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SOE Live 2013: EverQuest Next explained
With that pesky SOE Live embargo out of the way, we can finally stop speculating and start talking about EverQuest Next! And if you're a sandbox fan, you're going to love it because when SOE declared last year that it was doing something really, truly different with EQ Next, it wasn't kidding. EQ Next is set in the realm of Norrath, but this is a rebooted version of those lands. Veteran players will find familiar places and names in the lore and setting, but they won't have a monopoly on the knowledge of this world; players new to the franchise can be equally comfortable because everyone is discovering this new world at the same time. On two separate occasions over the last few weeks, I got to sit down with Franchise Director Dave Georgeson to learn even more details about the game in preparation for today's SOE Live reveal. Want to see what all the fuss is about? Then join me for a tour through some of the key aspects and features of the upcoming sandbox.%Gallery-195288%
Camelot Unchained: Balanced classes out, rock-paper-scissors in
In his latest lecture series on Camelot Unchained game design, Mark Jacobs discusses his team's approach to class design for the title and how it won't go with the flow of most MMOs. In fact, he says that the effort to carefully balance classes has proved a detriment to the industry, and as such, Camelot Unchained will pursue a rock-paper-scissors structure. Why is Jacobs going down this route? In short, it just doesn't fit an RvR-focused game. "[Rock-paper-scissors] lends an element of unpredictability and it gives us so much more freedom to explore different classes/abilities without worrying about having everything equally balanced 100% all the time," he wrote. Jacobs finishes his lecture by saying that the studio is adapting CCP's development model: "Start small, iterate and then build, baby, build."
Camelot Unchained aims to be unattractive to gold sellers and farmers [Update]
Mark Jacobs has never been a fan of gold farmers and gold sellers, famously going on a warpath against them in his previous titles. He renewed his vows against such practices today, saying that he will do everything he can to make sure that such behavior doesn't prosper in Camelot Unchained. "While it certainly would be nice to have those extra subs the gold sellers/farmers bring to the table," Jacobs wrote, "I will not compromise the integrity of the game or the enjoyment for the vast majority of the players by making it easy for them in Camelot Unchained even if it leaves some money on the table." The team is planning on countering gold selling and farming by creating tools to battle it and making the game more difficult to generate a profit. "As an RvR-focused game, CU will be less attractive to them from the onset since earning currency in CU not be as easy as earning currency in a PvE game," he said. [Update: Jacobs is a busy little bee today. He's just posted a second dev blog discussing how leveling will work in a PvP-centric game.]
Camelot Unchained dev blog: 'Choices matter'
City State Entertainment has put up a new Camelot Unchained dev diary that continues the Foundational Principles series of posts. Today's devblog is about foundational principle number four, which is that "choice matters." Well of course it does, but how are the Camelot Unchained devs going to provide choices to their players? The post provides a few examples of the way players' choices will affect their long-term gameplay. For starters, Camelot Unchained will feature "a full stat allocation system" that will allow players to completely customize their characters' attributes. Race and gender will also matter: different races will have different stat maximums/minimums, and of course, various racial proficiencies and deficiencies. However, it's not mentioned exactly what effect a character's gender will have. The post also mentions players being able to take various advantages and disadvantages for their character such as in a number of pen-and-paper games, which will allow players to further tailor their characters as they see fit. For the full post, which also includes an example of what might happen if a mage decked out in metal armor decides to cast a lightning spell, head on over to the official site and check it out.
The Daily Grind: Do you worry about making the wrong choice?
It's generally very difficult to make wrong choices in an MMO. You can make choices that are less than optimal, definitely, and even choices that you later regret, but there's almost always a way to respec and try again. Even if you can't do that, you can always reroll and transfer most of your stuff from one character to another. Despite all of this, as I sat down to choose my first powers in Champions Online, I found myself very nervous that I'd pick the wrong thing for my character. I'm pretty sure that level 5 is far too early for me to have any chance of ruining my character forever, and I can always drop a few bucks and try again if that turns out to be the case, but I still couldn't help but have that fear that making the wrong choices would be disastrous. So what about you? Do you occasionally worry about making the wrong choice with your character, even if you know that most of those choices can be remade if it turns out you were wrong? Or do you forge ahead without fear, confident it will all work out in the end? 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!
Infinity Ward animator talks first-person flourishes
Chance Glasgo, a first-person animator at Infinity Ward, did a Reddit Ask Me Anything thread last weekend, taking on questions about the complicated weapon animations seen in games like Call of Duty and Battlefield. You should read through the whole thread if you're interested, but PC Gamer has kindly grabbed some of the most fascinating insights.Glasgo says that "most serial numbers on guns in CoD have significance" of some kind, whether it's just a reference to his workout gym of choice, or a hint to something in the game's larger mythology.He also explains that while gun aficionados will often tell him he's made some sort of technical mistake in rendering realistic weapons, the choice to do things differently is simply creative. For example, you're never supposed to point a real gun anywhere but forward even while reloading it, but following that rule would make some of these just so ... boring.
Class guides and resources for Mists of Pandaria
In the interest of providing a fast, easy-to-use resource for every class, we've gathered up our favorite guides, best lists, and most relevant posts into a convenient list. Check back often, because we'll keep these resources up to date throughout the last days of the Cataclysm and deep into the Mists of Pandaria. Check back as we add more guides, more resources, and the best links. If your favorite is missing, we'll be adding it soon. Death knight Glyphs round-up (and more!) PvE frost knights in Mists of Pandaria PvE blood death knights Unholy death knights by Icy Veins Druid Cat and moonkin talent walk-through Cat and moonkin talent walk-through, part 2 Guardian druid enchants, mods, gems, and buff items Restoration druid enchants, mods, gems, and buff items Resto druids by Icy Veins Patch 5.0.4 for balance and feral druids Patch 5.0.4 for guardian and restoration druids Video guide for PvP Boomkin and more (warning: language)
Choose My Adventure: Next stop, City of Heroes
I hope your vote wasn't born from a desire to see me in tights! Although road trips can be just as fun when you just jump in the car and take off with no predetermined destination, at some point you have to end up somewhere. And it looks like we now know our destination. While I was safely strapped in my seat and watching the scenery, you readers have taken the City of Heroes exit. So it looks like a cape and superpowers will be on order for the next few weeks in Choose my Adventure. (Unless you nix the cape, of course.) Surprisingly, this time around I actually managed to sit back and enjoy the ride without checking the poll results every 20 minutes of every day; I managed to restrain myself to just once a day! Maybe it was because I've let you have the keys before and knew that I really would enjoy the experience no matter where you took me. After all, you didn't get us in a wreck last time, did you? And Justin survived (relatively) unscathed, so what was there to worry about? Perhaps on another trip we will be able to explore other exotic destinations, such as Anarchy Online, Star Trek Online, Asheron's Call, or even World of Tanks. I'll admit that I wistfully entertained images of visiting each of these destinations while I was glancing periodically at the polls, but for now, our course is set, and we will be arriving shortly. The first order of business before jumping into City of Heroes is a shot pitstop to develop our character. Be sure to get your vote in before Saturday, April 28th, 2012, at 11:59 p.m. EDT!
SWTOR's Daniel Erickson on pulling players' moral strings
BioWare's Daniel Erickson said that for the writing team, the crunch time came way ahead of everyone else since the script for the game had to be done first. As such, the team has had plenty of time to reflect on how the game's developed while it's moved on to future content. In speaking with GameSpy, the Star Wars: The Old Republic head writer opened up about the difficulties and fun of penning a game with so many personalities, choices, and plot twists. Probably the most revealing is how Erickson admits that the writers are trying to pull players in multiple directions through a series of moral influences: the game's own light and dark side system, players' own morality, companions' own likes and dislikes, and multiplayer dialogue. Ideally, he said, one of the goals of the writing team was to make quests that would challenge players' set paths to make them want to change. "It's interesting to watch all those dynamic forces affect the player, see how they interact with the storytelling method," he said. Erickson also says that the project got initial pushback over the notion of centering it on story, because of the past limitations of MMOs and "the expected norm" that had grown over the years: "It was clear, when you played the early MMOs, that they were trying to put as much as they could in for what was there. There were people on each one of these projects that clearly cared passionately about the lore, and were really trying to get it across to the players. So we knew that that was there and we knew from the single-player games what did it." The interview continues to cover a wide range of writing challenges, including coming up with the script for Huttball, quests that the team was sure would get cut by the ESRB, and how the team enjoyed coming up with intricate stories, connections, and romances for companion characters.
The Daily Grind: Have you ever had a last-minute change of heart?
People who know me know I'm a planner when it comes to video games. I'm always planning what type of character I'm going to roll, how I'm going to level, what my goals will be, and so on. It's fun to plan, which sometimes carries with it the benefit of removing stress from making impromptu decisions that can affect your long-term gaming career. That said, I've certainly not been immune to making last-minute changes. Maybe I'm totally dedicated to rolling a certain class, but once that character creation screen is up there, I trust my gut and go with something different. Or I'll spend months saying that I have absolutely no urge to play an upcoming MMO, but at the 11th hour I break down and buy it. Has this ever happened to you with MMOs? Have you ever had a last-minute change of heart when it came to a major (or even minor) decision? How did it turn out? 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!
Apple posts iTunes Rewind 2011, chooses App Store favorites for the year
Apple has posted its iTunes Rewind 2011 page, where it has spotlighted the best and most popular content on the App Store. Singer Adele has won Apple's best artist of the year, while the Foo Fighters picked up the spot for best album on the store. Modern Family, Breaking Bad, Parks and Recreation, and Downton Abbey (all terrific TV shows) are spotlighted in the TV area, and Apple has also chosen winners for the books and movies categories. The Best Audio Podcast on the store is one done by the Epic Meal Time guys, and the Best Video Podcast goes to the very popular TED Talks (which also has its own app). Apple has also picked some iOS apps of the year: Instagram and Snapseed are the best iPhone and iPad apps of the year (both photo-related, strangely), and Nimblebit's great Tiny Tower and EA's Dead Space are the best games on iPhone and iPad, according to Apple. Each section of the Rewind page also has a few runners-up spotlighted, as well as list of the best selling items in each category. The best selling paid app on the App Store? Take one guess. You'll notice that there are no links inside iTunes to the best Mac apps, but of course that's because the Mac App Store is now hosting its own "best of" page, available from the header on "Featured" content. Pixelmator and Civilization 5 have been chosen by Apple as best app and game of the year, respectively. All of these choices are pretty solid -- congrats to all of the winners. It's been one heck of a year for apps and iTunes content, and it's great to see what it all looks like in retrospective. Stay tuned -- we will be making our own picks for the best of the year as we get even closer to 2012.
SWTOR walks us through the Flashpoint 'Esseles'
BioWare and LucasArts have said since the first announcement of Star Wars: The Old Republic that choices will matter. No one witnessed that more than visitors to the BioWare booth at San Diego Comic-Con. These fans had to choose between saving the engineering crew or saving the bridge crew in the Flashpoint called The Esseles. In this fast-paced instance, you and your party are trapped aboard the Republic cruiser called the Esseles. Like Darth Vader asking for the ambassador on board the Corellian Corvette at the beginning of A New Hope, the commander of an Imperial Star Destroyer in this Flashpoint is also seeking a Republic ambassador. The difference here is the Imperial forces haven't boarded yet. It is your job to hold them off. After the break, catch the full 13-and-a-half-minute walkthrough narrated by Director of Production Dallas Dickinson, sans epic beard unfortunately.
Ask Massively: Can't talk, slaying darkspawn edition
If it wasn't obvious through previous posts, I'm rather keen on the whole Dragon Age franchise. Which means that yes, I've been playing the stupid Facebook game that has just gone into open beta. The next revolution in gaming it is not, but it's got just enough of the setting to tide me over for the moment. Plus, it has player housing, which is conspicuously absent from most of the more modern MMOs out there. Seriously, guys -- if it's able to fit into a Flash game on Facebook, you can fit it into your umpteen-millionth triple-A title. Get on that. But I'll put aside the slaying of darkspawn and associated questions about how they're this far north, because it's time for another edition of Ask Massively. This round, we're talking about reviewing new MMOs, the conceptual space of games, and Star Wars: The Old Republic. As always, you can feel free to leave your questions in the comment field or send them along to ask@massively.com.
Choose My Adventure: And so it began... again
Well, this week has certainly been interesting. And by interesting, I mean not really usual. Then again, if any of you know me very well, that really should not come as much of a surprise; normal and MJ usually do not coexist in the same stratosphere. I am also not one to shy away from the untrodden path, and I tend to take off on my own tangents. Who needs easy when you can have interesting? Perhaps this quality alone made me a decent match for tackling the world of Xsyon for this round of Choose My Adventure. That, and a measure of patience. In my first true week of playing Xsyon, I really didn't get to "play" much of anything. Not in any sense of the word that most MMO gamers would be familiar with. That isn't to say that I didn't have any fun; on the contrary, I really enjoyed the time I did get in, and I look forward to really digging my toes into that rich Tahoe soil. Well, my shovel, really. So what were the unusual circumstances surrounding my first adventures? Hike past the cut for a deeper look at the week and some helpful tips for anyone planning to jump into game come launch.
The Daily Grind: What's the most difficult choice you've had to make in MMOs?
How many choices do we make every day? It's almost impossible to count, when you think about it. Even the smallest choice may have the largest consequence, like the day that I took oatmeal out of the microwave without protecting my hands and ended up giving myself second-degree burns. That is not a manly wound, let me tell you ("Oooh, how'd you burn yourself?" "...Quaker Oatmeal. Shut up."). In MMOs, we're faced with a constant deluge of choices, most of which are small and probably negligible. Do I go left or right? Do I make a beeline for that mining node or attack the mob instead? Do I help a guildie tonight or strike out on my own? Do I correct the atrocious grammar in general chat or develop a facial tic instead? Of course, sometimes there are choices that have more meaningful consequences, and today we'd like to hear about them. What's the most difficult choice you've had to make in an MMO, and what was the outcome? 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!
The Daily Grind: How much planning do you want for your character?
All MMOs require some amount of planning for your character ahead of time. Sometimes it's just a matter of choosing whether you want to be a warrior or a healer (with apologies to game-specific terms), but sometimes you wind up in a game with a much longer list of options. There are differing talent builds in World of Warcraft, different Virtue specializations in Lord of the Rings Online, and buckets of different skill loadouts for Guild Wars. And that's not getting into the bevy of class options available in Dungeons and Dragons Online. But some people really dislike that approach. After all, it kind of does suck if you get to level 50 only to find that you made a bad choice back at level 14 that's going to screw your character forever. That's where you get reversible choices and non-permanent selections... but you still have to make some choices early on that you can't undo later. So how much do you like to plan out your characters in advance? Do you prefer games that let you make all your choices as you go, with no wrong options? Or do you like making long and detailed arrangements for your characters' future?
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Two sides to the story
I'm pretty excited for Going Rogue. Part of that is kind of inevitable -- I write a column about City of Heroes, I've tried to make a clear point that I'm a fan of comics in general, and quite honestly right now I'm in a bit of a video game drought and could use something new. But there's more to it than that, and it goes right back to my love of BioWare and the motivation to do speed runs of Silent Hill 2 just to see all of the various endings available. What I'm getting at here is that I'm a big fan of any game that offers me morality or lets the game shift depending on my choices. So when Going Rogue had its two factions explained, I sat up and took notice, because the morals at play are certainly not black and white. No, they're grey and gray -- if not closer to blue and orange -- and that led to the inspiration for what I believe to be two of my most popular columns. And wouldn't you know it, even with both columns written, there's still more to be said.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Angry, desperate, hungry, cold
Everyone has different definitions of what constitutes a hero. City of Heroes features plenty of them, after all, and even then there's a breadth of different elements that make them heroic. Some of them are bravely fighting against the odds with unreliable powers or no powers outside of training. Some are heroes who have all the power in the world, but they consider the needs of society to be greater than their own needs. But there's one unifying trait so simple as to be almost comical to state. Heroes do the right thing. No matter what. So it's kind of silly to try and glorify the actions of Emperor Cole's jackbooted maniacs, rallying under the "loyalist" banner as if stomping on people were something to be proud about. The fact of the matter is that Cole has been named Tyrant pretty appropriately, crushing any chance for an entire world to make its own choices and mistakes and steps forward. And the reward for handing him control has been paradise, sure -- if you consider what he's offering a paradise.
No microtransactions in Final Fantasy XIV, but many beta screenshots
There are plenty of contentious issues in the MMO field, but one of the biggest at the moment is microtransactions. Controversy over the C-Store, the $25 "sparkle pony" and subsequent imitators, and the general balance in the burgeoning free-to-play field have made the players of nearly every game form an opinion. But those who detest the practice can take heart -- according to Hiromichi Tanaka, Final Fantasy XIV will not be including any sort of in-game store. That's from a recent interview from JPgames.de, translated by the FFXIVCore fansite community. According to Tanaka, Square-Enix isn't necessarily opposed to the idea if the demand is present, but absolutely does not want in-game power to correspond to real-world money. He also confirmed that players will be allowed to pick their server at launch, unlike the server roulette present at Final Fantasy XI's launch. If the interview isn't enough to tide you over, the game's beta has been given a brief writeup from Famitsu (translated from the Japanese), and there's an excellent gallery of screenshots available here. There are just over two months until the launch of Final Fantasy XIV, and they look to be an exciting ride.
Choose my Adventure: Fresh meat
Well, the time has come again for us to start on a new adventure -- only this time, our fearless leader here at Massively, Shawn, has decided to pass the next leg of the trip to me. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Krystalle, and I'll be your hapless pawn loyal servant for the next six weeks worth of Choose my Adventure mayhem! You will get to choose everything about my stay in the game, from the game itself, to my choice in character, quests, and more. Meanwhile I shall follow your directions and report back here on the experience of playing the MMO in whatever ways you've chosen for me. Is it fun? Unpleasant as a sweaty Wookiee's armpit on a hot day? What can you expect? These are the types of things I'll try to answer along the way. As I'm also a huge fan of screenshots (ergo, in charge of One Shots every day), I'll be taking snapshots as I travel through the game and adding them to a gallery for you to enjoy as well. The camera-shy avatars out there need not apply, insofar as potential traveling companions. But first things first -- it's the first week, and that means you have to choose the path I'll take. Join me behind the break as I unveil your choices!
