social-gameplay
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The Soapbox: Of course I care what you're doing in MMOs
I mulled being positive about the MMO industry as a new year's resolution. Then I remembered that new year's resolutions are silly because if it takes an arbitrary date and a contrived occasion to do something, that something is probably not worth doing! With that in mind, let's kick off the 2015 Soapbox season with a mini-rant about one of the nuttier MMO-related misconceptions of all time. I ran across this gem on a forum very recently, and while it's not a new notion, it's a dumb notion and therefore it's worth blowing up. What's the notion? Here, let me just quote the poster. "Why do you care what other players do in an MMORPG? It doesn't affect you."
Rise of Immortals MOBA launching September 12th
Ready for another MOBA title? Ready or not, there's a new one on the way, and Petroglyph has just announced that Rise of Immortals is set to launch on September 12th. The game is currently barreling through the final days of its open beta test, and as such you can still sign up and get a free preview as well as take home 1,000 Petroglyph coins and an exclusive immortal skin. Rise of Immortals is free-to-play, and the dev team is looking to expand the MOBA genre by adding features like social hubs, emotes, persistent character progression, and collectible combat and vanity pets. That's not all, either, and we'll have more details for you in next week's edition of Not So Massively!
Star Wars Galaxies rolls out the Entertainer update
Despite an explosion of titles across the MMOsphere in recent years, Sony Online Entertainment's Star Wars Galaxies is still one of the very few to feature much in the way of non-combat game mechanics. We aren't just talking about one-button crafting, an optional music system, or developer-sanctioned mount racing here, but rather an entire class dedicated to brightening someone else's day. Today's 19.12 hotfix is billed as the Entertainer update, and it's rather aptly named given the lengthy list of tweaks coming to dancers and musicians across the galaxy far, far away. The Entertainer class is receiving a complete expertise tree revamp (and a complimentary reset), new combat buffs, new hairstyles for image design abilities, new dance moves, a new flourish, and several new commands (including a new perform tab). That's a lot of new, but it's not all of it, and you can read the complete list of changes and additions on the official SWG forums.
Anti-Aliased: Rogue rage
There's always a rogue. Doesn't matter what setting you're really dealing with either. Medieval times? Rogues. Renaissance? Professional rogues. Great Depression? Organized crime. Modern day? Thieves. Sci-fi? Assassins. It's the one job that follows you no matter where you go. Yet, I don't think we utilize our fine shadowy friends well. No, let me say it even stronger, we've sidestepped our shadowsteppers. Rogues use to be more than backstabbers and cutpurses, but since the traditional MMORPG model has taken over, our rogues have taken steps backwards. No guys, this isn't just some rant thread about how the rogue classes needs uber l33t buffs. This is about how the class plays at its very core across all games. This is about taking advantage of a class's passive abilities and how just a few new tricks of the trade can aid social gameplay for everyone.
