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Guild Wars 2 requests input on guild halls
ArenaNet Design Director Chris Whiteside has given a glimmer of hope to Guild Wars 2 fans hungry for more and better private spaces in the game. Earlier this week, he posed a broad question to the community about how it'd like to see guild halls implemented -- assuming, of course, they are ever to be implemented. ArenaNet has previously stated that it'd like to include guild halls but wasn't actively working on them. Whiteside isn't making any promises either, but it's likely a big hint all the same. Personal housing was rumored prior to 2012's launch but has since been ostensibly supplanted by weakly upgradeable home instances. Guild Wars 2's elder sibling, Guild Wars, featured decadent instanced guild halls with both PvP and PvE accoutrements. Massively's Anatoli Ingram wrote about housing mechanics in the two games earlier this year.
Jukebox Heroes: Meridian 59's soundtrack
There's a lot of general distaste and dislike out there for video game music that comes in MIDI or chipset form. Many gamers have simply never really experienced eras when the sound for computers and consoles were limited in such ways, so to go back to listen to them seems downright painful. For MMO players, there are only a handful of games that came out during the MIDI era, and pretty much all of them have since updated to MP3 versions. Yet I have a fondness for older-style game music. I agree with what Ryan Shwayder once wrote when he said, "I think MIDI composers had to become masters of capturing the real core or heart of what made a song feel right. They had to take a minimalist approach to the song because they had a limited number of channels and potential sounds to work with. And it is my belief that some of the best creative works come out when an artist has to work within constraints." That said, most of Meridian 59's soundtrack out there is of the remastered variety, so that's what we'll be listening to today. By the way, the original soundtrack by Composer Gene M. Rozenberg is available on the official website for free!
The Daily Grind: Are guild halls or player houses more important?
Having a place to call your own in MMOs is quite important to some players -- myself included. Housing can be a great place to unwind, to socialize, and to make one's stamp upon the game world. Yet I was wondering: If it came down to a choice, is it more important for MMOs to have guild halls or player houses? Titles like Guild Wars, City of Heroes, and DDO have provided facilities for guilds but not the individual. There's an element of collaboration and group customization, not to mention that having a guild hall provides a great place for everyone to get together to party. But personal housing is, well, personal. Everyone gets their own say in putting together the perfect pocket dimension. On the other hand, player houses don't tend to be the centerpiece of the social scene. If you had to pick -- and no, "both" is not an answer today -- which is more important? 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!
7 wishes for guilds in Mists of Pandaria
Every Monday, Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership. He is the author of The Guild Leader's Handbook, available now from No Starch Press. For officers, the improvements and new systems that Cataclysm brought to guilds were a game-changer in many ways. The sweeping changes to raiding that came with it brought on some difficult challenges. Fortunately, WoW does not stagnate. The Mists of Pandaria expansion gives Blizzard a chance to add new features, make important changes, and improve on what the developers gave us in Cataclysm. Here's my personal wish list: 1. Treat legendary items as guild rewards, not player rewards. As guilds in WoW have matured over the years, I've heard from officers less and less frequently about loot drama -- with one huge exception: legendaries. Every legendary in the history of WoW has caused problems for officers. For some, the legendary drama itself has become legendary. It's time to change both the reality and the perception of these powerful items.
EverQuest cracks the door wider to peek in on Veil of Alaris concept art
While November is still a ways off, EverQuest players have a lot to be excited for as the title's 18th expansion bakes in Sony Online Entertainment's creative ovens. Today, the company has released three new pieces of concept art -- along with a wireframe model -- to give us more of an idea of what to expect out of Veil of Alaris. The art shows off some of the structures of Alaris, including a costal town and various towers, as well as the mysterious inhabitants of the lands. Alaris will consist of 12 new zones, half of which are raid zones. In addition to Alaris itself, the expansion will feature a level cap increase to 95 and a welcome revamp of the guild hall system. There will also be more armor sets, a cultural armor tier, and the ability to resize hotbars. You can check out all of the concept art goodness in the gallery below! %Gallery-128419%
RuneScape launches Clan Citadels
Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird... it's a plane... it's a... floating castle? If you're one of RuneScape's legions of players, you might be waking up to just that sight today. Jagex's golden child has released its Clan Citadel update, and with it the ability to move into one of these sky castles. Just pray that the anti-gravity generators don't fail. Clan Citadels are meant to be a pumped-up version of other MMOs' guild halls, a place where clans can congregate and party when not slaughtering everything in sight. There are four variants of castles, each of which can be customized to your heart's content and upgraded through seven tiers. These citadels aren't just for show, but for hardcore use: Each comes with a battleground editor that allows you and your clan to create a tailored combat scenario, including capture-the-flag, to compete with other clans. RuneScape VP Daniel Clough says that this will make the game the toast of the town: "We have been looking for a unique and innovative way to provide new multiplayer features to the game, and we are hugely excited to see what the community makes of this update."
RuneScape's Clan Citadels puts game design in the hands of players
Last week, we brought you the news that browser-based fantasy MMO RuneScape would be introducing clan citadels in its next expansion. We heard that these customisable castles in the sky would feature a tier-based progression system, but until now we didn't know what the actual castles would look like or if any kind of new gameplay would come with them. Jagex has just revealed that the expansion's gameplay element is potentially as huge and revolutionary as their massive Dungeons of Daemonheim update. The new floating castles act as meeting places for clans, and will contain exclusive skill-training areas for woodcutting, mining and other skills. Working on the clan's skill plots will add resources to upgrade the castle and pay for its upkeep, but may provide slightly less experience gain than traditional skill-training areas. Customisable clan battlefields provide a sandbox map editor tool, letting clans design and build their own battlegrounds and minigames. Players will be able to design their own arenas and gameplay for the first time in RuneScape's ten year history, creating anything from capture the flag style matches and monster hunts to basic clan versus clan PvP battles. Perhaps the most exciting part of the feature is the ability for clan members to invite other players to try their games and challenge rival clans to competitive battleground matches. The expansion launches on 26th July. Skip past the cut to watch the official clan citadel trailer and get a sneak peek at the castle's in-game visuals.
The Game Archaeologist sees The Shadow of Yserbius
Really, I blame my parents for not being filthy rich. If they were, we could've afforded the $130/month unlimited subscription fee to the ImagiNation Network (INN) back in the early '90s. Just think! All of the gaming, the socializing, and the roleplaying that you could handle -- for such a low price! I mean, sure, there were hourly options, but who'd want to play for a mere five hours a month? So instead of becoming part of a growing online community, I had to be content with my SNES and copy of Chrono Trigger -- hard times, indeed. Sometimes I think how my life would've been different if we had subscribed to Sierra's colorful online world, because I would've had a chance to get in on one of the first graphical MMOs: The Shadow of Yserbius. It was a step forward in graphic quality from the text-only MUDs of the day but perhaps a step backward from the complexity that many MUDs brought to the table. Still, for a few shining years, it entranced thousands who lined up to delve dungeons deeply alongside their friends (and a couple of complete strangers with odor disorders). Today we're going to take a quick peek at one of the first MMOs that stepped into the realm of lush color and animations and see what made The Shadow of Yserbius so enduring.
Flameseeker Chronicles: Sharing the love
It's been a busy week in Guild Wars 2 news! Some might argue that point because of the lack of big reveals, but a large number of little details can be just as good as one or two huge unveilings. I think the real problem is that we're at a point in the cycle right now when everyone's feeling weary of the endless road toward launch. There's no definitive end in sight; maybe this year, maybe next year, who knows. That feeling comes and goes -- it's been a regular part of the hype for a very long time now. Sometimes the fans just go into a lull because they're tired of the whole mess and all they really want is a closed beta window. I'm hearing quite a bit of that in the community lately and even feeling a little of it myself, but since it's usually followed by a big upswing of excitement among the fans, I'm looking forward to what the coming weeks will bring. For the time being, though, follow along after the jump and let's look at we learned this week.
Guild Wars 2 is skill-based, says lead designer
Although Guild Wars 2 has had many reveals lately, much of the game is still shrouded in mystery, and ArenaNet has generally remained tight-lipped about specific game information. However, in a recent interview with Guild-Hall.cz, Lead Designer Eric Flannum did let fans in on a few tidbits. A concern for a lot of players is skill vs. level. Flannum revealed that skill will play a significant role in Guild Wars 2 and clarified it by saying, "For really large level spreads of say 10 or more levels, then the gear and raw power of the character is going to be a huge factor. When you are talking about smaller level differences then skill plays a very large role." Given the more action-based combat mechanics of the game, we think this makes a lot of sense. In a related question, Flannum was asked about the quality of dropped gear vs. crafted gear. "It will be possible to craft items that are comparable in power to the best items available through drops and other rewards," he assured readers. For the whole interview with Flannum and designers Jon Peters, Jeff Grubb, Colin Johanson, and Ree Soesbee, hop to Guild-Hall.cz.
Forsaken World details floating guild halls
There are guild halls and there are guild halls, and Forsaken World's recently announced command centers are definitely the latter. Perfect World Entertainment has detailed the nifty new floating guild base feature coming to its free-to-play fantasy MMO in a new blog entry on the game's official website. Obtaining (and maintaining) one of the command centers is no easy task, but it looks to be a rewarding one since the facilities will generate income for your guild via entrance fees and will house personal merchants and workshops. Construction materials must be obtained through daily quests and events, and PWE indicates that the guild bases can grow into sprawling social and mercantile hubs given enough time and effort. "The layout of these command centers is vast and multi storied. Your guild's base will have plenty of room to expand and grow. With enough dedication, a command center can be something of a miniature city in its own right," says the blog.
The Tattered Notebook: Merge this!
Server mergers are coming this week to EverQuest II, and with it come some serious questions about what stays, what goes, and who gets stuck with a name with a lousy X at the end. But sometimes mergers are a good thing, and I think since we're on the subject, it's worth looking at what else could be merged in the world of Norrath. In this week's Tattered Notebook, I'll consider how merging tokens, towns, classes, gods, guild halls and more could benefit EQII. Join me past the cut!
Neverland Online introduces guild hall system
Second icon to the right, and straight on till morning, or so the log-in instructions for Neverland Online go. For fans of the MMO, OPI Games is pleased to announce a new guild hall system that not only offers housing, but a communal focus for building the structure. Guilds will need to work together to complete three different types of quests to contribute to their guild activity, which may then be used to increase the size and function of the guild hall. Ordinary quests are free to pick up, and require the standard "kill 10 rats" objectives that MMO players are used to doing. If guildies want to increase their activity levels, they can fork over silver and gold for Important and Mystery quests, respectively, for a bigger bump in contributions. Once the guild hall is upgraded enough, Neverland Online players can purchase gear from the guild mall that they can't find anywhere else. The guild hall system comes on the heels of a whole slew of game updates that landed last month.
Blizzard comments on the status of guild housing
The topic of player housing continues to crop up as a question on the official forums. Blizzard has stated that guild halls or guild housing will not to be included in the game (at least, not any time soon). According to Bornakk: While this originally came up before I was around, I think this has been answered at some BlizzCons since then. While we think this could be a fun idea, we also like the idea of seeing a lot of people in cities and don't want to make main cities feel like ghost towns - if you need an example of this head to Silvermoon (yeah, that's a cheap shot, I know). So for now this idea remains an interesting idea but we'd have to make sure it fits into the game well and meets our expectations which are pretty high for something like this. The last game I participated in which had guild housing was Guild Wars. Inside, it stored various mementos and trinkets from different epic quests or sigils that my guild had won in the Hall of Heroes (and this was a long time ago, mind you). But that was it! There wasn't much to do from a PvE standpoint. I think we had our own vendor and a "Guild Lord" (someone like Drek or Vanndar Stormpike in Alterac Valley). Later versions of the game had guilds attacking other guilds on their turf. The guild hall in this respect played a huge PvP component the game because the hall you selected would also be your home base complete with various terrain advantages and defenses if you were "attacked" by other guilds. Now that would be cool. Unfortunately, there just doesn't seem to be a purpose to having a guild hall in the game. However, I'm not going to completely discount the idea. Just because the developers have said they're ruling it out now doesn't mean it won't be included later in the future. Players continued to ask about flying around in the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor, right? All it takes is a new expansion, but at least we're getting it. I'm shotgunning the Beer Garden.
All the World's a Stage: The art of the alt
All the World's a Stage, and all the orcs and humans merely players. They have their stories and their characters; and one player in his time plays many roles.With all the talk lately about starting new characters once the Cataclysm arrives, it struck me that most roleplayers already have more than one, including myself. Like most players, I started with one, a night elf druid, and focused on playing that exclusively for quite some time. It didn't really occur to me that I would even want to play more than one.Then, I began to notice that other people played more than one character, even within the same small group of friends. I had one friend in particular who had mastered the art of roleplaying multiple characters. She never said anything out of character to anyone in our group, and it took me ages to even realize that her characters were ally played by the same person in the first place. Each one had its own personality, and each had a different relationship with all our mutual friends. Knowing her made something click inside my mind, and I began to see other possibilities for myself too, other sorts of characters I could play with different weaknesses, strengths, and entirely different stories to tell. As my roleplaying experience grew, I began to feel as though one character couldn't contain all the ideas I had jumbling about in my head, so... I started another one, then another, and ... another. Little did I know all the pitfalls I could run into with so many characters, nor the quirky little tricks that could become possible with multiple characters, a small group of friends, and a bit of creativity.
All the World's a Stage: Out of Character
All the World's a Stage. It really is. All the World of Warcraft is a actually a stage -- and all its orcs and humans merely players, each one with a role to play.When people hear about roleplayers in WoW for the first time, some get the impression that we take our little game of "let's pretend" way too seriously, that everything we do in the game has to be some sort of mind-blowing expression of our innermost true feelings. But the truth of the matter is that only a portion of what we do in the game involves stories and character -- a lot of what we do and say to other players is not "in character" at all. In fact, our out-of-character (OOC) communication is essential in order to properly enjoy the in-character (IC) elements, and good roleplayers do a lot of cool things to help make both sides complement each other.Much of what roleplayer does is out of character, and rightly so. Even just pushing buttons in order to activate abilities could be considered "OOC" -- in a way, the only character you can ever totally immerse yourself in is... yourself. Any time you play a role that isn't yourself, there's always some part you which is there in the background, knowing that it's all just a show. You can't really ignore your true self -- you have to let it guide and inform every part of the role you play.The same is true when roleplaying in WoW. Roleplay is strengthened when you open up and accept OOC communication with others, establish real relationships in addition to those your characters create. Actors in a play have to support each other as real people or their play will fail, and in the same way, the honest communication we open up with our roleplaying friends can sometimes be what defines our roleplaying experience and gives it true meaning.
All the World's a Stage: The guild hall
All the World's a Stage brings you the latest ideas and suggestions about roleplaying in the World of Warcraft.One of the greatest problems people have with roleplaying in WoW is that the game has a tendency to spread people out all over Azeroth working towards disparate goals, and that makes it hard to sustain a roleplaying environment. Roleplayers can gather together in a meeting place of some sort in order to roleplay, but doing this every time isn't feasible -- inevitably, we want to go questing, get loot, and actually play the game too, all in different places.So the majority of roleplayers join roleplaying guilds of one sort or another, and use the regular guild chat channel as their default in-character roleplaying channel which people can participate in no matter what they're doing in the rest of the world. Most guilds tend to imagine that their hearthstones (or some imaginary gnomish device) can act as walkie-talkies of sorts and allow everyone to communicate over great distances, no matter where they are.Today, however, I will share with you some of the ways this solution falls short, and take a look at a better way to make roleplaying work in a guild, no matter what level you are or what you want to do with your game time. This idea can seem strange at first, but in the end it can provide many roleplaying opportunities -- allowing you to alternately build your RP stories, build up your character's levels, gold, or gear, or do all of these at the same time.
What you need to know about The Shadow Odyssey
The Shadow Odyssey, EverQuest II's fifth expansion, is not just the usual bump to the level cap, a couple of new raids, and a reset for all the armor you already got. It's none of those things. What SOE has done with this expansion is go through the level 50 to level 80 portion of the game and say, let's make an expansion that has something for pretty much everyone. Let's make an expansion where even if no upgrades drop, you can be working toward some awesome stuff just by playing.The original EverQuest started out as a supremely casual and social game. It was the players that pushed SOE to make the game more raid focused, but sometime after the heavily raid-oriented Planes of Power expansion, the casual players asked when they'd get an expansion for them. SOE came out with the Lost Dungeons of Norrath, which offered three or four variants at each of six dungeons, meant for single groups of averagely-equipped players. The difficulty and mission type could be selected, and every time you completed a mission, you got points with which you could buy hard-to-find spells, armor of near raid quality, adornments which would push that armor into the quality of raid gear, and some cool stuff only available through the LDoN merchants.The Shadow Odyssey is EverQuest II's Lost Dungeons of Norrath -- and more. Click on through to see why TSO might be the best EQ2 expansion yet. Well met, fellow Norrathian! Make sure to check out all of our coverage of the next EverQuest II expansion, The Shadow Odyssey as well as Seeds of Destruction, the next expansion to EverQuest!
New Book 12 screens released by Turbine
The Book 12 content patch for the Lord of the Rings Online is on the test server and Turbine has dropped a few tantalizing hints of what's in store. They released brand new screenshots covering three of the many features being implemented in this patch: Amarthiel's redesign, new boss-dropped trophy decorations and the outfit system.If you've gone through the Book 10 epic quest line, you'll know Amarthiel well. She's the sorceress with the palanitr you had to track down with the aid of crazy Sara Oakheart. The three screenshots provided show a new and improved Amarthiel in all her megalomaniacal glory.The housing decoration options shown in four of the screenies are the new trophies that will be dropping from Middle-earth's boss mobs in Book 12. These trophies can then be displayed in the players house or, more likely, the Guild Hall. We can see so far a mannequin holding up a suit of armor, two swords mounted on a wall, an outdoor trophy in the shape of a monument and, finally a head on a pike (or the Elven babe lounging on the bed, we're not sure which one is the prize).The new cosmetic outfits that your character can put over their battle gear are also on display in six screenshots. They spotlight many different races and classes and now they no longer looking like patchwork dolls. Some of these new clothes will be crafted, other items can be vendor purchased. If you look closely at the the picture of the Elf outside the Guild Hall, you'll see one of the new quiver models on his back.When this patch goes live it will only be a matter of time before we see the first screenshot of a raid party confronting the Balrog in pretty pink dresses.%Gallery-14799%
Home on the Barrens
Ever since I first explored Stormwind and saw that huge instance portal behind bars in the Canal District, I've been waiting for the day that housing would be added to WoW. Oddly enough, I'm not the only one wishing we had a place to call our own. Anthony on Idle Chatter says that player housing has worked well in LotRO and SWG, and wants to see it implemented into WoW. He brings up the instanced housing districts as an idea, an idea that makes a huge amount of sense, considering the instance portals are already set up. He proposes that there are two solutions to the housing issue, guild housing and player housing. In this scenario each would be an alternative spot to hearth to, and in the case of the guild housing, one would be able to read the Trade Channel within your dwelling.As much as I love the idea of creating my own house for my characters, the one thing I noticed about the housing in EQII for instance that I did not like was the solitude. I much prefer the supergroup base concept from City of Heroes, where more than one person can enjoy it. In my mind, I would love to see guild housing with real world locations, so that much like Anarchy Online, the PvP element comes in and you can siege an opposing faction's guild lair. Wouldn't it add an additional element of risk to know that when you flag for PvP your guild hall is flagged as well? There is a lot that can be done beyond the traditional "this is where I keep my stuff, and those trophies no one will ever see" sort of housing concept. What good is a trophy if you can't show it off to passersby?
