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Ask Massively: The actual most wonderful time of the year edition
Tomorrow is a very special day, probably my favorite holiday in the year in terms of events. That's right -- it's April Fools' Day, the day when developers figure out what joke means the most to the playerbase. Sometimes they're hilarious, sometimes they're earnest efforts that fall short, and sometimes a really clever part of the development staff will sneak a real announcement in with all of the jokes. Fun for the whole family, assuming the family likes practical jokes of varying snark! Ask Massively, of course, brings the snark with every edition, usually in the last question of the day. This week, we're answering questions about the interplay of the various superhero MMOs out there, the delicious mixture of sites in a blender, and whether or not you can take a fun offline game and make it an equally fun online game. As always, questions can be left in the comments or sent along to ask@massively.com for inclusion in next week's column.
Ask Massively: Discuss this picture edition
After picking a number of ridiculous title images over the past several months to lead off Ask Massively, I've noticed an interesting trend. In spite of whatever is discussed in the text of the post itself, at least half of the comments will wind up discussing the picture or the intro text instead. So I figured I might as well make use of this fact by leading off with John Singer Sargent's "Claude Monet Painting by the Edge of a Wood." If we're going to have to talk about the picture, we might as well get some culture out of the deal. If you absolutely must read about MMOs as opposed to fine art -- which would sort of make sense; our coverage of impressionists is out of date and not terribly robust -- this week we've got questions about the state of the overarching MMO model as well as the dreaded "double dipping" of cash shops and subscription fees. If you've got a question for next week, mail it to ask@massively.com or just leave it in the comments!
Star Trek Online unveils plans for future improvements
The problem of dealing with a universe as expansive as the one in Star Trek Online is the simple reality of fitting more than 30 years of fiction into a single game. Still, as the latest Ask Cryptic demonstrates, the development team is trying to fit everything possible into the game, from a wider variety of pets to the whale probe from Star Trek IV. The latest batch of player-generated questions runs the gamut as usual, discussing everything from non-featured episode content to the possibility of expanded PvP arenas, and as usual Dan Stahl is on hand to give players some idea of what's coming. Among the more interesting news is how close the Foundry system is to implementation, with the current plan to release it not too long after the current featured series wraps up next week. Revised ship interiors are also potentially on the to-do list, as well as the promise of "storing" unneeded officers on a fleet-run starbase. Star Trek Online players have a number of things to look forward to with the latest round of questions, even if the answers are admittedly vague about a precise timetable.
Ask Massively: This is why I will get eaten by wolves edition
That picture, right there, is why I will be eaten by wolves. My first reaction is not to run in terror or fire a shotgun; it is to lean over and slap my thighs and ask with deathly urgency who is a good boy. I can only assume this instinct has been inserted by some malicious part of nature that decided "fight or flight" would be much more entertaining if some of the primates also had a "stand there cooing at a vicious predator before being eaten." In other news, it's been way too long since we had an animal picture heading up this column. For this week's edition of Ask Massively, we will not actually be discussing wolves. Instead, we'll be talking pack sizes -- er, group sizes. Also, we'll be taking a look at defeating World of Warcraft and what to do afterward. As always, you can ask more question in the comment field or by mailing them along to ask@massively.com.
Final Fantasy XI talks drop rates and fishing woes
Drops in any MMO are sometimes a frustrating business. You can kill an enemy for its head, a clearly visible part of its body, and yet no head is dropped when it dies. You can kill a boss dozens of times before you finally get its weapon, even though that weapon is visible each time. And in Final Fantasy XI, you can fight an Ironclad Triturator without getting any sort of iron plates, despite the fact that he's both visually and eponymously covered in them. But as the latest round of questions and answers states, that's a temporary problem -- the February mini-version update will fix this oddity. That's not the only change forthcoming, naturally, and one of the other issues addressed is the sometimes frustrating art of fishing. Rusty equipment is going to stop eating up the potentially expensive bait in the February update, and directions for fishing will be changed to provide more useful information for players. Take a look at the full rundown for more information about what's coming with Final Fantasy XI's upcoming mini-patch, with promises of a more comprehensive schedule in the near future.
The Queue: The one with a bird on it
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Your host for today is the newly pierced Fox Van Allen. For those of you who don't know, I live in Somerville, Massachusetts. It's an urban hipster oasis immediately west of Boston. We have stores that specialize in selling cheese. We have a coffee shop where you get served inside an abandoned bank vault. We've converted every inch of abandoned factory space into million-dollar lofts. And yes, we have lots and lots of craft stores where you can buy ridiculous crap with birds on it. Why birds? Well, according to the above clip from IFC's Portlandia, everything's better (and carries more hipster cred) when you put a bird on it. We'll test out that theory in today's The Queue. Tee asked: Is Blizzard planning on doing anything for leveling scribes to address the current situation with Books of Glyph Mastery? Since most people have moved on from Northrend content, the books are in short supply ... there are only a few on the auction house at any given time and they're ridiculously expensive. Is Blizzard really going to make me spend tens of thousands of gold to buy 54 books to get access to those glyphs? I thought I remembered someone saying during a BlizzCon panel that they were going to make those glyphs available in a different way for Cataclysm, but I may have been dreaming that.
Another batch of Final Fantasy XI answers for players
The times in Final Fantasy XI are changing, it seems, with the advent of an early February mini-patch serving as a sign of same. That's hardly the only thing players have questions about, but the most recent dispatch from the development team focuses primarily upon what the mini-patch will bring. Still, the improved communication goes across the board, discussing details of future updates and other system changes as well as some requested features that will have to remain omitted. New auto-translate phrases, for instance, are something that the team would like to implement but can't due to PS2 hardware limitations. The pattern for version update files, however, is being changed to better accommodate the same hardware limitations, saving the machine from having to download the full update and then apply the files one by one. Perhaps most heartening to veteran players, experience gains will be adjusted outside of Abyssea to try to ease the gap between the add-on scenarios and the rest of the world. Final Fantasy XI players can take a look at the full list of questions and get ready for the version update in early February.
Final Fantasy XI's development team answers player questions
While players might not know what's coming around the bend for Final Fantasy XI in terms of future expansions or add-ons, the development team has been stepping up with a big departure from its usually laconic manner. The team answered a batch of players questions back in December, and now another big round of answers has been posted, with a great deal of information about what to expect from upcoming changes. If anything, the answers offered seem to imply that the game is moving slowly to a more open structure. Fields of Valor, a major experience booster since its inception, is apparently on deck to have its time restrictions removed, allowing you to do as many pages from the book per Vana'dielan day as you want. Level caps are being removed on certain nation quests, with more possible in the future, and the auction houses of the nations are going to be merged to make searching for items easier. Final Fantasy XI clearly has some big accessibility improvements planned, so it's going to be very interesting to see what's next to be revealed for the game's near future.
Ask Massively: It's my birthday and I'll devote a column title to it if I want to edition
Yes, 28 years ago, something very special (to me, anyway) happened. That means that while I'm going to spend the day on my usual cocktail of whatever the heck I do, I get the opportunity to make Ask Massively's opening even more of a non sequitor than it normally is. Here, have a screenshot from one of the worst-animated episodes in all of the original Transformers cartoon. I swear that looks bad even in a still frame. It was either this shot or the one of Blaster and Ultra Magnus getting married. (That's what it looks like, anyway.) Now that I've gotten that out of my system for another 10 minutes or so, we can move on to this week's column, which is sadly devoid of giant robots. It does have questions about DC Universe Online and the sad story of World of Starcraft's rise and subsequent fall, so I still get to indulge in things that I like. And birthday or not, questions can be left in the comment field or mailed along to ask@massively.com.
Star Trek Online answers a fleet's worth of questions
The one-year anniversary for Star Trek Online is just around the corner, and the game has quite a number of irons in the fire to go along with that milestone. Player-generated content and weekly episodes are two of the game's big features on deck for the near future, and the latest installment of Ask Cryptic certainly addresses those, but that's only the tip of the iceberg. With nearly three dozen disparate questions answered, this month's offering covers everything from Vulcan ships to an open PvP environment. Among the more interesting answers is the fact that the development team is looking into ways to model rather unique ship traits such as the multi-vector attack mode of the Prometheus class. The team is also hoping to give players the ability to fly shuttles and yachts, along with reasons to do so. The next minigame after dabo is still on the table, but at the moment the team is focused on more meaty content. Take a look at the full rundown for all of the Star Trek Online questions for this month -- there's plenty of information to be found within the lengthy answers.
Ask Massively: Preparing for the new year edition
It's almost time for our largely arbitrary dating system to cycle around once again, and in my neck of the woods, that means it's also time for a trip to Drinking Island. If you're lucky, you can drink enough to wash the taste of the previous year out of your mouth. If you're unlucky, you wind up starting the new year the same way you ended the last one -- bleary, disoriented, covered in vomit, and with a vague memory of assaulting a police officer. Really, 2010 worked out pretty well for me overall, so I'm not complaining. And with that in mind, it's time for a decidedly non-inebriated edition of Ask Massively, in which we field questions related to City of Heroes and future IP-based MMOs. If you've got a question for a future edition of the column, drop us a line at ask@massively.com, or just leave it in the comments field.
Ask Massively: Cute animal defense edition
The past several weeks have been a contentious time here at Ask Massively, and so I turn the blame to the obvious culprit -- my choice of title images. We're going back to an unadulterated string of pictures of cute animals for headers with no clearly stated reason. That right there is a bandicoot. Do you even know what a bandicoot is? Do you care? Of course you don't. You cannot be angry while you stare at a bandicoot. It's physically not a thing you can do. Leaving aside the calming powers of the marvelous bandicoot, it's time for another session of questions and answers, this time featuring World of Warcraft's aquatic misadventures and DC Universe Online's inevitable future. As always, if you have a question you'd like to see answered, feel free to leave it in the comment field, or mail it to ask@massively.com.
Ask Massively: Cataclysm and other dead horses edition
So, yes, I'm playing World of Warcraft again for the time being. It's a chance to roleplay with Ms. Lady and enjoy a revamped overall experience, even if I still think the endgame is vile enough to be used as a biotoxin. I'm also not too keen on the fact that half of the major plot developments between expansions happen off-camera in a novel, but hey. The game is fun for what it is, and that's what ultimately matters. Also, I get to stack a bunch of corpses on someone, which is a feature more games should implement. That having been said, I'm willing to bet you didn't come here to hear about my gaming habits. You came here for the newest edition of Ask Massively, and here it is once again, complete with questions on the eternal war between sandboxes and themeparks, the eternal war between the game you are playing and the games you aren't, and the eternal war of purpose vs. nonexistence. And if you have a question, even one not related to eternal wars, you can swing it over to ask@massively.com or just leave it in the comments field.
Undead Labs answers fan questions
Undead Labs has published a list of reader questions (and a few select answers) regarding its zombie-themed console MMORPG currently in development. New community manager Emily Diehl checks in on the official Undead Labs website to bring us a wrap-up from the queries submitted on the game's forums. The topics range from the title's shooting and aiming mechanics, to vehicle implementations, to its persistent qualities. Regarding this last bit, Undead Labs seems intent on putting to rest any notion that the game's console nature will result in anything less than a traditional open world experience. "This may seem like a no-brainer, but we're building an actual world. We want it to live, breathe, change and evolve over time, responding to the choices you make while immersed in it," the studio writes. Check all the questions and answers on the game's official site.
Ask Massively: Declaring a moratorium edition
I am declaring a moratorium as of this edition of Ask Massively. A moratorium on what, you ask? Well, I hadn't actually gotten that far in my planning. I'm going to go ahead and declare this moratorium on Katy Perry, songs about California, episodes of The Office, films in the X-Men franchise, all movies featuring male losers hooking up with trophy women, questions about the site redesign, people in SUVs who feel the need to tailgate someone else, head colds, and Boggle. So all of those things have to stop right now. You heard it here first. Of course, since this week's batch of questions came in before a moratorium was declared, it would be unfair not to answer the site redesign questions that were already submitted. But no more, seriously. It would also be unfair to not answer the other questions that were asked, although they aren't related to anything within the moratorium. So click on past the break for this week's questions, and send your own along to ask@massively.com. Or just leave them in the comment field, no biggie.
Ask Massively: Happy St. Patrick's Day edition
Aye, it's that time of year again, time for a celebration of culture and everything we can shoehorn under the aegis of getting drunk on green-tinted beer. We hope you're spending the day with friends and family, listening to traditional music and possibly enjoying a meal of corned beef and cabbage to celebrate the occasion. Spring is in the air, and it's the perfect time to get out and celebrate with the people you know and care about. What? Sticking to the holiday that's actually happening is boring. Luckily, sticking to Ask Massively isn't boring, at least not if you like getting your questions answered. Jump on past the break for questions about the new site layout as well as the venerable EverQuest, and of course our requisite question of ridiculousness at the end. So jump on past the break, and if you have a question you'd like to see answered here, feel free to leave it in the comments or mail ask@massively.com.
Ask Massively: I am happy when I get to talk about Transformers edition
If people haven't noticed by now, I have fandoms that don't generally intersect with MMOs. So I'm happy to see that the Transformers MMO will be wide-ranging, while at the same time I understand that many of the things I want out of the game will not be happening. Then again, almost none of the things I want dovetails with more casual fans. Considering how strongly Hasbro is pushing the newly unified Transformers: Prime continuity, my vague hopes of seeing something set on Cybertron post-Reformatting are unlikely to come to fruition. (I will still be happier than those people who assume the series peaked 26 years ago.) Leaving aside my personal pet causes, we've got the usual cocktail of questions for this week's Ask Massively, complete with a discussion of the dark art of modding and the far lighter art of inventory storage. If you've got a question for us, you can leave it in the comment field or mail us at ask@massively.com.
Ask Massively: Solve all your problems with chainsaws edition
We don't really want to solve all our problems with violence. It's just that violence solves problems so quickly and efficiently that it's kind of silly. With a sufficiently large lever, Aristotle believed he could move the world, but I say with a sufficiently large chainsaw you could probably solve all of your problems in such a way that they would never need to be solved again. Although most state and local authorities might take some issue with this approach. And it's hard to feel a sense of fulfillment just by chainsawing everything in your path. So maybe we can't solve everything with violence after all. This week's questions both speak to problems that don't allow the option -- the persistent bugbears of gear grinds and slow connections. Click past the break for this week's answers, and if you have your own questions, you can leave them in the comments or send them to ask@massively.com. Or chainsaw them into a tree and send us a picture. Chainsaws are pretty awesome.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Question chilled
We've had a fairly calm month since our last session, and really, I'm kind of relieved. I spent most of October expecting that City of Heroes was going to drop some sort of bomb along the lines of "game shutting down in December, releasing huge new game in January, have a pony." And I'm kind of glad that didn't happen, because I have nowhere to keep a pony in my home. With that awkward preamble out of the way, on with the questions! Jeromai asked: But think, the enemy code [developed for Going Rogue] might later be used for smarter AI for enemies that Incarnates face. A higher-level challenge. Gee, doesn't that sound like endgame content? Well, yes and no. Yes, it certainly sounds like a higher-level challenge, and if you ask a certain segment of the endgame population in any MMO, that's exactly what they want. But endgame content is frequently kept challenging solely through artificial barriers, and as bizarre as it sounds, we kind of want it that way, because the alternative is really, really annoying.
Ask Massively: Look guys I found a picture of a man with a hat edition
When I took over this past weekend's Week in Review column, I informed the usual steward that I would probably give the post some Dadaist nonsense title like, well, the exact title I used for this week's Ask Massively. I realized that the title was really too good to use for just a generic roundup. I have no idea who that man is, why someone painted him with a hat, or any of that. But he definitely has a pretty awesome hat. This week we have a lot of administrative questions, talking about the comment system, the different types of MMOs, and the many different games which feature spaceships. And, as usual, we have the requisite silly question which I try to include every week, because you shouldn't click on a post with a ridiculous title without something to laugh at. Click on past the break for our answers for the week, and as always, leave further questions in the comment field, or send them along to ask@massively.com!
