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The Daily Grind: Are there lore elements you feel don't get used enough?
Most MMOs have a pretty expansive list of lore characters and groups. It's not surprising, really -- the games cover entire continents and worlds, so there have to be a lot of different stories going at any given time. But sometimes an interesting group of villains or interesting story promises don't quite get the attention they deserve. You enjoy what's there, but it feels like a really interesting group or plot thread got dropped in favor of something else. Maybe you felt like the Scarlet Onslaught deserved more attention in World of Warcraft. Maybe you want more stories in Final Fantasy XIV centering around the individual nation conflicts. Perhaps you just wanted to see another series of missions in City of Heroes to wrap up some loose ends from Praetoria. Whatever the case, are there lore elements you feel don't get used as often as they deserve? Or do you think that most of the stories in your game of choice feel just the right length? 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 first part of the first signature arc now available for City of Heroes
It's no real secret, but the Surviving Eight of City of Heroes are soon to be the Surviving Seven And There Used To Be One Other Guy. The first installment of the arc is now available for players on the live server, with the arc available in the store for free players coming in after the fact. It's a chance for players to interact in a big way with some of the game's major lore characters and see which of the setting-defining heroes is going to be taking a permanent trip to the land of wind and ghosts. So what was the process behind the arc? As is often the case these days, Paragon Studios has furnished players with a new installment of the Intrepid Informer with more details on what the arcs entail and the major challenges of design. To the surprise of almost no one, the biggest issue that the designers faced was the simple question of relevance -- making sure that players felt important as they played through an arc focusing on the life and death of several NPCs. How successfully that goal was met remains to be seen, but CoH players can judge the first installment on its own merits right now.
New video for DC Universe Online shows off Smallville
So you know DC Universe Online launched, but you might still be on the fence about picking it up. Or maybe you're already sold and just want an idea of what to look forward to in the game. Either way, the newest preview trailer from the development team gives a picture of one of the game's events -- the Smallville Alert, where players are tasked with fighting their way through the hometown of Superman amidst a spreading plague. Lex Luthor has released an agent in Smallville that's mutating the citizens into miniature replicas of Doomsday, leaving heroic players to rescue the town while villainous players try to cover up the event entirely. Culminating with a battle against Doomsday himself, the trailer shows off the many wrinkles to the encounter as well as the game's action in full swing. DC Universe Online fans or potential fans should watch the video to get a sense of what's rotten in Smallville.
