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Some Assembly Required: Virtual world roundup for 2014 and beyond
Just over two years ago there was a great disturbance, as if millions (or so) of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. Yes, something terrible had happened: a beloved virtual world was destroyed. And that left a number of sandbox refugees looking for a new place to call home. At that time, Some Assembly Required offered a roundup of the then available virtual worlds that could possibly offer accommodation, depending on what qualities players most desired in their games. But as things are wont to, they changed; a lot can happen in the MMOverse in 24 months, from additional features in existing games to new games to the loss of more worlds. So it's time to update this list of virtual worlds to reflect 2014 and beyond. Take a look and see what titles or titles-to-be have the sandbox features that best make a game a home for you.
Massively's winter holidays MMO roundup
The holidays are here! That means the hustle and bustle of the season is in full swing, with gifts to get, treats to taste, deals to nab, and plenty of festivities to partake in -- and that's just in the MMOverse! Yes folks, there's a plethora of holiday celebrations out there -- so many, in fact, that it can be hard to keep track of them all, let alone participate to them! If you're trying to catch everything in your favorite games, we're here to help. We've got a round up of the various winter celebrations across the gaming sphere all bundled together right here for you. If something catches your eye, hop in and join in the festivities!
One Shots: Breaking news
This just in! We've received reports that caped crusaders are beating the ever-loving crap out of a villain literally 12 feet in front of us! Seriously, if we could just turn these news cameras a little to the right, you'd see the whole thing, but for now you'll just have to take our word for it. Sponsored by Doritos. Reader Sean submitted this particular gem: "I used to play quite a bit of Champions Online from closed beta through about four months after launch. Before the dark times. Before the patches. Here I am laying the smackdown on Foxbat during his 15 minutes of fame -- surely not what he had in mind." Ha ha! Surely not there, Sean! Now for a word from our sponsors, and by that we mean more excellent player-submitted screenshots.
Choose My Adventure: The weather outside is frightful
December is here, which means it's about time to throw some logs on the fire, grab every blanket in the house, and collapse under the mantle in a freezing, sobbing heap. This week's arctic blast has left the United States feeling a lot like Northrend, but for those of us in certain parts of the country it's just the beginning of what's sure to be a long, hellish winter. However cold it may be outside, there's always a warm, toasty inn waiting in our favorite games. MMOs also provide sunny vistas, hot deserts, and steamy swamps, all of which make great places to escape nasty real-life weather. Even when it's cold in an MMO, it's still warm at our desks. In this edition of Choose My Adventure, I'm depending on you to help me hide from the snow that's piling up outside of my window. You don't have to send me somewhere warm, but I'd appreciate it if you send me somewhere fun.
Save Millennium City from Black Harlequin in Champions' Winter Event
It's winter in Millennium City, which means that it's time for Champions Online's annual Winter Event. Black Harlequin is once again attempting to deliver thousands of deadly presents to city residents, and the dev team has bundled the March of the Mecha Soldiers mission into a custom alert that includes "new rewards for the defenders of Millennium City." Players will also run across randomly spawning Christmas presents like action figure parts and various Christmas items. Be wary, though, as some of the gifts may be traps set by Black Harlequin.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Superhero games across November
After a couple of very active months, November was a bit calmer for superheroic games as a whole. It makes sense, of course, since pretty much every game is calmer during November and December aside from sales and holiday events. But there were few big Kickstarter campaigns, a lot of updates that everyone knew were coming, and of course a very poignant anniversary for pretty much everyone reading this column today. That having been said, the entire month was not a slow funeral dirge for the loss of City of Heroes. In fact, one game apparently decided that the otherwise quiet month was a great time to make some big changes right off the bat, so that's pretty cool. Venture on past the cut with me and we'll take a look at the superhero news from November in review... and possibly bow our heads briefly in respect for the departed.
Perfect World ends the quarter strong, looks to Dota 2's China release
Perfect World Entertainment, the China-based publisher behind games like Perfect World International, Neverwinter, Star Trek Online, and Champions Online, ended the last financial quarter in a strong place. Citing the Chinese release of Swordsman Online and Saint Seiya Online as driving factors, Perfect World claimed $136.2 million in revenue and $19.8 million in net profit -- up from last year's marks of $114.2 million and $14.2 million respectively. Perfect World also expressed its hope for even better quarters to come thanks to big launches in the pipeline. It is currently localizing Neverwinter for a Chinese release and will be overseeing Valve's Dota 2 as it makes its way into Chinese markets.
Champions Online previews customizable auras
Champions Online is promising players "thousands" of new visual customization options with its upcoming auras. A new Cryptic dev diary gives a brief preview of the aura system, tantalizing players with the possibility of fine-tuning all sorts of special effects to give their hero a unique sparkle. Players can slot auras as either skin or cloud effects, mix-and-matching them to create all manner of combos. In addition, auras can be always on or activated in combat, and players can shift the hue of each one. Cryptic will be giving all players a pair of free aura slots, with additional ones available for a fee. Aura items can be found as rare loot or purchased from the C-Store.
Champions Online extends automatic veteran rewards to lifetime subscribers
Lifetime subscriptions are tricky things. Being able to simply drop money and forever have access to a game is nice on paper, but it takes a while before it starts paying for itself, and it really comes back to bite you if you turn out to not enjoy a game's direction. Champions Online was one of the first games to offer a lifetime option, and as of today Cryptic Studios has sweetened the offer slightly by giving lifetime subscribers all of the game's veteran rewards. As soon as you purchase a lifetime subscription, even if you've never logged into the game before, your account is eligible for every single long-term subscriber benefit. Obviously this won't have much of an impact on people who have already been lifetime subscribers since the beginning, but more recent players will benefit from an influx of new rewards. It's up to you whether or not those extra perks are worth a $300 investment in the game.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: The super news of October
October was a pretty big month. I don't mean that just because it was a month filled with all of the classic horror you could ever hope for, although that was certainly welcome. But October also saw two big superhero games ramping up and doing things in a big way, one for a console launch and one for a big fan-pleasing rally... which was pretty cool to see, all around. That's not to say that the other superhero games available sat around and did nothing during October, but you couldn't match the energy surrounding City of Titans and DC Universe Online. Let's look back at the past month of capes and cowls.
Champions Online nerfs dodge for the sake of diversity
Champions Online is looking to nerf -- er, re-balance -- its dodge mechanic for the sake of diverse builds. As it stands, Cryptic noticed that the too many players were stacking dodge for its passive ability that outstripped other forms of avoidance and tanking. A new dev diary explains that while dodge tanking will still be viable, the team is looking to reduce dodge rating, keep the chance bonuses flat, and make dodge proc off of active powers. A new power, fluidity, will be introduced as a block power to help superheroes avoid being hit. The team is also lowering the damage from critical chance in an upcoming build while raising the damage from offense to keep it from being lopsided. These changes follow significant tweaks to the game's alert system in the previous patch.
Cryptic tweaks Champions' alert system
Cryptic and Perfect World have patched in a significant update to Champions Online's alert system. For starters, rewards for Grab and Smash alerts have been swapped. Grabs now give XP while Smashes grant resources and a resource buff. Grab alerts will also require a level 10 character going forward, while Smashes will require a level 20 toon. This was done to prevent low-level XP seekers from signing up for something they likely won't survive. The devs have also tweaked Champions' queue structure so that "there will always be one Grab, one Burst, and one Smash available at a time." Click through the links below for more info.
Jack Emmert to speak on free-to-play vs. pay-to-win
Can free-to-play MMOs be developed without dipping into the pay-to-win well? Cryptic CEO Jack Emmert is firmly on the "yes" side of that argument and will be stating his case at GDC Next in November. Emmert will be delivering a talk during a session titled How to Avoid Pay-to-Win with F2P. The session description is as follows: "With an F2P business, developers must carefully weigh business needs against game balance. Typically, players immediately question whether a game is actually pay-to-win and not truly free-to-play. This session tracks how Cryptic Studios has tackled this very difficult question in each of their current MMOs, and provides a method to address both concerns." Cryptic is helming a number of free-to-play games, with its current F2P roster consisting of Champions Online, Neverwinter, and Star Trek Online.
Champions Online sheds some light on how powers get designed
Superhero games are kind of into powers. It's their entire schtick. But how does a new powerset go from a vague concept to an actual set of abilities? Champions Online takes a look at this with a new development blog looking at how the Telepathy and Laser Sword mini-sets came into existence, straight from the hand of developer Chris Meyer. Meyer explains how Telepathy's revamps came about as a result of the set needing more cool stuff to do, while Laser Sword was meant as a thematic complement to a story arc. Both sets were intended to reward players for taking multiple powers out of the same set without explicitly forcing that behavior, creating cross-power synergy and positive interactions. This also led to certain design issues, such as the initial Laser Sword design feeling clunky and not having enough options for players in terms of passive powers, something that required a reworking of the set's focus and the addition of passive powers that work with other sets as well. If this sounds fascinating to you, you can find more of the hard design details in the official blog.
Champions Online suffers from an invasion... again
Attention players of Champions Online: Millennium City is being invaded! Wait, what do you mean by "again"? Yes, the city does get invaded on a fairly regular basis as this is a superhero game, but this time it's serious! It's robots! Specifically, robots that appear to be controlled by Dr. Destroyer, also known as the guy who ruined Detroit (like, more than now) and who has long been presumed dead. We know, normally an invasion of the city by any sort of robot elicits little more than a yawn and an inquiry about what to do for lunch, but there are rewards to be had too. The Drifter is collecting the cores of these Destroids in an effort to learn whether or not these are a knockoff of Dr. Destroyer or the genuine article. So log in and start defending Renaissance Center, and get ready for the Mega-Destroids slated to attack Champions HQ later in the month. Because of course they are.
Perfect World Entertainment expands into the mobile market
You know Perfect World Entertainment as the publisher of such MMORPGs as Neverwinter, Star Trek Online, and Champions Online. All client-based games on the PC, these free-to-play titles fetter players to their gaming rigs. Today, the company announces it's breaking free from those PC bonds and expanding into mobile gaming as both developer and publisher for new titles. The new games will focus on the core genres of action RPG, strategy, TCG, MMORPG, and MOBA games. While looking forward to partnering with more talented development studios around the world, PWE already has a portfolio of mobile games lined up: the trading card game Elemental Kingdoms from China-based iFree Studio; the RPG adventure game The Null Society from San Francisco-based Agent Disco; the turn-based multiplayer game BombBuds from Seattle-based Fugazo; and the MOBA Arena of Heroes from Austin-based Sneaky Games. For a deeper look at this new direction for the publisher, be on the lookout for our exclusive interview with PWE this Friday in MMObility. [Source: Perfect World Entertainment press release]
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: All the superheroic news that was fit to print in August
Some months surprise you. When I went back through July's news a month ago, I was surprised to see that there had been a lot of superhero stories that I had collected but not really thought about; what I thought was a quiet month turned out to be quite active. August, on the other hand, was a pretty light month with only one major update that arguably could be pushed to next month depending on perspective. Incidentally, this was the first summer in a while that didn't have a good superhero film come out. Coincidence? Almost certainly. Our current month promises to have some shakeups. There's a Kickstarter in the wings for The Phoenix Project, and the other major titles all have patches just over the horizon. But today we're looking at the calm before the storm, known to most people as "August." Even if there weren't many world-shattering revelations, there are still some elements worth discussing.
The Stream Team: Labor Day edition, September 2 - 8, 2013
To the youngsters, Labor Day has always always seemed misnomer since folks actually get to take time off from school and work. So a more appropriate moniker would be Play Day, amirite? But the older crowd knows that the day was meant to honor the hard work and contributions of workers. So in the spirit of honoring hard work, we pay homage to those who tireless toil to entertain us -- The Stream Team! Hats of to you, and a three-BBQ-rib salute to boot! Want to join us in this week-long celebration for our streamers? Then tune in to Massively TV and watch a live show or two and catch a few reruns as well. We've got all you need to know right here. (For the snacks, however, you're on your own.)
Double XP and giant cake mark Champions Online's fourth anniversary
September 1st marks the fourth anniversary of the launch of Champions Online, and Cryptic and Perfect World feel like celebrating. Players logging in to Champions Online after Thursday's regularly scheduled maintenance will be able to attend an anniversary concert, enjoy an enormous cake, and talk to special NPCs to receive free gifts containing new action figures, costume pieces, and water balloons. Also on deck for the celebration is a double XP and double Questionite weekend, which kicks off Friday at 1:30 p.m. EDT (10:30 a.m. PDT) and ends Monday at 1:00 p.m. EDT (10:00 a.m. PDT). The special anniversary events run until September 13th.
Champions Online Cybermind alert is now live
Cryptic and Perfect World must be busy today, launching both the Neverwinter expansion Fury of the Feywild and the final chapter in Champions Online's Fatal Err0r stoy arc at exactly the same time. Champions Online players can now enter the cyber lord's digital lair with four friends, facing off with Cybermind himself in a battle that demands the use of color-coded software and other trickery. The content is tuned for level 40 heroes. Those who are triumphant will earn rewards in the form of resources, costume pieces, and in-game collectible action figures. Also new in Champions today are laser swords, which can be used by freeform characters and are most definitely nothing like lightsabers. The laser sword and its use are discussed in depth on the official Champions Online blog, or you can grab yourself a freeform character slot and learn the intricacies of this elegant weapon by slashing bad guys in the face. Your call.
