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Like WildStar music? There's a concert for that
If you happen to be in Poland on September 26th, make sure to grab tickets for the GameOn multimedia show, the first part of which will feature selections from the scores of popular video games, including MMOs like WildStar. Composer Jeff Kurtenacker blogged that he is "absolutely honored to announce that the GameOn concert in Krakow, Poland, will be premiering a new arrangement of Our Perception of Beauty (Drusera's Theme), which [he] composed for the MMO WildStar by Carbine Studios." According to Kurtenacker, this concert will mark "first time WildStar music will be played in a concert setting"; he also notes that flutist Sara Andon, spotlighted throughout the WildStar score, will again perform at the concert. Music from World of Warcraft, League of Legends, and other games will also be featured. Kurtenacker spoke to Massively's resident Jukebox Hero last year about his work on WildStar. He has since released several exclusive and free music tracks for players.
WildStar's housing gets huge with Drop 3
Housing fanatics (including those eternal level 14s) in WildStar have great reason to cheer for the upcoming Drop 3. Carbine Studios is giving a ton of love to the player housing system, including a huge expansion of how many items can be placed. In yesterday's Nexus Report, the team answered many housing questions and outlined some of the big changes coming with Drop 3. When it hits, players will be able to place up to 1,000 decor items both indoors and outdoors, which is an increase from the current 300 exterior and 800 interior limits. Other improvements include musical selection, more lights, separate sharing privileges for gardens, and a blank housing choice. The team has also been discussing new base terrains and the ability to move FABkits around. We've got the full video for you after the break, so chow down! [Thanks to Greg for the tip!]
Aion's 5th anniversary video thanks players, teases upcoming zones
While Aion's fifth anniversary celebration kicked off early with social media events, Daeva's Day -- with all its gifts and goodies -- is just getting started today. And Associate Product Manager Sean Orlikowski has shared with us a special video commemorating the occasion that highlights a bit of the journey through Atreia over the past years and thanks players for joining it. But this clip does more than just take viewers on a jaunt down memory lane; it also jumps ahead to the future! The second half sweeps through the new zones coming in the next update, showing off the places players will soon be able to visit. Go ahead and take a moment to reminisce a bit about what has been and sneak a peek at what's to come in the video below.
Guild Wars 2 launches new WvW meta-contests
Most PvP contests require you to actually be good at PvP. That seems fair, really, just as cooking contests generally work best when they feature people who are at least passingly familiar with cooking. But the two new Guild Wars 2 WvW contests don't actually require you to be any good at WvW, just good at showing the feature off. ArenaNet has partnered with Overwolf to kick off two WvW contests that are all about promoting and celebrating WvW, even if you aren't much of a player. The first contest is looking for the players who use the Overwolf application while streaming, aiming for the highest number of concurrent viewers on Twitch. Whoever wins gets some SteelSeries peripherals as well as 8,000 gems. Meanwhile, if that's not your thing, you can also create a WvW War Report, share it via YouTube, and be eligible to win 5,000 gems if your offering is the best. So it's not about your PvP skill here, just about your ability to entertain people via that skill (or lack thereof).
Flameseeker Chronicles: Why I'm a fan of Guild Wars 2's new player experience
Guild Wars 2's second feature pack dropped last week, bringing balance changes, new collection achievements, a rework of the trading post, and upgrades to the new player experience. Reactions to the last have been mixed, to say the least: Some of us like them, some of us are neutral on the subject, and some of us think ArenaNet made a terrible mistake. For my own part, I'm really enjoying the changes. If you happen to be in the "terrible mistake" camp, hold on to your assorted fruit-based projectiles until the end of the article and I'll explain why.
One Shots: Avian servitude
Birds? I don't hate them, but I don't trust them either. Anything that can travel passportless with impunity is something to be wary of, especially if it has access to flight without clearing it with the FAA. And ever since the bird flu scare, I'm quite sure that our feathered "friends" are out to eradicate our entire race. That said, I'm happy for reader Bill because he's finally putting birds where they belong: under us in full service of their land-masters. "Luck has found me again on RIFT patch day when this 'Lovely Budgie" popped out of a box. I can't help but think there is evil hidden beneath pink feathers and those big black eyes!" Bill wrote. Oh, but there is evil, Bill. No doubt about it. Hopefully the rest of this week's player-submitted screenshots will not reek of foul intent the way that this cute birdie does.
WildStar trims back attunement requirements
If you're still slamming your head against the wall of WildStar's raid attunement, the game's most recent small patch will make your life a bit easier. The medal requirements for Veteran dungeons have been lowered to only Bronze, achieved simply by clearing the dungeons. Players will also be required to kill only 12 out of 18 bosses to complete a step of the chain, with progress applied retroactively via achievements where applicable. It won't strip away the overall length and complexity of the process, but it will make it a bit less onerous. This patch also improves the process of acquiring new AMP and Ability Tier points, adding them to PvP vendors, including them in Path progression, and upping their world drop rates. Aside from a handful of bugfixes and balance changes, the patch doesn't contain any new content, but it should give players trying to get into content a little more incentive to keep moving.
ArenaNet responds to Guild Wars 2 feature pack complaints
The second feature pack for Guild Wars 2 has received a somewhat cooler reception than the first one; the changes to leveling and unlocking abilities, for example, have irritated several players rolling up new characters in a stable of alts. Director Colin Johanson recently took the opportunity to address player feedback on the game's official forums, starting by noting that both bugs and misinformation are known issues that are being fixed as quickly as possible. Johanson goes on to explain that the changes have been aimed at making the leveling experience feel more rewarding for players at all skill and experience levels, and testing supports the altered model. Despite that, the team is keeping a close eye on feedback and metrics, and if it turns out that the changes are harmful, they can be iterated upon and changed. If you're one of the people less than thrilled with these alterations, it's probably a welcome sign that the director is paying attention.
Wings Over Atreia: The spoils of Aion's fifth anniversary
Another year has flown by! Aion is turning five years old, and that means it's time for Daevas to enjoy cake and presents during the nearly month-long birthday bash. What goodies are in store during this year's North American festivities? Associate Product Manager Sean Orlikowski has shared with us the schedule of events that span from today until October 8th; it includes contests, buffs, double drop rates, and a special anniversary-day GM hosted event. There's also a special new Daevonian armor set for only 1 NCoin (which is practically free) that even new players can use.
Guild Wars 2's living story season resumes in November
A cryptic lore-only press release from ArenaNet this morning delivered this curious Guild Wars 2 news: The second season of the game's living story content will resume on November 4th, leaving just under two months between yesterday's feature pack release and the next leg of the playable plot. But if the teaser pic is any hint at all, we're likely to snag a new zone, at least. Here's the message: The fate of Tyria hangs in the balance. The world's races are uniting against the Elder Dragon Mordremoth. Their first lesson – there is no sanctuary. At the culmination of the first half of Season 2, Tyria's leaders had gathered for a secret summit at the Grove, at the base of the sylvari's sacred Pale Tree. They proved an easy target for Mordremoth's forces, facing a surprise attack by the Shadow of the Dragon. Tyria's heroes are now scattered across the world but in pursuit of one goal: how to bring the battle to Mordremoth. The secret may lie in a vision delivered by the Pale Tree moments after she was badly wounded by the Shadow of the Dragon. What did the vision mean, and will a united Tyria be enough to thwart the threat from this powerful Elder Dragon? The fight continues...
Adopt a Guild Wars 2 developer for WvW this fall
With the fall World vs. World tournament coming up in Guild Wars 2, ArenaNet is pushing its team outside of its comfort zones by encouraging guilds to "adopt" a developer for the season. "We want to fight by your side, experience the ups and downs, have fun and learn together with you how to make a better WvW experience," the studio posted. "We are going to be looking for guilds in different leagues who wish to host a dev. They will participate in your activities and fight for the honor of your world and guild!" There are, of course, several rules for this sort of thing that boil down to "please don't abuse our devs and make them your slave monkeys." Interested guilds can apply for adoption by sending in a PM to John Corpening. [Thanks to Zander for the tip!]
Guild Wars 2's September Feature Pack goes live today
ArenaNet has been hyping the heck out of Guild Wars 2's September Feature Pack, and today we get to see if it lives up to the advanced billing. The firm's press release states that the pack "focuses exclusively on in-game features" including a new trading post, wardrobe tweaks, collection achievements, and a revised newb experience.
The Nexus Telegraph: WildStar ain't doing so good
If you somehow missed it, last week the WildStar team announced that the game will be squishing into megaservers to help bolster populations. What the hell happened? Contrary to what the developers would like you to believe, this is not good news. It's especially bad news if you're part of the roleplaying community, as you're about to get shoved into a server configuration that's almost specifically designed to prevent you from roleplaying outside of a handful of shared plots, but it's bad news for everyone. And it's bad news for the game when server merges are a reasonable reaction after less than three full months of operation. We all know that the game launched to good reviews, and it's far too early to say, "Well, it failed." At the same time, this is not a sign of a robust and vibrant future. This is the first stage of an organized retreat, and it doesn't inspire confidence. So what, exactly, took place that brought the game from the high of its launch to server mergers today?
Previewing Guild Wars 2's September feature pack
Friend of Massively Richie "Bogotter" Procopio is back with a new video helpfully summarizing all of the features coming in Guild Wars 2's September feature pack. It's... kind of a lot of stuff: PvP standard enemy models, new PvP armor sets, an improved combat log, a new golem-themed WvW siege ability line, new consumables, improved commander tags, a new WvW season, guild megaserver prioritization and other megaserver tweaks, a revamped crafting UI, new crafted backpack skins, leveling-friendly loot tweaks, minimap directional arrows, a new level-up screen, a regorganized achievement panel with new collections, and a revamp of the outfit wardrobe, finisher, and minipet UIs. There's also a balance pass for every class and -- drumroll -- a complete do-over for the auction house. Hallelujah. Check out Richie's preview video below and get caught up.
Aion prepares for September update and birthday
Today's Aion community report is sprinkled with a lot of anticipation over this month's 4.6.2 update. The patch is schedule to arrive on September 24th, bringing with it many balance changes among other game improvements. Aion also will be celebrating its birthday around this time, and the team urges players to look forward to "lots of in-game events" during this momentous occasion. One of the best parts of the report is already in the game: Players should be seeing performance improvements following work done on Aion's network. The team also said that players will be getting an improved My Aion on the official website at an undetermined point in the future.
Guild Wars 2's trading post is reworked from the ground up
It seems as though you are not really a Guild Wars 2 player until you have had a good rant about the trading post at some point. Those rants might become scarce with this month's patch, as ArenaNet has reworked the game's auction house to be more user friendly. "The first iteration of the trading post didn't do a great job of exposing its offerings to users, and that's something we've worked hard to improve," the team posted in a new features pack dev diary. To facilitate this desire, the team rebuilt the trading post using a new browser engine. The improvments to the trading post include a revamped user interface, faster loading, better browsing and search functions, clearer categories, and a cleaner buy/sell screen. The end result is "an objectively better product" for all users, according to the studio.
Guild Wars 2 adds in collections achievements
Pack rats, completionists, and oddballs of the gaming world, Guild Wars 2's upcoming features pack will celebrate you and your lifestyle. One of the new additions coming with the update is the collections achievements category, which is pretty much as it sounds. Following the update, players will be able to fill out collections in the achievements tab by finding, equipping, or consuming certain items. If you collect all of a collection set, then you'll get a reward chest for your trouble. Some collections will be visible from the start, while others will need to be discovered or triggered during the course of gameplay. When the patch goes live, the game will attempt to fill out collections retroactively, although it will not be able to identify every item looted in the past. Due to this new category, ArenaNet is making some minor organizational changes to the achievement UI and will be renaming the bank collections tab "material storage."
WildStar announces megaservers
WildStar will be cleaning up its server list and condensing populations in the future, as Carbine Studios announced today that it will be implementing megaservers for the game. The team did caution that it "still some ways away" from the change but wanted to get the news out now. "Going the megaserver route means that we vastly increase server capacity allowing for greater critical mass of our player base, resulting in more people, more groups, more activity and more raids... more of everything that makes WildStar so fun," the team posted. The new megaservers will eliminate the old rulesets and replace them with one PvP and one PvE server per region (North America and Europe). The region lock will still apply, however. The team will also be putting specific chat channels (such as roleplay or French) to offset this elimination of old rulesets. All players will be getting an increased number of character slots to 12 when the megaservers go live, and Carbine will be adding last names to avoid name conflicts. In the meantime, Carbine is allowing for free realm transfers for everyone.
Guild Wars 2's minipets move into the wardrobe
The ever-so-popular wardrobe in Guild Wars 2 is getting several upgrades with this month's features pack. A new dev diary posted today lists the benefits coming to the fashion conscious among us, including a search feature, a separate section for outfits, and a new finishers panel that delivers previews. Probably one of the biggest changes coming to this screen is that all minipets will be moved out of the bank and into this UI. Once players select a mini from the bank or inventory, the game will destroy the item and unlock the mini for use account-wide. Players won't just select and preview minipets from the wardrobe, but they will be able to equip it in a new slot. Equipped minipets will show up automatically even after waypointing into a new map.
Flameseeker Chronicles: What's next for Guild Wars 2?
Happy second anniversary, Guild Wars 2! We've heard news on the September feature pack, did a cupcake run for ArenaNet to celebrate (I heard that there were bacon cupcakes, but why would you do that), and got some previews of the profession balance changes we can expect to see soon. As happy as I am about that cleave on Necromancer's mainhand dagger, updated axe animations, and being able to resurrect others while in Death Shroud -- and I think the other professions got some stuff, too -- it's been a rocky few weeks for GW2. We've had the privilege of having an unusually close relationship with the developers behind our favorite game, and unfortunately that can lead to tempers running hotter when things go awry. Nevertheless, I think most of us would like to see that relationship continue to flourish and improve. So what went wrong?
