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Google's Android-powered VR platform supports Unreal games
Yesterday during Google's annual I/O keynote, the company made a point of mentioning that Electronic Arts and Ubisoft -- two of the biggest third-party game studios -- were working on projects for Google's new virtual reality platform, Daydream. Now the company is ready to announce another: Epic Games. The latest version of the company's powerful and ubiquitous game-design toolset, Unreal Engine 4, is coming to Google's next-gen mobile VR system. For developers it ensures easy porting of existing apps to Daydream with little extra work required. For consumers, it means higher-quality mobile VR experiences, and maybe more of them too.
WildStar launches the Protogames Initiative
WildStar players have fought off the machinations of the Entity, the depravities of their enemy faction, and the vicious wildlife of Nexus. Yet they've never had to face the centerpiece of the newest patch, the Protostar Corporation. Admittedly, taking part in the all-new Protogames isn't quite the same as taking on an ancient evil, but the two new dungeons added with this patch are both meant to test player abilities, with a low-level run through Protogames Academy conveying gameplay concepts while the Ultimate Protogames provide an assortment of new challenges. Not that there aren't plenty of other things for players to experience as well. The patch also contains new housing options, allowing you to edit the terrain of your home, and the character chop shop to let you re-edit facial details and the like. Players can also take on a brand-new Shiphand mission or run the Veteran difficulties of existing Shiphand missions, earning valuable Renown to take to the new Renown vendor. There's plenty to be done with the latest patch, so get in there and enjoy the games.
World of Warcraft outlines February's events
There are a lot of holiday events in World of Warcraft this month. February contains the Lunar Festival, Love is in the Air, the Darkmoon Faire... heck, it's also going to be the month that the next major raid opens up. Luckily for avid World of Warcraft players, the official site has put together a comprehensive schedule of the month's festivities, starting with the Valentine's Day event and the new raid opening tomorrow. Astute readers will note that Blizzard suggests players prepare for patch 6.1 with no hints about when it's coming out. Whether this means it's going to be later in the month or won't be dropping until March remains to be seen. Then again, the raiding crowd will have plenty to do through the month with Blackrock Foundry, and if you like holiday events, you've got several of those coming around as well.
The Mog Log: Final Fantasy XIV 2.5 dungeons
I mentioned a while back that it was kind of neat how the whole setup of Final Fantasy XIV had come full circle. At the start of the 2.0 patch cycle we were scurrying away from tonberries and bashing our heads against Demon Wall; in the final patch, we're back to both of those spots, along with the oft-seen and never-explored Keeper of the Lake in the midst of Mor Dhona's wreckage. It's a neat counterpoint. Having played through all of the dungeons now, well, you get to rescue tonberries. That alone makes the last set of dungeons worthy. As in every set of dungeons, there are winners and losers amidst the bosses, good points and bad ones. The dungeons as a whole are very reluctant to let you do much speeding through, with pulls being pretty aggressively gated. So let's talk mechanics, let's talk atmosphere, and let's carefully coach you through the process of kicking the crap out of your final expert roulette competitors.
The Mog Log: A primer for Final Fantasy XIV patch 2.5
Ladies, gentlemen, and those who fall into neither category: The end approaches swiftly. Final Fantasy XIV's last pre-expansion patch is about to drop, and just like the bass, it won't be the same afterward. Tomorrow you've got a whole lot of new content to play through, enough to probably keep you well occupied for the next three months. The fact that the second portion of the patch will be dropping in about a month just makes it all the more occupying. As we've done many times before, today's column is meant chiefly to take apart the patch elements we know of and get you up to speed so you can start playing without any issues once you can log in again. So let's start in on the first part of Before the Fall, complete with its new mystery trial and the promise of many revelations. Even if the big fireworks are coming in March.
Final Fantasy previews dungeons and plans maintenance for patch 2.5
The last pre-expansion patch for Final Fantasy XIV is going to be a big one. So big, in fact, that the game is dropping 12 hours of maintenance for the first part. Servers will go down at 6:00 p.m. EST on January 19th before coming back online at 6:00 a.m. EST on January 20th. As always, exact completion time is subject to change. If you missed yesterday's trailer, you can get an idea of some of the fuss by checking out today's dungeon preview, which shows off the Keeper of the Lake, Amdapor Keep (Hard), Wanderer's Palace (Hard), and the World of Darkness. While the exact item level requirements for these dungeons are hidden, it is clear that the Keeper of the Lake will once again be part of the main scenario quests like Snowcloak was in patch 2.4. So get ready to fight a dragon corpse, slaughter various voidsent, and most importantly rescue a whole lot of far-less-rancorous Tonberries.
Final Fantasy XIV drops a trailer for patch 2.5, Before the Fall
The final patch before Final Fantasy XIV's first expansion is a week away, and it's got plenty going on, so much that it's being split into three parts. A new trailer for the patch has been unleashed today, showing off bits and pieces of the whole thing but focusing chiefly on the content that will be going live on January 20th. You can view the whole thing just past the break, assuming you have 10 minutes to see all of the various hints and spoilers. Patch 2.5 brings with it more main scenario quests, three new dungeons (Keeper of the Late, Amdapor Keep Hard, and Wanderer's Palace Hard), the World of Darkness raid, a battle against the primal Odin, and a continuation of the Hildibrand storyline. Patch 2.51 is confirmed in the trailer for late February and will include the Manderville Gold Saucer, while part 2 of Before the Fall will wrap up the main scenario and set up the story of Heavensward in late March.
The Mog Log: Speculating on Final Fantasy XIV's Heavensward
We've got patch 2.5 around the corner, but Final Fantasy XIV's first expansion isn't all that far away either. And that, of course, brings with it no end of speculation about what players will find because so little is certain right now. What previews we've had have been vague by design, just enough to set our minds aflame with possibility without nailing down exactly what we'll find when we start venturing northward. Lucky for me, I love speculating. There are several ideas I've already seen regarding what we're getting in Heavensward, some of which are so far out of left field that I tend to think it's a pipe dream of the speculator and some of which seem to be logical predictions about the future of Final Fantasy XIV. So here's a bit of talk about those before we start hearing tons of expansion news and it's all proven transparently true or false. (Midway through the week, maybe.)
Learn to beat World of Warcraft's newest raid... in 60 seconds
We realize that there are a couple of different ways to treat that title, so let's be clear: This video guide will teach you how to beat all of the bosses in Highmaul in 60 seconds. It will not teach you how to take 60 seconds to defeat all of them. Yes, it could go either way, but did you really think you could drop World of Warcraft's raid in a minute of playtime? Nope, it's all about length of tutelage, not length of execution. The even shorter version is the universal raid guide for the game, of course: Move out of the thing, stack up if you see everyone else stacking up, and kill the little things. But it's the fine details where everything is really decided. click on past the break and get a minute-long dose of how to not be the one responsible for wiping the group.
The Mog Log: What we know thus far about Final Fantasy XIV 2.5
With all the cool stuff we heard about Final Fantasy XIV's first expansion, it's easy to forget that we also heard a bunch of stuff about the last patch of the current patch cycle. I think that's kind of intentional, not just because the expansion is a bit more eye-catching, but because things are going to get a lot worse before they get better. 2.5 is titled "Before the Fall," the Heavensward trailer does not predict sunny times for Ishgard, it doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out what happens next. There's no actual release date for 2.5 just yet, although I imagine it's fairly soon, especially given the two-part structure and the proximity of the proposed expansion launch. So let's talk about what we know so far to look forward to before everything comes crashing down. (I'm betting around the end of January, although I'll admit to being a bit less anxious than I was with 2.4's release.)
The Mog Log: Final Fantasy XIV's big fanfest reveals
Christmas came early for the forward-looking Final Fantasy XIV player this year. I know some people are upset at the fact that there were more revelations in the Japanese fan festival than in the ones in Vegas or London, but the timing is different. (I'd also point out that the expansion was announced in Las Vegas.) We've gone from having only a dim view of what's coming to having a pretty clear picture of what awaits through the next few month. One of the things that awaits is, of course, endless yelling about Machinist. Because boy. So let's start unpacking the stuff we learned from Tokyo. I say "start" because there is no way to get everything in one column, certainly not with deadlines and other considerations to take center stage. It's going to be a few months, but there's a lot to chew on just about 2.5, even if we ignore all of the expansion stuff, which I have no intention of doing.
Skyforge demos the Paladin and the Cryomancer in a solo dungeon
The latest video from Skyforge isn't a trailer. It's all gameplay footage, and it's all about showing off how two of the classes function in combat and what players can expect from the game's solo dungeons. Development director Eric Demilt and class designer Aidan Karabaich take two of the game's starting classes, the Paladin and the Cryomancer, through the Lanber Catacombs while narrating how the combat systems and ability mechanics work. The Paladin, as you'd likely expect, is as tanky as you'd like and features a variety of sword swipes, holy bolts of damage, and drawing in enemies for large attacks. The Cryomancer, meanwhile, focuses on control, creating decoys, and blasting groups down after they're frozen in place. The video also shows off solo mechanics like environmental puzzles and solo bosses. If you've got a chunk of time to sit down and watch it (it's 14 minutes long), check the whole thing out just past the break.
Watch six videos of TERA's new dungeons
If you haven't heard from your TERA-playing friends, don't worry -- they're merely in the thick of enjoying the new Fate of Arun expansion. As with many MMO expansions, Fate of Arun came packed with tough new dungeons, and intrepid YouTuber Skill Graal filmed adventures through several of them. You can watch six of these dungeon dives after the break, including looks at Bathysmal Rise and Ravenous Gorge.
WildStar's next big update and holiday surprise
The first major WildStar update of 2015 is available on the test servers now. Yes, there's a little time before it actually goes live for everyone. Creative Director Chad Moore took the opportunity today to explain to the community everything contained within the new update, starting with the addition of two new dungeons (the Protostar Academy and the Ultimate Protogames), a new Shiphand mission, and the addition of veteran-level Shiphand missions that can still be cleared solo or in a group as you'd like. This update also includes new housing options, cosmetic options for characters (including the ability to edit your appearance post-character creation), and the addition of the new Glory currency for completing dungeons and raids, which can be exchanged for high-end equipment. Last but not least, it's the update that includes the long-discussed drop of the Datascape raid down to 20 players, making it less of a challenge to assemble a roster for this content. While it remains to be seen how well the update actually plays, it looks to be filled with a number of positive changes for the game. In other WildStar news today, the studio is running holiday promotion during December. "Carbine wanted to wish everyone a Happy Holiday and spread some cheer by giving out 12 Days of Boom Boxes," wrote Community Manager Tony Rey yesterday. "Everyone that has logged into WildStar during the month of December (12/1-12/15) will receive these sweet little bundles of potential."
DDO Update 24: Heart of Madness goes live tomorrow
Tomorrow, Dungeons and Dragons Online will be getting its last big patch of the year, Update 24: Heart of Madness. Considering the cheery title, one might expect scarring challenges and experiences that will drive your average player insane (including using yourself as a puzzle piece to get through a fiendish game). The crux of the patch centers around an invasion from the plane of madness to Eberron, with popular D&D figures like the Lord of Eyes, the Lord of Stone, and Yalthoon the Mindflayer. Players will tackle a trio of high-level madness-themed dungeons in this paid adventure pack, although there will also be a fourth free dungeon that's part of the ongoing Wizards of the Coast Tyranny of Dragons event. Update 24 will also come with cosmetic armor effects, smarter AI monster champions, and a revamp of Barbarian enhancements.
Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen previews an upcoming dungeon
The volunteer team behind Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen is apparently hard at work following the release of the game's most recent update video. A new dungeon preview is available on the game's Facebook page, showing off a single in-progress screenshot and discussing the design principles behind Amberfaet, the Kingdom Underneath. It's not mentioned exactly what it's underneath, which leads to the inevitable conclusion that it lies buried deep below the ancient drive-in movie theater. Or some surface ruins; who knows. Amberfaet is proudly held up as a sprawling dungeon containing content for mid-level players all the way to max-level raids, with a great deal of time within dedicated simply to navigating the crumbling ruins up and down. OSHA compliance is apparently not a standard feature in the Kingdom Underneath. There's a bit more information on the official preview, if you're so inclined. Pantheon began collecting donations through Patreon in November following the collapse of its initial funding and paid development team last spring.
World of Warcraft opens the doors of Highmaul
The raid cycle of World of Warcraft's endgame begins anew today with the advent of Highmaul. While this raid did not go live with Warlords of Draenor's release, Blizzard is now opening the doors a crack to let in players for their first taste of epic combat. Highmaul is a seven-boss raid, although only two of those bosses are mandatory for players to down (but c'mon, only cowards tiptoe by the big baddies). Even though the raid is open for business today, it will feature only normal and heroic difficulties and will not be listed on the raid finder. In the coming weeks, mythic difficulty and raid finder functionality will be added to the instance.
The Soapbox: Six reasons MMOs should abandon raiding, part 3
In parts one and two of this Soapbox miniseries, I tackled four of the reasons the MMO genre should abandon raiding as a central gameplay element, but one key argument has been left out until now: The social aspect of raiding. Whatever else is true of raiding, it is definitely social. Communities spring up and keep going largely based on that raiding community, to the point that it's easy to assume that everyone in a game's population raids. There are lengthy discussions about raiding, about how to raid, about tips and tricks for clearing raids. The social aspect of raids is what I think has kept them around so long; it's easy for a designer to look at that sort of engagement and see it as vital. Yet there's more to the story than might be available at a glance, and the social aspect is not without steep costs. Those social elements do not carry the weight of everything else... mostly because they aren't as strong as they appear.
The Soapbox: Six reasons MMOs should abandon raiding, part 1
Raiding is no longer doing MMOs any favors. I've compared raiding to open PvP in the past, and the comparison still holds up. It's something that a lot of games developed in response to a specific genre-defining game have featured. But it's not doing those games any favors, and it might be time to take a hard look at this gameplay element that games survive in spite of rather than because of. If we learn nothing else from WildStar's issues when it launched into what should have been an ideal environment, it's that raiding certainly isn't driving players into a game's waiting arms. But I don't want to just say that and let it roll around on the floor. Let's actually break the argument down across a couple of articles this week. Why does raiding need to shuffle off of the main stage, definitely as the default endgame model, perhaps altogether? I can give you six good reasons.
WoW Archivist: Epics
WoW Archivist is a biweekly column by WoW Insider's Scott Andrews, who explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold? It first appeared on our sister site on November 21st and is included here by permission. Leveling through Draenor has been a blast, but as I am a player from classic WoW, a few things have struck me as incredibly strange. Triple-digit numbers in the guild panel. Sending NPCs to do quests on my behalf. And most of all, getting epic armor and weapons from solo leveling quests. Many players in classic WoW (and not just raiders) opposed making epics more available to players. They called Blizzard's evolving attitude a slippery slope. "What's next," they argued, "epics for doing solo quests?" They never actually imagined that would happen. In 2005 it would have been unthinkable. Eight years later, here we are. But it's all been by design -- an evolving design with many steps along the way. Let's look at how we got here, one random drop at a time.
