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Rise and Shiny: Allods Online's Pearl Ring, selling power, and the Astral
Allods Online has long been a game that immediately conjures up some form of controversy any time it is mentioned. Whether it's because of cash-shop policies, changes to game mechanics, or the alleged mishandling of player issues, the game just can't seem to catch a break. Since the very beginning, I knew that the players who were complaining the loudest also loved the game the most -- a standard for the industry -- and that, meanwhile, thousands of players have enjoyed the game since being introduced. I have always loved it, but from the point of view of someone who is a constant newb and explorer. I have never understood the raider mentality or at least never wanted to; if I wanted to work at a game, I would get a job playing games. Oh, wait. This week I sat down to go through the newest bit of content, The Pearl Ring, to see just how fun the game could be on a character fitted with good gear and attached to a super-friendly yet hardcore raiding guild. I also wanted to explore the more general gameplay and pay another visit to the shining light of the Allods universe: the Astral. What I found surprised me and made me remember just how incredible this game is. %Gallery-183634%
PAX East 2013: Diablo III console video sizzles, Blizzard hints at other platforms
Diablo III's console edition is the cornerstone of Blizzard's booth at PAX East this weekend (but by no means the only product on display), so it stands to reason that the team would have cut together a new trailer to promote the coming console conquest. As we mull over the prospect of Blizzard winning over large swaths of the current console market, the PA Report discovered that Diablo III might not stop at just the PlayStation 3 and 4. In an interview, Blizzard did not want to make any official announcements but did state that the Diablo III console edition was "not necessarily a Sony exclusive." You can watch the "sizzle reel" of Diablo III with the adjusted UI after the jump! Massively's on the ground in Boston during the weekend of March 22nd to 24th, bringing you all the best news from PAX East 2013. Whether you're dying to know more about WildStar, DUST 514, or any MMO in between, we aim to have it covered!
PAX East 2013: Blizzard showing off console Diablo III, 'something new' at PAX East
We're still getting over the shock that Blizzard is coming off the mount to attend PAX East this weekend, but we'll work through that to bring you some of the new details about the studio's appearance at the show. Blizzard will be planting roots at booth #1036 in the Expo Hall and has promised to show "something new" in the Naga theater at 10:00 a.m. EDT tomorrow morning. If you're not there, don't worry; Blizzard is streaming the event on Twitch.tv as well. The PlayStation 3 version of Diablo III will be available to check out via demo stations. This edition has been tailored to the console with a "reimagined" interface, new monsters, and different character controls. The team is also giving away lots of swag to those who pop by during the day. Massively's on the ground in Boston during the weekend of March 22nd to 24th, bringing you all the best news from PAX East 2013. Whether you're dying to know more about WildStar, DUST 514, or any MMO in between, we aim to have it covered!
Rise and Shiny: Kartuga
MMOs are a very serious business these days. If you ask someone what type of MMO she prefers, you're more likely to get an explanation that sounds as if she's telling you what political party she belongs to. As a person who writes about games, it's easy to slip up and suggest that these virtual worlds we play in should offer different types of gameplay and even offer different ways to pay for them. If you're not careful, your readers can get angry and call you insensitive and inaccurate names like noob, sell-out or, even worse, journalist. In steps Innogames. On the surface, the developer and publisher doesn't seem to be more than a peddler of semi-challenging browser-based games, but spend a few weeks with the lineup and you'll find yourself appreciating not only the innovation in the German game-maker's lineup but also the variety. Kartuga is the latest to come from Innogames, and it's fun. I know, I know... fun seems to have become a dirty word when it comes to MMOs (it's not immersive or hardcore?!), but I for one am so happy it came along.
Diablo III plans itemization changes
Because Diablo III is such a loot-centric game, players pay attention when the developers start talking about making significant itemization changes in the upcoming months. The first part of Blizzard's future itemization philosophy is to more strongly equate rarity with power. Legendary items will drop less frequently and become a lot more powerful, and there will be a greater amount of diversity across the board. "It will take time, but our goal is to try to provide players with compelling alternatives to trifecta items when talking about what items they want to acquire," game designer Travis Day writes. Other changes include reducing the drop rate on rares, making gold sinks more exciting, and giving players better reasons to farm mobs instead of merely camping out at the auction house.
Lineage II offering augmented Adenian underwear promo
While wading into virtual battle in your skivvies may invite the wrath of the PC police, doing so in the world of Lineage II will give you substantial stat bonuses. NCsoft is running a Choose Your Underwear promotion from now through March 13th. The unmentionables in question are broken down into five cash shop sets, each of which grants the wearer base stat bonuses in the form of +35 to physical defense, +15 to magical defense, +7 to speed, and +15 to elemental attributes (fire, water, wind, etc.). The garments can be augmented with additional stats and skills via life stones and gem stones. Lineage II's business model relies completely on the cash shop, as 100% of the game's content is available to all players for free. [Thanks to everyone who tipped us!]
Free for All: Wakfu's bizarre first year
Wakfu is not what many would consider a standard MMORPG. Its developer, Ankama, has never pushed out normal products. After all, this is a French company we're talking about. That's right, as in France, the same place that brought us amazing (but unusual) creations like Ryzom's plant-planet and the incredible art of Moebius. There's something going on over there, something that is refreshingly different from the typical game or art design. When I attended GDC Online 2011, I was floored by a session featuring Ankama's David Calvo called Chaos in Motion: Transmedia as a Living Community Experience. The panel implored developers to take a chance on development, to give players something unique to experience and world to have an impact on. That was a while ago, however. The game launched a year ago, but the studio had an imperfect year. Let's follow the timeline from then to now.
Diablo III playable offline on PS3 and PS4
Thanks to last week's announcement, players already knew that Diablo III was headed for both the PlayStation 3 and 4 consoles. Now, Blizzard Production Director John Hight and Senior VP Chris Metzen have revealed that the game will not need an internet connection for local multiplayer games on either console. In the video interview with GameTrailers, Hight also talked about new features, including a new evasion ability and having all four players in co-op mode on the same screen instead of spit onto four separate ones. Players eager to test the game out on the consoles can look forward to a hands-on experience at PAX. In the meantime, you can watch the full interview after the cut.
Diablo III, Destiny coming to PlayStation 4 [Updated]
Diablo III is slated to roar into the console market, Blizzard Senior VP Chris Metzen announced at the Sony PlayStation 4 event today in New York City. Metzen said that the action-RPG will be coming to both the PlayStation 3 and 4 and that the company is excited to show it off at PAX. "Blizzard and Sony have entered into a strategic partnership, through which we will take over the world," Metzen said. Bungie's recently unveiled Destiny will also be headed to the PS4. Bungie president Harold Ryan told the audience that the PS3 and PS4 editions will feature exclusive PlayStation-only content. The PlayStation 4 is due out for the holiday 2013 season. [Updated: Our sister site Joystiq reports that "Diablo 3 on PS4 and PS3 will feature all major PC updates." Joystiq's also nabbed a few of the very first screenies from the game on console.]
BlizzCon returns in November
After skipping a year, BlizzCon is back, baby! The near-annual Blizzard convention is scheduled to take place on November 8th and 9th at the Anaheim Convention Center in California. The event will provide hands-on time with Blizzard's titles, an e-sports tournament, dev panels, and contests. Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime is looking forward to the return of the convention: "BlizzCon gives us a chance to connect with our players and share our latest projects in a very personal way. Members from all of our gaming communities have helped make this event bigger and better every time, and we look forward to meeting up and celebrating with them in November." While tickets are not yet on sale, the official BlizzCon site has posted hotel info for those looking to make Anaheim their temporary place of residence come this fall.
The Daily Grind: Would you rather have more money or more time for gaming?
Money and time: Two things we always wish we had more of and yet come up short. When it applies to gaming, these are the two factors that can take a fun experience and pump it up. So which is better? As a married father of three, time is always in short supply in my household. Some website is always making me write about games instead of playing them, and I would be lying if I said I didn't have fantasies about creating a clone who could game 24/7 on the side. Having more time for gaming is always a perk. But money for gaming ain't half bad, either. It can be used to purchase games, buy merchandise, pay subscriptions, snap up groovy cash shop items, and even (sometimes) make up for a lack of time to play. So would you rather have more money or more time for MMO gaming? 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!
Valentine's Day around the virtual world
Do you hear the chirping of songbirds in love? Do you see the flirtacious glance that cute Orc is giving you from across the battlefiend? Do you smell the flowers of romance in bloom all around you? If so, man, you've got it bad. Fortunately for those suffering from VDAS -- Valentine's Day Addiction Syndrome -- plenty of MMOs are on hand to provide you with a temporary fix until you get proper medication and are carted away to a professional love care facility. It may not be the biggest of holidays in the virtual world, but when love arrives in February, it cannot be denied. And who knows for you single folk? The man, woman, or one-eyed Gnome of your dreams might just stumble over you on this fine day! Read on as we sum up some of the larger Valentine's events in MMOs today.
The Art of Wushu: Paying doesn't mean winning
Age of Wushu has come under a lot of fire as a pay-to-win game. There are ways to get in-game power for out-of-game money, so there are a lot of reasons to assume that real cash can turn you into one of the top fighters in Jianghu. Fortunately for the dedicated players (and to the chagrin of cash shop whales), the truth is a bit more skewed. There are varying degrees of pay-to-win cash shops, but Age of Wushu's cash shop provides very few outlets to directly buy power. The main culprit is the simple fact that spending real money can give a player silver to spend on anything he or she wants. Silver is king in Age of Wushu. The entire player market revolves around silver, and the largest source of it comes from the cash shop. Does this mean you need to pay to have a chance?
Wings Over Atreia: Aion adopts lockboxes
It was bound to happen. Rare is the free-to-play game that evades incorporating this quintessential cash-shop concoction. The good news is, if you entered a pool for when NCsoft would introduce lockboxes into Aion and your date was January 30th, congratulations -- you won! Of course, this may have been one pot that you were secretly hoping no one would ever claim; there are certainly those who have a deep-seated hatred for lockboxes and all they purportedly represent. Those who enjoy the random nature of that treasure, however, probably wondered what took so long. Love them or loathe them, lockboxes are a now permanent part of Atreia's landscape. But is that a good or a bad thing? Are lockboxes a fun feature or one step on that slippery slide toward nickel-and-diming players like a number of other F2P offerings? One of the best things Aion has going for it is the unique free-to-play mode that allows folks who choose not to pay to experience the same exact game as those who drop cash in the shop. Can Aion maintain its Truly Free philosophy while pushing lockboxes? I believe the answer is yes.
Hyperspace Beacon: What would you like added to SWTOR's cash shop?
I wondered for a long time whether western MMOs could survive a free-to-play transition, especially since many of them were bent on having both a cash shop and subscription fee. Star Trek Online is a key example of this. You couldn't even play that game without a subscription, and yet it still had a cash shop. Then you also had hybrid models like EverQuest II and Lord of The Rings Online, which didn't require subscriptions but seemed to force players into one. And despite my initial thinking, even these games thrived -- STO especially surprised me. Now, Star Wars: The Old Republic has picked up a similar model, and despite the negativity from the comments on gaming news sites, Electronic Arts says it is pleased with the results. In fact, SWTOR was listed as a major contributor to the company's $185 million in F2P revenue. As I've stated before, I don't really spend money in SWTOR's cash shop. But at the same time, I don't have any moral opposition to it. Plus BioWare is giving me 600 Cartel Coins a month thanks to my subscriptions and security key. It's just easier for me to buy items from the Galactic Trade Market, and no item on the Cartel Market has excited me enough to buy it right away. I know that eventually everything will end up on the GTN, so I just wait. However, since this model seems to be working well for the game, I thought about where there could be an item that would compel me to immediately buy it from the Cartel Market. I also asked some of my friends whether there are any items that they would immediately buy if they were to appear on the Cartel Market. I received some very interesting results.
TERA: Rising's cash shop will be delayed
You may have heard a bit about TERA transforming into TERA: Rising and going free-to-play on February 5th (or, as we like to call it, tomorrow). That's still happening: You'll get to log in for free and play for free and do things for free and it'll be just wonderful. However, if you were hoping to drop some dough to pick up things like a mount, costumes, or elite status, you'll be out of luck for a few days. Valkyon Outfitters, the place where meatspace money turns into cyberspace loot and 1337ness, will take a few extra days to be ready for business. You'll have to make do with checking out all the awesome new content without the benefit of a brand-new costume until the shop is ready to open its doors. We know it'll be tough, but you can do this. Just wait a few more days to start flinging your money at the game.
Hyperspace Beacon: Givin' SWTOR props
All MMOs could use improvements, but that doesn't negate what they have done right. And despite the negativity, SWTOR is doing well. In fact, in a recent forum post Systems Designer Damion Schubert said that the free-to-play push was working quite well: "The success of the market (and it has been quite successful) has given us the time and resources to do some ambitious things on Makeb and plan some very ambitious things beyond." Without even looking at the specific numbers, I can tell that the Cartel Market cash shop is working really well because of the sheer number of items I see on the Galactic Trade Network (auction house). As much as I hate to admit it, if the Cartel Market does well, so does the rest of the game. I also see other hints that BioWare might be changing up its game a little bit. Direct discussion with the community appears to be on the rise, and BioWare has also admitted and is attempting to properly fix its mistakes. In the wake of Stephen Reid's departure, direct communication had become lax, and besides Ilum, I don't remember BioWare ever truly admitting to mistakes. Let's take a look at a few of the changes BioWare has already made this year. Maybe it will give us a clue as to where SWTOR is going in the near future.
Blizzard's Rob Pardo asks players to direct Diablo III blame to him
When Jay Wilson announced that he was leaving his position as director of Diablo III, the forums were filled with responses. To the surprise of absolutely no one who has visited any forum in the history of the Internet, many of those responses were some variety of blaming Wilson for every issue the game might have or claiming that the game is clearly being abandoned completely. That didn't sit well with executive producer Rob Pardo, who took to the forums to tell players that if they want someone to blame, blame him. Pardo explains that he's extremely proud of the game and that everyone remains dedicated to making it the best it can be. At the same time, he stresses that he was responsible for hiring and overseeing Wilson's work, and he takes full responsibility for the game as a whole. The odds of this actually defusing forum vitriol are still roughly nil, but it does ensure that at least in Pardo's eyes it will be directed in a more deserving direction, and it's a classy move no matter what you think of the game.
Diablo III's Jay Wilson steps down as game director
It's hard to imagine working on the same game for seven years, but for Diablo III's Jay Wilson, that was his reality. The game director won't be making it eight, however, as Wilson is stepping down to move to another position in Blizzard. "While it's been one of the most challenging and rewarding periods of my life, I've reached a point creatively where I'm looking forward to working on something new," Wilson wrote in his farewell letter. "The powers that be at Blizzard have been gracious enough to give me that opportunity." Wilson stressed that the ongoing development of Diablo III will "carry forward as normal" and that he'll remain available to the team for consultation and advice. He discusses the creation, launch, and development of the action RPG, ending with a sentimental wave to fans: "You are the most passionate, dedicated group of gamers a designer could hope to have. I wish you all the best, and want to thank you for making this an amazing experience for me."
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.]
