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Ultima Online celebrates 15 years with regicide [Updated]
Ultima Online has a big anniversary today, one that you can only really celebrate if you're the first graphical MMO on the market. This marks the game's 15th anniversary, and that's definitely the sort of thing that merits a celebration. So the staff has decided to celebrate by deposing the current ruler and ushering in a new king. (We admit that the plot may not actually involve regicide, but kings are not usually known for their calm and peaceful surrender of power.) The changing of the king is the culmination of a seven-month plot arc, with the actual coronation of the new ruler sparking a major in-game event. If you're a former player, it's well worth jumping back in to check out what happens when power changes hands. You can also jump on past the break to see our own Beau Hindman livestreaming with the Ultima Online development team in celebration of the 15-year anniversary. [Source: Electronic Arts press release] [Update: UltimaCodex.com has a full transcript of the chat if you want to read it yourself!]
The Daily Grind: Are live events due for a revival?
Live MMO events have long since fallen by the development wayside in the pursuit of scripted "dynamic" events. It used to be that game studios would send paid GMs into the game to roleplay with players in a tabletop-like scenario, conducting large-scale storytelling events and spawning enemies, locations, and items. Ultima Online, which celebrates its 15th birthday this week, is particularly well-known for these sorts of events, but they've seldom been replicated in later generations of triple-A MMOs. TERA, apparently, hopes to change that with the implementation of Flash events, "spontaneous events focused on small groups of users and run by staff." They might seem a little out of place in TERA, but they could be a niche worth resurrecting. Live, impromptu events might have the disadvantage of involving only small groups of people and not the entire population, but that's exactly what makes them so intriguing for the players who happen to be in the right zone at the right time when one of these events starts. What do you think? Do you wish more studios would get over their crush on pseudo-dynamic events and return to live events? 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!
Four years of WAR: An interview with Mythic's James Casey
To celebrate Warhammer Online's fourth anniversary this week, we got in touch with EA Mythic Producer James Casey to talk about the past, present, and future of WAAAGH! Massively: Four years is a sizable length of time in any MMO's life. How does it feel to hit that mark? James Casey: It feels great to have been able to have support from the Warhammer and gaming community for the last four years. That support has allowed us to continue bringing them the thrilling Realm vs. Realm combat and engrossing worlds that they have come to expect from Mythic and Games Workshop. To your point about four years being a sizable length of time for an MMO, I will say that as a studio, we actually have a stable of MMOs that have been around for a damn respectable amount of time. From Ultima Online hitting its amazing 15th anniversary this year to Dark Age of Camelot having already broken that fabled 10-year mark, we've had a remarkable run in the MMO space, and I think that I can speak for everyone who has come and gone or still remains in saying a heartfelt thanks to all of our fans and customers over all the years. We owe that track record to them, and we hope that as we continue to evolve and develop as a studio and across our products, we can provide more of that sense of community in all of our offerings.
The Game Archaeologist: Happy birthday, Warhammer Online and Fallen Earth!
September is a special month for me because it was around this time that two MMOs personally meaningful to me launched. Four years ago, Warhammer Online came into being amid a flurry of hype, insane expectations, and fan frenzy. It's the game that excited me enough to start my journey as a blogger, eventually landing me a spot here on Massively. And three years ago, Fallen Earth opened my eyes to how much fun an MMO about the end of the world and crafting could be. Despite the fact that neither of these titles qualifies for the title of "success" these days, I still bear a soft spot in my heart for them. I spent well over a year in each game, racking up several memories and useful lessons that I'd carry with me going forward. And I don't regret a single day playing them. Since this month is the fourth anniversary of WAR and the third of Fallen Earth, I wanted to offer a hearty "congrats!" and take a minute to see what's been moving and shaking in these games during this past year.
Warhammer Online celebrates fourth anniversary with rewards and bonuses
Belch forth a mighty "WAAAGH!" today, for Warhammer Online is now officially four years old. EA Mythic's dark fantasy title came on the scene in 2008 with a strong emphasis on PvP combat. To celebrate the occasion, Mythic announced that all players will enjoy 10 days of bonus XP and RP starting today. Also as part of the festivities, fireworks can be looted from corpses during this time. Why are so many warriors carrying fireworks? Discount sale, of course. Finally, Mythic is rewarding the faithful who have stuck with WAR for all four years with a new portable mailbox at the end of the month. The devs used this opportunity to remind players that patch 1.4.7 is on course to go live later in September after the Wild Hunt event. The team's also working on a new random live event and an upcoming community patch.
MMO Blender: Using older MMOs to build a perfectly paced world
One of the issues I have with so many modern AAA titles is that when I play them, I immediately feel forced through a series of noisy and chaotic moments. I know that these tutorials are supposed to make me feel as though I am stepping into a sort of world-on-fire, but to me it just feels like a mess. RIFT is a great game, truly, but every time I want to start a new character or try the game out again, I dread going through the annoying tutorial. It's so demanding. It grabs my hand and pulls me through a linear series of non-discoveries. Now, this might just be my fading gamer memory, but I distinctly remember how it felt to be dropped off in the middle of nowhere in an MMO. While there are a few modern titles like Wurm Online that basically do the same thing, the mystery and immersion of those first few levels in most major MMOs has been replaced by sheer noise. I don't like it. Good pacing is a wonderful thing. If it's tweaked just right, players feel immediately invested in a world even while feeling completely lost. I'd like to make this week's dream MMO using those older-game designs. It's time to slow down.
The Game Archaeologist: Is Ultima Online 2 a doomed prospect?
When it comes to classic MMOs that have strong nostalgic pull with veterans, the topic does arise from time to time what a sequel to any given game would look like and how it would be received in the current gamer climate. We've already talked about updating graphics here in The Game Archaeologist, but I'm talking about more than a new coat of paint -- I'm talking about a new game entirely. A Star Trek: The Next Generation to the classic Star Trek. A One Direction to the New Kids on the Block. A Madden '13 to a Madden '12. I'm stretching here. In a recent franchise producer's letter, Mythic's Jeff Skalski gave fans of Ultima Online a teeny tiny glimmer of hope that Ultima Online 2 might one day be a reality. Depending on your read of it, it could've just been a "stop asking about UO2 already" plea, a shameless way to promote Ultima Forever, or one fan talking to another about something that could happen if both parties work toward a common goal. Considering the troubled past of Ultima Online's sequels, we have to wonder: Is this more false hope than real hope? Is there any conceivable way that this 15-year-old MMO could one day be granted the same honor as EverQuest, Asheron's Call, Guild Wars, and PlanetSide by getting a sequel that actually launches? I have some thoughts on all this, which is good because otherwise there would be a whole lot of white space after the jump.
Ultima Online maps out remainder of 2012
If you don't mind being spoiled when it comes to your favorite isometric sandbox, then you might want to head over to Ultima Online's official site, where Producer Bonnie Armstrong has spilled the beans about the game's immediate and long-term future. Armstrong begins by laying a foundation for the game's updates, starting with Publish 78 any day now, Publish 79 around Christmas-time, and Publish 80 for early next year. She also revealed a lengthy list of features that the team is thinking about implementing for UO, including high-res art, a better UI, new sea creatures and encounters, and a battleground shard. Specifics about each publish's contents are still up in the air, although Armstrong says the team will post them soon enough. For Ultima Online's 15th anniversary, Armstrong says that Mythic is bringing back the Return to Britannia promotion for all of September. This means that any former UO subscribers will be welcome to come back and play free of charge. The team will be distributing anniversary rewards during the month as well.
Mythic: Help us convince execs to make Ultima Online 2
As Ultima Online turns the corner into its 15th anniversary next month, many fans have wondered why Mythic is focusing on its not-quite-an-MMO Ultima Forever instead of a proper sequel. Producer Jeff Skalski took to the podium to talk about Ultima's future and how fans might help the studio sell higher-ups on a return to the days of glory. Skalski says that it's important to realize that Ultima Forever and Ultima Online are being worked on by separate teams, so there's no draining of resources from one into the other. "We have a phrase here in the office that every generation deserves an Ultima game," he said. "It's been far too long." When the 15th anniversary hits, expect fun surprises, Skalski promised. He finished by making a plea for fans to support Ultima Forever, saying that it might lead to better things: "For those interested in seeing an UO2: No surprise announcements on that today, but what I will say by everyone continuing to support UO and Ultima Forever this is the kind of ammunition I need to convince the high level execs that the market is ready for more Ultima."
Dark Age of Camelot calls for the guards with a new patch
So you've captured a Relic in Dark Age of Camelot. The challenge is finding a spot to keep it, since it's obviously a big draw for enemy players. But the latest patch makes it a little bit easier to defend your captured Relics in non-Relic Keeps by adding in special Relic Guards. These defenders spawn in the same keep as a captured Relic to aid its defense, but they also spawn at lower levels as the number of total Relics controlled by a given realm grows. The patch also brings along major changes for Maulers and Realm abilities, both of which should change existing player strategies significantly. Last but not least, the patch adds several new resist tokens to existing realm vendors and tinkers with values for the existing resistance spells. All in all, these changes should help shake up the existing balance of power in the game and force new strategies to come to light.
Koster, Vogel, Long headline GDC Online Ultima panel
The 2012 edition of GDC Online is filling out its schedule, and one of the more interesting dev panels is a "classic game postmortem" concerning Ultima Online. While the term postmortem is a bit of a misnomer since the game is still very much alive, the panel features an eclectic mix of dev personalities who helped shape both UO and the industry itself. Original UO team members Starr Long, Rich Vogel, and Raph Koster will discuss how a "combination of insane ambition and idealistic cluelessness can sometimes result in creating something that changes people's lives and the course of an industry," according to the GDC website. If you'll be in Austin, Texas, from October 9th through the 11th, stop by and learn a thing or two about MMOs and the folks who make them.
The Soapbox: The quest to save quests
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. Semantic shift is a phrase I've recently acquired for whenever I want to sound insufferable at parties. It refers to the phenomenon of a word's usage changing over time, sometimes to the point that it's completely the opposite of whatever it originally meant. I believe that the word "quest" has undergone a semantic shift in the MMO community (and video games at large). What once had roots in the long, difficult journeys that take place in life and fiction has quickly become reduced to a trivial task of gathering, killing, or clicking in-game. The sheer volume of such quests and that meaninglessness of their charges has reduced the word to bargain basement kitsch. If we're supposed to be heroes, why then are so many of the quests we're given are no more exciting than going to the grocery store? "Quest" as a word has lost much respect in the community, almost completing its semantic shift such that it's almost pejorative. Yet there is a movement right now to reclaim the word and restore it to its proper meaning, and it's happening right in front of our eyes.
MMO Blender: Larry's old-school 16-bit MMO
In August of 1991, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System launched in North America, kick-starting what would eventually be the biggest boom in console roleplaying games. Granted, some of us had been playing RPGs on consoles like the original NES, but RPGs didn't see as big a console boom as they did on the SNES. In fact, console RPGs haven't seen the same level of popularity since the SNES. A quick jump over to VGChartz shows us that out of the top 50 games sold world-wide on any individual console, RPGs on the SNES dominated the NES, the Playstation, and even the Nintendo DS, boasting titles like Dragon Quest VI, Final Fantasy III, and Super Mario RPG. If you take into account some adventure games that should be considered RPGs, like Super Metroid and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, then you have arguably the best platform of all time for the genre. Nowadays, with online gaming and indie companies sprouting up all over the place, a 16-bit online RPG would probably sell really well, especially if it took some of the best elements from the classic console RPGs of the NES/SNES era. Isn't that right, Cthulhu Saves the World? Let's see what I can throw together from some of my favorite 8- and 16-bit games.
The Perfect Ten: Goosebump trailers
I love trailers. Man, I love trailers. I'm almost embarrassed to admit it, but sometimes I'll spend a shameful hour just flipping through all of my favorite movie and game trailers. When the editing is tight and the music spot-on, my spine becomes infused with epicness and I feel a heady buzz that comes from seeing so much awesome crammed into such a short clip. Just as in the movie industry, MMO studios are hit or miss with their trailers. There have been so many generic, forgettable videos that I pad the lining of my imaginary dog's crate with them. They're very absorbent and release the fresh scent of pine. But once in a while, there comes along a trailer that acts like the Dark Crystal, sucking my soul right into it before shaking it around and then releasing it. Trailers like that give me goosebumps, and here are 10 of them, all in a row.
The Daily Grind: Do you have a fallback MMO?
My first fallback MMO, though I'd not have called it that at the time, was Ultima Online. Whenever I got sick of EverQuest or Dark Age of Camelot, I found myself wandering back to my houses in Britannia. World of Warcraft took over for a while, and then Star Wars Galaxies (yes, post-post-NGE) became my safe MMO -- the world to which I could retreat after a particularly nasty break-up with the latest and greatest themepark shiny, something that seemed to happen with increasing frequency as post-WoW games rushed to launch and left me wanting more. More recently, I've set up camp in City of Heroes. I don't play it every day, but since it went free-to-play, it's always there when I need to tool around in something happily familiar that hits all the right nostalgia notes. What about you folks? Do you have a fallback MMO, a game you return to when you're in between games? 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!
Free for All: Why the unlimited trials of RIFT, WoW, and Ryzom are perfect for me
I think there are some pretty basic but complicated concepts going on behind MMO gaming. There always have been. There's some sort of driving force that makes many of us want to reach that max level or grab every last achievement or (in my case) get to a comfortable level and stay there. I did it in Vanguard: Saga of Heroes: I reached level 32, cast a spell to stop my character from gaining anymore experience, and continued playing and exploring the game. Not only was I tired of leveling, but I knew that if I continued to level, I would probably continue to try to level. Like I said, it's a basic driving force. We all have them inspiring us to play in different ways. I don't want to reach max level. Not really, anyway. I want to have a unique character, one who is fragile in some ways and strong in others. When I do reach higher levels, I start to feel generic and a bit too powerful. I want to have some force stop my character, to give him his own maximum level while others reach the true maximum level. Unlimited free trials have shown me just how fun it is to have a sort-of-max-level character within a game filled with other max levels. It's like playing a different race or class, something unique.
Soapbox: In defense of achievements
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. I've heard all the arguments before, trust me. Achievements are a waste of space. They're frivolous, meaningless numbers -- a Skinner Box within a Skinner Box for the weak-willed. They can be far too spammy. And then there's that hoary chestnut: They take precious development time that could be used for better purposes from something you personally want. Achievements are a blight upon our games, binding us to the most base of gamer crowds, the yokels on Xbox Live. We should cast off the chains of achievement oppression and live as free men, women, and Elves once more! OK, enough with the histrionics. Many of these points come down to personal preference, and that's impossible to refute. You like what you like, and I like what I like. Still, I'd disagree that the overall notion of achievements is useless. In fact, I fully embrace them in my gameplay and hope that they stick around for a good long while.
The Perfect Ten: Amazing amateur MMO cosplay
I find the whole cosplay subculture at conventions to be both foreign and fascinating. On one hand, I deeply admire the dedication and time it takes to put together a complex outfit and then spend all day wearing this custom-made sweatsuit. On the other hand, it does tend to bring out some folks' narcissism and unnecessary cleavage. While many facets of geek and video game culture are adequately represented by those crazy cosplayers, I don't see as much when it comes to MMORPGs. Was it truly underrepresented, I wondered, or have I just never looked? Consider the following 10 costumes the result of an afternoon or two combing through so much amateur cosplay that it vastly exceeded the recommended amount as set by the American Medical Association. I'm glad to make the sacrifice for you, and besides, you just know those doctors are the ones in these outfits, anyway. (Please note that if you're looking for more skin than skill, this will not be the list for you!)
The Soapbox: League of Legends is the new World of Warcraft
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. Every now and then, a game comes out of nowhere with such incredible financial success that it causes the games industry to completely lose perspective. All it takes is one game to start raking in the millions for developers, publishers and investors to stumble around with dollar signs in their eyes for years to come. Innovation grinds to a halt and everyone starts blindly copying whichever game just hit the jackpot. It's like some huge industry-wide superstition takes over and convinces people that if they do the same dance the same way, it'll rain again. World of Warcraft has consistently had this effect since shortly after its launch in 2004. To this day, several studios per year excitedly announce yet another fantasy MMO that lifts its entire feature set and every gameplay mechanic wholesale from World of Warcraft as if it were a model for automatic success. The same thing is happening again in online gaming today, not from MMOs but from MOBAs, a new genre based on the competitive gaming classic DotA. Developers are still chasing the massive money made by yet another hugely successful game, and this time it's League of Legends.
The Daily Grind: What's the difference between an MMO trial and F2P?
Back in olden times when I sampled my first MMO trial, free game try-outs were short affairs. You'd usually get to play for a week, and then you were done unless you subscribed (or forgot to strike your credit card info). But modern MMOs are abandoning time-limited trials with increasing frequency. Games like Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft, RIFT, and now Star Wars: The Old Republic all allow gamers to play indefinitely -- but only up to a certain level. The "endless trial" model has led to some debate among the Massively staffers as we try to suss out what, exactly, sets an endless trial apart from any other F2P game and how we ought to refer to these sorts of titles on the whole. It'd be easy to say the restricted level cap is the red flag, but if we latch on to that definition, then any free-to-play title with a level cap locked behind a paid expansion -- like Lord of the Rings Online -- could itself be deemed an endless trial, albeit one with a very high (but not max) level cap for free players. Chime in on our debate. What do you think represents the key difference between an MMO that's F2P and an MMO that merely features an endless trial? Is it level caps or content or something else entirely? Or is there not really any difference at all? 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!
