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This is Massively, and farewell to it
Well, folks. This is it. On November 2nd, 2007, Massively.com began. "This is Massively," Mike Schramm wrote, "and welcome to it." Today, on February 3rd, 2015, Massively.com ends. For the last seven years, three months, and two days, we've sought to be not a mirror but a lens through which to view the vibrant MMO industry. We conveyed news, opinions, streams, videos, comments, jokes, snark, and yes, even mourning for the far too many MMO sunsets we've all endured. Now the sun sets on us too. This last week has seemed surreal. Consumed as we are by page views and comment counts, we sometimes forget that our audience is flush with remarkable gamers who care deeply about the MMORPG genre and the people in it -- even us. How strange that only in saying goodbye have we fully bridged that gulf between writers and readers. It's felt like meeting PvP rivals at a con for a beer and realizing that fun and earnest people stand behind those avatars. In person, you're all pretty damn cool.
Stick and Rudder: It's the Massively Star Citizen guild
I love me some guild management tools, which is strange since I don't manage guilds all that often. It's a bit of work, see, as one look through the titles and topics in our Guild Counsel category will make clear. At any rate, I can't stop playing around with Star Citizen's recently launched Organization stuff.
Flameseeker Chronicles: C-C-C-Combo maker
Sing hallelujah, for the Guild Wars 2 news drought is over! (The information gates may now slam shut for another excruciating period of time, but I'm choosing not to think about that.) Jon Peters brought us all sorts of exciting information on pets, Engineer changes, and cross-profession combos last week on the ArenaNet blog. Now that we've had some time to absorb the news and talk it over, I wanted to take some time to look at it more closely, particularly the cross-profession combos. Follow along after the jump and let's get started!
Flameseeker Chronicles: Pumpkinhead edition
Halloween is here! Yes, yes, it's here in real life, but it's here in Tyria as well! Halloween is one of my favorite Guild Wars celebrations for a lot of silly reasons. I love tapping the "R" key and unleashing a string of Ghosts-in-the-Box, I love the costumes, I love the beleaguered citizens of Lion's Arch and Kamadan (they're so funny and mopey in their transformed states!), and most of all I love the Mad King Thorn and his stupid jokes. I know they're lame and I don't care. The pumpkin-on-head joke slays me every year. As of this writing, the new quests haven't dropped yet, but there's still plenty to do. Follow along after the jump and let's take a look at what's going on in Tyria!
Flameseeker Chronicles: A closer look at the Grawl of Guild Wars 2
I was pretty excited to see this week's addition to the ArenaNet blog for a couple of reasons reasons. First, I'm a big fan of Jeff Grubb's style of storytelling. It's clear, informative, and entertaining, with just enough of Jeff's wry sense of humor to surprise a laugh out of me now and again. Second, it's about the Grawl! This is a race that I really underappreciated in the past, just like the blog entry said. The Grawl came to my attention only when I was giggling as my miniature Grawl talked to himself while running behind me, raging at multiple Grawl Udolytes in hard mode, and cracking up while watching one of my favorite fan videos. I want to take a closer look at the Grawl, but there's more -- it was an exciting week in Tyria, so follow along after the jump and let's get started!
One Shots: It just keeps going and going and going
Today's One Shots comes courtesy of yours truly as a little homage to Massively's Guild Wars guild, Massively Overpowered. The guild started a little over a year ago as a way for Massively readers to have a ready-made party to play with, and it wound up taking off like a rocket. Since the guild -- and its alliance -- is still going strong and having fun, here's a pic of some of those members who were there from day one! Are you ready to show off your guild? Gather up your best group shots of you and your guildmates. Whether you're hanging out, enjoying guild housing, taking out a huge enemy, or throwing a party, send a screenshot of your guild in action to oneshots@massively.com along with your name and the name of the game, and tell us about your guild! %Gallery-112285%
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.
Flameseeker Chronicles: Let's review!
The ArenaNet team has been quiet lately in the news department and deservedly so. Between GDC, PAX East, the Guild Wars 2 Thief, and Embark Beach and heroes in Guild Wars 1, I imagine the developers are ready to catch up on frivolous things like eating, sleeping, sitting, and breathing. We've got Winds of Change and Guild Wars' sixth birthday to look forward to, but in the meantime, I want to take the opportunity to play catch-up. When there's a pause in new information, I always enjoy backing up a bit and spending some quality time with newer players. I know that there's been another influx of new players recently, particularly after so many saw GW2 at PAX. Follow along after the jump for a roundup of Guild Wars basic guides as well as an update and information on Massively's official Guild Wars guild.
One Shots: All quiet on the homefront
Ah, another peaceful day in Smallville -- or at least it is now, thanks to the heroes in this group who decided to take on Doomsday and successfully stop his diabolical plans. Today's triumphant DC Universe Online image comes to us from Xanthias, who is a member of our very own Massively Overpowered League on Zero Hour! He snapped this peaceful picture after running the hard Smallville alert recently and writes in to explain: "Xanthias can breathe more easily now that Doomsday has been brought down. Smallville is safe once again." We especially like the capture of the hero in the background who appears to be jumping for joy! Have you triumphed taking on a big bad nasty boss recently? If you've snapped a screenshot of it, we want to see it. Just email your image in to us here at oneshots@massively.com along with your name, the name of the game, and a description of what we're seeing in the picture. Please make sure your image is at least 1024 pixels wide and has no visible UI in it. We'll post it out here and give you the credit for sending it in! %Gallery-112285%
Alter-Ego: Let's get this character started
This week, I'm going to start off with a bit of controversy. Are you ready? Here goes: I actually think the DC Universe Online character creator makes sense in terms of its costume limitations. Now, before you come at me armed with pitchforks and hateful comments, hear me out. Looking at DC Universe Online as part of the greater DC Universe, I note that not all heroes are welcomed by the public -- and villains even less so. There are no "Costumes R Us" on every street corner, and there aren't copies of "Superpowers for Dummies" one can snag from the shelves of the local bookstore. As much as we may know as players ahead of time, our characters are assumed to not have the same level of knowledge from a story standpoint. In short, new characters are not going to roll out of the creator as a fully realized Captain Badass or Madame Awesome. Instead, new heroes and villains would probably be highly confused about any powers that showed up out of the blue. Once they've come to grips with the basics, only then would they likely be trying to piece together a new secret identity with all the gusto that someone with a glue gun, duct-tape, and half-remembered sewing lessons from 7th grade home economics classes could muster. To a character starting out with basic knowledge, character costumes would probably look like someone threw a goth and a cosplayer in a blender and then added a dash of drag queen for extra fierceness. Call it an edge of realism. Thankfully, SOE has saved our characters from their first embarrassing steps involving costume malfunctions by offering a number of cool-looking yet basic options in the character creator. As you level, so do your powers -- and your gear. Now that I've gotten your blood boiling (or hopefully a chuckle or two), it's time to dive into the first days of being a hero or villain in DC Universe Online. For those of you who have already jumped in and are well on your way, don't worry -- I haven't forgotten you. I'll also be adding in some tips and tricks I've picked up from playing as well as telling you how you can join up with us in-game as part of a heroic new League: Massively Overpowered!
Flameseeker Chronicles: A look back at 2010
Welcome to the last Flameseeker Chronicles of 2010, in which I wax sentimental over this year and salivate over what the next one promises. It's been a huge year for both Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 -- probably one of the biggest since Guild Wars 1 launched. There was civil war in Tyria, with consequences more far-reaching than any of us as players could imagine at the outset. Profession reveals came fast and furious for a while, and when the dust settled, we had extensive information on half of the Guild Wars 2 professions. Gamescom and PAX brought us actual Guild Wars 2 gameplay, the War in Kryta seemed to go on and on, and there were even some shakeups behind the scenes, with ArenaNet swinging a banhammer of massive proportions and dismantling the Xunlai tournament house. Follow along and let's take a look at what 2010 brought to Tyria.
Flameseeker Chronicles: My name is Gwen
As we approach the height of the holiday season, we continue seeing a shift in the focus of the ArenaNet team. While there's not a complete move from Guild Wars 2 to Guild Wars 1, things are a bit more evenly divided thanks to Guild Wars: Beyond and the approaching Wintersday festivities. I've mentioned before that it's interesting to watch Guild Wars 1 continue to progress and develop as its own game while at the same time begin telling the story of Guild Wars 2. That's a fine line to walk, and ArenaNet is balancing nicely. While the devs are doing their balancing act and we've got a little lull before Wintersday hits, I want to take a look at someone who is arguably the most iconic character in Guild Wars: Gwen. Most of us have known Gwen since day one of our Guild Wars experience. She trailed around chattering and healing us. She skipped and twirled and stumbled. She became the face and voice of the victims of the Searing for us. She (sort of) welcomed us to the Eye of the North. And she became a legend that carried forward 250 years into Guild Wars 2. Love her or hate her, she is one of the cornerstones of the Guild Wars world. Follow along after the jump as I take a closer look at Gwen.
Flameseeker Chronicles: Tis the season to party in Guild Wars
Yarrr! Yesterday was Talk-Like-a-Pirate Day, and as always ArenaNet stepped up to the plate with a fun event. The Talk Like a Pirate event arrived last Friday, along with a mysterious poem that may or may not mean anything. At any rate, it's keeping a lot of fans busy trying to figure it out. This event heralds the start of what I call the Guild Wars party season. The pirate event is followed shortly thereafter by the Halloween event, then the Thanksgiving event, then Wintersday. In between are various community events as players and guilds throw parties to celebrate various holidays and milestones, and it's generally a few straight months of reveling. Each type of event -- both community-created and developer-created -- has its own ups, downs, and quirks. Follow along as I take a look at what they are.
Flameseeker Chronicles: Back to basics
With all the talk of Guild Wars 2 these days, many players are beginning to pay attention to Guild Wars, something they've not done before. And there's good reason to jump into Guild Wars right now. It serves as the backstory to Guild Wars 2; the entire Guild Wars trilogy plus the Eye of the North expansion can be had for a song these days; and there's no subscription fee. Players who are a little burned out on their previous games of choice are thinking that maybe there's something to this game after all, and I've been getting more than a few emails with general questions about starting this five-year-old game. So while we've been focusing pretty heavily on Guild Wars 2 in Flameseeker Chronicles lately, I decided to take this week to discuss why it's never too late to start Guild Wars while you wait for GW2 to arrive.
Flameseeker Chronicles: Guilds, grind, and Gamescom
Thursday evening was fairly eventful for me. Thursday is our regular Massively night in Guild Wars, so [MVOP] arrived in The Wilds and began setting up for our run through the mission. We found a few players waiting for us, extended guild invites, sorted out our grouping, and off we went. We made it through the mission with only one hitch -- which I'll address in a moment -- then headed over to the Eye of the North to begin tackling the Asura storyline. The plan was to make the full trek through Vloxen Excavations to the Asura Gate, but once we arrived at Umbral Grotto, certain party members (me) were falling asleep in their seats and had to bow out and get some rest. The plans for this week are all set, and everyone is welcome to join us. Now, about that little hitch. We were traipsing around the jungle in The Wilds when I got an IM telling me that the level cap had been set for Guild Wars 2. What? No way. A quick check confirmed it, and my wonderful group sent me off to a safe corner to leech and knock out a quick news story while they continued the mission. They even came back to find me after I returned and demonstrated my truly dismal navigational skills, because they are wonderful like that. The leveling and progression information was pretty big news, so there was no question that I'd look into it a bit more deeply for this week's Flameseeker Chronicles -- follow along after the jump.
Flameseeker Chronicles: The end of the War in Kryta
It looks like we dismantled after all: the War in Kryta is over. Things came to a sudden end late last week with the addition of two new quests, and I have to admit that I was surprised. The NPCs involved in all of this have been hinting that the White Mantle were planning something big, but since Salma also mentioned that we still had more Inquisitors to take out, I assumed that we'd have quests for the rest of them first. Sneaky Inquisitors! Click that handy little "read more" button to see how the War in Kryta ended, join me in some pondering of the future, and find out about the new direction Massively's Guild Wars guild will be taking this week!
Join Massively on a quest to save Tyria every week in Guild Wars!
Nights of Eberron has been quite a hit with the Massively community, encouraging us to look at some other titles with the same idea in mind. Next up: Tyria. An informal poll of our readers -- meaning we asked in IRC chat (#massively on quakenet.org) -- turned up a pretty enthusiastic vote for Guild Wars, a task I was more than happy to volunteer for. We'll be starting in pre-searing -- again, at the behest of the readers -- and we'll be starting tomorrow night. Roll up a brand new pre character and we'll visit the game right from the beginning. The first night is tomorrow, May 6th at 9 PM EDT. Jump after the break for all of the event's juicy details!
