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Hyperspace Beacon: Examining SWTOR's producer letter
At the community cantina that Star Wars: The Old Republic held this past weekend at PAX South, community manager Eric Musco said that the community team was going to do something different in 2015 during the cantinas. He said that he wanted to reveal some tidbit at each and every event. And this cantina yielded us an early look at Producer Bruce Maclean's roadmap letter to the community. In the letter, he talks about where the SWTOR story will take us, what's on the horizon for flashpoints, personal stories, planets, and the outfit designer. But what is all this new stuff, and should it get people excited about the coming year? Unfortunately, there is no easy answer for that. If you play for similar reasons as I do, then there is plenty to be excited about. However, there are certain players, like PvPers, who might be a little frustrated by what they are seeing and not seeing in the letter.
Around Azeroth: Which of us is the evil twin again?
Today's submitter writes, "My gnomish warrior Pie was perusing the various transmog gear vendors when suddenly a strange sensation came over her ... a chill that crawled up her spine like a malfunctioning clockwork gnome hopped up on too much Deeprock Salt. Cautiously she turned around, expecting trouble, and instead she found a tiny death knight, comparing the fluffiness their pigtails. Naturally, Pie won." Want to see your own screenshot here? Send it to aroundazeroth@wowinsider.com. We strongly prefer full-sized pictures with no UI or names showing. Include "Azeroth" in the subject line to ensure your submission dodges email spam filters; if you'd like to be credited, also include your name, guild and realm.
Breakfast Topic: How much farming is too much farming?
There's no MMO -- or game in general, really -- that doesn't have some grinding built in. After all, you need some reason to keep logging in after you've run out of quest rewards and dungeons to clear. But sometimes the grind you go through for achievements and collectables is just too much. So when do you decide that it's time to throw in the towel on your own grinds? Right now, I'm working on safari achievements, and I'm down to one pet left to catch in Eastern Kingdoms and one more in Kalimdor. Two more pets when I've already managed to pick up 360 unique pets shouldn't be that hard, right? Wrong. Right now I have alts camped to watch for rare spawns, and I log in now and then to sit and stare at my mini-map as if that will make them spawn faster. But this isn't exactly compelling gameplay -- in fact, this kind of tedium is the dead opposite of compelling. But I've gotten so close... I shouldn't give up with only a couple of pets to go, should I? So today let's talk grinds. How long have you ever spent farming or grinding for a particular bauble or achievement in-game? And just when do you decide that enough is enough?
WoW Moviewatch: ROFLMAO!
Monday is upon us once again, and since we're all in need of some workweek cheer, we dug into the Moviewatch archives to find this classic from Oxhorn. Sure, this 2007 machinima looks a bit dated, especially when compared with the new models that rolled out in Warlords of Draenor, but it's still darned funny. (Much like the even older Muppet Show skit this machinima is parodying.) Go on, we dare you not to laugh. Happy Monday, everyone! Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
PAX South 2015: Pox Nora is the coolest online card game you've never heard of
Pox Nora is a game that's hard to categorize. It's like Hearthstone, you see, because it's an online card game. But it's also like Civilization because it uses turn-based combat on a variety of maps with terrain that affects the battle. And maybe it's like Minecraft as well because it was built by a tiny team and developed incrementally through the feedback of a passionate fan base. Pox Nora was free-to-play before free-to-play was a thing. It's gone from tiny little indie to SOE-backed product and back again. And through its eight years, it's managed to fly quietly under the radar while its developers continually churn out content, implement community ideas, and expand its possibilities. At PAX South over the weekend, I sat down with Arthur Griffith, CEO of Desert Owl Games and co-creator of Pox Nora, to learn more about the game and its latest content additions.
PAX South 2015: Life is Feudal revives the good ol' MMO feel
When the assignment for Life Is Feudal came to me, I questioned why I was covering a game that really didn't seem to be an MMORPG in my eyes because of its separate servers and the survival feel of the setting. It felt to me initially that I was covering another DayZ, one set in a medieval era and no zombies. But as I found out at this year's PAX South, I was completely wrong. Interestingly, I didn't find out what kind of mistake I made from the head honcho of Bitbox, Vladimir Piskunov. I found out from someone who has been playing for a long time and was invited to play at the Life Is Feudal booth. His name is Bill, and he's the "superfan" who demoed the game for me. He explained the ins and outs of the mechanics until I started having Ultima Online flashbacks. We discussed the skill system and trekked around the world, and then reminded me that LiF will eventually be an MMORPG. And I could certainly see how. If sandboxes are your thing as they are mine, then maybe this game is up our alley.
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 Queue: Lightning round
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. Anne had everyone entranced with her tinfoil hat in yesterday's Queue and left us with a serious lack of questions. Today is going to be a simple rapid-fire day. Make with the asking! xeraphax asked: With the changes coming to salvaging, should I keep my crates till 6.1 or use them now?
PAX South 2015: Why aren't MMOs more social?
On Friday, Alex Albrecht from ZergID and formerly of the Totally Rad Show headed up a PAX South panel about the social side of MMOs, inviting Patrick Mulhern from Lorehound, Jenesee Grey from Camelot Unchained, and me to join to discuss community in MMOs and why it's seemed so absent in recent years. Meg Campbell from YouTube moderated the panel discussion, calling us the PAX MMO guild. I admit that I considered naming this piece, "How Star Wars Galaxies did everything right and World of Warcraft did everything wrong" because I am obviously biased. But I really was completely surprised at how much SWG came up during the panel. Many former Galaxies players will tell you that there was a lot about that game that was pure crap, but when you talk about the social implementations of SWG, there just aren't many games that compare.
Around Azeroth: I just wanna fly
"All other ogron make fun of Thunk at Broken Precipice," submitter Kashume of Legends of Poker on Staghelm (US-A) translates from the original series of thumping noises that constitutes the ogron language. "They said, 'Silly Thunk, you no can fly. Ogron no have wings.' Thunk know better. Thunk up in clouds where he belongs with windrocs. Now only thing Thunk not figured out; how to get down?" Want to see your own screenshot here? Send it to aroundazeroth@wowinsider.com. We strongly prefer full-sized pictures with no UI or names showing. Include "Azeroth" in the subject line to ensure your submission dodges email spam filters; if you'd like to be credited, also include your name, guild and realm.
PAX South 2015: Moonrise and State of Decay shine at the Undead Labs booth
Most media appointments at an event like PAX South 2015 work like this: You meet the person you're supposed to meet, that person shows you the game her studio is working on, and then you rush off to the next booth on your list while cursing yourself for not scheduling time for a snack. Undead Labs handled my PAX appointment a bit differently, sitting me down for back-to-back play sessions with brand-new tablet game Moonrise and a remastered version of State of Decay, the zombie survival game that put the studio on the map. It was a little jarring to go from adorable pet battles to being torn in half by a zombie, but the two-for-one session provided a nice glimpse of where Undead Labs has been and where it intends to go.
Know Your Lore, Tinfoil Hat Edition: The ordering of Draenor and Azeroth
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. According to various accounts, the Titans have had their hands on almost every inhabitable world in the universe. Certainly Algalon had to keep an eye on more than one planet in his impossibly-long life -- he says as much when we stop him from sending the signal that would re-originate our world. This fact alone is enough to indicate that in the Warcraft universe, worlds aren't quite as unique as we'd expect them to be. If the Titans had a hand in their ordering, they're likely going to have at least some similarities. But it doesn't mean that every world we come across is going to be just like Azeroth. We've been presented with the idea, time and time again, that Azeroth is unique in the universe. It's special. There's something about it that sets it apart from every other world. And yet, when you hold Azeroth and Draenor next to each other and take a good long look at what they are, you can see the bare bones of what was once upon a time, a blueprint shared between the two. Unfortunately, the comparison raises more questions that it seems to answer -- but those questions are pretty important. Today's Know Your Lore is a Tinfoil Hat edition. The following contains speculation based on known material. These speculations are merely theories and shouldn't be taken as fact or official lore.
WoW Moviewatch: Like Froot
Look, I'm going to be perfectly honest here: I have absolutely no idea what's going on in this machinima. I'm not sure if it's telling a story or not, or what that story happens to be. But Like Froot, the latest music video from Youtuber Killercookie, still manages to be hypnotically entertaining, story or no. The bright visuals mix well with the song, which I've never heard before -- but it's now thoroughly stuck in my head. As always, Killercookie knows exactly what to do with model placement, animation, and cuts. I guess the lesson here is that sometimes you don't really need a story for a machinima, a pleasant tune and some colorful visuals are more than enough to entertain. If you liked this short, don't forget to check out Killercookie's Youtube channel for plenty more. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
PAX South 2015: Camelot Unchained's proactive approach to community management
In the crowdfunded independent industry, we are starting to see some ups and downs. Backers have seen some games fail and other games soar. One of those games that seems to be doing very well, at least if you ask its Community Manager Jenesee Grey and its legions of fans, is Camelot Unchained. At this weekend's PAX South, I spoke to Grey about her experience as a CM for a crowdfunded game.
The Queue: Anne's Story Hour
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Anne Stickney (@Shadesogrey) is answering all kinds of questions today! It's Sunday, the day of rest and apparently of rambling on about stories in my head, and as such I'll go ahead and indulge the few people that asked the question below. Don't worry, I've also got plenty of other far more pertinent questions to answer as well! Ligkvaern asked: I made an account just to ask this, damn you! ...What happens in Kharazhan, in your head? robertjamesftw also commented: Anne. ANNE. You may NOT tease us with hints about your head-canon and/or the stories you create in there and not share them! C'mon! Give!! I can take a hint. Please note -- none of this is actually what's going to happen in the next expansion. I have no idea what's coming in the next expansion. This is just stuff I made up in my head that seemed to make sense given what we already know. Okay? Moving on, and continuing from where I left off on Wednesday:
MMO Burnout: Engineers in spaaace
I missed the whole Minecraft craze. I was stupidly grinding my virtual life away in various MMORPGs, plus I couldn't get past Minecraft's so-fugly-it's-hip aesthetic. No matter, though, because Space Engineers takes Minecraft's core concepts and dolls them up with pleasing visuals, a nifty near future sci-fi setting, and addictive gameplay that's much more than the sum of its parts.
PAX South 2015: Slaying giants in Motiga's Gigantic
Motiga's Gigantic is one part Team Fortress, one part Dota, and one part Monster Hunter. The basic match structure will sound familiar to MOBA lovers -- two teams of five slug it out for superiority by controlling resources, leveling up, and killing one another -- but the skill-based mechanics, multiple maps, and shifting strategy priorities make the game more than a three-lane farm fest. Gigantic isn't about last-hitting or memorizing meta. Instead, it's about slaying giants and aiming true. I hopped in on a quick Gigantic match with some other press folks this afternoon at PAX South 2015, and in the midst of delivering an absolute drubbing to the scrubs (kidding!) on the other side of the table, I was able to get a feel for the game's combat system, characters, and the way its massive guardians change the way battles play out.
Sunday Morning Funnies: Muzzled
Sunday Morning Funnies is your weekly list of WoW-related web comics. This week, in comics: A flamingo. Droppin' coin. Adorable lowbies. Crafting doohickies (doohickeys?). Plus: Dodging dinos! In comic news this week, From Draenor With Love has posted the cover for Chapter 5! So glad it's back. If you missed earlier news, and are wondering where some of your favorites are, well, Sara & Kleeyo is on a more sporadic posting schedule, and both Contested Territory and Best in Slot are on a hiatus while new content is produced and post-holiday breaks are had. On Gratz Solace, Lackinganame will be posting extra information and discussion points at the bottoms of each post, so keep an eye out! And if you missed last week's discussion section, but have been thinking about getting into digital art via a tablet, you should check out the comments. Finally, you may notice something new on the list this week! If you like it, I encourage you to check out the other artwork posted at Bear Comics and Assorted Art, and I will link to more in future.
PAX South 2015: O'Brien and Johanson on Guild Wars 2's Heart of Thorns
ArenaNet's Mike O'Brien and Colin Johanson (and Commander Shepard) took to the PAX South 2015 stage yesterday morning to announce Heart of Thorns, the first-ever expansion for Guild Wars 2. If you're not up to speed, check out our post covering the announcement and the official site to get the broad strokes on the expansion's new zone, new profession, new progression system, and more. News of the expansion raised many a question from our readers (and our staff!). Massively's Larry Everett and I sat down with O'Brien and Johanson to try to get those questions answered and dive a little deeper into the changes coming to Guild Wars 2's living world. And no, there isn't a release date.
Breakfast Topic: Do you stack traits on missions?
I have a method for follower missions, one that seems to have worked out mostly in my favor -- during the day, I'll complete as many of the shorter missions as I can, logging in to cycle through them once or twice. Before I turn in for the night, I'll queue up all the longer missions, because I know they'll be waiting for me at whatever point I log on the next day. Sometimes, though, I get impatient or I want the rewards offered by a mission right away -- which is when I start stacking traits. I have a lot of followers with the Epic Mount trait. I also have a lot of followers with the Scavenger trait. Used to their full potential, I can easily nab over 1k garrison resources in a single mission -- or I can whittle a mission down to 15 minutes or less. In 6.1, the Scavenger trait is getting a nerf from a 200% bonus down to 100%, and frankly I can see why -- with a 10k character garrison resource limit and the potential of capping that limit in 10 missions or less, it's a little overpowered. Thankfully, the Epic Mount trait is being left untouched, which means I can still speed along missions as I see fit when the new patch is released. I'm sure I'm not the only person that does this, but I'm curious just for curiosity's sake -- do you guys stack your follower traits on missions? Is it something you go out of your way to try and accomplish, or is it something you tend to ignore? What do you think of the Scavenger change in patch 6.1 -- was it needed, or unnecessary in your mind? What traits do you like the most?
