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Global Agenda: Year one retrospective and interview
What a difference a year makes, eh? Round about February of 2010, Hi-Rez Studios was an unknown indie developer gearing up to unleash a newfangled "spy-fi" shooter on an unsuspecting populace. Fast forward 12 months and Global Agenda has morphed from a relatively standard Team Fortress-style kill-'em-all to an actual MMO. Killing is still the order of the day, as few MMOs are so completely focused on fast-paced bloodletting, but Global Agenda has added an impressive amount of bulk over the past year, with more on the way. Hi-Rez also managed to successfully change the game's business model in 2010 and ultimately ended up molding Global Agenda into one of our favorite MMOs. Suit up, grab your crescent jetpacks, and fly past the cut for a few reasons why as well as a look at the game's evolution to date. There's even an interview with Hi-Rez's Todd Harris on page two!
Global Agenda extends free time from launch, commits to new features in coming months
"We want to earn your subscription." Those are the words spoken by Todd Harris in today's Global Agenda newsletter just before he revealed the upcoming features and additions being made to the action-based MMORTS shooter... game... hybrid... thing. To show their commitment, the studio will be extending their free subscription period from the end of February all the way to the end of March while they make more tweaks and enhancements to the game. By the end of February players will have the ability to select the PvP match types they want to play from the mission select feature (as it was in Closed Beta,) and Hi-Rez Studios will be introducing an in-game friends/ignore list -- one of the game's most requested features. More AvA zones will also be added, giving Oceanic players and European players some territory to fight over during their prime play times.
First Impressions: Global Agenda
Global Agenda. This game has been successful in causing quite a stir on our website. It seems almost every single story we do on the game anymore turns into the inevitable "this isn't an MMO" debate. We've even tried to give the MMORTS part of it more of a perspective in past articles, but that's neither here nor there. This article isn't about the game or if it's an MMO -- it's about how this game plays. So, is Global Agenda a worthy investment for the MMOer? Is it a worthy investiment for the FPS nut? Can a game that's a hybrid of so many genres work as well as its creators say it works? Those are all excellent questions and they're also questions that we're going to answer today. %Gallery-84790%
Global Agenda multiplayer Conquest Mode launches today
Global Agenda launched yesterday, to the delight of many fans -- including our very own Shawn and Sera. However, that was just the beginning of the launch week festivities. Conquest mode launches today, offering all players free access until March 3rd of this year. This is a great opportunity to explore this massively multiplayer feature, take part in some Agency vs. Agency battles, and see if it's for you or not. The first zones opened today at 12pm US Eastern time, with two open zones (Obelisk and Echelon) in the UK and three (Sovereign, Citadel and Warlord) in the United States. Because the workings of Conquest can feel a bit intimidating and overwhelming to new players, particularly with so much else to learn, Global Agenda is helping players make the most of their free time by offering the developer video diary we showed you earlier in the week with an overview of Conquest. Take a look at it to gain some helpful tips before you dive in, and be sure to check out the new exclusive AvA screenshots in our gallery! %Gallery-35351%
We have an agenda: Global Agenda launch day coverage and play with Massively event
The cat's out of the bag! Or perhaps the spies are out of their hexes? Either way, Global Agenda has gone into official launch mode today! We here at Massively can't help to celebrate by looking back at our past coverage of Global Agenda, as we watched the game go from a little team-based TPS to the MMORTS that it is today. If you like commanding, or if you just like shooting people with hi-tech guns, then this might be the game for you! In any case, we promised you an event to go along with the launch! Tonight, jump in to Global Agenda at 8 PM EST to meet up with Shawn Schuster (Agent Name: Ampersand, Medic) and Seraphina Brennan (Agent Name: Seraphina, Recon!). Both editors will be commanding their own PvP strike teams and will be launching into the queues head first. By the way, don't forget your headset -- it makes team building so much easier. If you don't have one, no worries, just be ready to play. So, without any further delay, let's take a trip down memory lane and look back at the best of our Global Agenda coverage...
Global Agenda video diary details AvA battles
Hi-Rez Studios released a new Global Agenda video developer diary today, and Senior Game Designer Scott Zier promises that it's the first in a series all about Conquest. This first video serves as an introduction to the concept of Conquest and Agency vs. Agency battles. Zier narrates the video, giving an overview of how things work all the way from the basics of zone open hours to simple battle strategy. He continues by giving a play-by-play of sorts of a battle between two neighboring Agencies in order to demonstrate how it all comes together. While the series will presumably become more detailed and cover specific topics as things progress, this serves as a great first look at how Conquest works in the world of Global Agenda. We've included the video after the cut, so follow along and take a look for yourself. Thanks to Scott and the rest of the Global Agenda team, and we look forward to the next one!
Global Agenda tier one and tier two blueprints revealed
Craftable loot is always important business, and in Global Agenda it's no different. There are always some neat surprises waiting for those who are willing to gather some items, do some research, and get to work in the fabrication chambers. Xzaph over at the HexAgenda fansite has put together a pretty comprehensive screenshot list of Global Agenda's tier one and tier two blueprint offerings, confirming that there are a few more tricks in those crafting recipes than people have believed. Did you know that you can craft yourself a small squadron of androids to watch your back as pets, or put together a mini-nuke to completely wipe away any resistance within 200 feet? Beyond being able to build those types of tricks in battle, it seems that there's also an item that must be crafted before your agency can take over a specific region -- the Sovereign Forge -- which may lead to us seeing more "key" items appearing down the road in Alliance vs. Alliance, should the Forge work out.
Global Agenda early start and preorder bonuses detailed
You've gotten all the news and updates, and you've even gotten a handy guide to conquest mode for Global Agenda. If you're ever going to be ready for Hi-Rez Studio's high-action game, it's now. So it's no coincidence that we've gotten news on the game's pre-purchase options, as well as the early start details for all players and the chance to reserve your character name prior to the February 1st launch date. After all, if you've gotten the game via Steam, don't you want to just download and start playing right away? That little grayed-out name is mocking you. The latest newsletter details the early start, which will allow players to reach Level 10, reserve their character name, and unlock special pre-order items. It's also the only chance that pre-order players will have to claim their No Elves Flair and Commonwealth Helmet. Luckily, it's easy to hop in between January 28th and January 31st, and take a little time to start playing the game and forming Agencies. Beta players will also get the option to keep their character name during the transition to Live, although not their levels or data. Good news all around for Global Agenda fans.
Anti-Aliased: One massive agenda
So, I'll be honest, I had a completely different idea for a column this week. But reading over the comments on yesterday's launch trailer for Global Agenda got me thinking: Why is there so much ado about the nature of an MMO? Why are so many fixated on the 10 vs 10 nature of Global Agenda and not the bigger picture of what the game has to offer? Why do we scoff at the idea of 100 person instances when it was designed to give the player more flexibility? Today, I want to play the devil's advocate, as I do in so many of my opinion columns. I want to take on the defense of Global Agenda as an MMO title, and I think I have enough evidence to prove that it's massive -- just not in the way you normally consider MMOs to be massive. And, personally, I think this is only good news for the industry at large. If you guys wish to comment on this edition of Anti-Aliased, please comment of page 2 of the article, as always! Your comments are always well received!
FAQ That: All about Global Agenda's Conquest mode
So what exactly makes Global Agenda cross the border from persistent FPS to full on MMO? Conquest, my friends! Conquest. And now that the NDA has been lifted, we're free to tell you all about this agency only mode. Global Agenda: Conquest mode is the game's take on a real-time strategy game versus an FPS. Your alliance of agencies can take ownership of the Global Agenda world and lay claim to valuable resources to build agent modifications, weapons of mass destruction, and even more fun little tools. But you must guard your territory carefully, as other alliances will have the option to siege your land, forcing you into battles for domination of the map. But how does Conquest mode work? What do you need to do to take advantage of this feature of the spy-fi shooter? Glad you asked! It's time for you to FAQ That!
