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RIFT challenges unwritten rules of the genre in a new dev diary
"There are countless unwritten rules for creating an MMO world that successful designs in past games have impressed upon the entire industry. No monsters on the roads; never stop the player from questing or doing what he plans to do; group content should always be separate from solo content. While I will acknowledge that these sorts of rules of thumb are the guidelines that we designers live by, challenging them is where we have found a lot of success in RIFT." Thus sayeth Will Cook, Trion Worlds' content designer for RIFT. In a new developer diary over at ZAM, Cook explains how challenging stale MMO conventions opened up a whole new world of possibilities for the dynamic content in the game. By allowing enemy invasions to use roads, bosses to conquer quest giver outposts and rifts to pop up unexpectedly, the team was able to make an "anything goes" atmosphere over top the traditional PvE treadmill. One of Trion Worlds' biggest goals, Cook says, is to create "emergent experiences" that are never quite the same twice. Even though such content can be and often is disruptive to players running quests and working on other solo projects, it's proven to be exciting and interesting enough to draw these players in without complaint. Cook thinks that if you give it a chance, you'll get hooked: "You can't help but get carried away in the fun of a living world where you can see the effect of action and inaction."
Four hours over Telara: RIFT beta three event extended
Four hours may not seem like a huge deal in the grand scheme of things, but for RIFT beta testers enjoying the third event this holiday weekend, it's a welcome boon. After all, how much extra carnage can one squeeze into that time frame? If you're a smart player, the answer is "a lot!" Community Manager Abigale came on the forums yesterday to announce that this week's beta event would be extending a little longer than planned: "Thank you for your feedback and for your patience as our team keeps working to prepare Rift for future betas and release. We'd like to show our appreciation by extending the beta for another 4 hours! Servers will be open until Friday, 2 p.m. (PST) ." RIFT's third beta event is featuring the 1-20 zones for both Guardian and Defiant factions. Players testing the game have access to two dungeons and the mass rift invasions that are becoming the keystone of the PvE experience.
RIFT beta powow with Scott Hartsman
This is, by any measure, a busy week for RIFT. Fresh off the second beta event, Trion Worlds has dropped the NDA for the game and announced a third beta to take place over the holidays. As the process speeds exponentially faster toward launch, Scott Hartsman and his team have a white-knuckled grip on RIFT for all the bumps, shimmies, dips and hills that such a high-profile title offers. Even with a heaping amount of work on its plate, the team has been willing to share its passion for RIFT with the press and community. During this slight lull between betas two and three, Hartsman sat down with us over the phone to jaw about lessons learned from the beta, why Trion has dropped the NDA, how RIFT's already made history, and when we might be seeing this game on the shelves. Hit the jump and let's do this thing. As Hartsman is fond of saying about the game, "S**t just got real."
The City of Heroes team against the Apex task force
There are times when working with MMOs can be a bit of a mixed bag. You get some hate-filled feedback, you find that one of your major hobbies is now part of your job, and you're either a shill for the company or you're overly negative. And then there are times when you get to run the newest City of Heroes task force with the development team from Paragon Studios, and suddenly you remember why you got into the field in the first place. It's one thing to be told over and over that a task force represents a new high-water mark for City of Heroes, and another thing entirely to start playing it and realize that it's pretty much exactly what was advertised. The first phase of fighting off the Praetorian invasion required fancy footwork, careful play, and learning encounters without being overly tedious. And even aside from that, it featured giant robots and the explanation of the flying swords from the Issue 19 trailer -- both things that turned out to be even more awesome than I had dared to hope.
Time between Cataclysm pre-event phases ramping up
Many people have been concerned or complaining about the time between each phase of the Cataclysm pre-events going on right now in Orgrimmar and Stormwind, and Blizzard has responded with some excellent news. Zarhym recently posted that the time between the start of phase 2 and phase 3 was shorter than the previous phases, and players can expect the time between phase 3 and phase 4 to be even shorter. According to my calculations, there is the potential to see phase 4 at the beginning of the week, probably Monday or Tuesday. We live in exciting times. Re: Phase 3 of the Elemental Invasion Quote: I cant wait till the invasion starts, as right now the quests are over so fast that you get bored again in just a few mins : \ The time between the start of stage 2 and stage 3 was shorter. I can tell you the current plan is to make the time between stage 3 and 4 even shorter. ;) source
Elemental invasion phase 2 begins
Head over to Ironforge and Orgrimmar for a couple new quests, because phase 2 of the elemental invasion has begun! For the Alliance, Gavan Grayfeather has you subduing some agitated earth spirits after drinking some elemental sapta and finding out what happened to the courier bringing the tablets of earth from Ulduar, as per Magni's request. For the Horde, you'll be rounding up some agitated fire elementals after drinking some sapta and helping Earthmender Norsala get the tablets of fire after Durak Flamespeaker is ambushed by a Twilight Seeker. If all goes according to plan and each week we get the next phase of the invasion, we may see the next wave happening Monday, Nov. 15. City invasions, random dungeon bosses and more await us in the near future! We live in exciting times, ladies and gentlemen. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it; nothing will be the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion (available Dec. 7, 2010), from brand new races to revamped quests and zones. Visit our Cataclysm news category for the most recent posts having to do with the Cataclysm expansion.
The invasion of City of Heroes begins once again
They've returned... the scourge of Paragon City, the greatest threat to Earth that the world has ever known, and the source of much player excitement. After a long hiatus, the Rikti invasion has returned to City of Heroes, and that means players can start enjoying the war against the invaders all over again. Running until 11:59 p.m. PDT on November 7th, the invasion will span all of the game's zones and force players to work together to defeat the alien threat. If you've taken part in one of the smaller triggered invasions that have hit the game every so often, you'll be ready for the mechanics but not the scope. If you've never seen the even before, however, it's a great chance for players to bond and take part in one of the more dynamic live events the game has to offer. Rikti attacks can take place in any zone of the game and will be running on a regular basis for the duration. And if you think you need to take your City of Heroes character through the event in style, might we suggest taking a look at our ongoing contest for the new Origin Pack?
Toy Soldiers' final add-on 'Invades' XBLA September 29
Signal Studios has announced that the final DLC expansion for its successful XBLA strategy title, Toy Soldiers, will launch next Wednesday, September 29. The pack, titled "Invasion," will add a new, three-level mini-campaign, 50 Gamerscore worth of new Achievements, some additional enemy units and new driveable vehicles -- most of which are based around the main campaign's alien invasion motif. You can check out some screenshots of the new, otherworldly content in the gallery posted below and a trailer after the break. If you're jonesing to bust up some more playthings, you'll be able to grab "Invasion" for 400 Microsoft Points ($5).%Gallery-102811%
Halo: Reach Invasion mode Forge guide
Having a tough time designing Halo: Reach Invasion variants in the game's expanded Forge utility? Yeah, us too -- that is, until we read Bungie's handy little guide for budding modders, which breaks down the process of creating an Invasion map from start to finish. The guide provides the know-how for setting up CTF and Assault-based objectives (and a host of other options), in addition to the 4-1-1 on creating multiple objectives in each phase of your custom Invasion game. If knowledge is power, then this guide is the equivalent of hooking up your brain to a car battery.
The robots are rising on Planet Calypso
It's not one of the largest games out there, so most people might not know what you're talking about if you mention Planet Calypso. Those who do might well only think of the highly publicized auctions and trades, in which players have spent large amounts of real-world money to purchase land and facilities (which bring in plenty of real-world money themselves, for the record). But beyond that there is an actual game world, complete with an ongoing storyline. As spotlighted in the newest game newsletter, that storyline is being turned up by a new event -- an ominous approach by robots. The last major assault by the robots left the previous capital city a smoking ruin, and not coincidentally coincided with the game's graphical update to CryEngine 2. This time, the colonists have begun decoding messages sent by the robots, and defenses are gathering to ensure that a repeat of the last event doesn't take place -- even as the robots field a new technology known as "Hydra." Several helpful links for information may be found within the newsletter, which promises plenty of enjoyment for the players in Planet Calypso.
Massively's hands-on with Rift: Planes of Telara's dynamic content
Just a few weeks ago, I was invited to attend Trion Worlds' Gamer's Day in San Francisco to get some hands-on time with a couple of the company's upcoming titles, including Rift: Planes of Telara. If Rift seems to have come out of nowhere, that might be due both to the acquisition of EverQuest II veteran Scott Hartsman to head the project as executive producer, and to a clever name change meant to reflect the team's shift in development focus. In fact, that shift in development focus is precisely what I was at Trion's studio to test -- I got to check out the Rifts themselves in all their glory, in the context of the greater dynamic content system that the developers are so excited about. Massively's writers have been able to play and report on character creation and the starting areas of Rift several times over the last year or so, including earlier this summer at E3. But until today's embargo lift (coinciding with the reveal at Gamescom), no one had quite seen the fabled planar invasions and takeovers in action. Now we have.
TERA welcomes you to the northeast
There are a lot of things about TERA that have helped push it to the forefront of people's minds without having seen much of the game, but the lore is certainly a big part of it. Aside from being a fine way to wave away fantasy inconsistencies, there's something infinitely unique about a world being dreamed into existence. But life in Northern Shara (with Shara being the eastern continent) is anything but a peaceful dream, as it's the site where the unnatural Argon first burst into the world. A new lore entry on the official site goes into detail about just what is happening in the besieged environment. Argon forces are both the core threat of TERA and the biggest danger to the region, but they're not after simple conquest. They've imported vast machinery to help them terraform the world into a more fitting environment, crawling across the landscape and distorting it. Still, within the city of Kaiator, the Valkyon Federation (presumably including the player characters) works to stem the flow of invaders and disrupt their efforts. Take a look at the full description for a better picture of the world's first battlefield against what seems to be utter annihilation.
Halo: Reach 'Invasion' mode unveiled on latest GTTV
Aha! That's why no one's talking about it! The first video and details on Halo: Reach's "Invasion" mode were shown off exclusively in last night's episode of GameTrailers TV, with Bungie additionally dishing some deets about the game we'd yet to hear. As we already know, Invasion is a game mode that's only available in Boneyard (also scantly detailed until now) and, as promised, features a ton of vehicles. The multi-tiered level unlocks in "three phases (similar to Bad Company 2's "Rush" mode), with various weapon loadouts and vehicles becoming available alongside it. Among the smattering of new footage, Bungie reps introduce the human grenade launcher and plasma launcher, two exciting looking additions to the Halo arsenal. Unfortunately, when pressed on whether or not ODST's Firefight mode would be making a return appearance in Reach, Bungie's Chris Carney says that the mode "is not in the beta" and he's "not sure what those guys have planned." As you might expect, there's also a tease that we'll hear more about the game (campaign mode specifically) "in June."
Halo: Reach multiplayer modes blown wide open
[1UP] As we predicted with our last post on Halo: Reach, the flow of information on Bungie's final Halo game -- well, the beta, anyway -- has now become steady and consistent. Today's exclusive preview of the beta's new multiplayer game types (read: not CTF/Slayer/etc.) at 1UP is further evidence of just such a trend, detailing the Headhunter, Invasion, Stockpile and Generator Defense (quaintly dubbed "Network Test 1 Beta" by Bungie internally) multiplayer modes. Read on after the break for all the details.
The Zombiepocalypse: One year later
Reader Verdus sent us a tip reminding us that this weekend is the one-year anniversary of one of the simultaneously most loved and hated events in WoW's history, the zombiepocalypse. Right around this time last year, infected crates started appearing all over the world, and that expanded out into a full-blown zombie invasion (which was so big it made it out into mainstream news). After the zombie plague had been quelled, the Scourge attacked with full force, leaving us to fall back and fight for our necrotic runes up until the expansion released. It was definitely a huge event, and now, a year later, I'm sure most of us (though not all of us) look back on it with fond memories. And surely Blizzard learned a lot from what happened a year ago -- Linedan has a nice wrapup of the good and the bad that Blizzard may have taken away from the zombie apocalypse. The idea of turning players on players was great, but that unfortunately led to more griefing than most players would have liked (and the fact that, by the end of it, you couldn't avoid the zombies at all, probably didn't help). And for all of the disruption, there was no real reward (the eventual rewards came with the Scourge invasion, and then it was simply just farming tokens), and no real payoff (the final world event seemed half-cooked, and it was only implied that Arthas was the one who'd shipped the crates). %Gallery-35140%
The game journalist war erupts in PlanetSide
Fond readers will remember the last time game journalists invaded PlanetSide. They were overpowered, weapon toting, vehicle stealing, base overriding Black Ops members, and they just so happened to be the Massively.com staff. Of course we ended up getting slaughtered, as we represented a mysterious fourth faction and ended up having the entire community gang up on us -- which was insanely fun.But now a new breed of journalist will be entering the fray. Not one, but three other staffs will be jumping down this time around, and each group will be taking a different side of combat. The Escapist, BoingBoing Offworld, and Rock, Paper, Shotgun will be joining the game as part of the three different factions, each group looking to take some of their readership along for the ride. The Escapist has already opened their key giveaway, where they will be giving 70 PlanetSide keys to readers. Rock, Paper, Shotgun has stated that they will put up their own information soon, and Offworld looks to be getting ready as well.
Battle for Orgrimmar and Stormwind videos
The battles against the Scourge in Stormwind and Orgrimmar continue to rage (once every 20 minutes), but if you're not in a position where you can see the event firsthand, some fantastic readers have contributed some videos for us, and for all of you.You can see the Orgrimmar version above, and the Stormwind version past the cut below. Neither video does the chaos of the event justice, but no video ever will. It's something you need to be there for, I think. No video gives you the "holy crap, did that just happen!?" feel of Varian Wrynn leaping through the air and tearing an abomination asunder. The fight between Thrall and Garrosh is ridiculously cool, too. I highly recommend trying to see these events before they go away, but these videos will do for now, and our thanks go out to Chrono of Silvermoon-EU and Ben H. for them.
The Scourge Invasion makes a swift return
A bit earlier, I reported that many servers (including my own) witnessed the Scourge Invasion come to a close on their realms. This included the necropoleis retreating, the gloomy clouds overhead dissipating, and a bulk of the Argent Dawn forces taking their leave. A few hours later... it all came back.It didn't just come back, it seems this portion has restarted entirely, 'kill counter' reset to zero. The clouds rolled back in, and the Argent Dawn tents in each capital poofed back into existence. Was its disappearance a bug with patch 3.0.3? Did the Scourge retreat after a certain number of battles won, and they weren't supposed to? The magic number we've been seeing thrown around is 300 battles, but we don't have anything to back that number up, just anecdotal evidence. A lot of people have said the same thing, but repetition doesn't mean it's true.Not all servers saw this go down, so what happened? We have no idea, but the invasion is not over. It just sort of nodded off for a little. I guess the Herald of the Lich King needs a nap now and then.
Around Azeroth: Jurassic Zombie
If they make yet another sequel to everyone's favorite modern-day dinosaur movie, Jurassic Park, we at WoW Insider feel that the film would best be served by being shot entirely in World of Warcraft. The Devilsaur, of course, would have a starring role. And did we mention the zombies? Yes, such a cinematic jewel would, by necessity, feature zombies. We had a screenplay half-finished when this screenshot from Cinate of Sasquatch Vanguard on Azgalor arrived, showing us that our Jurassic Zombie concept had already been done, and better than we could have ever imagined it. In the meantime, our search for fame and glory continues. Raiders of the Lost Zombie, perhaps?Do you have any unusual World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? We'd love to see it on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@wow.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next! Remember to include your player name, server and/or guild if you want it mentioned. We strongly prefer full screen shots without the UI showing -- use alt-Z to remove it. Please, no more battleground scoreboards.%Gallery-1816%
Zombies in Azeroth: A night of terror
There is a slowly growing chaos on the realms right now -- in the far reaches of Outland and even Azeroth, things are as normal, but slowly a plague creeps across the land. Westfall has fallen on many servers, and even our greatest leaders have become infected themselves, and the hordes continue to grow and lurch in search of living flesh.Below you can see the sights of tonight's Zombie invasion. Someone has put some curious infested crates in Booty Bay, and as a result, Azeroth's population, NPCs and players alike, are slowly becoming something even worse than dead. If you've got some great screenshots of tonight's festivities, send them in to our tip line -- we'll be adding to this gallery of the zombie world event in the days to come... assuming we live that long. %Gallery-35140%
