concept, with many purchasing second, third, and even fourth accounts to snap up more Tournament Reward Points each month. The Zaishen title helped fuel the enthusiasm, and ZKeys soon rivaled Globs of Ectoplasm in value, even briefly becoming another alternate currency in game. All good things must come to an end, though.
The Digital Continuum: 'Meh' to MMOs?
While the MMO genre appears to be growing at a decent pace (at least for Blizzard) there's still plenty of room for growth. World of Warcraft clones can attract only so many interested players and turning to classic niche designs such as the sandbox MMO ala Fallen Earth won't do anything to pique the interest of people who otherwise have no interest in the genre. So what will appeal to someone who has never felt a desire to play a game both massively and multiplayer?
Flameseeker Chronicles: Keeping an old game new
"Guild Wars is an old game." As the game approaches its fifth birthday and Guild Wars 2 continues production, that's a phrase you'll hear more and more. While it's true that the game has been around for a while now, age doesn't necessarily equal stale or boring. On the contrary, it means you've got an established game with an experienced development team behind it, and they've had time to work out all those bugs, kinks, and emergency patches that are so common in new games. Even better, you've got a strong player base that knows their way around. The largest factor in what makes a game fun for you is your attitude and outlook, so let's take a look at some ways to keep from falling into the trap of assuming there's nothing left for you to do in Guild Wars.
