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Path of Exile hands-on: The sequel Diablo II deserved
Like many gamers in their mid-20s, I spent countless hours in my teenage years smashing through dungeons and hunting for loot in Diablo II. The deep itemisation system made building effective characters a real challenge, and periodic ladder resets kept the loot-hunting economy fresh. Fast-forward 10 years and the highly anticipated sequel Diablo III was released to some serious complaints. The servers were unstable for weeks at launch, the always-online DRM caused a stir, and the endgame item grind was severely underwhelming. Indie developer Grinding Gear Games aims to beat Blizzard at its own game with its new free-to-play action RPG Path of Exile. The game boasts a dark art style and an unprecedented level of character customisation that lets players build truly unique characters. Each skill is itemised as a gem that can be slotted into your gear and augmented with dozens of different support gems. The sprawling passive skill system is better described as a "skill octopus," with millions of different ways to build a character. I've spent the past few weeks smashing up monsters in the Path of Exile open beta and absolutely loving it. Read on to find out why I can honestly say that Path of Exile is the sequel Diablo II deserved.
The Daily Grind: What's the absolute worst MMO economy?
I'm known around Massively as a total player economy junkie. Crafting is nice and all, but trading is really what gets me excited. Auction houses, hawking wares in global chat, buying and selling on player vendors -- however it's done in the MMO du jour, that's where I want to be, playing the market and PvPing via brains rather than bloodshed (shed tears are another story). So when an MMO's economy goes belly up, I get annoyed. Really annoyed. Guild Wars 2's economy, for example, is not the shining light of the MMO industry I'd hoped it would be. It might be better than Guild Wars 1's since at least it has player crafting and an auction hall, but the supply and demand balance is an epic trainwreck, one that more resembles the tacked-on economies of games released in 2002, not 2012. I'm not sure it's the worst one ever, but it's certainly on the list. So let's hear some others that deserve to be on the list: What's the absolute worst player-run economy an MMO's ever offered? 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!
Steam Community Market enables buying and selling with Steam Wallet
The Steam Community Market, currently in beta with Team Fortress 2, is designed to allow members to buy and sell items using their Steam Wallet funds. This is an expansion of Steam's previous trading policy and its surprisingly complex TF2 economy. The beta is only available for TF2 at the moment, but more games will be added in the new year."With over a half million trades made every week, the trading system has been very successful," Valve's Tony Paloma says. "Extending game economies beyond trades and giving players a way to turn gameplay into funds for new items and games is a key component for moving that success forward."All consumable TF2 goods and tools are up for selling and purchasing, including paints, keys and crates; all compatible items are now labeled as "Marketable" in Steam inventories. During the beta, Steam takes 5 percent of each transaction amount to cover the cost of development and to prevent fraud. for more in-depth questions, consult the Steam Community Market FAQ or the discussion group.But before you go asking, yes, this does mean that playing TF2 is a more legitimate career move than ever before.
EVE Evolved: Four ways Guild Wars 2 is like EVE Online
With its single-shard server structure and sandbox ruleset, EVE Online seems to have little in common with a sharded fantasy themepark like Guild Wars 2. But dig a little deeper past GW2's fluffy exterior and you'll find it shares some core game mechanics and ideas with the world's biggest PvP sandbox. GW2's Trading Post bears a striking resemblance to EVE's Jita 4-4 market, and many of the same market tricks that work in New Eden have proven just as effective in the land of Tyria. EVE's PLEX system lets people buy game time for in-game ISK and undercuts illicit RMT by giving players a legitimate way to buy ISK, a system that's very closely mirrored in GW2's gem trade. GW2's Karma system resembles a heavily restricted version of EVE's loyalty point mechanic, and PvP in both games may be more similar than it appears. The same strategies that work for faction warfare fleets in the depths of space are currently helping guilds win World vs. World vs. World PvP. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at four Guild Wars 2 game mechanics that are similar to those in EVE Online and how lessons from EVE can be applied to GW2.
Guild Wars 2 brings trading post online, handles hacked accounts
It's a good day for Tyria's Wall Street and its many denizens, as ArenaNet has brought Guild Wars 2's trading post fully online. The trading post, which works as an advanced version of an auction house for the game's players, has only been sporadically available since launch. The defense and counter-attack against the legion of GW2 hackers continues, however. The devs report that "a Guild Wars-related fan site" was recently hacked for its account information, and say that the reset password feature for the game will remain disabled for the time being as to not allow hackers another avenue of attack. ArenaNet said that during the past 24 hours, the team has dealt with over 2,500 hacked accounts and over 2,800 login issues.
PSA: Minecraft's 1.3.1 update goes live, go get your trade on
Ready to get your virtual trade on with virtual people in virtual villages? Minecraft's latest update for PC is here to enable that – the "1.3.1" patch – and it's got more than just value-less trading. It also has ... uh ... the Ender Chest? And writeable books?Oh, right, it also combines single-player and multiplayer modes into one, unified mode. Well then! For a full list of patch notes, head past the break.
High-end gear in Dust 514 costs 24 cents in real money
CCP Vice President Morgan Godat has revealed the real-world cost of a high-end set of gear in the upcoming EVE Online companion, Dust 514, and it might be cheaper than you expect: About 24 cents. If you were to equip a character in the game with some of the highest-level gear out there and send them out into battle with equipment all purchased directly with real money, it would really only cost you a cent less than a quarter.But that figure is a little misleading, unfortunately, on both ends. On the one hand, that's the cost to equip a character once. When you die (which you'll do a lot in the match-based first-person shooter), you'll have to rebuy all of that gear, so players will probably buy their guns and armor by the hundreds or even thousands, not just one set at a time.And just like EVE Online, most of the gear in the game will be purchasable with in-game cash, called Isk, not just real-money purchased gold, called Aurum. EVE Online players will even be able to buy gear for Dust 514 players, so if you're a great shooter some ship jockey might fund your gear bill once the two games are finally connected. Dust 514 is currently heading into a series of betas (so these costs are still in flux anyway), and readying itself for a launch later this year.
Neutrinos could deliver millisecond advantage to cyborg Gordon Gekkos
In a world where stocks are traded based on price changes monitored at the millisecond level, every sliver of a speed advantage gained counts. And, to get that edge, financial firms will go to almost any lengths, including building high powered particle accelerators in their basements. Well, at least that's what we imagine. Banks and high-frequency trading companies are looking to the neutrino as a potential communications tool. Scientists have already shown that the subatomic particles can travel through walls, now there's every reason to believe messages could be passed straight through the Earth, saving up to 44 milliseconds on each communique. Of course, there's one problem with this idea -- creating neutrinos currently requires either a nuclear reactor or a particle accelerator, something even the largest of financial firms don't usually keep on hand. Either the world's banks will have to snatch up CERN or build their own atom smashers. Neither of which seems like it's very likely to happen in the immediate future.
Vendetta celebrating 10-year anniversary, prepping new content
Ten years is an eternity in the game industry, and MMOs that manage to hang around for a decade or more are few and far between. One such title is Vendetta Online, which originally released on April 20th, 2002 and is still going strong today. Guild Software is hosting a couple of celebration events this weekend. The company has also announced that its massive 1.9 patch is coming later this year, followed by an even more massive expansion in 2013. Vendetta is unique among MMOs for its twitch-based space combat and extensive trading, mining, and exploration gameplay. Large space battles, dynamic territory control, and player-generated content systems round out the feature set, all of which is coded and maintained by a four-man dev team. The single-universe game server is accessible from a number of different platforms that include Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems. In March 2011, Vendetta became the first PC MMO to jump to mobile platforms, and it spent several weeks as the number one paid app on Android devices. Check out the game's official website for more info, and don't forget to sign up for the trial while you're there. You can also read Massively's latest game impressions in Some Assembly Required. [Source: Guild press release]
MMObility: Reaching the MMORTS sweet-spot, slowly
As a player of many MMORTS titles, I have grown to understand that patience is not only a virtue but a necessity. Many titles from the genre are designed to make you spend real time to do anything. It's not that they are boring or tedious; instead, they are representing what it might be like to actually grow an army or trade hub and to explore the often massive world around you. The pacing is meant to be slow. These are not games of instant leveling or non-stop quest grinding. They're meant to be played in as little as a few minutes per day. This explains a lot of their success -- just imagine how popular they are with time-strapped players. There is a time, however, after months of toiling away at building up various structures, growing a small army, or finally getting to the maxed out level in a certain area, when you can finally settle down for some real gameplay. It might sound silly to have to wait that long for glory, but come on... this is city-building we are talking about. It takes time.
Free for All: Becoming a mediocre trader in several free titles
I often find myself achieving little things in many different games while other gamer buddies of mine are busily conquering actual gods or dragons within one or two particular titles. Sure, I would love to join a group of battleworn adventurers as they took down one of the final bosses in almost any game, but I rarely find the time to work a character into the ranks of the ascended. OK, so I have time, but not if I wanted to do what I do here. That is to say, I am not dedicated to one game because it is my job to tell you readers about several games. About every game. About as many games as possible. I can't do that while maintaining a high DPS score. It's a give and take, but I love to explore, fortunately. Let me tell you about how I love to trade or craft in some of my favorite titles and why it's important to me.
AAPL flirts with $600 today
Apple's stock soared on Wednesday and now it is poised to cross the US$600 mark. As noted by CNN Money, the stock hit $600 once and has fallen back down to $598 at the writing of this post. As The Wall Street Journal points out it took Apple 34 trading days to jump from $400 to $500 and a mere 23 days from $500 to $600. With strong iPad sales expected tomorrow, it's highly likely the price will go over $600 and stay there sometime today. This threshold will push Apple's market value even higher. It's currently sitting at the $556 billion mark which, according to a report in Wall Street Pit, is just below the 2011 GDP for Saudi Arabia. [Via CNN Money]
Remanum launches first international server, tweaks ports
All roads lead to Rome, even in the world of browser MMOs. Travian Games is trumpeting its commerce-based Remanum title, which puts the player in the role of a merchant-politician at the height of ancient Roman civilization. Travian has just launched the game's first international server, and now English-language players can vie for the rank of Roman emperor while trading goods and engaging in various political machinations. Travian, a Bavaria-based browser game outfit, has also launched a new German-language server for Remanum's open beta. The firm is also updating the game's UI and increasing the range on the game's ports, which will ease the acquisition of scarce resources, according to a Travian statement. [Source: Travian Games press release]
Aventurine 'sprinting' toward Darkfall 2.0
As Darkfall "sprints" down the road toward its second incarnation, bloodthirsty PvPers are looking to Aventurine for more information about how their favorite game world is being remolded. Tasos Flambouras came forth today with word that not only is the project still powering forward, but the development team is growing as new hires are brought on to assist in the efforts. Flambouras uses the post as a progress report and To Do list all in one. Perhaps the most exciting teases that he mentions are new methods of progression in the game. "These are significant and exciting changes to the way the game is played because they add more purpose to player freedom," he writes. Currently the art team is adding and revamping many of the game's objects and animations, while the world builders are hammering away at Mahirim. As part of Darkfall 2.0, introductory dungeons will be integrated into the game to help newbies get a foothold in the cutthroat MMO. The team is also experimenting with "alternatives" to player respawn time after deaths, as well as a brand-new market system and improved trading experience.
Traveller AR trailer promises the galaxy
Based on the long-running space-themed RPG, Traveller AR is coming soon to the iOS platform. The "AR" there stands for "augmented reality," as the title will use the much-ballyhooed AR feature to allow you to mingle the real and virtual world into one. Just as in EVE Online, players in Traveller AR will hop in a ship and fly out into the cosmos looking to make their fame and fortune. There will be three races and three classes (Scout, Spacer, Trader) to choose from at the start and well over 40,000 unique solar systems to explore and plunder. According to the game's trailer, Traveller AR space cadets can choose their own path to glory, including trading, missions, combat, and exploration. It looks like a crossbreed of a board game with a rudimentary space combat simulator, and the trailer gives a good overview of the UI and functionality in store for us. Hop past the break to see the future... today!
Mabinogi prepping Merchant of Venice, offers three new levels of premium service
It's a busy time for Mabinogi, which is still firmly in the grips of Shakespeare fever. The free-to-play title is preparing to launch its Merchant of Venice update on October 26th, and with it, a new commerce system. Mabinogi's commerce system offers players a way to experience the highs and lows of trading with a little danger thrown in for good measure. Players will start out with a limited amount of new currency, ducats, which can be used to buy and sell from trading posts. Newly minted traders will then have to transport the currency personally while coming under fire by bandits. Pull off enough successful trade routes, and awesome new weapons will become available to you! Nexon has also introduced a few new levels of premium service for players looking to enhance their Mabinogi experience. These optional services grant players additional inventory, free gifts, XP bonuses, and exclusive missions. As players wait for the launch of the update, Nexon is extending its free premium service for everyone to enjoy.
Pre-event AAPL trading bucks trend
Andy Zaty of the Bullish Cross blog has done some interesting analysis on the AAPL stock price around Apple's keynote events, and he found that for next week's event, the pattern seems to have fallen apart. During the past four iPhone releases, Apple's stock price has risen in the rumor-filled run up to the unveiling, as investors are taken in by the excitement and interest surrounding the possibility of a new iPhone. Then, once the event happens, the stock usually falls off a bit (though obviously in general, it's risen over time). This time, however, the stock price has fallen, almost 17% from where it was at a few weeks ago. Why is that? Hard to say -- it could be that most Apple events are pretty mysterious, but on this one, rumors about the iPhone 4S or the iPhone 5 have been flying around for a while already. It's also true, according to the research, that Apple's events don't have as big an effect on the stock price as they used to. As big as AAPL has gotten, more and more investors are somewhat savvy about the whole process, knowing that Apple's fate doesn't really depend on what it announces at any big event. Still, it'll be interesting to see what happens with the stock price, both over the next week in the lead up and after the event. I don't actually give out financial advice (and this post shouldn't be considered as such, obviously), but I suspect we won't see too big a jump or fall over this keynote -- all indications are that besides a new iPhone announcement, this event will likely be business as usual.
Steam Trading steams out of beta in a cloud of, er, water vapor
Steam Trading's emerged from the hot wet clouds of beta after more than a million in-game items were swapped in the first month of testing. Purchased in-game objects can now be bartered between all players of Team Fortress 2, Portal 2 or Spiral Knights and more games will be supported soon. The bigger news is that you can also exchange Steam gifts and extra copies of games you've got -- such as that spare edition of Half-Life 2 that you downloaded with the Orange Box bundle -- as long as they're unplayed. Hey, cash it in and go buy your avatar something nice.
Massively exclusive: Luvinia Online equipment education
Gear in MMOs isn't just about making a fashion statement; it's often the difference between life and death, success and failure, envy and pity. So it is with Luvinia Online, as gear will be a primary focus of any adventurer who doesn't want his lifespan to be measured in minutes. Outspark has been gracious enough to treat us to a comprehensive introduction to how gear works in Luvinia. On top of the expected stats and rarity values, Luvinia has a few interesting ideas about how to modify gear and trade it between characters. Luvinia Online finished closed beta last month, but is heading for open beta fairly soon. Hit the jump to start your edumacation in the fine art of equipment, courtesy of the development team at Outspark.
Battleblock Theater player-to-player trading system channels Buffalo Bill
The Behemoth has let the cat out of the musty prison cell with details about Battleblock Theater's's trading system, which was inspired by the hacking of weapon drops in Castle Crashers. Battleblock Theater players will be able to collect the faces of other prisoners by freeing them with green gems found in co-op levels, and weapons by distracting their feline foes with balls of yarn. All weapons and strangers' faces for you to wear as your own will be randomized, and there are no duplicates of any one item, meaning trading will play an important role in collecting the pieces you want. If you see an item -- let's say, a face -- on another player online, rip off your face and throw it at him, and if he returns the gesture, you've traded. Sounds painful simple enough. There are over 100 unlockable weapons and faces in Battleblock Theater, with more in the works before launch, which is scheduled for later this year. We recommend stocking up on lotion (or hoses) now.
