The week in Massively features
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Massively and Joystiq liveblog the Star Wars / BioWare announcement! You've waited. We've waited. The wait is over. Join Joystiq.com and Massively.com for a liveblog of the LucasArts / BioWare announcement below the cut! In the meantime, check out our post on the announcement from earlier today for more context on this momentous occasion. |
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Massively's WAR Camp: How to get the Stalker set gear This week on the WAR Camp, we have taken a look at one of the sets of gear that is available to Tier 3 players — the Stalker's set gear. Just like the Tracker's set in Tier 2 that we looked at a few weeks ago, the Stalker's gear is obtained through a combination of RvR and PvE questing. |
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Massively in Moria: Exploring Book 1, Chapter by Chapter As part of Massively's ongoing coverage of Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria, we're happy to bring to you this extensive look through the entire Book 1 of Volume 2. This entire article will be approached as a comprehensive venture through the Book, from Chapters 1 through 14. |
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The Best of Massively: Five stories that scandalized you Massively is just a week and a half away from its first birthday, and we're winding our Best of Massively series down in the final days! This week we're listing five stories we wrote that caused a lot of people to get very angry — sometimes at us, sometimes at game developers or other industry figures, and sometimes at all of the above! |
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Massively's tour of Dungeons and Dragons Online Module 8 Join us as we explore the depths of the Reaver's Refuge, crawl through the Monastery of the Scorpion, and attempt to rescue a dragon from a band of fearsome Frost Giants! We'll run through all the new features in the module, from rune armor to hirelings! We also highly recommend checking out DDOcast's guide to the hirelings and the entire module patch notes from the Dungeons and Dragons Online test realm. |
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The Old Republic Unveiled: Overview, space combat, and Star Wars Galaxies We have a high level overview to kick us off. Join us below the cut to get some insider information on why BioWare is making the game, the four pillars of BioWare storytelling, what little they can tell us about space combat and vehicles, and .. perhaps most interesting ... an affirmation of LucasArts' commitment to Star Wars Galaxies. |
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The Old Republic Unveiled: Setting, Sith, and Empire A time of high ideals and blackest villains, of wars with real meaning and dreadful consequences. It's a fantastic place to set a story, and as part of our ongoing coverage of Star Wars: The Old Republic's unveiling we turn now to setting and lore. Join us as we get some info straight from the lead writer and studio heads about what we can expect in that Galaxy Far, Far Away ... |
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The Old Republic Unveiled: Classes, Jedi, and Crafting What race, what class, what role are we going to play in this brave new world? While obviously we're no where near knowing what SWTOR's classes will be, we do have a few thoughts from the BioWare Austin heads about class-related issues. Join us as we find out some information on Jedis vs. non-Jedis, the fun of being a rogue, and the all important issue of crafting in the game. |
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The Old Republic Unveiled: Leveling, Sidekicking, and Questing What sorts of stories will we be engaging in, how will we get to max level? BioWare is looking to up the ante by providing that 'heroic' experience from level one on. Join us to talk about the importance of decision-making, the company's view on mentoring and multi-level parties, and the dangers of the 20 foot tall k'lor'slug! |
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The Old Republic Unveiled: Classed-based storytelling and tales of heroism Join us to walk through comments from head writer Daniel Erickson about class-based storytelling, the importance of playing an evil character, and the goals of giving players the chance to be heroic ... together. |
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The Old Republic Unveiled: Companion Characters In Star Wars: The Old Republic, BioWare is approaching solo play and storytelling in a unique way ... that should be wholly unsurprising for anyone that's played one of their titles before. They're leveraging their experiences with games like Mass Effect and Baldur's Gate to creat the most compelling NPC allies yet seen in the MMO space. Join us as we explore characters you'll learn to like, hate, and maybe even love. |
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The Old Republic Unveiled: Combat, PvP, and Heroics BioWare might have what it takes, though, and we have the details about what they're hoping to do. Join us as we learn about the meaning of heroic, why being outnumbered is actually a good thing, and watch as we get told we can't know anything about PvP yet. |
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The Lore of Star Wars: The Old Republic Who is this written for? People who've seen the films but may not necessarily have played Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (KotOR) on PC or console, and especially those who haven't read the novels or various comic book lines released over the years. Read on, and we'll introduce you to the backdrop and factions of Star Wars: The Old Republic. |
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How will factions and PvP work in Star Wars: The Old Republic? We're big fans of the idea — more moral complexity is welcome (especially in the Star Wars setting, which tends to quite literally be black and white), but it raises some interesting gameplay questions, particularly with regards to PvP — questions we're eager to raise! |
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Ask Massively: I feel a disturbance in the Force Is BioWare going to fall to the Curse of Lucas and release yet another crappy Star Wars video game? They beat the curse once with Knights of the Old Republic, but can they evade Lucas and his creative death touch forever? |
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The Digital Continuum: Is the force strong with The Old Republic? It's not surprising that Lucas Arts and Electronic Arts both think that this particular MMO could be bigger than World of Warcraft — they've got invested interest in seeing that come true. My reasoning is a bit less financially induced ( In fact, I'll probably end up buying the super-limited edition and of course there's the monthly fees) and instead a matter of desire to see one of my favorite franchises both succeed in and expand upon one of my favorite genres. |
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Massively in Moria: Hands on with the Rune-keeper I got to go hands-on with the Rune-keeper class in the beta for a few weeks and ran it through the paces: solo and group, with different specs and group configurations. Read on for my take on the strengths, weaknesses and tactics of the newest class to join the battle against the Shadow in the West. |
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Massively in Moria: Hands on with the Warden We highly recommend using that article as a learning tool, and this one as our general impressions of the Warden in certain situations. We'll go through some of the skills that you'll get with the higher-level Warden, explain some useful Gambits, discuss solo-ability vs. group play and then give our final impressions. Follow along through the link below to see what we thought. |
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Player Consequences: WAR games This makes it a little too similar to real life for most people and it can be a bit boring. Not many people want to worry about managing a supply chain when they can be clashing swords. This is why games like Warhammer and World of Warcraft with their resetting objectives and instances are much more popular. The rules for these games might not be realistic, but it's entertaining. |
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Linden Lab and Rivers Run Red launch Immersive Workspaces 2.0 Earlier this week that the growing-yet-eternally-saturated Second Life economy would cause Linden Lab to announce a new revenue stream some day soon. That day is today. All these things, it seems, may have now come to pass. |
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Massively interviews Raph Koster on the State of Metaplace Mr. Koster and the folks at Metaplace are working to put you in the developer's seat now, though, and it was an interesting experience being able to explore the outline of their ambitious project. Read along with us as we talk about the challenges of even 2D, a bit about the Metaplace marketplace, and discuss some of the amazing projects that average folks decide they want to do in their own virtual spaces! |
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Behind the Curtain: Too much information For those of you unfamiliar, originally in WoW, you had to wait until you'd hit level 40 before you could buy a mount. Patch 2.4.3 changed that, and lowered the level requirement for a standard mount to level 30. I hadn't read anywhere though, that, upon reaching level 30, your character would be told about it. |
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Move over Austin; Georgia aims to be the next big thing for game studios When you think of game development meccas, your mind immediately points to Austin or San Francisco, right? You might even think of Seattle, or Boston too, but what about Georgia? That's right, the state most commonly-known for The Dukes of Hazzard, Jimmy Carter and peaches is fast becoming quite a hub for gaming technology and development studios lately. |
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Meet the Team: Adrian Bott 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. |