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AionSource shutting down
It's been a good eight-year run for one of Aion's longest fan sites, but that run is over now. AionSource, a fansite operated by Curse, is shutting down over the next few weeks, first going into read-only mode before being shut down altogether. The site's current administrator has set up a new site for the community members who would like to migrate. No reason has been stated for the shutdown; the site is not the only fan site that Curse has shut down in recent years, most likely due to a lack of cash flow. Users are encouraged to back up forum posts and the like before the shut down, while site administrators attempt to copy over some of the most useful community guides. Our best wishes to the community organizers attempting to keep the group together through the move. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
EVE Online website revamp detailed in new video devblog
EVE Online has undergone countless changes and iterations since its first release in 2003, with major graphics overhauls and new gameplay systems arriving every year. In contrast, the official EVE website hasn't changed much over the years. With background information, screenshots, video, forums and knowledgebase articles, the EVE website now juggles content designed for prospective players and existing community members alike. CCP aims to change all that with a complete overhaul that will split community tools like the forums, knowledgebase, and account management from marketing designed to attract players. In a new video devblog, web-developer CCP Alice shows off some of the features of EVE's brand new website. Built using HTML 5, the new page will feature a full built-in renderer able to show prospective players the EVE Online universe map and interactive renderings of every ship in the game. "Now that we have a better eveonline.com, the focus after this one is to focus on the community," says CCP Alice, hinting that new community tools will soon be on the way. In a follow-up devblog today, Community Manager CCP Guard confirmed that players will soon be able to start their own corporation forums hosted on CCP's servers. Check out the full video after the cut.
New music section launches on Blizzard community site
Soundtrack aficionados, rejoice! Blizzard has just announced the launch of a new music section on its community site. So far, the new feature offers a convenient embed of the iTunes storefront to make it easier to find, preview, and buy songs (or full albums) from World of Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo. Additionally, the section offers history, credits, and photos for those interested in reading about the creation of the music. Albums for newer games are especially detailed, with forwards from some of the composers and notes for individual songs. Currently, there are 10 albums in total and one single from Diablo 3. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go find out if that track from that Night Elf island in the Ghostlands is available. Best music in the game, I tell you!
Blizzard improves the WoW community site (again)
Blizzard debuted the new World of Warcraft community site a while back, and it's definitely a huge improvement over the old one, which was really outdated and rarely helpful. The new site has a built-in Armory, better forums, a fairly robust Game Guide, and even regular dev blogs to give some insight on the development process. Apparently the improvements don't stop there, though, as Blizzard recently announced a laundry list of updates for the site, including: Rotatable 3-D models for gear in the item database Boss info pages, loot tables, and ability information Improved, easier-to-read search results And more! Check out the full list of changes and updates after the break.
Dev Watercooler: Ghostcrawler talks critical hits (and misses)
The Dev Watercooler, Ghostcrawler's conversational community blog series, continues with a look at the theories behind critical hits. After a bit on the history of critical strikes in WoW, Ghostcrawler gets down to business with an awesome discussion about the homogenization of classes, the issue with healer critical hits, and the pros and cons of homogenizing critical hits across the board.
Garrosh Hellscream: Then and now
Blizzard has begun what seems to be a series of lore articles spotlighting key characters in the Warcraft universe that have gone through radical transformations before and after the cataclysm. The first character to get the write-up treatment is the orc you love to hate, new warchief of the Horde Garrosh Hellscream. The full blue post after the break.
Ghostcrawler chats about interrupts at the Dev Watercooler
Ghostcrawler (WoW lead systems designer) is blogging up a storm over at the WoW community site, with a new series called Dev Watercooler. The aim of this new column is to have candid chats with the community discussing game mechanics and pose questions that relate to the ongoing development of World of Warcraft. I think I speak for a lot of people when I say that this is pretty cool. In his first Dev Watercooler, Ghostcrawler talks about interrupts, where interrupt mechanics are going, and what he hopes they can look like over time.
Blizzard's guide to guild advancement
Blizzard recently posted a guide on the WoW community site dedicated to explaining the way guilds level up, the way guild experience is gained, and the benefits guild groups can bring. There isn't any new information, per se, but it is nice to have it all in one place, especially the 5-man dungeon explanation about how the experience modifier works based on the number of guild members in your party. If you just want a refresher course on guild advancement and rewards, or if you are just learning about this stuff for the first time, the Blizzard guide is a great resource. Check it out here. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has destroyed Azeroth as we know it; nothing is the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from leveling up a new goblin or worgen to breaking news and strategies on endgame play.
Breakfast Topic: What threads from the old WoW forums will you miss?
Blizzard announced on Monday that the official forums we've been using the past six years will become read-only on Wednesday, Nov. 17. The forums will be replaced by the new World of Warcraft community site, which offers new and improved forums, as well as a bunch of other features. That's all good and fine, but Blizzard also said in half a month's time, it will delete the old forums and all the threads in it will be lost forever! Eek! Wait a second ... What am I worrying about? Google Cache will likely allow us continued access to the old forum content for years to come, even after it's wiped off of Blizzard's servers. Still, in that moment of concern that all those years of information would suddenly be lost, I wondered: "What will I miss from the old forums?" My mind immediately went to "I think my tank is seeing another healer," a thread about an healer suspicious that her tank is being unfaithful. The thread was so epic, WoW Insider actually already wrote about it. Just check out this excerpt from page 21: She really ruined me. I was depressed about going solo. I was spending all my time in the Underbelly, knocking back Noggenfogger and bandaging myself to mailbox dancers. -- Grokthul Also, as a PvP priest, how could I miss the comedic gold of "Disc priest/Shadow priest 2v2"? The OP had me at, "When the hunter comes to save giraffes, just darkness priest licorice beam his paladin to slow him," but by the time I read "ice tent," I couldn't breathe anymore because I was laughing and crying at the same time. Are there any threads that stand out in your mind that you'll miss?
Official WoW forums going read-only on Wednesday, new community site and forums ready
Last month, Blizzard announced that it would be launching a new World of Warcraft community site, with new and improved forums. At the time, Blizzard said that the existing official forums would be phased out after testing of the community site was complete. The community site went live earlier this month. Now, a wave of identical blue posts has hit every section of the WoW forums with the following message: Bashiok -- Forums Going Read-Only This Wednesday, November 17 these forums will be put into a read-only state. At that time we'll be inviting all posters to fully migrate to the new World of Warcraft community site and forums. http://www.battle.net/wow These forums will remain read-only until the end of the month, after which they and all of their posts will be removed ... forever! If you have any posts, information, stickies, etc. that you'd like to keep you'll want to have finished saving it before then. We've all enjoyed the past few years on these forums, and look forward to creating many more with you on the new community site. See you there! source So that's it! We won't be able to post in the official forums anymore after Wednesday, Nov. 17, and we have until the end of November to save anything on the official forums we want to keep or remember!
World of Warcraft community site preview now live
A preview of the new World of Warcraft community site is now live. It has several tabs that lead you to a blog, the forums (complete with the latest blue posts), services, and a preview of what the armory will look like when fully implemented, among other things. This is the testing phase and also the prelude to a shutdown of the current forums in favor of the ones on the new community site. The full transfer of forum functionality is scheduled to occur sometime this month. This seems to be a step in the right direction for Blizzard. I really like what I've seen so far. Try putting your character's name in the search field to bring up the armory preview. The search results are in a new format that is easier to search through, in my opinion, as well as a better way to critique yourself at a glance. And the community managers seem to be having a good time with it as well. Note: The Off Topic forums have not been transferred to the community site and there are no plans to do so. Update: Forum bans are also not being transferred to the updated forums. The full text of Blizzard's announcement is after the break.
New Blizzard community website, forums begin testing in November
The announcement came out this morning on the EU forums that Blizzard is getting ready to roll out its new community website and forums for World of Warcraft some time in early November. Anyone who has been to the community site for StarCraft 2 will already be aware of some of the new features including a more advanced forum system than what we have now. Features will include the ability to report a post for trolling or spam without changing pages, being able to see a quick summary of the thread by mousing over and letting players up- and down-rate responses. The current forums will be set as locked during the beginning of the transition and then will be completely removed toward the end. This means that if there are any old guides, posts or fun things from days of old that you want to see moved to the new forums, you should copy them to your own computer now. One thing that is curiously missing from the announcement is what alternative Blizzard has developed to its original Real ID forums concept since it was thrown out. StarCraft 2 has a centralized handle that is associated with your Battle.net login, and it is the same handle/avatar that's used for multiplayer games. Hopefully, they'll provide more details on issues like this as things start to lead up to the changeover. The full blue post is after the break.
New community-powered rating site: x I like
When it comes to finding games you might enjoy, there are plenty of options. There are tons of sites out there that aggregate review scores, but we've discovered a new site that does things a little differently: xilike.net (x I like). Instead of simply aggregating scores from game news outlets, x I like gathers up scores placed by the players themselves. What makes this site even more interesting is that it uses data gathered by your own ratings to suggest other games -- and other x I like members -- that you might like, a la Netflix.All games are rated based on four categories, graphics, gameplay, sound and plot. You can even have the site generate a tweet on your Twitter account whenever you rate a game. Furthermore, each individual game page includes screenshots and links to relevant news coverage around the web (including some stories from Joystiq, naturally). The site includes Xbox Live Arcade and Community Games too, so all the bases are covered.All in all, it's the most intriguing community site we've seen since XBLCG (which has seen some nice improvements, incidentally). The site could use some tweaks though. We'd like to see more organization options, and the ability to see a player's entire collection of games would be a plus. The website is still in beta, but the potential is definitely there. We suggest you take a look.
Official WAR site gets a makeover
Both the official Warhammer Online site and the community site, Warhammer Herald, have been given a fresh look. The upgraded format will supposedly help in getting more news out to the public, and faster than before. This is only the beginning of the site renovations, with some new features in the works that have not been implemented just yet. Also, fans of the Legends & Lore section may notice its absence -- we are told that this is only temporary, and it should return even better than before.Of course, this news pales in comparison to the huge announcement earlier today, and those eagerly awaiting WAR's release may be feeling a little down. Look on the bright side -- there's even more time now to get those new site features in!
WoW Europe spotlights noted machinima artists
You know you've arrived in the World of Warcraft community when the official website has a writeup on your exploits. The European version of the community site has two such writeups, on notable machinima artists whose names you may quickly recognize. Baron Soosden and Olibith are both highly skilled video-makers, and here at Massively we've noted that by featuring them in the Cinemassively column several times since we launched. Over at WoW Insider? Fuggedaboutit. Those two should have frequent poster cards for the number of times they've shown up in stories.The two writeups at the WoW EU site are must-reads, then, for anyone interested in the field of in-game video production. Olibith's interview (which was also discussed at WoW Insider) features his take on the EU WoW scene, his efforts to get the funny 'just right', and some great advice for new filmmakers: make it for yourself, not the audience! Meanwhile, Baron Soosden's brand-new interview delves into the technical process behind making his moving pictures, as well as looking at the truly unique sense of community seen in EU machinima.Check below the cut for my personal favorite of Soosden's videos: I'm So Sick.
