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Lost Continent: This is how you go off the rails in ArcheAge
Are you an ArcheAge tire-kicker who's wondering how to go "off the rails" and trade the game's questpark level grind for some of that downhome sandbox flavor? I'm here to tell you that it's as easy as deciding that you really want to do it. There's no magic button or pre-scripted path, though, because the game is sorta sandboxy.
The Daily Grind: Which MMO has the best fishing?
I've always liked fishing in MMOs. Funnily enough I don't care for meatspace fishing all that much, but sitting on a virtual dock reeling in catch after catch never gets old. ArcheAge has taken my appreciation for MMO fishing to a whole other level, though. I'm still fairly newbish at it, but I did land my first successful sport catch the other day, and it's a ton of fun to go cruising around the ocean looking for telltale flocks of birds before chumming up the water and settling in for a lengthy battle with a sturgeon. What about you, MMO fishing connoisseurs? Which game does it best? 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!
Star Citizen's Roberts: 'A working universe is much more interesting than just a battlefield'
Do you think Chris Roberts keeps a stack of future Letters from the Chairman in his desk drawer? It would make sense, given the fact that Star Citizen regularly blasts through million-dollar crowdfunding barriers (each one prompting a new letter). The latest milestone to fall by the wayside is $56 million, and the latest letter talks up the sci-fi sandbox's non-combat bells and whistles. Roberts writes that he's pleased to see the new Reclaimer salvage ship striking a chord with backers, as it confirms his "feeling that a working universe is much more interesting than just a battlefield." He also mentions a community poll that determined the role for Star Citizen's initial fourth wave ship. "The results of the poll also confirmed my belief that the community understands the broader reach of Star Citizen: an overwhelming number of backers voted for the research and hospital ship!"
Massively's ArcheAge launch diary: Day four - Trade runs, sea beasts, and pirates
I got ganked in ArcheAge last night, and believe it or not, it was one of the most enjoyable experiences I've had in an MMORPG in quite some time. I'm usually apathetic about MMO PvP. I mean, I will PvP with friends, but I don't think I've ever sat down to play an MMORPG and thought, "Hmm, maybe I'll go kill some players tonight!" PvP factors heavily into ArcheAge's design, though, so I knew going in that I'd be doing it more than in most of my other MMOs. I just didn't know it would end up being as fun as it was on last night's trade run.
Xsyon now has cooking and farming
Did you know that you can cook and farm in Xsyon? Yep, you can, thanks to the latest patch which added the ability to combine ingredients and create recipes, food buffs and bonuses, and even signature dishes. If farming's more your style, Notorious Games says that you can now "raise a variety of different crops, watering, tending, and fertilizing them to obtain bountiful harvests." More details are available via the latest Xsyon patch notes.
The Think Tank: Non-combat roles in MMORPGs
Two recent topics have collided to create this week's Think Tank topic: Massively's Justin wrote about pacifist characters in MMOs, and Camelot Unchained reminded me that while there's no PvE, it'll be possible to play as a pure crafter to contribute to PvP. These shouldn't strike us as novel concepts. The genre has seen several MMOs (A Tale in the Desert, Glitch) that shed combat entirely, and many sandboxes (Star Wars Galaxies and Ultima Online, to name just a few), allowed players to roll pure crafters who raised neither blaster nor kryss to attack a foe. Yet many modern gamers still think of pacifist play as an anomaly, having been bred to believe combat is the end-all, be-all of an MMORPG experience. I polled the Massively team members for their thoughts on pacifist play and non-combat roles in MMOs. Have or would they play such characters and games?
You can milk cows in Black Desert
Ready for another achingly awesome Black Desert trailer? That's good, because Pearl Abyss has released one that features "everyday life" in its action combat fantasy sandbox MMO. Activities on display include crafting, trading, mount taming, housing, camping, and even cow-milking. There's more, too, but you should really just click past the cut and see for yourself. [Thanks everyone who tipped us!]
My first two hours in EQN Landmark
Sony Online Entertainment has an eventual winner on its hands with EverQuest Next: Landmark. I know, I know. You've been burned by SOE in the past. Maybe you're still angry about the NGE, or maybe you're a Vanguard lifer and the wound is still fresh. Maybe you're even one of those goofballs who mistakenly thinks that internet spaceships plus PvP drama equals the only relevant MMO. Whatever your bias, you should be excited for what Landmark represents if you're a sandbox fan.
Field Journal: Making peace with Vanguard
Vanguard: Saga of Heroes is a weird game. It seems almost purposefully to have been designed to turn away players before they can get a chance to see any of the good in it. Although I've tried it before, I've only recently been able to find some of that good, much to my even more recent dismay. One of those good things I've found is the Diplomacy system. There's nothing revolutionary about it, but it is a solid and interesting minigame that stands apart from anything most MMOs offer. It's more than just a minigame, though; it's integrated with other systems to create a distinct and worthwhile approach to playing the game apart from adventuring. What makes a simple, card-based tug-of-war all that? I'll try to explain.
The Repopulation aiming to fill the MMO non-combat void
The Repopulation dev team took to Reddit yesterday to field a bunch of questions relating to the upcoming sci-fi title. While many of the queries came from people who are newly aware of the game, it still made for an interesting discussion if you like MMO sandboxes. Above & Beyond was pretty open about the fact that it's modeling parts of The Repopulation after Star Wars: Galaxies, particularly the latter game's friendliness toward crafters and other non-combat types. "If you aren't a combat person, you can make your living in trade skills. Advancing in trade skills is independent of combat and does not force you into a combat role. We have a complex trade skill system which allows for a high degree of customization by mixing and matching components. It also has a high degree of interdependency on others, which we feel is going to drive the economy," the team explained. Also worth noting is the fact that The Repopulation won't "have caps to the number or mastery of skills, so you can invest in each skill line how you see fit."
The Daily Grind: Do you gather your own crafting materials?
I've been doing a bunch of gathering in Lord of the Rings Online lately. I'm trying to raise a couple of my crafting professions, see, and the auction house prices for the necessary materials are -- in a word -- ridiculous. Not only that, but LotRO's gathering is a low-stress activity that I've always enjoyed, since it requires traveling throughout Turbine's ever-expanding version of Middle-earth and it's a great excuse to see the sights and snap a bunch of screenshots. Gathering's probably not for everyone, though. What about you? Assuming you craft in your MMO of choice, do you gather your own mats or do you acquire them some other way? 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!
Roberts: Star Citizen is 'deeper than just a combat game'
Hopefully by the time you get to the bottom of the page, Star Citizen will not have crossed the $32 million barrier and rendered this news post hopelessly out of date. It's happened before, of course, given that the space sim sandbox passed $31 million a short while ago (i.e., while we were reporting on the $30 million milestone). Cloud Imperium CEO Chris Roberts has to be tiring of all these letters from the chairman at this point, but he's published another one that outlines the new RSI Orion ship and the Anvil Carrack explorer. Roberts also takes a moment to acknowledge backers and their recent purchases of Star Citizen's new tanker ship that propelled the game past the $31 million mark. "It's exciting to see sales of the Starfarer tanker push us past another stretch goal," he wrote. "To me, that says that backers understand that Star Citizen is going to be deeper than just a combat game... that we're going to make unique experiences for all kinds of players, from pirates to refuelers."
Trion: Non-combat features 'provided a needed dose of RPG' in RIFT
RIFT's dimension system is one of the genre's better player housing implementations, and Trion has authored a dev blog designed to give players a peek behind the curtain on its development. It all started with the enthusiastic player response to the game's wedding features. "People didn't just show up; we saw a genuine spike in subscriptions. It was clear that we'd provided a needed dose of RPG in our MMORPG," the blog explains. Housing was the next logical step for non-combat content. Click through the links below to read about various development challenges and how Trion solved them.
Leaderboard: Which MMO has the best player housing?
I'm a big fan of player housing. If you're not, well, you should be. OK, not really, but you may want to skip this here Leaderboard if you typically roll your eyes when the topic comes up. Assuming you do like player housing, there are plenty of flavors to choose from scattered across the MMOverse, and a couple more interesting implementations on the way. For now, though, let's limit ourselves to housing in already-released games. Which system do you like the best? Vote after the cut! Ever wish that you could put to rest a long-standing MMO debate once and for all? Then welcome to the battle royal of Massively's Leaderboard, where two sides enter the pit o' judgment -- and only one leaves. Vote to make your opinion known, and see whether your choice tops the Leaderboard!
Roberts on Star Citizen's exploration gameplay, publisher-free development
Gamasutra has just published an interview with Cloud Imperium head honcho Chris Roberts. Much of the piece is old news if you've followed the game closely (also, the interview was conducted over a month ago at Gamescom), but there are still some juicy quotes from the space sim guru regarding his dream game's non-combat mechanics and publisher-free development cycle. Community interaction and open development is allowing CIG to build a more relevant title, Roberts says. "We had all of these things like bounty hunter, mercenary, pirate, merchant, explorer. And I was shocked that 67 percent of the people [Cloud Imperium surveyed] said that they wanted to be an explorer," Roberts said. CIG wouldn't have known how many players prefer non-combat gameplay under the old design-your-game-in-a-vacuum model. Roberts also talks at length about the benefits of developing publisher-free. For one thing, Roberts says, developing SC at EA or Activision would require $40 to $50 million, whereas doing it at a more efficient indie outfit allows him to get the same functionality for half that cost. "I do feel like there's a shift in the business with what's happening right now, with the ability to be online and connect directly to the community and the fans," Roberts says. "We essentially don't need any publishing functions because we're connecting directly to people, and normally that's what a publisher would do for you."
XL releases ArcheAge fishing trailer
Ho hum, fishing in MMOs. Who cares, right? Wrong! XLGAMES cares, and the company apparently thinks enough of its ArcheAge angling mechanics to make a gameplay trailer out of them. MMO Culture has uploaded the trailer to YouTube, and in it you'll see over a minute's worth of deep sea fishing plus the transporting of the day's catch back to land, presumably to sell or cook. ArcheAge is gearing up for its Chinese closed beta phase, a date for which will be announced later this month. The game has already released in its native Korea and will be published in the west by Trion, though no date has been forthcoming. You can view the trailer after the break.
Vanguard producer's letter talks diplomacy, Pankor Zhi, and more
SOE producer Harvey "Rahtiz" Burgess has penned a Vanguard update letter. In it, he says the dev team is still "cranking away" on both content updates and bug fixes despite the defection of a couple of team members to other projects. The most recent game update features new Diplomacy NPCs in the City of Brass, and Burgess also explains why the Pankor Zhi revamp is taking a bit longer than expected. You can read the full letter at SOE's Vanguard website.
Origins of Malu gameplay vid shows house construction
If you've got nine minutes of free time and a predilection for sandbox MMOs and player housing, you might want to check out a recently released Origins of Malu clip. The sci-fantasy title features open-world housing and the ability to build your humble abode from the ground up, and the video features footage of a player doing just that. We get to see the avatar place a foundation as well as walls and doors, a roof, and some basic furniture items. Head past the cut for a look-see.
Some Assembly Required: There's no crafting in Star Wars!
The other week I posted a Leaderboard inviting people to vote for their favorite Star Wars MMO. The comments featured a number of both predictable and surprising insights, but one line of thought in particular stood out to me. There are apparently some folks out there who think that Star Wars is nothing more than laser pistols and lightsabers, just as there are some folks who think that MMOs are nothing more than combat lobbies. While I'll stop short of labeling these people because of a difference in opinion, it's clear that they haven't really thought this through.
Level 50 player reviews ArcheAge, sees 'issues for the casual crowd'
If you're interested in ArcheAge but you haven't been playing the game's Korean release client, there's a thread at the AionSource forums that demands your attention. It's basically a review of the game by a level 50 player, and he has plenty of interesting details to share about PvP and safe zones, the legal, weather, and land ownership systems, and the significant role that crafting and resource management play in the day-to-day experience. The author illustrates several of ArcheAge's extensive non-combat gameplay options, many of which are focused on crafting and gathering. These take a certain amount of dedication, as not logging in for a few days will result in the deaths of your crops and livestock. That said, it is possible for in-game "family" members to manage things while you're gone. The ultimate takeaway from the piece is that the author is having a great time in an MMORPG loaded with unique features, though he does see "potential issues for the more casual crowd."
