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XL releases new ArcheAge combat trailer
If you're already looking forward to the start of ArcheAge's fourth Korean closed beta test, XLGAMES has a new gameplay video that will probably launch your excitement level into the stratosphere. Though it's a short clip, it boasts a lot of siege footage (including some spiffy shots from above as player-controlled hang-gliders fly over the action). We also get a brief look at a few of the game's combat spells as well as PvE clashes with a couple of sizable boss monsters. ArcheAge is a sandpark title being developed in Korea by XLGAMES and Lineage creator Jake Song. Thus far there are no public plans for a western beta or release.
TERA monthly chat talks public previews, PvP, and more
TERA's November edition of the monthly Twitter dev chat has been posted on the game's official site, and it brings a few choice morsels involving the current alpha test and the upcoming closed beta. The team notes that the current testing is going quite well, and the first public preview event will be starting in early 2012. Many players also ask about the game's open world PvP, and the team mentions that a free-for-all-from-level-1 PvP server is not out of the question, though it won't happen at launch. Master glyphs, guild wars, and fashion customization are all on the table as well, so for the full transcript, head on over to the official TERA site.
Hands-on impressions of The Secret World
Last month, Funcom held a special hands-on event for The Secret World at its Montreal, Canada offices, where we sent freelancer François Blondin to cover all the exciting details. François also got to play the game for several hours, giving us a fresh perspective on what TSW has to offer MMO gamers. In Funcom's upcoming The Secret World, the game's three factions -- Templars, Illuminati and Dragons -- face off, compete, and collaborate (all at the same time!) amidst the nightmarish creatures being revealed throughout the world. But choose your allegiance carefully: Your faction determines your path and special bonuses for the whole game, and faction-switching won't be an option. Join me for a hands-on look at the game's current incarnation!%Gallery-72395%
Choose My Adventure: Do all the levequests!
Hello again, ladies and gentlefolk, and welcome back to another riveting installment of Choose My Adventure: Final Fantasy XIV edition. Last week you fine people voted for me to dive headlong into combat in pursuit of Lancer level 15. Also, you had me betray my home of Limsa Lominsa for Ul'Dah, and I hope you're happy with yourselves because I have a few bones to pick with you for that. But more on that later. I regret to say that I did not quite succeed in my goal of reaching level 15 because in the name of all that is sweet and holy I could not grind out another levequest without shoving the nearest pointy object into my eyes. However, I did make it to about level 10, so nine levels and a billion levequests later, I think I have a pretty good impression of combat. So follow on past the cut and join me as I share it with you, would you kindly?
New ArcheAge video shows off combat moves, giant mobs
While much has been made of ArcheAge's non-combat gameplay, the upcoming fantasy sandpark is no slouch when it comes to pew pew and sticking the pointy end into the other man. A newly released video compilation shows off many of the game's melee moves and spell-casting animations as well as a good cross-section of PvE mobs ranging from the mundane to the spectacular. Apparently size matters to the devs at XL Games, as more than a few of the creatures on display dwarf the player characters taking them on. Whether you're into giant flying crabs, fearsome tree monsters, or hordes of undead, there's a little something for everyone in ArcheAge's newest combat clip. Check it out after the cut.
Some Assembly Required: An early look at Dawntide
Hey folks, and welcome back to Some Assembly Required. The column's been around for a little bit now, and we've done everything from developer interviews to opinionated rants to sandbox and player-generated content feature spotlights. One thing we haven't done is an impressions piece on new sandbox titles, and I aim to fill that void today with an early look at Dawntide. The title is an open-world fantasy sandbox under development by Working as Intended, an indie outfit that calls Copenhagen, Denmark home. Dawntide has been under construction for quite a while now (we first spoke with the devs way back in the summer of 2009), and after a series of funding and development challenges, the end of the long beta journey is in sight.
Choose My Adventure: Meet Alira
Everyone, I'd like you to give a warm welcome to my brand-new Final Fantasy XIV Choose My Adventure character, the Miqo'te Lancer Alira Zhyn. Before we get down to the nitty-gritty, let me go ahead and address the fact that yes, the top vote for gender was male, while the top vote for race was Miqo'te, and it's not possible to roll a male Miqo'te. I made an executive decision to allow race to override gender, as I feel race is a bit more of a deciding factor when creating a character than gender is. Now that that's out of the way, head on past the cut to read about Alira's first few days of adventure in Eorzea!
Addon Spotlight: More information from Visual Combat Table
Each week, WoW Insider's Mathew McCurley brings you a fresh look at reader-submitted UIs as well as Addon Spotlight, which focuses on the backbone of the WoW gameplay experience: the user interface. Everything from bags to bars, buttons to DPS meters and beyond -- your addons folder will never be the same. Tanking used to be inaccessible because of the numbers game -- mitigation numbers that were hidden away in the great unknown. Players had to rely on the stalwart parsers and number crunchers over at EJ, Tankspot, Maintankadin, and all sorts of websites in order to inform the community about these magic numbers on defensive stats to let a tank do his job. Nowadays, hit and miss numbers are easily displayed for players, and defense as a statistic to worry about is gone forever. That all being said, the tanking game is still a numbers game, but this time it is more nuanced with the introduction of mastery and the ability to mitigate most damage a tank takes. You've seen numbers being thrown around and you may or may not know what they mean. Well, Visual Combat Table (VCT) is here to make sense of those numbers for you. Tanking is soon to become another hot commodity role to fill in the upcoming Raid Finder, so arming new tanks with mitigation knowledge is always a good thing. My introduction to VCT started with an email from its creator letting me know about its existence and the role he felt the addon played in the tanking community as a whole. While reading his email, I thought back to my first few weeks of tanking in Cataclysm and realized that for all of the information the game was showing and telling me there still was a great deal that I was struggling with. I wanted more information, and sifting through forum threads wasn't giving me a quick enough answer.
More Age of Wulin closed beta videos revealed
Another day, another set of videos from the Age of Wulin Chinese beta. MMO Culture has the game covered, and today's installment features a bit of commentary on the title's PvP-centric design as well as a brief look at weapon enhancement functionality. Age of Wulin eschews the traditional +1 system of gear upgrading and instead opts for an interesting mechanic that basically boils down to meeting whatever requirements are described when you mouse over a weapon. The stated example involves reaching level 10 in a particular life skill as well as possessing certain inventory items. While we're a bit dubious about the fact that your cooking prowess may relate to your ability to wield a sword, we're also cognizant of the fact that it's an early Chinese beta build, so we're looking forward to seeing the system develop. Head past the cut for a combat video and some clips of Wudang.
The Repopulation adds action mode combat toggle, military system
Last week we told you about a new three-faction sandbox MMO called The Repopulation. Today we've got the very latest on the game courtesy of Above & Beyond Technologies' end-of-September progress report. As it turns out, some of September was dedicated to preparing for the game's initial announcement and piecing together the accompanying trailer. Other than that, though, the devs did make a bit of progress on gameplay proper. Action mode combat was the biggest addition, and the update describes an interesting mechanic that allows users to "toggle between action- or RPG-mode combat at any time during gameplay." The other big addition is The Repopulation's military system. In a nutshell, it's a ranking system that allows players to gain military XP while performing various duties for their nation's armed forces. Ranks, medals, and perks like armor, weapons, vehicles, robotics, and special abilities are among the system's rewards.
Wasteland Diaries: PvE like a boss
Fallen Earth PvE can be anywhere from laughably easy to downright frustrating. I guess that's a good thing since you get a gamut of difficulty levels, but much of the leveling span leans toward the easy end of the scale. I tend to get bored with PvE combat fairly quickly in MMOs (not just Fallen Earth). Other people love to struggle against the environment. Some even refuse to do anything remotely akin to PvP. I'll only throw the term "carebear" at those who think all PvPers are maladjusted psychopaths. I'm not talking about them; I'm talking about regular hardcore PvEers: players who would rather play against the NPCs than against other players. Many of my posts center around PvP. If I didn't PvP (and since I'm not a big roleplayer), I doubt I would still be playing Fallen Earth. That's just what I spend most of my time doing in the wastelands. So I tend to write a lot about it. But all PvPers have to PvE. PvE has its own set of challenges for the player. Granted, these challenges are quite static, and once you find a way to overcome them, you are done. But they are challenges nonetheless, and knowledge is power as much in PvE as it is in PvP. In this post I will give you some tips and tricks that might help you get through that next tough mission. Much of this stuff is common sense, but it may not occur to you until it's too late. So click past the cut and let's get started.
BioWare devs talk SWTOR combat animations, answer PvP questions
Grab yourself a tall glass of blue milk, Star Wars fans, as BioWare has released a lengthy new edition of its Studio Insider feature to carry you through your Friday afternoon. The update features principal lead animator Mark How talking about -- wait for it -- animation! To be more precise, How tells us all about The Old Republic's combat animation, and he even tosses in an interesting video clip that features different stages in the development of a Jedi force leap and a Republic trooper full auto firing animation. How also gets into the challenges inherent in melding the lightsaber battles from the Star Wars films with the design limitations of an MMORPG. "Players do not enjoy having character control taken away from them because of an action or animation," How explains. "It was particularly challenging to develop animations that allowed for visually appealing combat while still allowing the players complete control over their characters." How successful were BioWare designers in this regard? That remains to be seen, but you can get a feel for their approach by reading How's blog. Finally, this week's Community Q&A feature continues the combat focus, and lead PvP designer Gabe Amatangelo has the answers to a few burning questions from the TOR faithful.
Storyboard: Duel me!
Let it never be said that roleplaying lacks drama if it has no violence. Many times, the confrontations and conflicts in roleplaying happen without a single threat of physical injury or even interaction. Even when threats are involved, frequently that's all there is -- a threat, a wayward mention, a confident statement that if one party undertakes an action, there will be very short and brutal repercussions. Not every scene, or even most scenes, end with characters locked in combat. That having been said, when you have a couple of characters whose day-to-day lives involve turning vicious critters into fine red mist, sooner or later someone is going to solve other problems with the same toolset. It's not like violence isn't a valid means of dramatic expression; look at how many of Shakespeare's plays ended with some kind of swordfight if you really need backup. (Several of them, and the ones that don't merely lacked a way to add in a CGI army at the end.) The problem is more that MMOs do not handle this sort of conflict between players very well, if at all.
The Soapbox: Why MMO combat sucks, and how BioWare could've made it suck less
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 MMORPG combat. It's not because I'm a carebear. It's not because I'm bad at it. It's not because I dislike parsing, being a min/maxer, or solving equations and comparing spreadsheets when I'm supposed to be having fun. OK, maybe it is because of those last four things. Mainly, though, it's because MMORPG combat completely and unequivocally sucks. MMORPG combat is not combat. It's high school math. And it's the same in every damn MMORPG. Twenty years into the genre here, guys, aren't we ready to grow up even a little bit?
Face of Mankind revamps mission system, hints at combat and economic tweaks
A couple of weeks ago we told you about the resuscitated Face of Mankind MMO. Well, maybe resuscitated is a bit of an extreme word since the sci-fi sandbox title never really died, but it is under new management and making a bit more noise than it has in years past. Nexeon Technologies has just sent out another email blast to former players detailing the game's latest update, and the new patch contains a pretty extensive mission system overhaul designed to "create an experience full of roleplay and player freedom." We've linked to the patch notes below, and you'll also want to check out the new Face of Mankind developer blog on the game's official website. The first entry contains some exciting hints as to the game's new direction, including bits about the combat system, the economy, and the factional structure.
Blade & Soul beta videos show more Assassin footage, dungeon combat
Blade & Soul's closed beta phases are a tough ticket for American game journalists, but luckily many of the Korean testers have been capturing their experiences and uploading the videos to YouTube. MMO Culture has collected a few of these choice morsels, and there is a range of gameplay on display including more Assassin class combos and abilities (this time in a game context instead of a promotional clip) as well as quite a bit of dungeon-crawling footage. The videos, which you can view after the cut, show a mixture of solo and group play in a couple of different environments. While most of the clips are around 10 minutes in length (or under), there's quite a lot to take in if you're unfamiliar with the martial arts MMO. Blade & Soul is being developed by NCsoft and is currently undergoing its second Korean closed beta test. The company has yet to announce plans to market the title in Europe or America.
Blade & Soul Assassin abilities on display in new video
Say what you will about NCsoft's mysterious Blade & Soul import, but it certainly brings its share of eye candy to the table. MMO Culture has posted a new video featuring the martial arts MMORPG, and the clip centers on the nimble Assassin class and its deadly array of combos and fighting abilities. The video runs under two minutes and is basically a series of one-on-one combat vignettes. If your Korean language skills are up to the task, you might be able to decipher the various intertitles and subtitles that accompany the presentation. If not, you can still get a feel for how the class is going to play thanks to the footage, which you can view in its entirety after the cut.
Lost Pages of Taborea: Runes of Magic's potential for EVE combat
I've been thinking a lot lately on other ways that Runes of Magic reminds me of EVE Online. Not that any systems are exactly the same, but they have certain similarities. Wurm Online and Minecraft are arguably different in how they function, but they both scratch the same creative itch. RoM's gear-modification system lends itself to EVE-esque combat. Keep in mind we're not talking about how the mechanics or guts of the games are similar or different; we're talking about how the same itch is being scratched. In the case of RoM's PvP being like EVE, it's more like tickling the itch with a feather, which makes you want to scratch it even more. I want to scratch that itch with a Brillo pad by exploring how RoM's open-world PvP could function more like EVE's, thanks to the arcane transmutor. Let's start with how I think battlefields differ from open-world PvP.
UFC Undisputed 3 trailer invites you into an octagon of pain
The latest trailer for THQ's upcoming UFC Undisputed 3 shows off quite a few of the game's new combat moves, and it doesn't pull any punches, so to speak -- by the time you finish watching it, you may feel sore just sitting there. In fact, with new submissions, some crazy leg kicks, and bone-crunching takedowns, we're a little worried about the well-being of these virtual UFC guys. Hope their health plans are all paid up! Check out some more violence (and a weird-looking Forrest Griffin) in the gallery below. %Gallery-130776%
EVE Online dev blog outlines major long-term changes
A couple of weeks ago, we told you about an EVE Online initiative to bring about substantial changes to the game's nullsec regions. Yesterday, CCP expanded on the initial concept via a lengthy new post that should banish any doubts as to whether or not the devs expect the game to be around in the far future. CCP Greyscale outlines 12 bullet points discussed at length amongst both the dev team and the Council of Stellar Management, all with the aim of making nullsec the place to be in terms of EVE Online's primary gameplay. The post talks everything from mining to territory and conquest to intel and exploration. CCP Greyscale uses this last one as an example of how far-reaching the changes to EVE are shaping up to be. "Hopefully the amount of stuff in here will also make it clearer why we're saying 'more than five years.' For example, those few bullet points under 'exploration' mean replacing all of the exploration content that's been developed in the past five years," he explains.
