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GDCO 2010: Spacetime Studios' Cinco Barnes talks mobile design
Spacetime Studios, the developer of the popular mobile MMO Pocket Legends, was started back in 2005 to create large-scale MMOs. Its founders decided to make a mobile platform MMO upon seeing the obvious marketing opportunity that the iPhone provided. After all, the players would already be connected and would be accustomed to microtransactions through exposure to iTunes and the app store. Of course, development could prove disastrous if the wrong game plan were followed, so Spacetime decided to keep it simple. How simple? Cinco Barnes of Spacetime was on hand at GDC Online to explain how his team members did it. What they found was a chance to do more than they'd initially planned on -- and an audience ready to gobble up everything the studio could create.
Flameseeker Chronicles: Back to basics
With all the talk of Guild Wars 2 these days, many players are beginning to pay attention to Guild Wars, something they've not done before. And there's good reason to jump into Guild Wars right now. It serves as the backstory to Guild Wars 2; the entire Guild Wars trilogy plus the Eye of the North expansion can be had for a song these days; and there's no subscription fee. Players who are a little burned out on their previous games of choice are thinking that maybe there's something to this game after all, and I've been getting more than a few emails with general questions about starting this five-year-old game. So while we've been focusing pretty heavily on Guild Wars 2 in Flameseeker Chronicles lately, I decided to take this week to discuss why it's never too late to start Guild Wars while you wait for GW2 to arrive.
Flameseeker Chronicles: Heroes ruined Guild Wars
Oh, settle down. I'm not stating that as a fact, I'm just repeating what others have said. It's an old argument, but one that's recently come to my attention several times over the past week, so I want to take a look at the argument today. Heroes came to Guild Wars near the end of 2006 with the introduction of Nightfall. They were a huge upgrade from the much-maligned Alesia and her companions. Sure, you had to level them up, but you had as much control over their runes and insignias, skill bars, and weapons as you did your own. The addition gave players the option to add three of these customized companions, making it much easier to continue adventuring even if you couldn't get a group at the moment. It sounds perfect, right? Not everyone agrees, and it's a debate that flared back up in the past months when the possibility was raised of companions in Guild Wars 2. Hit the handy "read more" button to check out both sides of the argument.
The Queue: Crossroads
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky will be your host today.This queue is certified Panadaran free. Enjoy it while it lasts.Today's reading music The Crossroads by Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. Every time I'm in the Crossroads I think of that song.Yokumgang asked..."Why can't we bandage while bleeding?"
Choose my Adventure: I'm on a mount
WoW.com readers, it's up to you to decide the fate of Turpen the Gnome Warlock with Choose My Adventure. Help test the site's new features by participating in this event, casting your vote toward the many aspects of Turpen and following his exploits on Alex Ziebart's WoW.com profile!Another week, another level. Ten levels, actually. And I guess it's been a few weeks. It sounded cooler that first way though, didn't it? Anyway... Yes, Turpen has hit level 35. The last couple of weeks have been busy around the office due to patch 3.2, so I didn't get as much done between level 25 and 35 as I had between 15 and 25. I only squeezed one dungeon run in, but I did manage to do something else that was asked of me: Battlegrounds.Yes, I did quite a bit of PvP this week on our Gnomelock, primarily in Warsong Gulch in the 20-29 bracket. I tried a round of Arathi Basin (which we won 2000-100) but very quickly decided never to do that battleground in that particular bracket ever again. Running around Arathi Basin without a mount is pretty much the worst thing ever. Patch 3.2 will change that I suppose, but it'll be far too late to be of any use to Turpen. My next alt, maybe!
Choose my Adventure: Insert funny title about being level 25 here
WoW.com readers, it's up to you to decide the fate of Turpen the Gnome Warlock with Choose My Adventure. Help test the site's new features by participating in this event, casting your vote toward the many aspects of Turpen and following his exploits on Alex Ziebart's WoW.com profile!Well, you guys wanted me to run Deadmines. As you can see, I ran Deadmines. Many thanks go to Urse (Healer), Child (Tank), and Sneafoo (Noob Rogue of Doom) for 4-manning the thing with me. Urse was pretty overleveled for the place so healing was hilariously easy, but Sneafoo made up for it by starting the run at level 12 and aggroing Gruul from the pirate ship.I went further than that, too. I didn't stop at Deadmines, I did Wailing Caverns, Blackfathom Deeps and Shadowfang Keep as well. I was kicking around the idea as soon as someone suggested Deadmines, but I didn't think I would manage to land a group for either of them. When I went out to the Barrens to get my Succubus (Angva) at level 20, that sealed the deal for me. I picked up the quest The Orb of Soran'ruk, and despite the fact that its quest rewards sucked, it gave me more reason to try and get the groups together. I put out a call to all of the various resources I knew, LFG and community chat channels (your server probably has a few good ones) and all of that, and managed to score a few groups.
Buy one Guild Wars, get one half off!
If you're in the market for a great MMO deal this holiday season, ArenaNet has just announced their 2008 holiday promotion for Guild Wars. From now until January 5, 2009, when you purchase the Guild Wars Game of the Year Edition, Factions or Nightfall from PlayNC.com or the Guild Wars in-game store, you will get a second campaign for 50% off.This may just be the promotion you've needed to complete your Guild Wars trilogy, with the added bonus of unlocking the M.O.X. hero on your account. What more could you want? For more information and complete rules, check out the FAQ at the main site.
Blood Pact: Affliction and Demonology in Patch 3.0.2
It's easy to be disappointed with Warlocks, really. The best tree we have right now is Affliction, and is just really fun to play while dealing incredible damage. This is sad news for a lot of players who enjoyed playing Demonology or liked pressing their Shadow Bolt button with a dead Succubus. For one thing, going deep Demonology nets us a half-baked 51-point talent (more on that later) and killing off your Succubus for 10% more Shadow damage doesn't seem as compelling anymore.To top it all off, we're simply squishier than ever in PvP. We've lost Stamina, lowered survivability, and need to make major sacrifices in PvP if we're to pursue deep Affliction or Destruction. Thankfully, Blizzard recognized this and -- according to Ghostcrawler -- will be making an important change to Soul Link by increasing the damage absorbed to 20%. It will still be inacessible if we take 51-point talents at Level 70, but it should be alright by Level 80. Unfortunately, when we finally get there, we'll be sharing gear with lowlife Mages and Priests. I mean that literally -- those guys simply used to have lower life totals.
BlizzCon 2008: The awesome of the ending ceremony
On Saturday night the walls of the Anaheim Convention Center rocked with the cheers and laughter of thousands of BlizzCon 2008 attendees. This year's two-day event was packed full of excellent panels, cool gameplay and of course, lines that seemed to stretch from here to eternity. (I personally clocked in 3 1/2 hours in the store line - but I got awesome goodies out of it.) However, it was this final event that put the crown jewel in this year's BlizzCon event. Curious as to what all went on? Click through the gallery to check out the sights (and some sounds) from the front lines! On to the pictures! >> %Gallery-34307%
[EDITED] Patch 3.0.2 primer for Warlocks
First things first. Things will be changing this Tuesday for all of us. One sobering fact that we must all face is that from that day forward, we're going to be just a little bit squishier. Demonology, in particular, has taken some hits in survivability with the rework to Demonic Embrace (Stamina increase reduced to 10% from 15%, but Spirit penalty removed) and Soul Link (15% damage transfer, down from 20%). General homogenization of cloth items also means that we will no longer be getting more Stamina than other squishies in gear past Level 70. Stamina stacking from gear is about as good as it gets at Level 70, so enjoy it while it lasts. On a good note, Soul Link has been moved up to an 11-point talent, giving us some very interesting choices to make when considering going deep into Affliction or Destruction. In fact, out of all the 11-point talents, Soul Link is the only one that should give us any pause for thought. Considering that for about a month, we can only allocate up to 10 points in another tree if we choose to get a 51-point talent. Anyway, Patch 3.0.2. What's in store for Warlocks? An overview of the talent trees after the jump.
New Warlock glyphs found in Wrath Beta build 8820
As Inscription is slowly built into a viable trade skill, Blizzard sneaks more and more glyph data onto the Beta server, even if none of it is directly available thus far. This build, MMO Champion discovered a nice selection of Warlock glyphs, and I have to say that most of them look pretty sweet. Of course, it's hard to say for sure on how good some of them are until we know for sure if PvE damage rotations besides Shadow Bolt spam will be viable in Wrath's endgame, but I'll assume they will be, for the most part. Let's check them out after the break.
One Shots: By the cliffs
Today's One Shots is the final of three gorgeous panoramic screenshots that were compiled and sent in to us by Adrian (Asarja) from Romania. This image is also from Guild Wars: Nightfall, and as before we know very little other than that. If you check out the full-size screenshot, you'll see lots of little scaffolds near what appears to be a cliff, ruined ships, a dockyard, and a bridge in the background. It is a really lovely area.Do you have any panoramas you've created in your favorite game? Perhaps you just know a lovely spot to hang out in? Whatever the case, we'd love to see your screenshots! Mail them, along with a short description of the image, to us here at oneshots AT massively.com and relax. We'll do the rest.%Gallery-9798%
Guild Wars third year anniversary retrospective: Nightfall and Eye of the North
Guild Wars began life as an unknown; an experiment into combining some of the best elements of Diablo 2-style online hack and slash with the persistent storytelling of traditional MMOs. Its first two years were wildly successful, despite the reservations of veteran players. With several million boxes sold and expectations high, Guild Wars' second year of live service had already begun with a bang. Guild Wars: Factions released to much fanfare, but didn't deliver on all the notes fans of the original Prophecies campaign were hoping for. In October 2006 Arena.net answered those expectations with a brand-new campaign, still lauded to this day as the greatest addition to the series. Guild Wars: Nightfall introduced yet another entirely original campaign setting. It also added the Hero mechanic into the game, allowing players the opportunity to level up their fully customizable NPC allies. Capitalizing on the momentum of that release, the series' first real expansion was unveiled for players in August of 2007. Last year's Guild Wars: Eye of the North added a bevy of new ways to play the game, and paved the way for the upcoming Guild Wars 2. Today, in honor of Guild Wars' third birthday, we've got a retrospective on the two most recent explorations of the original game concept. We'll offer up some imagery from the past, reflect on how the game is today, and look ahead to the future of the series. Click on through to explore the history of Guild Wars, and don't miss our other retrospective on the first two boxes in the series!%Gallery-21579%
Guild Wars tops 5 million sold
A bit behind the times with this, but better late than never: Guild Wars cracked five million boxes sold late last month! NCsoft is (understandably) pleased, and there's a lot of crowing in the official press release. That number includes every box in the whole franchise, of course, so that's spread out across Prophecies, Factions, Nightfall, and Eye of the North. That's a pretty outstanding achievement, with the game having originally launched back in April of 2005. Back in the day, just after World of Warcraft had launched, the idea of a US publisher succeeding with a game that didn't require a subscription was considering crazy talk. With Guild Wars 2 already in the works and now five million units of the original out and about in the world, I'd say that kind of talk is now quite debunked.While it doesn't look like there's any sort of in-game celebration going on, the site has a few details for other community-type things. The February Championship series results are in, if you care about that sort of thing. They're also running a contest right now, if you have an eye for design, looking to get players making brand-new weapons for inclusion in the game. The weapons from the 2007 design-a-weapon contest are fantastic, so good luck to any budding artists out there. %Gallery-9135%
One Shots: An abandoned ship
, Paul, who has sent us a number of shots from Guild Wars, offers for your consideration this shot of a ship, seen frozen into the ice, in Nightfall. He explains that this ship can be found in the southern Shiverpeaks of Tyri -- and that it looks a great deal like the ships from Factions. Interesting! It's the only reference that we know of for Factions inside of Nightfall.Know of any out-of-the-way places in your favorite game?? We want to hear about it -- and see it! -- for our next edition of One Shots! Send your screenshots and stories to oneshots@massively.com. You may see it featured here tomorrow, same time, same place! %Gallery-9798%
One Shots: A hidden mural
Today we're featuring another shot of Guild Wars (in this case, Nightfall) sent in by reader Paul, who says: I found this mural in the northern part of Tyria's Ascalon area. It was hidden in a valley and I was very shocked that something so beautiful was hiding this far off the beaten path.Yes, even in your favorite MMOs, it's important to spend some time exploring off the beaten path -- your adventuring is often rewarded with unique encounters like this one.Have a gorgeous screenshots from your favorite MMO that you'd like to share with us? Whatever your story is, send it (and a blurb about it, if you would) to us at oneshots@massively.com. Your image and story could be featured next! %Gallery-9798%
Massively's Massive Giveaways: Guild Wars part 7
Due to overwhelming response earlier from the casters in the house, we decided to pick a cool Guild Wars caster-style screenshot for the final giveaway. Not that we're giving away the picture (the art giveaway was the last giveaway post) but we thought it was fitting as we wind down into the later hours of the chilly night. For this, our final Guild Wars themed giveaway, we're offering the last of the boxed sets of all of the Guild Wars games. Featuring many interesting classes, areas, and power sets, (as well as those henchmen we love so very dearly) Guild Wars is fun to play and easy on the eyes. Of course, there's always the official rules that we have to abide by that say you must be 18+, a U.S. resident, and leave a comment between now and 10:00 PM Eastern tomorrow evening. (11/10)Good luck!
Massively's Massive Giveaways: Guild Wars part 6
We don't know about you, but the thing that really sets different MMOs apart for us is the graphical feel involved in each game. Sure, all the developer houses have great concepts, and we love the stories involved. But it is the artists who breathe the colorful life into all of these worlds. They give us great characters to play and sweeping vistas to play in. So for this giveaway on today's Guild Wars theme day, we're passing along a fantastic art print from the Guild Wars artists. That's right; one lucky winner will walk away with the above print, suitable for framing. Of course, you must be 18+, a resident of the U.S. and all those other details outlined in our official rules to win. Just leave a comment between now and 8:00 PM Eastern tomorrow (11/10) and you're automagically entered to win this really unique piece of art.
Massively's Massive Giveaways: Guild Wars part 5
Ah, fantasy lands! Where you can meet the strangest creatures, whomp on them, and make off with their belongings for fun and profit. Nothing is quite like stepping into a new world for the first time. This hour we're featuring a Guild Wars key that will give you access to all the games thus far, enabling you to visit all the strange and wonderful parts of the Guild Wars world. While it will mean a download for our lucky winner, those seeking challenge and adventure in strange new places will certainly not be defeated by such a minor thing as that.Yes, the official rules are still in effect, meaning that you have to be 18+, a resident of the U.S. and not a fuzzy wolf guy just waiting to pounce and eat our face like the one pictured above. Of course, there's a small catch -- we want to know what mob you took up revenge killing on because they ate your face one too many times. (any MMO will do) That's it! Easy, no? Tell us your most hated face-munching mob in the comments before 6:00 PM Eastern tomorrow (11/10), and you may be the lucky winner who walks away with the key.
Massively's Massive Giveaways: Guild Wars part 4
One of the reasons we think Fantasy-themed MMOs have been so big is just because you can do some truly wicked things that you just can't pull off in meatspace. Magic spells, teleporting from town to town, and those amazing costumes are right up there on the list of things we wish we had everyday access to in the real world. Of course, Guild Wars has all of those these nifty tidbits and more -- and without requiring 'rent' like life tends to.For this featured giveaway, we're offering up another Guild Wars boxed set of all the games. If you haven't had a chance to check out GW, this is perfect for you. Of course, if you already have a copy of Guild Wars for yourself, why not enter anyway? You never know -- if you meet the requirements of being 18+, a U.S. resident, and have read the official rules -- you may just land a copy to give to a friend for the upcoming holidays. Just be sure to answer the following question before 4:00 PM Eastern tomorrow. (11/10)If real life was an MMO, what class would you be?
