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Beta and bucks: John Smedley discusses PlanetSide 2's future
In an interview with Chinese site 17173.com, SOE's John Smedley shared some revealing details about PlanetSide 2, including the fact that the upcoming MMO shooter will be free. MMOsite carried the English version of the story early this morning, but there were a few points that were lost in translation. So we contacted Smedley for clarification, and he said that while he had previously mentioned that the game will be "some form of free-to-play," SOE is not prepared to announce specifics just yet, but we should "expect something that will be very player friendly." He mentioned that a Blizzard-style auction house won't be a part of that plan but that he was fond of what League of Legends had done with its system. It's also his opinion that Star Wars: The Old Republic will be the last large-scale MMO with a subscription fee. "The game looks great," Smedley commented, "and I will be playing myself. BioWare is doing an awesome job." Smedley also made mention of PlanetSide 2's beta schedule. SOE is aiming to begin wider testing of the title later this year or early next year in North America, but the company doesn't know for sure just yet. PlanetSide 2 is aiming to be bigger and better than the original, with battlefields holding up to 2,000 players at the same time, a flexible skill system that allows players to fine-tune their troops and engage in crafting, and a struggle to control territory between three factions. Interestingly enough, Smedley said that the factions might not always be at each other's throats; the PlanetSide 2 team has plans to launch PvE world events such as alien invasions where all players will put aside their differences to combat a shared threat.
SteelSeries and Blizzard team up for a dual anniversary celebration
Blizzard's been celebrating its 20th anniversary, and now SteelSeries is joining in on the fun! SteelSeries and Blizzard have teamed up for a massive giveaway in celebration of Blizzard's 20th year and SteelSeries' 10th. The best part? The prize packages are customized by you when you enter the drawing! Two grand prize winners will also take home an MSI GX780 notebook, as well as a choice of World of Warcraft or Diablo 3 gaming peripherals. Blizzard Entertainment It's a big year for anniversaries as SteelSeries celebrates ten and Blizzard Entertainment blows out the candles on twenty years of gaming. What better way for both companies to show their appreciation than with a giveaway of epic proportions? From August 30 to September 7, SteelSeries will host a Dual Anniversary Celebration where gamers can enter to win a fully customized prize pack of SteelSeries peripherals and Blizzard licensed products from J!NX, Cryptozoic Entertainment, and BradyGames. Best of all, two Grand Prize winners will each take home an MSI GX780 notebook with their choice of Diablo III or World of Warcraft gaming peripherals! Be sure to visit the official SteelSeries website for more goodies throughout the ten-day celebration. Start the party now. source Be sure to put together your entry on the official contest site!
The Daily Grind: Do you think Diablo III's RMT policy will affect MMOs?
Blizzard made something of a stink in fan circles last week with its announcement of Diablo III's RMT-enabled auction house as well as the lack of offline play (and mod support) in the highly anticipated fantasy action sequel. While hardcore fan- and forum-outrage was palpable, it's likely that the title will shatter sales records anyway, and we'll be that much closer to a gaming world devoid of offline play and festooned with microtransactions. What does all of this have to do with MMOs and Massively? That's where you come in, dear readers. Do you think Diablo III's real-money auction house will affect MMOs? How so (or why not)? 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 Lawbringer: Q&A on Diablo's real-money auction house
Pop law abounds in The Lawbringer, your weekly dose of WoW, the law, video games and the MMO genre. Mathew McCurley takes you through the world running parallel to the games we love and enjoy, full of rules, regulations, pitfalls and traps. How about you hang out with us as we discuss some of the more esoteric aspects of the games we love to play? Since Blizzard dropped the Diablo 3 bombshell on us early Monday, I will post the second article in my series on micro-transaction models next week. For those of you who have been living under the proverbial internet rock (you are missing some awesome memes right now), Blizzard announced that Diablo 3 would feature two auction houses, one using in-game gold as currency and the other using real currency that would be deposited into a Battle.net account wallet and used from there. The whole system gets more intriguing when you take into account that sales made on the real-money auction house can make their way to your own very real wallet through an unannounced third party or deposited back into your Battle.net wallet for use on anything digital in the Blizzard store, including WoW game time. If you're a regular reader of The Lawbringer, you already know how excited I get over virtual currency. This is my wheelhouse. I feel like a master carpenter at Wood Con 2011, cosplaying as my favorite oak tree, quercus alnifolia. Pair that with real currency, and excitement levels hit the stratosphere. I may break through the atmosphere at some point. That faint sonic boom you hear will be me hurtling through the air in excitement and wonderment. Sure, the Diablo real-money transaction (RMT) auction house is not related to World of Warcraft -- or is it? Oh, it very much is. Faithful readers and not faithful alike (how could you, Debbie?) have been writing in questions via Twitter and email asking me to explain the auction house and talk about some of the potential legal and tax issues that could come around because of it. Also, many people want to know how the RMT auction house could benefit World of Warcraft, despite Rob Pardo's saying there are no plans to bring it over to WoW. Let's take a look at your questions.
What are the implications of a real-dollar auction house?
It was just revealed that Diablo 3 will feature a dual-currency auction house for in-game gold and for real currency, allowing players to spend real money for Diablo 3 items. Blizzard will not sell those items directly but rather will facilitate auctions between players. Players will receive real currency for their sales, and Blizzard will take a cut off the sales of real-currency items. Blizzard is entering some pretty crazy territory with the Diablo 3 auction house, and the implications may be even more huge for the massively multiplayer market than for the Diablo multiplayer experience. One of WoW's biggest issues that currently plagues Blizzard (as well as the MMO genre in general) is the existence of a gray market in which companies sell in-game currency to willing buyers against the game's terms of service. Many free-to-play MMOs and online games combat this market by selling their own currencies for use in-game, making the currency non-tradeable, or selling items in a microtransaction marketplace. Blizzard has not yet made a free-to-play MMO where these concepts could come to any kind of fruition, and WoW's virtual goods store is very limited in scope and price point.
The Queue: San Francisco? More like San-ctuary
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today. My good buddy Daniel Whitcomb described the Diablo 3 real-money auction house as "the nerd gold rush." I think it's very apt, considering the entire WoW Insider staff is quitting our jobs to go pan for Grandfathers. As for World of Warcraft ... FartyMcGee asked: Has Blizz given any explanation why the Battle Standard of Coordination (and similar) aren't allowed in Firelands? It seems odd to me to exclude its use there but not (to my knowledge) anywhere else.
New BlizzCon site now live
The new BlizzCon community site is now up and running. If, like me, you won't get to go this year, then you can at least use the site to keep track of all the fun you won't be having. Since the site just launched, it's not swollen up with treasures I won't be getting to experience like I expect it will be soon, but for now, I can stifle my resentment and point out that the Global Battle.net invitational will be held at BlizzCon this year. Looks fun. I'll be sitting around here eating candy. I assume I will, anyway. With the news of the Diablo 3 beta being announced this Aug. 1, it's a safe bet y'all will be playing it at BlizzCon. I will be crying.
SteelSeries Diablo III headset and mouse: demon slaying flair for your skull and desktop
Sure, there are plenty of great gaming goodies to be found on the floor at E3, but some of the best stuff is much harder to find. For example, SteelSeries' new Diablo III Mouse and headset, which were revealed to us when the prototype devices were pulled from a backpack. The headset packs the same 50mm drivers, retractable boom mic, and overhead suspension design of its Siberia V2 stablemate, but adds some sinister-looking design tweaks. These cans come murdered out in matte black with lava red accents (which can be turned off) courtesy of 18 LEDs, plus matching red external speaker grilles. There's also a braided cord that plugs into your Mac or PC via USB. %Gallery-126062% We got to see the Diablo III mouse as well, and found it sports an ambidextrous design similar to the SteelSeries Xai. Its inky exterior is cloaked in smooth, soft touch plastic sporting silvery tribal accents, and a glowing ember Diablo III logo and trim around the scroll-wheel. Given Diablo's click-happy gameplay, Steelseries gave the mouse beefy Omron switches that are good for 10 million presses (which are backed by a five year warranty). All those clicks are tracked by custom driver software that also lets users tailor the pointer's button layout by dragging and dropping character-specific commands to the button of your choosing. Now that your appetite has been whetted with the design descriptions, here are the details that matter most: the mouse will cost $69 and the headset $119 when SteelSeries starts selling 'em at BlizzCon in October. %Gallery-126063%
Alleged screens of canceled 2005 Diablo 3 are heavenly
In internet time, 2005 might as well be the last century. Christopher Nolan was just beginning to tackle a new series of Batman films, many Joystiq writers hadn't even begun their illustrious careers and Blizzard North was rumored to be hard at work on Diablo 3. That is until Blizzard North was closed and most of its staff relocated to Blizzard's HQ in California, of course. Even with the closure, there was still a rumor floating around that a new Diablo would be shown at BlizzCon, a Diablo that actually took place in a Heaven being invaded by Hell. While none of us will ever play that Diablo 3, Kotaku has nabbed some screenshots allegedly taken from the canceled project. Examining the screens, it certainly looks like the Heaven plot was a reality. It also appears that Blizzard North had abandoned Diablo's traditional 2D isometric graphics in favor of a full 3D world, which isn't surprising given the runaway success of World of Warcraft. Hit the source link for more screens.
Predicting Battle.net's social future
If you think we've scratched the surface of Battle.net cross-game implementation with Real ID, you are going to be amazed at what is coming next. Do I know any of this for sure? No, of course not. I base my predictions on three simple facts: Blizzard has created an account-based loyalty program that has encapsulated each and every one of its games; Blizzard is chock-full of smart individuals who understand community, as illustrated by the new community website; and Blizzard has made your account mean something into perpetuity. If you think Battle.net is sharp at 2.0, you can't even imagine 3.0.
Still clicking: Our exclusive interview with the Mythos dev team
Considering Mythos' stormy post-Flagship past and its relatively low profile over the past half year, we were pleased to see the team at Redbana unveil a website revamp last month, complete with a slew of vibrant new screenshots to tease the upcoming closed beta. The infrastructure revealed in the images suggests that the game has come a long way since we last checked in with the team; although many players might once have pigeon-holed Mythos as "just another Diablo clone," it's now maturing into a hybrid MMORPG that seems to have as much in common with Blizzard's other fantasy game as with the click-fests of yesteryear. Curious, we commandeered the team at Redbana in order to ask about the progress of the game. Meet up with us after the break as we discuss the transition to Redbana, overcoming the Diablo stigma, camera perspectives, map travel, character customization, and the likelihood that Mythos will be free-to-play. Oh, and did I mention you can play satyrs and cyclopes?!
BlizzCon sold out; additional conventions cannot be launched
If you had planned to spend the summer mowing lawns and scraping together enough dough to attend BlizzCon this fall, you're already too late. After going on sale this past Wednesday, all 20,000 tickets to the event were snatched up quickly. ZAM reports that the first batch of tickets on Wednesday were sold out in 23 minutes, and the second batch on Saturday in 28 minutes. The official Blizzard Store page simply notes now that "BlizzCon 2010 Tickets Currently Unavailable." This is certainly no surprise considering that past BlizzCons proved to be one of the most popular conventions of the year, with ticket scalping at a premium. Currently, some desperate Blizzard fans are combing through eBay for scalped tickets, although high prices and Blizzard asking eBay to crack down on such sales make this a difficult alternative. Blizzard is also requiring photo ID this year to match tickets as a way to limit these transactions. Fortunately, there is hope for Blizzard fans: they will once again offer virtual passes to the convention through DirecTV as a Pay Per View event available through satellite and multi-channel Internet stream. The virtual pass enables fans to watch all of the presentations and panels, as well as receive an exclusive in-game item, all for $39.95.
BlizzCon 2010 Officially Announced: October 22nd - October 23rd
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/BlizzCon_2010_Officially_Announced_October_22nd_October_2'; BlizzCon 2010 has been officially announced! The convention will run October 22nd and October 23rd at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California. This was as we previously reported back at the beginning of February. Despite the very sparse information available from Blizzard, we do know at least one thing -- Jay Mohr will be hosting again. Ticketing information is not available yet, and we don't expect it to be for some time. What this says about the release date of Cataclysm is also anyone's guess. We don't have any solid information on that at this time. BlizzCon 2010 Announced If you've been holding your breath waiting to find out when and where the next BlizzCon would be held, then... you've probably passed out by now. But if you've just been patiently watching for an announcement, then we've got good news for you: BlizzCon will be returning to the Anaheim Convention Center on Friday, October 22 through Saturday, October 23! Just as in years past, BlizzCon 2010 will feature an exciting mix of discussion panels, tournaments, hands-on gameplay, contests, and much more. Check out the announcement press release, and keep an eye on www.blizzcon.com in the months ahead for further details, including ticketing information. source Many of our readers have already weighed in on what they expect from this upcoming BlizzCon -- expectations are high. Hopefully we'll be getting for information about the event soon. You can bet that WoW.com will be there again this year, and we've already got plans in the works to hold an even bigger meetup than last year! %Gallery-70720%%Gallery-70667%%Gallery-70630%
Will WoW ever have a 'DPS to heal' model?
We were just talking about it on today's podcast (thrill to the sound of three people barely awake trying to coherently discuss World of Warcraft) and hey, look, Ghostcrawler reads my mind from across the interwebs. Well, okay, no, he responded to a forum thread, but it's still interesting. Yes, interesting enough that I'm going to replicate the post here before discussing it. I am out of control, a renegade, I should hand in my posting badge and keyboard. Ghostcrawler - Re: What's wrong with an Active Mana Regen Model? I'm not sure we'd ever do a "deal damage to heal" model. It might work for new classes, but feels like a big change to existing classes that players know and love. Having choices to get mana back is good. Standing around to regen mana is bad. However, we still ultimately need a way that healers who are playing badly, trying to keep alive an undergeared / underskilled tank, or just tackling content that they're not yet ready for, can run out of mana to the extent that the encounter is over. source Personally, I hope that 'it might work for new classes' statement means we'll finally get something like a Warhammer Warrior Priest. I'm still jazzed from seeing Diablo III's version of the Monk and I'd be thrilled if they created a cloth wearing, staff wielding, spirit and intellect utilizing melee healer. I'm sad that they've ruled it out for any current classes (man, it would rock for paladins in my opinion and would single handedly make me like that class) but I'm very hopeful we'll be monking it up in an expansion or two.
Will Blizzard show their next MMO at BlizzCon 2010?
WoW.com's Zach Yonzon takes a speculative look at BlizzCon 2010 and all the possibilities that lie ahead. The article predicts that Blizzard will officially announce their sophomore MMO effort this year, which seems likely given StarCraft II's impending release and Diablo III being a known quantity. To top it off, the developer probably wouldn't mind stifling some of the substantial buzz building up around Star Wars: The Old Republic. We'd love to see the cyberpunk MMO described in the article, but who wouldn't want a sci-fi MMO that's like Diablo's dark fantasy to Warcraft's light-heartedness? Nobody (well, except for Blizzard) really knows what the future holds, although for now you can read about it and share your thoughts if that helps out -- at least, it helps us feel slightly less helpless when pondering our MMO gaming future.
Speculating on BlizzCon 2010
It's a new year and that means another opportunity to play oracle and figure out what Blizzard's plans are for 2010. BlizzPlanet has gone ahead and tossed out some of their ideas on what will happen for BlizzCon this year, laying out their predictions and even speculating on the event date. As you might know, there was a bit of confusion stemming from supposed leaked information that pointed to BlizzCon 2010 happening in Las Vegas in July. That didn't go down so well with Blizzard, and the Las Vegas convention center later retracted its statements. BlizzPlanet points out, quite logically, that Blizzard probably wasn't too thrilled with that. Even if they had planned to do it in Las Vegas, that kind of public relations misstep is a deal breaker. Besides, Eldorian from BlizzPlanet applies simple, sound logic to his sleuthing work and explains that examining the Anaheim Convention Center's Calendar of Events reveals an odd, blank date on the weekend of August 20-21, yet almost all the weekends of the venue are already booked. With Blizzard being the secretive bunch that they are, he figures those blank dates actually correspond with this year's BlizzCon event. It's a pretty cool theory. Read the rest of their predictions as well as a few of our own guesses after the jump.
Blizzard properties now on Facebook
Acknowledging the power of social media and networking, Blizzard has created fan pages for their three big franchises on Facebook. Following the trend of other products and companies who have created Facebook pages in order to deliver updates, promotions, and other fan extras, Blizzard has set up pages for Diablo, Starcraft, and Warcraft. Interested fans need to have a Facebook account in order to "become a fan" of the pages, which Blizzard says they have big plans for. Through these fan pages, Blizzard will be able to give a constant feed of news updates and media such as video, galleries, or links. Fan pages are also a common conduit for promos and contests as frequently used by Blizzard partners such as Razer and Figureprints. There are also forums for discussion and a "wall" that allows fans to write on for questions, comments, or anything related to the franchises. Interestingly, and perhaps owing to its massive player base, the Warcraft fan page has already gained three times as many followers as the other two properties in the short time it has been active. This reflects a similar trend on Twitter, another social networking tool that Blizzard has utilized lately, where @Warcraft has over twice the number of followers of either @Diablo or @Starcraft.
Pandaren Monk pet has moves
MMO Champion has datamined up some video of the new Pandaren Monk vanity pet that's been floating around, and as you can see above, it's pretty darned awesome. Just like the Grunty the Murloc pet, this one comes with some fun animations, and they look terrific. Blizzard has been pretty coy about getting the Pandaren into the game, and they're teasing big here, too -- this little bear's got moves that would make the Diablo III Monk hang his head in shame.However, the question remains: how do we get it? At this point, it's just speculation and rumor -- some say it might be a special anniversary pet for people who've been subscribed all five years of the game's life, some suggest it might be part of the Cataclysm collector's edition (past CEs have had a pet in each one, including a Diablo figure in the first box), and still others suggest that the Monk will be a new pet in the upcoming Brewfest holiday. How do we get it, really? We won't know for sure until we hear it from Blizz.
Blizzard interview: Leo Boyarsky and Kevin Martens on Diablo 3
We know that we've been fire-hosing Diablo 3 information on you, but keep those raincoats zipped because there's more incoming. In fact, we sat down with Leon Boyasrsky, lead world designer, and Kevin Martens, lead content artist, at BlizzCon. While they didn't drop any deafening secrets on us like ZOMG what the final class will be, they did go into further detail about the game.Read on through for the full interview, and imagine what it'll be like if Martens gets his dream wish and they stick a Sideshow Collectibles Barbarian statue inside the Collector's Edition of the game. The chances of that actually happening are pretty much zero, but still ... we can dream.%Gallery-70687%
BlizzCon 2009: Martial arts secrets of Diablo 3's Monk
When you think hardcore-fantasy, swords-and-sorcery killing machine, you think "monk," right? At BlizzCon, Diablo 3's new character class, the Monk, was unlocked, supposedly having been inspired by pen-and-paper RPGs. According to Jay Wilson, almost all of Blizzard's characters are meant to hearken back to the "golden age of RPG gaming." The Monk is designed to be a fragile, melee-based character that performs some amazingly agile moves. With skills like the "Seven-Sided Strike" and "Way of the Hundred Fists," we'd say he's stripped from a different golden age -- from the reels of 1960s and '70s Kung Fu serials. The only detail that's missing are the Bruce Lee yips.%Gallery-70687%
