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One Shots: Looking over Atraxia's Haven
We're not very familiar with Dungeons & Dragons Online, but when reader Schad sent in this shot of an unusual vista in DDO, we had to show it off. Schad explains the location for us: This is a shot along the beach of Atraxia's Haven. It's looking up at a lighthouse which has been disconnected via a broken bridge. The only way up is a dungeon under the island, followed by a stressful fight up a far too large spiral staircase.So how many of you have visited Atraxia's Haven yourselves? And have you picked up any interesting screenshots for us in the process? Send 'em our way so we can feature your screenshot and story for tomorrow's One Shots! It's easy to participate -- just send your screenshots and stories to oneshots@massively.com. %Gallery-9798%
Massively's Massive Giveaways: Turbine winners!
Ah, Turbine. The MMO company that has the titles that make lore-lovers and tabletop players happy. For those of you who were around in the earliest days here at Massively, you'll be glad to know that we've finally gotten all responses back from our Turbine contests, and are pleased to be able to announce the winners in our Turbine giveaways! Each of the following folks won the goodies noted next to their names: A copy of Lord of the Rings Online went out to both TypicalJeff and Red Graz1026 and Gemki both landed copies of Dungeons & Dragons Online Jan and erthwjim got a copy of Asheron's Call each. Lord of the Ming and Robert H. managed to score fantastic Turbine t-shirts TypicalJeff got the love of the random number generator and landed a copy of the LotRO game guide to go along with the copy of the game he got. (See? you should enter every time! You never know what will happen.) Reverseshoe made off like a mad bandit, winning the highly coveted Lifetime LotRO subscription we were giving away! A hearty congrats to all of our winners, and a reminder to everyone to be sure and white-list both massively.com and weblogsinc.com so you don't miss out on prize mails! There's nothing quite as disappointing as realizing too late that you missed a prize mail, and thus missed a killer prize. Don't let it be you!
Under The Hood: Going Live
Live events. Where developer interacts with players. Traditionally, this has been a pretty contested battlefield, ranging from forums, to chat rooms, to game masters. Where it really comes together, however, is in the classic legacy of live events, where developers and game masters interact with the players in-game. But not only that, they assist in furthering the story, or fleshing out the game world. But where did live events come from?
It's starting to feel like Christmas in Turbine games
Turbine is spreading the holiday cheer with winter seasonal events in three of its games. Lord of the Rings Online is introducing its first Yuletide event. From December 14 until January 3, players can embark on a quest that will reward them with a snow-covered tree for their yard. While not on the scale of other seasonal events introduced in the game, the reward will be sure to please the many new homeowners who are looking for status symbols to display in their online neighborhoods.Next, in Asheron's Call, Santa Sclavus will be traveling the lands handing out presents to the good little boys and girls. But the naughty ones will only be getting coal. Be sure to be on the lookout for the jolly gift giver and see what he has for you.FInally, in Dungeons and Dragons Online, The Festival of the Twelfth Moon has arrived in Stormreach and brings with it the Festivult Jester. Players can collect Festivult Coins from chests and turn them in for special holiday prizes. Overall, Asheron's Call looks like the most fun of the three events. A GM controlled NPC can have great fun interacting with the players if he is not mobbed by 80 at once. But we're also curious how the LotRO devs have incorporated Christmas into Tolkien lore. They have a tricky balance to maintain to meet the expectations of their customers, but not violate the spirit of Middle-earth's well-detailed culture.
One Shots: The flame of Turian
This screenshot, sent in by reader Gregory, may not be the most impressive we've featured thus far, but it was sent in with a bit of interesting backstory to explain what we're seeing. We're looking at the flame of Turian in the Caverns of Korromor in Dungeons and Dragons Online. By activating the flame, as the group above is about to do, you draw the attention of some folk who aren't pleased to see you there and unlock another piece of the puzzle of the caverns. Says Gregory, "This dungeon has the standard LOTR 'they dug too deep' thing going on..." But much like the Matrix -- you can't be told what the game is, sometimes you just have to see it for yourself.Have you snapped a shot lately that highlights an important moment in the story of your game? One Shots wants to see them! We only post what you send us -- so send your screenshots and stories to oneshots@massively.com. You may see it featured here tomorrow, same bat time, same bat channel! %Gallery-9798%
Monks, Half-Orcs, and Half-Elves coming to DDO
The folks at TenTonHammer tend to get some great interviews done, and a recent chat between managing editor Cody Bye and members of the Dungeons and Dragons Online development team is no exception. Kate Paiz and Steve Muray took some time out of the dev cycle to talk about plans for the upcoming Module Six update. This is going to be another massive content update, centered around an invasion of devils into the prime material realm of Eberron.The module is called the Thirteenth Eclipse, and it's scheduled to release sometime in January. In this update we're going to be introducing a completely new storyline centered around the invasion of an army of devils into Eberron. The players are going to have to combat the devils on an all new landscape called the Veil of Twilight as the Plane Shavarath is being interwoven into the very fabric of the player landscape.
Dungeons & Dragons Online live event postponed
According to Quarion and Patience of the Turbine community team, the Dungeon & Dragons Online servers got unlucky and rolled a 1 earlier today. As any good Dungeon Master would, Turbine consulted the critical fail tables and it would appear that the servers will remain offline until at least 7PM Eastern. What this means is that the final chapter of the Emerald Claw Conspiracy event that has been eagerly anticipated will be postponed for the time being. As we'd stated before, live events in MMOs are sadly uncommon, so we're certain that this is something that the DDO player base will be keeping their eyes on. We know we were looking forward to seeing some screenshots of it for One Shots, as world events are a lot of fun to check out! Hopefully things will work out soon and the DDO servers can get some new dice with better roll mojo for the future.[Thanks, Schad!]
Megapublisher Shandra sees 66% profit increase
Shandra Interactive Entertainment, the Chinese operator of MapleStory, Dungeons & Dragons Online, The Legend of Mir, and the positively ginormous Ragnarok Online let the world know that its profits for Q3 2007 are up 66% vs. last year and that it is expecting further growth in coming months.Shandra is the biggest publisher of online games in the Chinese market, and recently reached an agreement with NCsoft by which NCsoft will distribute its new title AION in China through Shandra instead of its old partner in the region, Sina (in which Shandra ironically holds a 20% stake).
Turbine apologizes for downtime with gifts
We reported yesterday that Turbine's login servers for The Lord of the Rings Online, Dungeons & Dragons Online, and Asheron's Call were down all day. They've since come back online, and Turbine has apologized to the subscribers to those games by giving them some small gifts.Players of all three games will have their subscriptions extended by one day, essentially making yesterday free. Additionally, players will receive in-game items. DDO players will each receive one Candy Cane with 30 charges of Moderate Heal. LotRO players will receive five Hope-boosting Scented Candles. And AC players will get increased drop rates (that's the superior gift, we think).Listen, Turbine; you can't buy our love!Wait, increased drop rates? Okay, never mind, maybe you can.
Codemasters' goal: a new MMO every year
Codemasters is the UK-based company that runs The Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons & Dragons Online in the European market and produces many single player games including Clive Barker's Jericho, Operation Flashpoint, and Overlord. Codemasters' Ron Cousens said in a recent interview that the company wants to "position itself to do maybe one MMO launch per year."When discussing that and other gaming-related bits, Cousens also suggested that the MMO genre will grow stronger on consoles.Given the success of The Lord of the Rings Online in Europe (it's #2 behind World of Warcraft), Codemasters is one of the big kahunas for online gaming in the region. Still, one MMO launch per year is extraordinarily ambitious. And with regards to consoles, we think Cousens hit the nail on the head. Age of Conan and The Agency are hitting the XBox 360 and the PlayStation 3, respectively, and despite vague denials from bigwigs, the evidence says Blizzard has its eye on consoles as well.
MMOG Podcast Roundup: Nov. 1 - Nov. 18th
Every week, hardworking Massive gaming fans put their voices on the line to bring us news, opinions, and 'critiques' of their favorite games. Podcasts are a staple of many hobbies nowadays, and fans of online worlds are especially fortunate in this regard ... there are a ton out there.As such, every so often we'll try to update you on the podcast world. Keep your eyes on this space for links to your favorite MMO-commentary celebs. Good and bad, straight-man or blue-mouthed, they all have something to offer about this amazing style of gameplay.Today we've got an rundown on the latest updates from podcasts across the genre, covering everything from the still-going classic Merdian 59 to the still in-development Warhammer Online.
D&D Online Game Guide winners announced
The anticipation is over, and for those of you eagerly awaiting the results, Dungeons & Dragons Online has finally released the list of winners for its Game Guide contest.Want to know the best way to acquire information in the game? Just use the lessons learned when MysticTheurge teaches you how to Ask a Loremaster. Need more assistance? SableShadow lands a sneak attack with Notes from a Dancing Rogue, and LostLeader helps you get to where you need to be with The Lost Quest Guide. As well, there are an additional seven runners up who will also have their game guides published in the DDO.com compendium. And don't forget that you're not limited to just these ten entries: the full list of top-rated and most useful guides is available in its own forum category, and they range from general information to quest-specific rewards.When Dungeons & Dragons Online first opened its contest on September 20, they stated that they were looking for the best guides from the most knowledgeable participants. The guides were posted to their online User-Written Guides forum, and participants were allowed to nominate their favorites.If you've ever needed a reason to learn more about Dungeons & Dragons Online, or to enjoy the wit and wisdom of other players, here's your excuse.
One Shots: To Sorrowdusk Isle!
Reader Schad tipped us off to an event happening in Dungeons and Dragons Online yesterday evening, where adventurers were invited to adventure on Sorrowdusk Isle for fun and loot. Though we don't have a picture of the event itself, but we do get to see the crowds gathered on the boat to Sorrowdusk to participate. Schad tells us that there were four full instances worth of people on the boat at the time -- quite a crowd!But perhaps you have a screenshot of your own that you think expresses a unique or memorable moment in your favorite MMO? Send them to us with a description (including game name and location) and you may see it posted here for tomorrow's One Shots.%Gallery-9798%
Live events in DDO tomorrow night
Reader Schad dropped us a note about some live events going down in Dungeons and Dragons Online this weekend. If you haven't heard yet, be sure to bring a full party of level 7 or higher to Sorrowdusk Isle tomorrow night (times for each server are listed there), and expect to have some fun and "keep any items you find in your explorations." You know what that means-- phat lootz inc!I haven't played DDO all that much myself, but I do love a good live event, and I especially love not only the fact that this is set in the Eberron setting (I DM'd a pen and paper game in Eberron, and I know it well), but the way they've implemented these live events-- as chapters in a roleplaying story. Fun! If you do head out to this event (or any others, be sure to report back here with screenshots-- either email them to our One Shots feature or just drop us a line at the contact form. If you do head out to Sorrowdusk Isle tomorrow night, have fun and be careful!
Massively's massive giveaways: Dungeons & Dragons Online
For our current series of giveaways, we're talking Turbine -- and for those of you who haven't had the chance to enjoy playing their games, we're giving some away! So if you haven't had a chance to try out Dungeons and Dragons Online, you're in luck, because we're giving away two copies. To win, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post between now and 1:00 PM EST tomorrow, November 8th. We'll pick two commenters to take home a copy of DDO! (To be eligible to win you must be a US resident of age 18 or older -- please check our official rules for full details!) Not interested in DDO? Well, we're also giving away copies of LotRO -- with more Turbine giveaways throughout the day!
DDO Module 6 includes raised level cap and more
Module 6 for Dungeons & Dragons Online is currently in testing, and the developers have posted a list of changes they're working on. The most notable of these is a raise of the level cap to 16, but there are many other interesting updates as well, such as whole slew of new spells. Want to charm whole masses of enemies, or trap their souls in a gem? Well, soon you'll be able to!Though it's not exactly Turbine's flagship product anymore, DDO provides a unique online gaming experience to a passionate niche that includes fans of the table-top RPG. If you're part of that niche, get ready to move on up to the next level and take on new quests sometime soon-ish.[Via Razorwire]
Middle-earth expands to the Middle Kingdom
According to a press release from Turbine Entertainment, the MMO maker is partnering with China's CDC Games to bring Lord of the Rings Online: The Shadows of Angmar to Chinese gamers -- a market with a strong affinity for online fantasy games. Turbine has already experienced success with Dungeons & Dragons Online in China and Japan, thanks to some effective content localization, and CDC will use a similar strategy by giving Middle-earth a distinctly Asian makeover. I hope this just means substituting tofu and rice for lembas bread, and not giving Gandalf a Fu Manchu moustache.See also: LOTR Online gameplay footage
D&D Online launches in Japan
Sakura Internet and Turbine Entertainment are launching Dungeons & Dragons Online in Japan this week, and both organizations are banking on localized content to help attract fickle Japanese gamers. Like the popular Chinese version, DDO Japan features Asian-themed armor and weapons, although you would never know this after poking around the game's web site (essentially a clone of its western counterpart). DDO retails for ¥5,040 (US$43).See also: DDO: Litany of the Dead previewed
DDO: Litany of the Dead previewed
Turbine Entertainment has posted a preview of the next Dungeons & Dragons Online module, to be released this month. The appropriately titled Litany of the Dead will have players exploring various tombs and forming unholy alliances to combat the rise of a dangerous lich.Now that solo play has been added, do Joystiqers find this MMO more appealing? It's pretty big in China these days.
China online gaming trends
BusinessWeek online recently ran an article that effectively summarizes major issues in the burgeoning Chinese gaming industry, including MMO addiction, Internet population growth, and the increasing quality of China's homegrown titles. Also, the horse armor debate may soon find new life overseas, as there are plans for several Chinese game operators to switch from a subscription-based revenue model to the sale of virtual goods and other downloadable content "needed to advance various games".The article is supplemented by a slideshow that showcases China's hottest online games, one of which hails from the States -- Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach. This is consistent with vendors I visited during a recent trip to Shanghai who claimed that DDO was among their bestsellers.See also: More chaperones in China's Internet cafes SUN is most anticipated game in China Take-Two announces 2K Shanghai
