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'Red Dead Online' will turn the tables on griefers
Red Dead Online fans have been fairly vocal about their issues with the game since its launch in November. The in-game economy, lack of missions and griefing are just some of the more commonly cited problems, but Rockstar Games is taking steps to address this. On February 26th Red Dead Online will be getting a big update which, Rockstar hopes, will improve things.
Chrome will stop supporting XP, Vista and early OS X in April 2016
It seems like Google is looking to do a little spring cleaning. In an announcement on the official Google Chrome blog, the company noted that starting in April of next year, it will no longer support browsers on Windows XP, Vista and Mac OS X 10.6, 10.7 and 10.8 devices. Google had alluded to the discontinuation of support back in April and reasoned that these older -- and in XP's case, almost prehistoric -- operating systems can no longer offer the crucial security updates the web browser needs to keep malware at bay. This means that older operating systems running Chrome browsers will still be fully operational, though they won't be eligible for new updates and features. Update: An earlier headline said Google would end Chrome support for the above operating systems at the end of this year. It will actually end support in April 2016.
The Daily Grind: Have you ever been put off by double XP?
Marvel Heroes features a bunch of firsts for me. It's my first prolonged exposure to the Marvel universe. It's the first ARPG I've enjoyed, and it's the first game that's kind of annoyed me with its promotional XP bonuses. Let me explain. I hate leveling in MMOs. I don't play MMOs for leveling or progression and 99 percent of the time these tropes act as timesinks that get in the way of what I actually want to do in a virtual world. So, normally I love, love, love double XP. Well, last week in Marvel Heroes I was blowing through the levels so fast that I ended up way ahead of the story in terms of level-specific areas. I want to play through the story once, enjoy it, and then go about speed leveling, trying all the other characters, etc. But that was almost impossible to do since I couldn't log in without levels and loot bags hitting my character in the face! Anyway, it's my own fault for starting the game during a promotional period, and I'm not really complaining as much as I'm looking to start a discussion topic. So, how about it, Massively readers? Do XP bonuses ever seem counterproductive or annoying, or is it just me? 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!
Get ready for Diablo III's expansion with a 50 percent XP boost
Hey look, it's more Diablo III news! It's almost like there's a forthcoming expansion or something. In any case, Blizzard is offering 50 percent bonus experience, which should give you a head-start on the new Paragon leveling system. The bonus period ends on March 24, and it only applies to PC and Mac versions of the game. If you want a full run-down of everything new and improved with the recent 2.0.1 patch, click past the cut and watch the What's New video.
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MMO Mechanics: Exploring death mechanics
They say death must come to us all, and that inevitability extends to our characters in MMOs. The death of our characters may be inconvenient when we want to plough through content, but penalising failure is an essential part of any MMO and further incentivises success by making you learn from your mistakes. As much as players crave gratification through rewards and progression, they also need to feel that such progress has been well-earned and greatly deserved. Rewards become that much sweeter when we must risk something to secure them, and failure without consequence would render the gains made in our favourite MMOs insignificant. Without a considerable death penalty, it becomes possible to mindlessly crush content through brute force. I don't know about you, but I don't find fun in bashing my skull repeatedly with a rock in an attempt to crack it! In this week's MMO Mechanics, I compare various death penalties and the effects they have on the MMOs that employ them. I'll explore just how tangible death penalties such as corpse running, gear durability loss, and XP drain make our character's demise feel.
Would XP bonus weekends or zones get you leveling an alt?
Even with today's ease of leveling (and the promise of more help to come), getting a new alt up to 90 can still be a mind-numbing grind. A new character project is all fine and good when you have a deadline ("raid-ready within X weeks when Player Z goes on leave of absence") or a partner in crime to keep things rolling along. But what a long, lonely road is the journey to 90 when all you've got to look forward to are the same old quests or the dubious risks and pleasures of the dungeon finder. But what if the fat, juicy carrot of an XP bonus weekend or bonus zone were dangling right in front of your eagerly twitching nose? Time-specific XP boosts be quite the motivator -– after all, if you don't hop on them while they're active, you lose your chance to double your gains. Would an XP bonus weekend or zone nudge you off the couch and into Azeroth with another alt?
Breakfast Topic: Should Blizzard brake base XP while preserving boosts for experienced players?
We recently explored how you felt about alternate characters, whether you believe they should represent true alternatives to your first character or whether they should remain secondary to a more fully developed main. Either way, there's no stuffing rapid leveling back into the bag. WoW's current leveling design pushes players forward relentlessly, whether they're experienced gamers or not. The problem is that today's leveling pace already outstrips zone content, quest lines, gearing -- you name it. Should Blizzard apply the brakes to base XP while still permitting seasoned WoW players to choose to move more rapidly? Consider this: What if the leveling experience weren't tuned to catapult players so quickly through and past leveling zones and dungeons? What if the pace were a little looser, giving new players more time to soak up the leveling game itself -– and then at the same time, the current XP boosts were spread across tools designed for experienced players who choose to hop, skip, and jump their way to 90? The precedents are there -- just look at the heirloom armor system. Today, you can buy Grand Commendations to boost various reputations for your characters once you've played through them once. And remember when everyone was buying the Tome of Cold Weather Flight for their alts? The tools are already in place. From leveling XP to reputation gains to player convenience, the helping hand of a level-capped main character is key. Do you think WoW's leveling experience should remain something to be played through quickly and efficiently, even for brand new players, or do you think there's merit to allowing that part of the game to move at a more deliberate pace? Would you support more mechanics that give experienced players a way to speed up leveling for their alts, preserving a slower pace for new players and players who enjoy slower leveling? If you like a strong emphasis on mechanics like heirlooms and commendations, should those tools be simple, affordable purchases for any level 90 player, or should they take some time, effort, or money to earn?
Hyperspace Beacon: The SWTOR F2P experiment, Coruscant
I was asked last week why I chose The Ebon Hawk as the server on which to run my Star Wars: The Old Republic free-to-play experiment, especially since it's my home server. Some people believed that the experiment would be flawed because I would have many people to call on to help me out in different areas. This is only partially true. I do have some people to call on if I absolutely need it, but remember that I play on the Imperial side normally; this test character is Republic-side. My guildies and friends do not play Republic characters on a regular basis. And I have already said that I will not take gifts from other characters. The only thing that they can offer me is a partner for leveling, and currently, no one that I know is the same level as my Smuggler. I won't catch up to any of them until I hit level 35.
Bashiok clarifies pet battle XP hotfix
Overnight, Blizzard rolled out a hotfix on all servers nerfing the obscenely high XP people were gaining from winning pet battles. You can no longer level characters to 89 in a matter of hours by hanging around capital cities battling level 1 pets. Bashiok explains how and why they implemented the nerf. Bashiok We're in the process of updating the hotfixes blog with the recent changes to Pet Battle XP, but wanted to provide a bit more insight into why the changes were made and how XP is calculated. All buffs to player XP (heirlooms, enlightenment, guild bonus etc.) were bugged, these where hotfixed to work as expected. General player XP from pet battles was tuned too high, these numbers have been balanced accordingly. Player experience is granted based on a number of factors. These are player level, number of pet opponents, maximum pet opponent level and the level disparity between opponents pets and your pets. Our philosophy is that player XP from pet battles should be, in general, somewhat slower than normal questing. source While almost everyone agrees that it was not in the game's best interest to allow the ridiculously speedy leveling players were taking advantage of, the nerf at first seemed excessive. Whereas one could get 28K for winning a level 1 pet battle at level 60, this morning the same character got 900 to 2000. But as Bashiok describes above, the XP now scales appropriately according to level of the player and the pets in the battles. I've been experimenting and I agree that they have succeeded in making pet battles slower than questing, but not a complete waste of time. If you are questing in a level appropriate area, taking time out to battle the wild pets in the same zone is definitely worth doing to add variety and experience to your endeavors. Also, heirlooms, XP buffs, guild bonuses all still affect pet battle player XP, so do go take a ride on the Darkmoon Faire Carousel before you test the hotfix for yourself. Did you take advantage of the insane leveling XP? I did only for a few levels. A grind's a grind, after all, and there are new islands to explore.
Patch 5.2: Leveling XP via pet battles
It is no longer a waste of leveling time to battle pets with lower level characters. With the advent of patch 5.2, players can now earn XP from pet battles. (If you're max level, you have a chance of getting Lesser Charms of Good Fortune instead.) All you have to do is participate in any pet battle -- other than dueling -- with your highest pet being no more than five levels above the pets you are fighting. This includes pet battle PvP, where you queue up from your pet journal, just not the pet battle duels you can do with friends ... or strangers, for that matter. The experience is comparable to completing the capital city cooking and fishing quests. For example, my level 77 mage gets 27K XP from the Orgrimmar cooking dailies and gets 26K for fighting a battle with three level 1s vs. a level 2. The XP varies according to how much higher your highest pet that your battling with is above the pets you are fighting. A four level difference nets my mage about 21K XP. Whether you are battling other players, wild pets or tamers, the XP gained is consistent. Is it worth it to try to level via pet battling? I would recommend questing, gathering, archaeology digging and battling pets in the same zone to maximize your leveling potential. But if you're in a gotta-catch-'em-all frenzy, as I sometimes am, you can battle pets with your leveling alts while still progressing more than just your pets. I wouldn't be surprised if players tried to level while just pet battling. Will you be taking advantage of pet battle player XP?
Enter at Your Own Rift: The burden of leveling
I've seen a lot of positive comments about RIFT: Storm Legion so far, many of which are praising the expansion's zone designs, the new classes, and especially the Dimensions housing system. However, it seems that there's another comment that pops up frequently that's not as kind: It takes way too long to level from 50 to 60. For some of you, this may be moot. You might already be level 60, have multiple 60s, or have been 60 since the day after Storm Legion came out. For others who aren't even level 50 yet, the expansion might sound a bit intimidating because of the hefty XP requirements to move that level marker up one number. In any case, I think that a good number of us can agree that it's definitely a slow process that detracted from rather than added to the experience of Storm Legion. I've got several thoughts about how leveling in RIFT has become a burden instead of a blessing, how Trion is reshaping the XP game, and what this might portend for the future of the title.
Max Payne 3 multiplayer event this weekend, triple XP and skulls for all
Rockstar has a whole calendar of multiplayer events planned for its titles this winter, and this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday goes to the bald guy with the guns. All players online for multiplayer in Max Payne 3 this weekend get triple XP earnings, and Rockstar devs will play online with everyone on Saturday from 11am - 2pm EST.There's rewards available, too! All players are getting themselves a "Human Skull Mask" for free, as seen above on the left. The "Wedding Skull Mask," on the right, is going to the top ten player-made crews on the new Crew Leaderboards, so get your gangster bros out there and top some score lists. And finally there's a sweepstakes going on: Just enter on the multiplayer event page for a chance at some Max Payne-related loot. And if you're not around this weekend at all, worry not, because Rockstar has another event like this one on January 11 next year.
PlanetSide 2 players score a double XP weekend
Are you a bad enough dude to capture territory for your chosen faction in PlanetSide 2? Quite possibly. But a lot of players have had difficulty even logging into the game due to usual launch week issues. That hasn't stymied the game's popularity any, but if you were hoping to get some sort of compensation for your trouble, you're in luck. The team has announced via Twitter that players will get double the XP this weekend as a reward for sticking out server instability. But wait! You already have an experience boost applied, you don't want it to go to waste! Not to worry; it's also been confirmed that players with a 10% boost active will still benefit from both boosts at once, resulting in even faster gains. So whether you've been heavily impacted by the launch issues or not, you can take pride in leveling faster over the next couple of days.
StarCraft 2 beta getting multiplayer XP progression system
The StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm beta is still ongoing, and Blizzard has posted a preview of a new leveling feature coming soon to the game-in-progress.Blizzard's adding a progression system to the multiplayer mode, in which players will earn experience, on a race-by-race basis, as they play in matchmaking and custom games. Gaining XP for each of the various factions will unlock special portraits and decals for player profiles.Blizzard has plans for XP bonuses as well, either for specific awards like your first win of the day, or for more general happenings like XP bonus weekends and other special events. The leveling system is being added to the beta in the next patch (and will likely be reset a few times during testing), and will eventually be available in Heart of the Swarm when it's released.
Flameseeker Chronicles: Your Guild Wars 2 mileage will vary
There's been a good deal of talk, here in the early days, about the level and experience curve in Guild Wars 2. A great many people are tackling the game in a great many ways, which leads to a tremendous variety in folks' perception of the leveling curve. There are a few of ways that your experience gain might not match up to your desired or expected level. These ways mostly deal with feeling underleveled for storyline content and zone progression. As I said, everyone's moving through the game differently: Some folks made a point to run around major cities right of the bat to tuck a few safe levels under their belts, while others made a beeline for personal story content, and others still (and I count myself in this category) are stumbling this way and that through content with all the focus and willpower of a drunken goldfish.
Official Black Ops II gaming headsets unveiled by Turtle Beach, coming 'weeks' ahead of game release (hands-on)
The crowds that filed towards the hulking Call of Duty: Black Ops II stand at Gamescom prove it deserved all that floor space and nearby, Turtle Beach was finally showing off its range of companion gaming headphones, ranging from in-ear buds to top-of-the-range wireless gaming cans with some heavy-duty audio customization options in tow. We managed to take a look at the whole selection (which repackages several models from the XP series and the incoming Seven series). While these were still developmental models (the Call of Duty decals will be painted on, not the stickers seen here), it should give you a good idea how the headphones will appear when they arrive in the next few months. We've got details on all the headsets (and the press release) after the break. %Gallery-162533% %Gallery-162520%
Breakfast Topic: How will you level through Mists of Pandaria?
Back in classic World of Warcraft, leveling typically involved one thing: slaughtering lots and lots of the current enemy du jour. Sure, there were quests and dungeons, but they were few and far between at the higher levels, so you were probably killing lots of something. Since then, the game developers have provided us with an embarassment of riches for gaining that lovely XP. Gathering, archaeology, the dungeon finder, PvP ... Almost anything in the game you do will grant you XP in some form or fashion. In fact, I actually leveled my main toon on Cataclysm's release from 82ish to 85 using nothing but archaeology. (Yes, that was over 200 dig sites, and yes, this was prior to the archaeology hotfixes that made it much easier to level. It suuucked -- but then I was able to get the gold from all the quests I skipped, and it wasn't so bad.) How are you planning to level your characters in Mists of Pandaria? Straight questing? Dungeon running? PvP? Or just a general mix? It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
StatCounter: Windows 7 now powering most PCs, passed 50-percent threshold in June
Windows 8 may be on the horizon with a fall 2012 release, but Microsoft's current OS, Win 7, just became the world's most prolific PC operating system, passing the 50-percent threshold last month. According to StatCounter, Windows 7, which overtook XP around the time of its golden anniversary last fall, has made its way onto 50.2 percent of the world's computers, compared to 29.9 percent for Microsoft's eXPerience during the same period. Launched in 2001, XP remains in the runner-up position, but shows a steady decline along with Vista, which never had much of a share to begin with. Oddly enough, iOS also appears as a modest portion of StatCounter's chart, which we presume represents iPads, which in this case fall within the same category (the company tracks mobile operating systems separately, where Android has ticked slightly ahead). If you own a PC running Windows 7, you can rest assured knowing that you're in good company. And we imagine that an even greater number of those current XP users will depart come 2014, when Microsoft has pledged to discontinue support of the aging millennial. Hit up our source link below for all of StatCounter's charts.
Windows support will last forever (almost), thank you Microsoft!
Just when you needed one more reason to carry on loving Windows Vista, Microsoft has gone and increased its customer support period. An extension has also been granted to Windows 7, which will get a full ten years of support instead of the usual five. There's been no announcement or fanfare, except for a brief communication from Microsoft Japan that sets out the new end dates. XP's support will stop in 2014, Vista's will shut down in 2017 and Windows 7's will come to a close in post-apocalyptic 2020, at which point call center staff will no doubt throw a party on Europa. [Thanks, Abhishikt] [Happy elderly couple photo via Shutterstock.]
MechWarrior Online previews BattleMech upgrades and pilot skill trees
A couple of days ago, Piranha Games -- the studio behind the upcoming MechWarrior Online -- gave us a look at the role-based warfare and character progression we can expect from the robot-fighting title. As we reported last week, players in MWO will fall into of four roles: scout, assault, defense, or command. Today's update on the game's official site gives us a closer look at the various ways that players can earn XP and on what they can spend it. For instance, every 'Mech will have an upgrade tree, which is divided into tiers. Players must spend experience in order to purchase all of the upgrades on a given tier before they are able to access the subsequent tier. To get a look at the various abilities and skill trees through which players will be progressing when they finally find themselves in the cockpit, just click on through the link below to the official MechWarrior Online site.
