Guild Wars 2
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Flameseeker Chronicles: Planting the seeds of memory in Guild Wars 2
They say that those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it. I don't know who "they" are, but I don't think that particular truism was ever meant to cover a literal repeat of history. Guild Wars 2's latest living world content release has players doing exactly that: planting memory seeds, taking an uncomfortably invasive peek into Caithe's past, and trying to figure out exactly what might have led her to abscond with Glint's egg in the previous chapter. This stroll down memory lane technically takes place over 20 years in GW2's history, but it's new information to us, and so the statute of limitations on spoilers hasn't expired. You'll probably want to play the content before reading any further, unless you think my writing is improved by a lack of context (if that's the case, don't tell me).
The Daily Grind: Who's your favorite child NPC?
This might be a difficult topic because in truth we have not seen an over-abundance of children NPCs in MMOs, nevermind ones that speak or are part of missions. I'm mostly reminded of the tag-along I had in World of Warcraft's Children Week when I think of young characters. However, I'm most impressed with the handling of Taimi in Guild Wars 2's storyline. She's easily the best character of the group, and somewhat unique in being very young and also partially disabled. I love that those two characteristics don't define who she is, but instead her vivacious and sometimes reckless genius does. So who is your favorite child NPC in an MMO? 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!
Guild Wars 2 launches Seeds of Truth today
Oh, that darn Caithe, running off with that MacGuffin dragon egg at the end of the last Guild Wars 2 story update! Someone should go after her. And while someone's going after her, someone should probably collect more armor set pieces and explore more of the Silverwastes. If you haven't guessed by now, that someone is going to be you. The latest update to the game, Seeds of Truth, is live today, and you'll need to... well, you read all of that up above, yes? Aside from salad-based antics, the update features some major PvP changes, including reworked matchmaking and the test season for organized league play. So if you're there more for the mechanics than the story, that may be more of your speed. If you're there for the story, though, get ready to start retracing Caithe's memories, figure out what happened, and dealing with the fallout of that stolen egg. [Source: ArenaNet press release]
Last Week on Massively: A new take on playing internet spaceships
This post originally appeared on Massively from Editor-in-Chief Brianna Royce. At the end of every week, we round up the best and most popular news stories, exclusive features, and insightful columns published on Massively and then present them all in one convenient place. If you missed a big MMO story last week, you've come to the right post. Time to brush up on your Greek! Elite: Dangerous' gamma phase launched last week, marking the last test phase before launch on December 16th. Backers can jump in and play now, but for those who are late to the buying party, there's a solo mode to check out in the meantime. Massively's Mike Foster, who toured the game in September, returned this weekend for hands-on time with and a stream of the final build. Read on for a look at the rest of this week's top MMO stories.
One Shots: Female fashion show
Every once in a while I issue a screenshot challenge that lights a fire under the community here, and my call to show off female armor that wasn't chainmail bikinis did exactly that. So today we're going to have a fashion show, starting with Ralph the Wonder Llama! "If battleframes were cars, I think recon battleframes would be the hot little sports coupes of the Firefall universe," Mr. Llama writes. "Here my ARES pilot shows off the sleek, bold lines of the Raptor battleframe as she gazes down upon Sunken Harbor. It gets good gas mileage too: sporty, fun to drive, and economical!"
Massively's Black Friday MMO sales and deals roundup
Happy Black Friday, everyone! We've been keeping an eye on MMO-related sales and promotional events just for you. Here are a few of the bigguns that might be worth taking advantage of today and through the weekend: Guild Wars 2's digital versions are 50% off through the official website until December 7th. World of Warcraft -- well, the bundle with everything but Warlords of Draenor -- is 75% off through December 2nd. WildStar is on sale for 50% off, so $19.99, for a "limited time" on the official site and at other retailers. ArcheAge has a bunch of marketplace items on sale, along with two new mounts. Today only, SOE is offering double Station Cash, spendable in most of its MMOs. Star Wars: The Old Republic has hinted that a large (possibly hourly) Cartel Market sale is on the way today. All of Perfect World's MMOs have sales running over the next few days; of note to us are sales in Neverwinter, Champions Online, Swordsman, and Star Trek Online, the last of which is offering not just a cash shop sale but a sale on lifetime subs. Lord of the Rings Online is offering double bonus points in its cash shop and bonus XP in-game. Wargaming has festivities and sales planned for World of Tanks and World of Warplanes. Dungeons and Dragons Online is offering +20% XP through Sunday. RIFT is not only selling the classic collector's editions, character slots, and bag slots at 50% off but making the newest expansion available to buy via credits for the first time. TERA has a slew of cash shop item goodies on sale, including bundles with mounts and character slots. Marvel Heroes' multiple sales extend to Cyber Monday. (Update: MJ tells us that logging in Saturday will grant you a free remote-controlled Blackbird jet pet!) And don't forget all the MMOs and MMO bundles/DLC on sale on Steam for the fall sale, as well. Elder Scrolls Online and The Secret World are among them! If you know of others -- and we're sure there are several -- sound off in the comments!
Guild Wars 2's Leah Hoyer discusses the importance of story
It's fair to say that Guild Wars 2 sells its story pretty highly, as living world progress and story updates are a major part of its content strategy. Head of narrative Leah Hoyer stated in a recent interview that this is one of the core things that games as a whole need to embrace: Story is important in getting players invested. Hoyer went on to say that while story lacks the central importance in games that it has in media like television, it's still an important element of player investment. Still, she argues, it's harder to tell a good story in a game than it is in a television show, simply because the latter is focused only on story while the former cannot be. This doesn't mean that it's less important, nor does Hoyer feel that it justifies using lore and background as an excuse for not telling a story; a good story requires immediacy. While she believes that lore is highly important, it should help support storytelling rather than replace it. There's a lot of interesting thoughts in the full interview, so whether you like Guild Wars 2's take on story or not, it's well worth a look.
Flameseeker Chronicles: Navigating Guild Wars 2's Tangled Paths release
I was late playing Guild Wars 2's latest update, Tangled Paths, because I was on an airplane when it went live. That might be a better excuse than "the dog ate my homework," but I don't have one for "a dog ate my character," which is exactly what happened as soon as I got home and logged in. Read on for the reason I actually welcome our vicious new dog overlords, as well as why Caithe and I need to have a long talk. You'll also find an exclusive photograph of Bellevue, Washington, taken from the roof of ArenaNet's studio, which is exciting primarily because I got the Seattle skyline in the very same shot without it coming out blurry, even on my awful camera phone. I'm proud of that and nobody can take it from me. As usual, spoiler warnings apply!
Guild Wars 2 teases next week's Seeds of Truth release with a new trailer
Are you up to speed on Guild Wars 2's episodic living world content releases? If not, you might want to stop reading because there could be spoilers ahead. Last time around, players watched as Caithe made off with a fabled dragon egg that could be the key to defeating Mordremoth. In the newest episode, you'll have to catch Caithe, but first you can catch a preview of the release by clicking past the cut. [Source: ArenaNet press release]
Last Week on Massively: WoW's rebound
This post originally appeared on Massively from Editor-in-Chief Brianna Royce. At the end of every week, we round up the best and most popular news stories, exclusive features, and insightful columns published on Massively and then present them all in one convenient place. If you missed a big MMO story last week, you've come to the right post. After a shockingly long content drought and disappointing expansion previews, World of Warcraft proved that no one cares about content droughts and disappointing expansion previews by resecuring over 10,000,000 subscriptions, just in time for its 10th anniversary celebration. To compensate for the trainwreck launch of Warlords of Draenor, Blizzard granted the entire playerbase five extra days of gametime. Read on for a look at the rest of this week's top MMO stories.
Guild Wars 2 streamlines PvP queuing, adds map voting
How can Guild Wars 2's PvP experience be improved? By streamlining the flow, baby! A new dev diary posted today talks about how ArenaNet is working to improve match flow, starting with the elimination of PvP rosters and simply allowing players to queue solo or with a party. Other significant changes include replacing AFK players before matches begin, group voting on favorite maps, and using the dishonor system to ding those who leave or go AFK during matches. To get into PvP matches, players will now be required to go to the Heart of the Mists, which is being outfitted with additional core services so that it can be a fun social hub between games.
The Daily Grind: Do special currencies in MMOs annoy you?
A reader discussion in a past Guild Wars 2 update article made me realize, once again, how much I loathe special event currencies. You know the type: It's patch day, and here's an event, and if you want the rewards, you have to grind a shiny new currency to get them! Never mind that you already have a pile of gold (and in Guild Wars 2's case, karma and gems) earned through your adventures up until now; those credits are mysteriously useless at the new reward vendors, who accept only some new currency. Commenters rightly pointed out that if modern devs did what old timey devs did, players would just rush in and buy everything on day one and not do the grind. But so what? Why should it bother us that people get to actually use the currency they've already earned and banked? That's the whole point of gathering money in MMOs in the first place. And if there's so much existing currency in the world that everyone could buy everything without additional grind, that's the studio's problem for providing insufficient sinks and a poor economy in the first place, not ours. In fact, special events themselves could be an awesome gold sink! Instead, event currencies signal to players that their existing achievements and savings matter not at all and that the event isn't really going to be much fun on its own merits. What do you think? Are you also sick of special currencies in MMOs? What would you prefer to see in their stead? 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!
Guild Wars 2's revamped sPvP rewards skillful play, not just wins
ArenaNet's Justin O'Dell is on dev blog duty today for Guild Wars 2, and his post is all about planned updates to the game's sPvP matchmaking and ladder ranking systems. "We decided to move to a score-based search method that takes into consideration several metrics that we believe are important for a match to be fun," he explains. "We chose a score-based system over other methods because we found that it's a good compromise between the often competing goals of match quality and short queue times." The system will do its best to match players by skill level, rank, party size, and so forth. Points awarded through the ladder ranking system are determined by final score and odds of victory in an attempt to ensure that playing well in spite of a loss is encouraged and that luck isn't the driving force in ranking. "Imagine a world where everyone took the saying 'It's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game' seriously," O'Dell says. "Wouldn't that be great?"
Guild Wars 2 plans a big PvP patch for December 2nd
On December 5th, the first World Tournament Series for Guild Wars 2 will conclude with a showdown between the four best teams across the United States, Europe, and China. Right before that, on December 2nd, the Guild Wars 2 team will be deploying several large-scale updates to the game's PvP. So if you've been watching the tournament with rapt interest, you'll have a number of shiny new systems to test out; if you haven't, you can still reap the benefits of an improved PvP system in the game. Matchmaking is one of the biggest game mechanics seeing alterations. Players will be sorted by Glicko2 ratings for matchmaking purposes and subjected to a dishonor system that punishes behavior like leaving mid-match. The net result is a full ladder system for the game that will serve as a foundation for large-scale league play, with a test season planned for mid-December to make sure all of the parts work properly. There are more adjustments to be revealed over the next two weeks, but for now, dedicated PvP fans can rest easy knowing that more boosts are coming. [Source: ArenaNet press release]
Guild Wars 2's Tangled Paths update goes live today
Episode six of Guild Wars 2's second season of living world content, Tangled Paths, arrives on production servers today. The continuing storyline sends players on an epic dragon egg hunt through "newly discovered underground caverns" in the Silverwastes. Players who've been piecing together the carapace armor set this season can look forward to a pair of gloves this go-round. Massively's GW2 expert, Anatoli Ingram, has been chronicling the seasonal plotline in his Flameseeker Chronicles column. Enjoy the fresh screenshots and slightly less fresh episode six video below.
The Daily Grind: Do you read gaming-related novels?
No, not the novels posted in our comments. Actual novels. Literary and pulp fiction! Gamasutra recently ran an article chronicling an author's attempt to publish and market a book aimed squarely at gamers. The writer ran into difficulties, however, because of the publishing industry's insistence that "gamers don't read books." He got his book published, but when marketing fell to him, he couldn't convince gaming outlets to cover it, and even though reviews were positive, sales were poor. Major MMOs like The Elder Scrolls Online, World of Warcraft, Guild Wars 2, and Star Wars: The Old Republic all released lore-oriented novels, but my suspicion is that such books are made to sell games, not to sell books. What do you think -- do you actually buy and read gaming-related novels? 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!
Last Week on Massively: Let's hunt some orc
This post originally appeared on Massively from Editor-in-Chief Brianna Royce. At the end of every week, we round up the best and most popular news stories, exclusive features, and insightful columns published on Massively and then present them all in one convenient place. If you missed a big MMO story last week, you've come to the right post. World of Warcraft's fifth expansion, Warlords of Draenor, launched on Thursday, and predictably, the combination of design blunders and brutal DDoS attacks turned the first few days of launch into a circus of clownshoes. So, you know, an MMO launch. Here are the highlights: Warlords of Draenor's rocky launch saga and Reddit controversy continue World of Warcraft hit by DDoS attack on expansion launch day World of Warcraft deals with downtime, bugs, DDoS attacks World of Warcraft vows faster expansion development You're too late: People are already 100 in WoW WoW's Iron Horde declares war on Times Square World of Warcraft's garrisons 'like a personal guild' Watch the unboxing of World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor's CE World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor launch-day roundup Read on for the rest of this week's top MMO stories.
NCsoft's third quarter report is glowing; WildStar's revenues are not
NCsoft's unaudited third quarter 2014 financial report is in. Do you want the good news first or the bad? Let's get the bad out of the way. WildStar's revenues plummeted between the second and third quarters, down 42.9% (the sales units in the table above, please note, are in millions of Korean Won). Variable expense, NCsoft wrote, also fell "largely due to decreased box sales of WildStar." Guild Wars 2's revenues also fell slightly over the quarter, down 8.5%. But the good news is that global sales and operating profit are very much up, up, up in total quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year, thanks primarily to the continuing popularity of Aion and classic Lineage.
Flameseeker Chronicles: Learning from Tyria's past in Guild Wars 2
The latest Guild Wars 2 living world release, Echoes of the Past, seems to be a big hit. It's nice to see fans so unreservedly happy with an update since the past few months have been a little rocky for GW2, but ArenaNet has hit it out of the park this time. If you haven't gotten a chance to play it yet, I strongly recommend checking it out before reading further, if possible. There are spoilers below the cut, and hardly anybody likes spoilers. Except me: the guy who flips to the end of the book sometimes. I'm a monster.
Guild Wars 2 previews the Tangled Path for November 18th
A dragon egg exists in Tyria. Yes, we know, dragons are overdone, but the existence of one of their eggs in Tyria is extremely rare, as evidenced in no small part by the fact that the main enemies of the setting are the six elder dragons. So everyone wants that egg... including Mordremoth, the main antagonist of Guild Wars 2's second season of Living World content. And that means that everyone who can try to get that egg will try to get that egg. Yes, the next Living Story update is one big egg hunt, but it's one with pretty high stakes. The trailer just past the cut is short, but it should get players excited for when the update goes live on November 18th. And who wouldn't want a dragon egg of his very own? We recommend naming it Lord Snugglescale; that'll keep it on your side for sure. [Source: ArenaNet press release]
