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Rise and Shiny: Dawn of the Dragons
There's no way for me to describe Dawn of the Dragons without it sounding a bit like the old Mafia Wars-style games that were so massively popular on Facebook years ago. The truth is that, yes, games designed around clicking a button a few times or even several hundred times (depending on your tolerance) sound like they cast some sort of spell on the playerbase. Surely these people cannot behaving any sort of fun and instead are trained animals, responding only to the bit of food that drops out of the chute. I'm the first one to admit that much of the gameplay in a game like Dawn of the Dragons by 5th Planet Games pays out the most to those who hit the buttons the most. But I'm also the first to defend the design and to say that it can be a lot of fun. Let's not pretend that even the most immersive, realistic, epic MMO in the world cannot be turned into a series of button-smashings. We've all known a player in almost any game who has reduced her electronic adventures down to an efficient science. Does a game like Dawn of the Dragons just do away with all of the mumbo-jumbo to get to the meat of the gameplay: the button mashing?
Allods Online Russia opens up subscription-based server
The Russian branch of Allods Online made an interesting move and opened up a subscription server for an otherwise free-to-play MMO. The catch and selling point of the server is that its players won't be able to access the cash shop at all. Every character will be on an even playing field in terms of perks and boosts. Certain quality of life items will be available for gold or as quest rewards, but no one will be able to just buy perks outright. You can read the full FAQ here. (If you don't read Russian, we suggest a translator.) [We don't speak Russian, so thanks to intrepid tipster Tandarighttanon for bringing this to our attention.]
The Perfect Ten: Absolutely ridiculous cash shop selections
This past week, the Money Gnomes at Turbine tested the waters with the idea of selling a $50 horse in Lord of the Rings Online. Oh, not just any horse, mind you: It's a toy hobby horse. For $50. The representative who asked for feedback on the item and price-point probably caused herself internal hemorrhaging by stating, "This is not a joke." The fans responded, "Of course, and the sky is made out of blue cheese." At the very least, it allowed the more creative players to come up with humorous expressions of incredulity. The fun finally came to an end when the studio announced that the "experimental" price point was a failure. Of course, this is by far not the first time a game studio's attempted to sell a ridiculous item, an item with a ridiculous price point, or both combined. If you sell it, after all, the rubes will come. So in the spirit of a $50 hobby horse that costs something like $20 in real life to acquire, here are 10 completely ridiculous items that we've seen in MMO cash shops.
Get your Black Friday MMO deals here!
If our gift ideas for MMO gamers wasn't enough to get you started with your holiday shopping, then how about a full-fledged roundup of the many, many great deals floating around on Black Friday? That's right: Without putting on your pants, you'll be able to get in on some incredible promotions for this busy shopping day. Even if you're just buying for the most special person in your life (yourself), we still give you permission to splurge. All of the big deals are past the cut, so what are you waiting for?
Allods Online releases its Autumn Wind update
Allods Online's 3.0.5 update is upon us, otherwise known as Autumn Wind. The newest patch to the game includes a wide variety of features, including a revamp of Goblinball, the Summerhold tank skirmish, crafting improvements, new emotes, and a makeover for one of the race's females. To celebrate Autumn Wind, gPotato is staging a giveaway for random players who are logged into the game from today through November 13th. Lucky winners will get hoodies, headsets, mice, or keyboards. For more on Autumn Wind, check out Beau's livestream this Thursday at 5:00 p.m. EDT, the official patch notes, and the following trailer.
Allods previews the vehicle-based skirmish of Summerhold
Allods Online has always laid claim to having a robust system of vehicle customization with its astral ships. The upcoming skirmish available in the next patch takes that vehicle affection to the next level with the battle of Summerhold. Players who take part in this conflict won't be fighting a PvP objective but will instead be piloting a variety of vehicles to take out a rampaging prototype weapon controlled by a goblin. The vehicles are each laid out with strengths and a few crucial weaknesses to force players to work as a team; the high-damage artillery unit can't open fire unless the nimble spotter gets up close to the prototype, but of course the spotters will be ripped apart without a defensive line, and so on. Based on how fast the prototype unit is taken down, players will be awarded a variety of medals which can be exchanged for prizes including minipets and vanity items. If you're looking forward to vehicle-based mayhem, take a look at the full rundown for all the details.
Allods Online crafting professions set to merge in Patch 3.05
Crafting professions in Allods Online are getting quite a revamp with Patch 3.05 at the end of this month. Following in the footsteps of the Alchemy changes, all professions will be merged with their appropriate gathering counterparts to make for a more self-sufficient process. According to the dev notes, "the skill of their new merged profession will be based on the highest of the two that are being combined." Other changes made to crafting with this patch include simplified profession leveling progression, an improved crafting interface, tool upgrades, crafted armor, and more. The point of the crafting changes revolves around the idea of making armor that is more easily obtained for those players who put time into crafting and adventuring. Patch 3.05 is set to release on October 30th.
PointMMO goes into open beta
Despite what the name may have you believe, PointMMO is not a game but a digital distribution service specializing in online RPGs. Today the site announced that it has transitioned into open beta for those looking to test out its system and features. Currently, PointMMO's library is rather anemic, with its most well-known titles being World of Tanks, Age of Conan, Anarchy Online, and Allods Online. Some of the game pages include mentions of special promotions for signing up through the service, such as an Anarchy Online leets giveaway. PointMMO claims to offer the fastest way to get into MMOs with its downloader and comes with several social options that are integrated with Twitter and Facebook. The service is currently available only in North America, although the company plans to expand into Europe in 2013.
Choose My Adventure: You decide the MMO and how I play it
It's finally time for my second round of Choose My Adventure. The last time I helmed CMA, Lineage II was top pick, and I had a lot of fun with it. I took tons of screenshots and video to keep you in the loop as to my progress, and you can expect the same, whichever game is chosen this time. MJ's turn with The Secret World was a lot of fun to read and follow. She even livestreamed some of her shenanigans... I mean, adventures. You can bet I'll be playing with one finger over the PrtScn button and livestreaming some of my adventures as well. I hope to make this a multimedia extravaganza of epic proportions. Take a look through your choices and vote, vote, vote. And make sure to get those votes in by 11:59 p.m. on Sunday the 21st!
Allods Online introduces a new skirmish in Autumn Wind update
Fall is a time of changes, and Allods Online is keeping in the spirit of the season with the Autumn Wind update. Set to launch October 30th, this newest update will not only bring new UI changes and more details to the female avatars, but will also introduce a new PvP skirmish -- Summerhold. The 3.05 patch will also continue to rework and balance crafting to benefit all professions, not just the alchemy and herbalism crafts that were merged into a single profession in the New Horizons expansion. In celebration of autumn, gPotato has released new screenshots that show off fall colors and the new female character models. Check them out, along with other Allods images, in the gallery below. [Source: gPotato press release]%Gallery-91331%
Allods Online overhauls female model and animations
Female Xadaganians in Allods Online are in for a treat come patch 3.05. The devs recognized that the characters didn't look up to snuff compared to the other races and genders and thus have devoted some time to giving them (yes) a makeover. Are we in an '80s romcom montage or what? The makeover for the women includes a more detailed character model, improved animations, an additional face, and more hairstyles. The team is also tweaking hair models so that locks of hair will now be seen falling from inside of whatever helm that character is wearing. To promote the Xadaganian makeover, gPotato released a video diary starring actress Nataliya Zemtsova. Zemtsova was used for the motion capture and voiceovers of the new models and is apparently amazed that you can assign a character a name. Check it out after the jump!
Allods Online patch 3.0.5 UI changes previewed
Allods Online isn't very far away from it's 3.0.5 update, Autumn Wind. To bide the time 'til the patch hits, the Allods team is showcasing different updates that 3.0.5 will bring to the game. After Autumn Wind hits, players will automagically hop on the last mount they used when choosing to automove to a quest location. Deposit boxes will have sorting options (much as inventory bags currently do) to save players with large deposit boxes from the clicking-finger fatigue that has always accompanied manual organization. The action bar will be combined and re-ordered for more visual clarity and easier spell activation. Players will no longer have to talk to the boring ol' Astral Hangar NPC to summon their Astral ships, as a new window will pop up the moment they enter the Astral Hangar. Some quests will have new icons to prevent confusion, quest logs will be more compact, and active buffs and debuffs will be sorted by duration. Visit the official preview for full details on upcoming UI changes, and keep an eye out for more 3.0.5 information.
Previously on MV TV: The week of September 22nd
It's that time of the week again, people! Time for those unlucky few who missed our livestreams as they went live to click beyond the cut and enjoy my favorites of the week. It's hard picking them out, so I reach out to the team and ask which ones deserve to be highlighted. Honestly, all of the livestreams deserve the spotlight, but it should be no surprise to find out that individual streamers find their own streams to be the best of the best. I tend to agree, and every week I am surprised at just how no-nonsense and informative our streams are. Be sure to bookmark our livestream schedule calender so that each week you can tune in to your favorite. Feel free to suggest titles for streaming and to chat it up with our streamers live as they play! This week we have MJ returning with her favorite games like EverQuest II, Aion, The Secret World, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, and Guild Wars 2. Richie joins in with his current favorite, Guild Wars 2, and I round things off with an hour spent with the Ultima Online developer team, a goblinball session with community leaders in Allods Online, and a tutorial on building a house in Wurm Online! Trust me, if there is one goblin-kicking, dev-interviewing, house-building livestream series that you should watch, it's this one!
The Perfect Ten: Ways MMOs explain infinite resurrection
Why? Why do we die in MMOs and receive an infinite number of resurrections? Are we in a type of hell defined by endless combat and suffering, doomed to never escape the cycle? Is this a cruel experiment being performed by supreme alien beings from afar? Does that make us the living undead, immortal Highlanders, or something even more significant? If you're looking at me with that look you have in your eye right now, I'd like to remind you that asking these questions is more in line with the core of RPGs than just mashing the 1-2-3 buttons. The rules that make up and dictate our virtual lives should have both meaning and sense, yet so many of these games expect us to just blithely accept that we can come back from the dead over and over without nary an explanation. Well, I like explanations. Even if it's just polite nonsense, a thought-out reason as to why our characters are death-proof tells me that the devs treat their game with a higher degree of integrity than others. So here are 10 MMOs in which the endless cycle of death and resurrection gets at least a backhanded explanation instead of "shut up, just accept it."
The Soapbox: There's no such thing as pay-to-win
Disclaimer: The Soapbox column is entirely the opinion of this week's writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Massively as a whole. If you're afraid of opinions other than your own, you might want to skip this column. I hate it when MMORPG players completely misrepresent this hobby. I cringe every time I find myself in the middle of a discussion about "MMOs" when most of the people chatting are pulling only from their experience as a World of Warcraft raider and nothing more. There are hundreds -- actually, thousands -- of MMOs in existence. Discussing MMOs without knowing about as many as possible is really talking about specific titles, not a genre. You wouldn't catch a group of "foodies" basing all of their passions on a few items from a handful of menus. The same should apply to MMO discussions if we ever want the genre to be taken more seriously by outsiders. MMO players love to pigeonhole titles. What are some of the worst descriptions? "Hardcore" is one. What does that even mean? Does it mean a title is hard to play? In what way is it hard? Does it mean that it takes time to play? How much time equals hardcore? "Facebook game" is another term that drives me crazy, and it's often used by many MMO fans to dismiss all sorts of titles. While I know that the term generally refers to FarmVille-style gaming, using the term literally reflects how little the person knows about the variety of games that actually appear on or are connected to Facebook. The term that drives me the craziest of all is pay-to-win.
Choose My Adventure: Beware the Bard edition
All the world's a game, and all the men and women are merely players. Shakespeare was really onto something there, even if he flubbed a word a bit. Folks who try to deny their participation in games are just fooling themselves! What are games, after all, but progression in a given world? Some people are just so boring that they stick to only one world. We know better, though, don't we? We choose ours from a myriad of options! Or, as in this case, you Choose My Adventure. I will admit, I have been in the wings, eagerly awaiting my next casting call. Twice now you've sent me on amazing adventures, and I've had a blast! And finally, it's my turn to take the stage again. So what will I star in this time? Will it be a military epic, a space adventure, or a flight of fantasy? My big comeback is in your hands! Peruse the list below and follow your muse to choose which world I will spotlight for the next six weeks. Just be sure to have your vote in by 11:59 p.m. EDT on Sunday the 9th. And don't forget to stay tuned to the MV Guide over the coming weeks to watch the adventures unfold on Massively TV!
Rise and Shiny revisit: Allods Online
Before I get into the details of my week revisiting Allods Online, the "controversial" MMO published by gPotato, I'd like to say that I am fully aware of its less-than-stellar launch. I'd go so far to say that I have heard a lifetime's worth of theories and discussions over the overpriced cash shop and odd death mechanic. I saw the players who worshipped the game during the beta and later screamed about the fact that someone had to pay for the game. I have my own theories, mainly one that says many Western MMO players' first experience with a free-to-play MMO was Allods Online. These players were not used to cash shops and scoffed at for paying something that was previously free in beta. The cash-shop prices were too high. We know this. The developers and publishers both talked about it and continue to do so when asked. The death mechanic was over the top, and players could literally spend thousands of dollars on the game. This is all known; I have heard about it from the publishers' mouths myself. So here we are. The game has been tweaked and patched. The prices were adjusted; the silliest of the death mechanics have been removed. Players can still spend thousands on the game, but those same players can spend thousands in any number of MMOs. Now that I have gotten that out of the way, allow me to tell you what I thought about the gameplay during my revisitation.
Previously on MV TV: The week of August 4th
Hello again, Massively readers and viewers! Did you enjoy the Mars Rover landing? By the time you read this, were you able to get some time outside to check out the Perseid meteor shower? No? That's OK because you were inside watching Massively TV, right? No? All right, let's stay calm. Here's what I'll do for you, but just this once. I'm going to recap some of the best moments from the last week of livestreaming. I'll wrap them up in a nice package to save you some of the work. All you need to do is click past the cut, watch the streams and... hey! Stop looking at those meteors! Get back in here. This week we had Blake returning with his Lunchtime Livecast, this time discussing the new Star Wars: The Old Republic transition to free-to-play. Next up, I took the mic and played some of The Kingdom of Loathing for Choose My Adventure. I jumped head-first into Dark Blood after that (with Outspark's help, of course) and followed it up with a revisit to Allods Online. Mike shot a lot of stuff in EVE Online, and Jeremy took us through another starter zone in Vanguard: Saga of Heroes in celebration of SOE's early free-to-play transition. MJ joined up and streamed some EverQuest II, a bit of DC Universe Online, The Secret World, and Aion. Voila! Instant entertainment!
Allods Online expansion launches today, new trailer released
Players waiting to build and claim their own allods can finally dig in and start construction now that Allods Online's expansion New Horizons has finally arrived. Besides the ability to own your own personal island, the expansion introduces a rebalanced Psionicist class, the ability to change factions, and a new draconic aspect. Check out these features and more in the new trailer after the break. In addition, as part of the celebration of opening the new North American server Avilon, players who log into the game for at least one hour from August 8th through the 21st are entered into a raffle each day for a chance to win real prizes. Check out the official announcement for full details about the lottery and prizes. For more details about the expansion, read Massively's exclusive interview. And be sure to stay tuned for a Rise and Shiny revisit to the game later in the week. [Source: gPotato press release]
One Shots: Death by tentacles
Massively reader The Platypus knows the secret behind taking a good One Shots entry: a good death! He sent in this amazing shot from The Secret World with a quick note: Hey Massively -- long-time reader The Platypus here! Two friends and I decided to three-man the Polaris dungeon in The Secret World last night, and while it went more smoothly than I imagined it would, we still had a little trouble with the Ur-Draug (TSW's Cthulhu analogue). As I was dying the first time and the creeping inevitability of my fate overcame me, I did the only logical thing I could do with the last few seconds of life: I took a screenshot! Enjoy! Tentacles past the break. Hit it!
