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MV Guide: March 5th - 11th, 2012
MV Guide is a weekly rundown of the MMO gaming events planned on Massively TV. Every week, the Massively staff logs in to play various MMOs live and in person, and we'd love for you to drop by the channel and visit. We have a combination of regular weekly games and new surprises, so you'll find a variety of titles to take a look at. During our streamed events, you can participate in the live chat, ask questions to learn about the game, and simply spend some time with Massively staff and readers. (Of course, streaming is subject to the whims of outside forces like server-side gremlins once in a while.) Follow along after the jump to see what's on this week's schedule!
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Be the nemesis
I have a nemesis, but it's not a person. It's an idea, and that idea is optimization. Given enough time (about seven minutes), people will figure out the best builds and abilities for pretty much every single character class in any game. This is great if all you're interested in doing is banging out the best possible character to tackle endgame challenges, but it's kind of disappointing if you like creating odd characters, ones that play strangely or feature under-utilized abilities or specs. That's the sort of stuff that I like, the things I find fascinating. City of Heroes is hardly the first game to do this, so I've had plenty of time to learn how to fight my nemesis. And so I offer you today the lessons of nemeses, the path to figuring out how to make your bad character into a force to be reckoned with. There are certain rules to being a nemesis rather than simply an adversary, and some of them aren't what you think.
We're not 'blacking out' today (but we still don't like SOPA)
Joystiq stands in solidarity with all the sites who are "blacking out" today in protest of the SOPA and PIPA bills ... or at least as much as we can stand in solidarity while continuing to post news. Let me explain. We at Joystiq oppose the Stop Online Piracy Act -- as does our parent company AOL, who is part of a coalition who spoke out against the bill in a full-page NYT ad. In its present form, it gives control of the whole Internet to the same entertainment companies who frequently send erroneous DMCA complaints and takedown notices. It's dangerous and overreaching. Piracy is a problem, of course, but so is censorship -- and that's precisely what SOPA is. We aren't even sure it would have an effect on piracy (in fact, we know pirates are resourceful enough to get around it, meaning that censorship would be the only effect). As journalists, we feel that the best thing we can do is to continue reporting, rather than to go silent. We'll continue informing you ... and not just about political issues that are important enough for us to be talking about them on a video game blog. About video games, too. It's what we do, as long as we still can. Our silence now could be as harmful as the forced silence we'd endure later under these laws. If you're as concerned about this as we are -- if you use the Internet -- we urge you to contact Congress. If you're outside of the US, this affects you too, as the bill is targeted in part at "foreign sites." You can get in contact with the US State Department. You'll find forms for both of those here.
The Mog Log: Fluffballs on parade
Despite what it might have seemed like, last week's column was not actually meant as a direct response to Final Fantasy XIV's announcement of class revisions. It was just a happy coincidence, really. I could go into more detail, of course, but I had already planned on talking about the eponym of the column, which I haven't done since I kicked the column off in the first place. Moogles are ubiquitous in Final Fantasy XI, and while they're a bit rarer in Final Fantasy XIV they're still not a secret. This is understandable -- after all, the small little critters are part of the glue that holds the series together conceptually. So it's odd that when you get right down to it, they're only peripherally involved with the settings of the games they appear in. Despite the ubiquity of the moogles, it's debatable whether some of them are even there.
Ask Massively: Some games I apparently just keep buying edition
During my week-long ordeal without power (or, you know, any of the other conveniences of the present century), Ms. Lady and I finally decided to spring for a PSP. It's a system that I've long been looking forward to owning, mostly so that I can pay for games that I already I own. Seriously. Sure, it's either an enhanced version (Persona 3 Portable) or old favorites that I can play on the go (Xenogears), but I'm still paying money to own games already in my collection. And yes, I'm looking forward to buying a Vita just to buy a remake of Persona 4. This is apparently what I do now. Moving along from my tendency to re-buy what I already own, it's time for this week's edition of Ask Massively. We're going pretty meta this time around, much like last week, talking all about avatars and cross-site issues. As always, questions can be left in the comments or sent to ask@massively.com for inclusion in a future edition.
Engadget NYC Reader Meetup tomorrow (with Joystiq ... and free stuff!)
Confession time: As much as we like meeting you guys at reader meetups, the real benefit to us is that, for a brief time, we can reclaim some control over our home offices. "Too much swag" might be considered an enviable problem but we don't see it that way. That's why we really need you to come out to Engadget's NYC Reader Meetup tomorrow, at Guastavino's, 344 E 59th Street in New York City. Of course, it's a free event but, knowing how much people like free things, you may want to get there early. We can only hold 1,000 people at a time so our recommendation is: Show up by 6:30 when the doors open. Festivities are going until 10:30 so if you can't make it until later, that's okay too, but it's first-come first-served. Stay tuned to find out how we're going to part with our swag. Until then, you'll find more info on the meetup at Engadget. See you tomorrow?
The Soapbox: The Republic must stand, the Republic must fall
Disclaimer: The Soapbox column is entirely the opinion of this week's writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Massively as a whole. If you're afraid of opinions other than your own, you might want to skip this column. So there's a game coming out called Star Wars: The Old Republic. Maybe you've heard about it once or twice. It's no secret that a lot of people are excited to see what BioWare's long-anticipated title will do once it's finally released. The title has had a huge amount of time and money poured into its production, extensive voice acting, countless demos and revelations and debates... all without having yet amassed a substantial playerbase. What happens when it gets released will have a huge impact on MMOs as a whole for years to come, and even if the developers aren't calling it a World of Warcraft-killer, a lot of players are expecting just that. And for the good of MMOs as a whole, it needs to be just that -- but at the same time, for the good of MMOs as a whole, it needs to fail.
New End of Nations trailer goes meta
You can't fight here, this is the war room! Wait, you can? Nevermind, carry on. Today we have a new trailer from Gamescom highlighting Trion Worlds' End of Nation's metagame. The developers are careful to note that anyone can contribute to their nation's war effort, whether you're a green novice or a hardened veteran. The trailer also takes some time to highlight the different types of battle maps available to players, from the standard PvP map to the monumental mega maps, which feature up to 50 players on the map, each will a full army. The battles raging on each of these maps will determine which faction controls the territory, and each territory grants its controlling faction a different advantage. It's up to the players to decide which territory would most benefit their faction's current needs, and then to bring the firepower and capture the territory. For the full trailer, blast your way past the cut.
Joystiq's favorite games of E3 2011
Normally, after E3, some clear "best games" emerge -- either the ones that everyone knew would be amazing going in, and did not disappoint on the floor, or the Scribblenauts-style surprises that dominated conversations online and in the press room. There's usually a general consensus among the Joystiq staff about a few standout games. This year, however, when we compared notes and discussed our favorite games of the show over chicken and waffles, we found that every Joystiqer picked something different (there was more agreement when we asked the Massively staff to join in, but it makes sense for MMO fans to be in accord). We can't really say what that means, but it seems significant. And so, rather than debate our way down to a few choices, we're just presenting each of our favorite games, individually. You want Joystiq's "Game of the Show"? It's ... all of these. We'd also like to call out Bloodrayne: Betrayal and Mass Effect 3, which came so close.
Reminder: LA reader meetup is tonight! Come play great games and accept our hugs!
E3 2011 has officially wrapped, folks. And though we've still got a mess of content to blow out over the coming days, we wanted to remind you that we've got a reader meetup tonight in downtown Los Angeles, and we'd be really upset if you weren't there. Like, many, many tears. The most tears. You know who else will be disappointed? The cadre of great game developers we've got coming by with their great games. From the just announced Dance Central sequel to the retro gaming menagerie of Retro City Rampage, you could be seriously missing out. So hey, if you're in the Los Angeles area this evening, you're over 21 (sorry! seriously! we know it's super lame!), and you want to play a bunch of great video games while hanging out with the editors of Joystiq, we'd suggest clearing the hours of 5:30 to 9:00PM. Head past the break for the entire list of games and details of the event location. We, we, we so excited!
How the E3 sausage gets made: Our gear
As the Joystiq staff barrels toward Los Angeles over the course of today, each staffer will come packing his own set of tools to tackle the coming week. As you already know, the E3 festivities begin Monday morning and go strong for four days, so it goes without saying that these gear pictures don't include the countless gallons of caffeinated beverages which will be consumed -- chock 1.5 iced coffees to me thus far today -- not to mention other precious energy-providing items. Head into the gallery below for an in-depth look at how the sausage gets made. If you're into that kinda thing, of course.%Gallery-125330%
Charlotte Motor Speedway, Panasonic flip the switch on the world's largest HD screen (video)
Charlotte Motor Speedway and Panasonic held an event yesterday to celebrate the completion of the new world's largest HD screen, which measures at 16,000 square feet (200 feet wide and 80 feet tall). Of course, the only natural thing to do when face with a screen this size is to play videogames on it, and CMS got very meta by bringing out NASCAR driver and simulation racing fan Dale Earnhardt Jr. to turn a few laps on the track in iRacing on the brand new display. The 720p display, located on the backstretch, is big enough for fans seated along the front stretch of the track between turn four and turn one to have a clear view of replays, standings and stats all the way across the track. Its official debut will take place May 21st during the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race and will also take a turn as a massive HDTV airing clips of Top Gear USA during a History Channel sponsored race the week after. You can see the videogame rig, screen and ceremonial oversized remote above while video of them actually playing is available at the source link. Update: Video is also embedded after the break, via Autoblog. [Thanks, Jeffery]
The Daily Grind: What do you actually think is going on at the studio?
Whether we're playing a game developed by one of NCsoft's many studios or something developed in-house by Turbine, most of us have never been inside the company that actually makes our games of choice. On the rare occasion that we have, it's usually been for a special event rather than an actual work day. And while you know that the team behind Star Trek Online is hard at work, even if you've worked in programming before, part of you has to wonder what goes on behind closed doors. So while you're off at your job, doing whatever it is that you do, what do you imagine is happening at the development studio? Do you think it's probably more fun than your job? Less? Do you picture a team hard at work or one slacking off and only putting in a token effort at development? Or do you think that the entire thing is a mockery, that there's just one guy coming by on weekends to turn on the content machine for the next major patch? (Please note that there's no such thing as a content machine.) 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!
Storyboard: Archetype discussion -- the recursion
There are a lot of reasons a character would head off on the road to adventure. Sometimes it's out of a sense of duty, to a nation or to morality or even just duty itself. Other times it's a quest for knowledge, or acceptance, or cold hard cash. You might not want to be there, you might be seeking one profound goal, or you might just be along for the ride while everyone screws up around you. We've talked about each of these roles in turn, as archetypes for characters to fit into. But an archetype is not a character. An archetype is the idea of a character, boiled down and stripped of everything but the skeleton. You need more to make a character that isn't one-dimensional. I've spent the better part of the past several months discussing how the various archetypes work, but now I want to talk a little more about making them work together beyond just a character overview. (We still have at least one more installment of archetypes proper, but I wanted to write this up first.) So once you have the seed, what do you do from there?
The Mog Log: Blackout
It's really hard to find the heart to talk about anything related to Final Fantasy this week. Last week, things went intensely cross-eyed for Japan. If you've somehow missed it, the short version is that a massive earthquake struck, killing a huge number of people and sending Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plants into a crisis that's still escalating as of this writing. There's the very real possibility of the plant's suffering a meltdown, resulting in a disaster some people are likening to the explosion at Chernobyl. And yet the Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV teams are working. We've seen communication out of the teams, and while Tokyo wasn't directly hit by the quake, it's hard to believe none of the employees has family in the region. The country faces rolling blackouts and a nuclear threat, and yet the teams keep working at making the games better for everyone. There comes a point when dedication doesn't adequately explain what keeps someone working through a crisis.
GDC 2011: Funcom talks The Secret World's PvE, PvP, and ARG
Many of you are no doubt as anxious as we are to get your hands on Funcom's new The Secret World MMORPG (with a new website!). The skill-based end-of-the-world riff has been shrouded in a good bit of mystery for a good long while, but we've finally managed to snag a few minutes of face time with the title. This year's GDC marked the first opportunity for anyone outside of Funcom's alpha team to lay eyes on the game, and we've got some pretty juicy details to pass on. Join us after the cut for the new trailer as well as a recap of Funcom's presentation, which was spearheaded by Ragnar Tornquist and featured designers Martin Bruusgaard and Joel Bylos. Discussion topics include PvP, PvE missions, and character progression.%Gallery-118804%
The Daily Grind: How long have you been playing MMOs?
Here on Massively, we've got a staff with a widely varying set of tastes. Some of us prefer open-ended sandboxes, some prefer straightforward themeparks, and some like a mix of both. But if there's one point of commonality that's come up when the question has been asked of late, it's the fact that most of us have been playing in our virtual worlds for a while now. In fact, the most recent game on our "first game played" list was Guild Wars, a game swiftly approaching its six-year anniversary. As much as we'd like to pretend that age is nothing but a number, we all know that there's a certain added weight to saying that you've been playing since Ultima Online was launched. So today, we'd like to know just how long our readers have been playing MMOs. Have you been around since the launch of Ultima Online? EverQuest? World of Warcraft? Or are you even more recent, having just started in the near-past -- or planning on starting when an upcoming game is released? 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!
HP shows off MetaWatch concept (video)
Give yourself a cookie if you can still remember as far back as August 29th of last year. That was the day when HP's Phil McKinney teased the world with images of three new prototypes being developed in his company's labs -- there was a tablet, now known as the HP TouchPad, a smartphone that's since taken on the name of Pre 3, and something snaked around his wrist that looked suspiciously like a watch. Today, we learn more about this MetaWatch, as HP calls. It's a continuation of the company's overarching theme of mobile interconnectedness, however unlike its webOS devices, this connected watch is nowhere near ready for prime time (or maybe it's just like them since none are actually shipping yet!). The new Meta fella is still a research project as much as anything else, but it's seen as a key part of our future, acting as an easy-to-use information aggregator. It looks just like any old watch to us, but why not jump past the break and let HP's CTO enlighten you on what makes it special? [Thanks, Obstacle-Man] Update: Turns out this concept device is actually called MetaWatch, not Metal Watch. We've updated the post accordingly, but hey, Metal Watch doesn't sound too bad, either.
Patch 4.0.6 PTR: New DPS meta-gems and requirement fixes
Good news for people who've been sick to death of Cataclysm's terrible meta-gem requirements (read: everyone): Blizzard has made its promised changes to Chaotic and Relentless gem types in patch 4.0.6, making both require three red gems. But that's not all! There are also three brand new meta-gems coming with the new patch, giving DPS classes a boost to their main stat and 3% increased crit damage. Good changes all around. The full text of the announcement is below. Check out the full 4.0.6 PTR patch notes (so far) here. Jewelcrafting Meta gems with the Chaotic and Relentless prefixes now have a requirement of 3 red gems. New meta gems have been added: Agile Shadowspirit Diamond (Agility/3% critical damage), Reverberating Shadowspirit Diamond (Strength/3% critical damage), and Burning Shadowspirit Diamond (Intellect/3% critical damage). These new recipes are unbound and can drop from any Cataclysm creature. The new meta gems have a requirement of 3 red gems equipped. source World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has destroyed Azeroth as we know it; nothing is the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from leveling up a new goblin or worgen to breaking news and strategies on endgame play.
DCUO's Jens Anderson unveils the Meta origin story
So you want to be Superman? That is an extremely lofty goal for you. There is no way you can... Wait, what's that? According to the Creative Director of DC Universe Online, Jens Andersen, it is possible for you to follow in Superman's footsteps. If you choose the Meta-Human storyline in DCUO, you will follow either the Man of Steel or -- if you are the villainous type -- Superman's arch-nemesis Lex Luthor. The team at Sony Online Entertainment just released a video on its facebook page outlining just what it takes to don Supe's heroic cowl. However, if you are in a more nefarious mood, Massively has a special treat for you. Wednesday, Contributing Editor Krystalle Voecks joined me for a run-through of the first instance in the Meta-Human villain line. In SOE's official video, Andersen mentions assisting Parasite. Well, we can show you exactly what that looks like with this video. Take a peek after the cut for both the Meta origin story and the Livestream video. Or you can pop over to DCUO's official facebook page for more information.
