kyle-horner
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DDO's Update 11 arises with the artful Artificer
Today marks the latest evolution of Dungeons and Dragons Online, as Update 11: Secrets of the Artificers went live on the servers and the steampunk community collectively lost its composure. Update 11 adds a completely new high-level quest hub called House Cannith, where players can adventure out into a new wilderness area, dive into a trio of dungeons, tackle a pair of raids, and finish off the day with a trip to House Cannith's famed crafting hall. The cornerstone of this massive patch is the addition of the Artificer class, a steampunk-infused hybrid ranged damage-dealer with a snazzy look that would fit in fine at any geek convention in the world. To celebrate the advent of the Artificer, Turbine's Kyle Horner and Steve Muray sat down to compose a back-and-forth dev diary about the development and dark secrets concerning the class. The duo thinks that it will appeal to trigger-happy players who love their "pew pew." VIP players (subscribers) can start enjoying the new content today, but the rest of the playerbase is going to have to wait until the 15th to purchase the class and quest content from the DDO store.
Exploring Eberron: DDO 101 and why it's still needed
Dungeons and Dragons Online is an old game. I'm not saying that in a negative context -- if a game has been around for a long time, that means it's had time to work through the bumps in the road that come with launch and the first six months or so, as well as to build a strong community of players. DDO recently celebrated its fifth anniversary, so it's one of those MMOs that's had time to settle, grow, and become established as a reliable game. This is a great thing with one downside: A long-running game has a tendency to run short on content for new players, both in and out of game. This isn't due to any deliberate oversight or desire to exclude on behalf of the development team or the community; it's just that over time, the majority of the community naturally shifts to high-level and endgame content. It makes sense to focus largely on content and news directed at the largest part of the community in order to keep them interested -- and spending. However, that new community still exists. Due in large part to the organic nature of MMOs, the new community continues to exist even as new players advance, learn, and become veteran players. New players (hopefully) are constantly arriving, and game mechanics and content are constantly shifting and updating. Ideally, there is always a part of the paying customer base that is new and confused. Follow along after the jump to see why this is on my mind this week and what Turbine is doing about it.
Three years of Massively: Celebrating the alumni
Over the past three years, we've seen plenty of faces come and go through the doors of Massively. I can honestly say that I'm proud of the current team and it's been a pleasure working with such a diverse crowd since I started. Some former writers went on to work in the industry itself, either on the community or development side of things. We wanted to spotlight those Massively alumni with this article detailing their accomplishments. As an added bonus, a few of the former staffers answered some questions regarding their new gig. Follow along for more!
Massively's top 5 original features for 2009
Not only are we here at Massively passionate about covering the news, but we also deliver on unique and original content. We're out in the trenches interviewing developers, talking about our favorite games, getting inside our games and meeting the community, and giving you our perspectives on the MMO industry. Sometimes you agree with us, sometimes you don't, but we'll keep writing as long as you guys lend us your support and keep reading. This year was a real breakout year for our original content as we had a bunch of our features rock the traffic charts higher than our news. So, in the spirit of a banner year, it's time to run down the list and name our top five features for 2009. Once again, we're presenting the article in gallery-vision (TM), so be sure to jump on in by clicking the link below or clicking the first image in the gallery below that. If you wish to comment, drop back by this post (not the gallery) and leave your comment in the white comment box below. Massively's top news stories of 2009>> %Gallery-81266%
The Daily Grind: Got Champions Online questions?
We've done three features packed to the brim with information about Champions Online's beta, but we'd like to answer some of your questions directly. So, if you were unable to find an answer to that niggling question of yours, this is the place to ask it! Today is recording day for the Massively Speaking podcast, and this particular blogger will be on the show answering as many of your questions as possible -- at least until Shawn Schuster kicks him off in a fit of rage.In case you hadn't seen them yet, we covered character creation, combat intricacies and the first five levels of the game experience. Still, we're quite sure that many of you have burning questions yet to be answered. Just promise us you won't ask us to pick a favorite power framework, because that's just too hard a choice for anyone to make.
Meet the Team: Kyle Horner
Once a week our writers will give you a glimpse into their lives, to let you get to know them and the characters they play a little better. Click here to read more Meet the Team.What do you do for Massively.com?As a news monkey - aka blogger -- I'm responsible for rubbing two neurons together in my head and making posts. In addition to that, I also put together a weekly column, The Digital Continuum. That's my regular thing, but you'll probably see interviews or other forms of one-off features on the site from me as well. And I'm also the fellow who puts together those nifty little images you see along the right of the website.Massively is more or less a full-time thing for me, and I love every minute of it. Well, expect when we're electroshocked. That part stings.%Gallery-33889%
One Shots: Choppa madness!
With the Choppas and Slayers running crazy in Warhammer Online, you can imagine what the different areas have been like - or you'd have to imagine if you weren't here! Luckily for us, Massively's very own resident screenshot fiend, Kyle Horner, caught a screenshot of the action when he started his own Choppa in Warhammer Online and passed it along for us to enjoy today. Kyle reports back: yesterday was the very first day players who completed the Bitter Rivals event were able to play the Choppa career. As you can imagine, many of the quest zones and particularly the early public quests looked a lot like this. Scenarios were also full of the chop-happy Orc players swinging about wildly. All-in-all, it was a pretty awesome day. Hey WAR players - we want to see your shots of carnage! Just email your screenshots to us at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the game it's from, and a quick note about what we're seeing. We'll post it here and give you the credit for sending it in.%Gallery-9798%
One Shots: Just out for a ride
Sometimes, there's just nothing as relaxing as taking a ride around the countryside in your favorite game. Unless, of course, you're a Shaman or Death Knight in World of Warcraft, in which case you're not limited to just countryside! Today's One Shots is of Massively's very own Kyle Horner, who just loves to run around on water. He thinks it's fun to taunt Shamans with the fact that they're not alone in being able to do this for themselves now. (He'd better hope his guild doesn't have mainly Resto Shaman healers in it or he's going to be hurting for heals on raids.) If you're in the mood to take silly screenshots, we're in the mood to show them off! Just email them to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name and the game the image is from. We'll post it out here and give you credit for sending it in. (We also may make up something completely untrue about the image, just for the hell of it - there again, we may not.) %Gallery-9798%
One Shots: A new perspective
We've shown off many World of Warcraft screenshots since the release of Wrath of the Lich King, including some great staff screenshots like today's One Shots from our very own blogger, Kyle Horner. Kyle notes that this is a a screenshot of: [his] level 71 Draenei Death Knight running around the water in Howling Fjord on her steed. Yep, we get to run around with our mounts on water -- eat it, Shamans! You'll also notice Utgarde Keep in the background, which looks exceedingly cool from the water. Indeed it is! The World of Warcraft players are definitely sending in their One Shots, showing off various aspects of Northrend, but where's the love for other games? Why, it's sitting in your screenshot folders where we can't post them! So if you're playing an MMO from small to big (even WoW) and you'd like to send some screenshots in, jump on it! Send them to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name and whatever else you'd like to add in. We'll post it here and tell everyone you sent it in.%Gallery-9798%
The BigCast @PAX08 Special: Warhammer Online
Massively's sister site Big Download has a very special podcast with Jeff Hickman, Paul Barnett and Josh Drescher from Warhammer Online. Of course, you probably don't need us to tell you that these fellows made for a very interesting podcast, but what you do need to know is that this edition of the BigCast is very NSFW, so it may be wise to wear some headphones. As it happens, there isn't much talk about Warhammer Online. Instead, you'll hear a lot Mr. Barnett asking everyone questions and the ever-informative Josh Drescher pitch a very wonderful radio ad for Bacon Salt -- because everything should taste like bacon.As someone who was a part of this endeavour into the unknowns of German hotels, taxis and of course, Bacon Salt, this blogger can tell you it was a wild ride that you won't be remiss for listening in on.
WoW Insider Show Episode 45: Turpster every four minutes
Last Saturday, as always, we sat down and spent about an hour discussing the latest and greatest in the World of Warcraft, and the results are now online for your listening enjoyment. Turpster and I were both on, as well as John "BigBearButt" Patricelli, and Kyle Horner, a blogger on our sister sites Massively and Big Download. Turpster talked with us about WWI, what he thought of the big event in Paris, what it was like to play a Death Knight, and why he thought it was even better than last year's BlizzCon (including why this year's BlizzCon might be even better). Kyle spoke with us about being a player who's just now getting back into WoW, and what he's excited for in the next expansion. We talked a little bit about TCG cards, and whether it's fair for Upper Deck to give away the TCG loot. Mages didn't get a lot of news during WWI, so we chatted about what they might get before Wrath of the Lich King. We talked about the timing of the beta, and what the plan is for the rest of the Wrath release. Definitely a fun show (and it features the only time I've ever gotten really angry at Turpster, though it turned out to be no big deal, and he's probably not fired from the show. Probably.). Give it a listen over on the WoW Radio page, and if you have a question comment, or insight about something we said, don't hesitate to email the show itself -- theshow@wow.com is the address.Thanks for listening as always, we'll see you next week.
WoW Insider Show goes live tomorrow
Our weekly podcast is back on the air tomorrow afternoon, and Turpster should be back at home in England, ready to tell us all about the rest of his WWI trip. I'll be on, along with John "BBB" Patricelli, and we'll also welcome Kyle Horner from our sister sites Massively and Big Download -- he's just recently gotten back into WoW, so we'll chat with him about what's changed since he left and why he's coming back. We'll also read your email (since we missed it last week, we'll have a lot to go through, I'm sure) as well as other tidbits from WWI, what's up with the Wrath world event, and when all of these beta registrations might actually start meaning something.So join us, won't you? Just tune in to WoW Radio live tomorrow afternoon at 3:30 Eastern, and you'll be able to hear the show live on the virtual airwaves. And you can join us in IRC if you'd like as well -- either chat on the site, or send your IRC client of choice to irc.mmoirc.com and the #wowradio channel. And if you'd rather email the show, you can do that, too -- theshow@wow.com is the address for all your complaints, queries, and general Turpster praise.We'll see you tomorrow afternoon as always.
WRUP: A long week's weekend
Happy Friday! Maybe it's just because sickness set in at the beginning of this week, but for some reason the past five days have seemed unreasonably long, so the break of the weekend is a welcome sight today. Friday also happens to be the day where we ask: What aRe yoU Playing in this wide and wonderful world of MMOs?Kyle Horner says he's been enjoying himself in Ikariam lately -- he says it's a free-to-play browser based game that's "kind of like Civ," which makes it a must-check out. Michael Zenke tells us he's got Mythos and WoW on the docket for this weekend, along with another super secret game that we can't quite tell you about yet. But our own Tateru Nino takes the cake. Here's what she says she has planned for this weekend: "Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, Half Life 2 (original recipe), Team Fortress 2, UFO: Afterlight, The Bard's Tale, Imperium Romanum, City of Heroes, LotRO, The Longest Journey (original game), Two Worlds, Bioshock, Dream of Mirror Online, Neverwinter Nights 2, plus time in SL." Yowza. That's a lot of gaming.So what are you up to? Taking advantage of the extra XP in Pirates of the Carribbean Online? Trying to sign up to play Age of Conan? Or just desperately trying to finish up your taxes? Leave a comment below and let us know what's on your MMO plate this weekend.Previously on WRUP...
