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The Nexus Telegraph: Putting the war in WildStar
It's no mystery that WildStar is going to feature combat. This column derives its name from one of the combat features we already know about, so you know it's not going to be a game where all conflicts are resolved with hugs and ice cream. People come at you with weapons, and as another person with weapons, you will have a duty to ensure that they do not draw another breath. Possibly it will even be your pleasure to do so. Scratch that -- hopefully it will be your pleasure to do so. The last thing anyone wants is a game with combat that bores you to tears, since you're going to be tasked with slaughtering all manner of critters and ne'er-do-wells as you play. What we know about WildStar's combat at the moment can fit comfortably into a manila folder, but I'd like to talk a little bit about some of the potential mechanics and what we might derive from the very limited previews.
EVE Evolved: Baiting players is hilarious fun!
I originally planned to put together updated ship setups for EVE Online's newly revamped Caldari, Minmatar, and Amarr Tech 1 cruisers this week, but I've honestly been having far too much fun baiting people in highsec with last week's Vexor setup. I'm having such hilarious fun doing it that I just had to dedicate this week's column to the dirty art of the bait-and-gank! There's absolutely nothing more amusing in EVE than baiting a ship twice the size of yours into attacking you for an "easy kill" and then turning it into a very expensive smoking wreck. The basic idea of baiting is simple: Get yourself flagged as a suspect by committing a minor crime like theft, fly around waiting for someone to attack you, and then tear him to bits. Before Retribution, you were flagged as a valid target only to the individual people you stole from, but once they attacked, you were safe to engage. Now you're flagged to the whole of EVE, making it easier to get a bite but also a whole lot riskier to engage in a crowded area. It's hard to pick and choose your fights when the whole universe is gunning for you, but when you get a good bite, there are some insanely fun fights to be had. In this week's EVE Evolved, I give some top tips on how to safely bait players in high-security space, where to find the best targets, and what ships are most effective.
Swordsman Online video demonstrates combat variety
Perfect World's upcoming Swordsman Online is all about combat, combat, and more combat, which means that combat needs to be divine. Today we've been treated to a video demonstrating six of the game's 10 "clans," the fighting styles that players can adopt in their war against high health bars. Within each of those clans are three paths that may be chosen by players at will. While the video doesn't clearly state which clan is on display, it still provides a useful look at Swordsman Online's fights. There is everything from hand-to-hand melee to whirling chains to giant cannons. Because in a game called Swordsman Online, it'd be silly not to have giant cannons firing quarter-ton balls, yes? Check out the video after the break and let us know which style suits you the best!
RuneScape announces launch date for Evolution of Combat patch
Fans of violence in RuneScape have something to cheer about today as the release date has finally been announced for the game's massive overhaul of the combat mechanics. On November 20th, the patch goes live after five months of active testing and rebalancing based on feedback. And it's got far-reaching implications for the game as a whole -- by improving the game's combat mechanics and battle environments, the developers can introduce content that wouldn't have worked under the old system. So what can players expect? Abilities are replacing the special attacks found on weapons with several new options for battle, and a new resource (Adrenaline) will go into activating your more powerful combat skills. Characters will also be able to make full use of both hands via dual-wielding, offering more aggressive options as well as more equipment options for mages. The announcement also promises a livestream this weekend to help players learn about and understand the changes before they go live in a couple weeks. [Thanks to Andrew for the tip!]
City of Steam reveals journey from turn-based to real-time combat
The saga of City of Steam's creation continues to grow more impressive with a new behind-the-scenes story. In it, the devs tell the little-known tale about how the game used to be turn-based. This was originally due to a very limited team and budget, although the devs further justified the decision by saying that the MMO was based on a turn-based pen-and-paper game anyway. City of Steam managed to make the transition to real-time action with the help of some surprise financing prior to alpha. Over 90% of the code had to be reworked to make it happen, but the team pulled it off prior to the game's alpha and any actual players' eyes. It might be easy for us to take for granted how studios can whip up real-time combat in MMOs, but this post illustrates how incredibly complicated it can be, especially for teams with limited resources. City of Steam heads into beta next month.
Funcom prepping The Secret World for reticle combat
Most of you Secret World fans know that the game has featured a changing of the guard in its development ranks. While Ragnar Tornquist remains as Creative Director, former Lead Content Designer Joel Bylos is now the Game Director, and as such he's penned his first state-of-the-game letter which just went live on TSW website. After a lengthy introduction, Bylos gets down to the business of update schedules. First up is Issue #4 and the long-awaited New York City raid. More importantly, the update will introduce reticle combat. Bylos says it's something the game has needed for a long time, but he's also conscious of the fact that some players may prefer to do without. "I feel it makes combat a lot more direct and exciting. We are not forcing it upon anyone, though. You will be able to freely switch between traditional targeting and the reticle depending on what you feel is best for you," he explains. Bylos also hints at "an entirely new animation backend for the Dreamworld engine," which should allow the firm to address common complaints regarding TSW's avatar movement. There's more, too, including a bit on puzzle raids, but you'll need to head to the official website to read it all.
Undead Labs talks about guns in State of Decay
Today's official blog post about State of Decay is not about careful examination of different cultures. It's not about understanding what creates a zombie and how the sickness can be stopped. It's not even about the careful process of finding and maintaining your food supplies in the wake of societal breakdown. No, this is a blog post about guns. It is all about the weapons you will use to blow the undead into little bite-sized chunks of zombie. The centerpiece is a huge list of guns that players can expect to find and shoot in the game, each with varying properties and ammunition types. It's also meant to expand in the future. So there's no subtlety here, just deadly firearms and the promise of using them to mow down shambling zombies to ensure your own survival. What more could you really want? Aside from functional vehicles and a planet not crawling with monsters that want to eat your brains, of course.
Enter at Your Own Rift: Macro this!
You know that saying about never discussing religion or politics around the dinner table? I'd like to add one more to the list: RIFT macros. Some players love them, and some players hate them, to the point that the topic completely turns them off from the game. Each camp has some very valid arguments, and there doesn't seem to be too much of a middle ground on the subject. In this week's Enter at Your Own Rift, I'd like to take a look at that polarizing issue and explain why I grew to love macros.
WildStar Wednesday shows off the telegraphs of combat
It makes sense that in the space western atmosphere of WildStar you'll have to worry about telegraphs. But these aren't the sort of telegraphs that communicate a message over long distances. No, these are combat telegraphs, the red areas that show up on the battlefield to let you know that something is about to happen. In this week's WildStar Wednesday, executive producer Jeremy Gaffney narrates a video showing off the telegraphs in the wild. While the telegraph system is universal in notifying players that something is about to happen, every warning requires a different response. Some are attacks that can be dodged by a quick sidestep, some require fast movement, and some require unorthodox movement by jumping behind the monster. Gaffney also shows off how environmental triggers can be used against enemies by luring them into one another's attacks or into unsafe areas, creating a dynamic combat environment. Take a look at the full video just past the break to see just how the telegraph system gets the message across to players in the game.
Free-to-play Arctic Combat 'borrows' one of Counter-Strike's maps
The new Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has a few old Counter-Strike maps included, and that's just fine, given that it's all in the same franchise. But Webzen's free-to-play shooter Arctic Combat has apparently taken some inspiration from Valve's classic as well. PC Gamer notes in the video above that the "Sand Storm" map, included with the game, bears a striking similarity to de_dust2, a map that any CS player will immediately recognize. As PC Gamer says, a few of the dimensions are off and a few crates have been moved, but from that opening spawn ramp down to the middle chokepoint and the side hallway, there's no question this is a very familiar map. Arctic Combat is currently in closed beta, though once Valve catches word of this, you might not see "Sand Storm" playable any longer.
Chaos Theory: How The Secret World has spoiled an MMO vet
Well ladies and gents, The Secret World has basically done the impossible: It's turned me into a one-game guy (for the moment, at least). I've been an unfaithful game-hopping MMO tourist for longer than I care to remember, and while F2P has made that gaming lifestyle more affordable than it used to be, it hasn't made it any more fun. Oh sure, I'll dabble in PlanetSide 2 and Guild Wars 2, but as far as my MMO home goes, it's The Secret World by a landslide (at least until ArcheAge heads west). Why is that? Well, plenty of reasons, more than I can relate in this week's column, in fact. I will say this, though: The Secret World's launch feature set has made me a bit pickier in terms of what I'll put up with in competing games.
Mists of Pandaria: Guide to Rogues
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Encrypted Text for assassination, combat and subtlety rogues. Chase Christian will be your guide to the world of shadows every Wednesday. Feel free to email me with any questions or article suggestions you'd like to see covered here. While Mists of Pandaria is still actively being developed and patches are dropping regularly, the rogue of tomorrow is starting to take its final shape. The amorphous blob of shadow that we see on the horizon is congealing into something resembling a functioning class. In fact, rogues have been receiving fewer changes these past few weeks than any other class. I'm not surprised by this fact, as there's really not much to improve upon when we're already a model class. With talent choices reduced to a half-dozen easy decisions, there's really not much you can mess up while playing your rogue in Mists. I like to think that you can break a class down into three basic categories: customization, enhancement, and execution. You need to pick the talents and glyphs that best suit your situation, gear up with the right gems and enchants, and finally push the right buttons.
The Repopulation recaps July alpha testing, updates
Above & Beyond Technologies has released its end-of-the-month progress report for The Repopulation. It's a massive information dump, and the tl;dr version is that the sci-fi sandbox is doing quite well after a solid month of alpha testing. Highlights include new double-tap movement abilities, various improvements to the game's action mode, and extensive polish passes on "every skill line and ability." While the changes seem to lean heavily on combat-related gameplay at first glance, the title "isn't just a game about combat," according to the devs. "Crafting and harvesting types also have many new toys to play with," the say.
Guild Wars 2 releases pillars of gameplay videos
Previously, ArenaNet discussed its philosophy behind the design of Guild Wars 2 in its MMO Manifesto. With launch quickly approaching, the studio has released four more videos that delve into how that philosophy was put into practice for the four ideas of dynamic events, personal story, combat, and PvP. Fans may be quick to note that there is no world vs. world video, but ArenaNet promises that a video highlighting that will come another day. You can watch all four pillar of gameplay videos after the break.
Marvel Heroes Comic-Con trailer shows off combat
If you haven't been watching this year's San Diego Comic-Con closely to see what tidbits are revealed, don't worry -- we've got you covered. One such tidbit is the new Marvel Heroes trailer released by Gazillion Entertainment as part of the free-to-play game's panel at the convention. Although short, the video shows off a few of the playable superheroes demonstrating their evil-vanquishing moves. For 40 seconds, fans can watch Iron Man, Black Panther, Captain America, The Hulk, Human Torch, Deadpool, and Black Widow kick, smash, pound, and blast their foes. Check out the combat preview in the video after the break.
Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter cockpit demonstrator hands-on (video)
We spend hundreds of hours on board a variety of airplanes each year, most often en-route to a trade show or product launch event, but occasionally we have a rare opportunity to hop on board military aircraft, to test out unrelated products, or, even more unusually, to take a seat behind the yoke. Sadly that's not what we're doing today -- well, not exactly. We are taking a closer look at the F-35 fighter jet at Lockheed Martin's Fighter Demonstration Center just outside our nation's capital, but, being in the middle of a corporate complex, there's no actual Lightning II on hand. We were able to take a simulated ride, however -- this isn't your ordinary 4D sickness-inducing amusement park thrill. The F-35 is by far the most advanced Lockheed jet to date, with updated radar, all-internal weapons, improved tracking systems, 360-degree infrared coverage with a visor readout, and a full-stealth design, not to mention the incredibly capable glass cockpit powered by more than 9.3 million lines of software code, and an overall smoother experience for pilots that could end up spending shifts of 12 hours or longer in flight. The F-35 has already seen plenty of field time in the US, with more than 500 flights already in 2012, and it's set to make its way to the UK armed forces next week and the Netherlands later this year, but while the aircraft is quite familiar to the pilots tasked with flying it, the public hasn't had an opportunity to experience Lockheed's latest airborne warrior. We flew a simulated mission within a grounded duplicate of the flyable F-35 cockpit, and the capabilities and improvements are quite clear -- you definitely don't want to encounter an F-35 from a previous-generation aircraft. The dual 8 x 10-inch touch-enabled displays combine to give you 8 x 20 inches of real estate, with dedicated modules for the weapons systems, targeting, and navigation easily accessible -- you can also move them to different panels depending on your current objective. A pair of joysticks at the left and right side provide direct access, letting you move a cursor to track enemy crafts or ground-based targets as well, and a very slick heads-up-display mounted in the helmet provides infrared mapping and instrument readouts. Overall, it seems to be an incredibly powerful system. Unfortunately, the mock-up on display here isn't accessible to the public, but you can join us for a behind-the-scenes look just after the break.%Gallery-160208%
Massively Exclusive: An interview with WildStar's Jeremy Gaffney
Big releases from the WildStar development team at Carbine Studios seem to be few and far between, which is why the recent footage from early testing was such a breath of fresh air. Aside from showing off some of the game's role-based content for Settlers and Scientists, it also displayed new environments, new combat elements, and the unique graphical flair that attracted fans even before anything had been said about gameplay. We gamers are a curious bunch, though, and seeing a bunch of cool new stuff doesn't stop us from asking questions. Executive producer and design director Jeremy Gaffney recently hosted an AMA session on Reddit, but he was also kind enough to answer a few more questions from us here at Massively about combat flow, racial differentiation, and the usual character roles in MMOs. Take a look past the break at what the game will offer players when it finally goes live... which most WildStar fans agree can't be soon enough.
Choose My Adventure: TERA questing with Rielene
Last week's polls sent Higiri off to handle horrible dungeons, while Rielene continued to quest across the land. Much as in a certain famous fantasy trilogy that may have won our first bonus poll, this means that there are two distinct paths now being following by our intrepid TERA protagonists, and that means more time to focus on each. So I'm starting off with Rielene and her quest into the depths of Arcadia, beginning with the unexpectedly tumultuous Fey Forest. The opening explanation behind the quests here is fairly well handled, and it actually gives a reason that adventurers are being sent off into the depths of danger when an army would seem more suitable. Put simply, the Valkyon Federation's armed forces are primarily focused against the invading Argon, and that means that the rest of the world has kind of gotten messy. Adventurers aren't meant to represent some strange amalgam of soldiers and free operators; they're the last-ditch reinforcements for a home front that's deteriorating rapidly.
Origins of Malu shows off combat and house-building in video interview
Seeing is believing, and folks want to see more of Origins of Malu, a promising upcoming sandbox MMORPG. In answer to this, Burning Dog Media has released an E3 video interview with Lead Developer Jason Mitchell interspersed with alpha footage highlighting a bit of combat as well as the house-building feature. Although some of the footage will look familiar from our exclusive E3 interview, there are added combat scenes and a brief demonstration of housing construction. Jason adds a few details about the twitch-based combat such as the ability to dodge and the charging feature for skills. At 3:28, viewers get their first glimpse of the beginnings of creating unique personal structures in game; creative types are going to have fun with the open functionality of construction by which you build literally from the ground up. Sounds promising, no? Go ahead and take a gander at the new footage after the break, and be sure to read our interview for more details. [Source: Burning Dog Media press release]
E3 2012: Hands-on with Neverwinter combat
Neverwinter MMO. Action-oriented combat. Free to play. How perfect does that sound? Pretty perfect, which is probably why Perfect World Entertainment's handling it. In fact, Perfect World and Cryptic Studios are doing such a good job that some of the game's art and lore is being worked in as canon! Go on, you can use that as a talking point to get your friends to read this article at your next pen-and-paper Dungeons and Dragons game. Massively's own Eliot Lefebvre took on the game at PAX, so follow on past the break and I'll try to work off of his observations based on my experience at this year's E3.
