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One Shots: Thar be dragons
It would be a rare fantasy MMO that didn't have a posse of dragons roaming the land (or flying through the skies), and Guild Wars 2 certainly does not break that trend. It doesn't mean that going head-to-head with one is any less intimidating, however. Reader Paul sent in this little meet-and-greet with Puff, saying it was when his Asuran Mesmer first encountered a dragon. Let's just hope he remained alive to have a second encounter. Asurans often look like popcorn chicken to dragonkind. It's not just flying lizards in this week's One Shots! What wonders await you, I wonder?
One Shots: Yo ho ho!
There's probably no gulf as wide as the one between historical pirates and the pop culture versions that we venerate. As a guy who had a pirate-themed 30th birthday party, I can't say that I'm against our off-kilter brand of scallywags. Neither is reader Phinneas, who sent in our featured screenshot from Pirate101. "These shots are of the main starting area with my fearsome pirate looking to the horizon for adventures ahead," he writes. Best of luck to ye, laddie! May the wind be at your back, your enemies in Davey Jones' locker, and a bottle of ginger ale in your belly! Yet pirates are only the beginning of today's adventure through One Shots...
The Daily Grind: Are head starts worth the hassle?
We're getting into the spring launch season, what with Age of Wushu, Defiance, and Neverwinter (not to mention expansions and whatnot). It's an exciting time of year, kind of the groundhog coming out of his digital hole to break the cold dry spell of winter. As with any launch, there's usually the question of early access and how much you're willing to jump through hoops to get in a couple days before the rest of the crowd. As a player who's done anything he can to get in there on the pre-launch day, I can attest that it's pretty important for me. I like knowing I'm in there right at the start, that I can reserve my names, and that I don't have to twiddle my thumbs while knowing that other players are enjoying the game. But that's just me. What about you? Are head starts worth the extra effort and money to join? Do those extra few days matter in any significant 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!
One Shots: Soggy beginnings
Dungeons and Dragons Online newcomers and veterans alike are quite familiar with the waterlogged Sahuagin and all of their wacky antics. Basically think "level 1 mermaids from hell" and you're right with the rest of us. It's a good thing that the game doesn't have smell-o-vision because the tutorial would be reeking of a fishery, that's all I'm saying. Reader Sharvis photographed his initial journey through the game and delivered this familiar image of an odd cellar. "Oh great, the Wavecrest Tavern's basement has flooded," he writes. "And who let the Sahuagin in? They're making everything look tacky again!" We'll get the sump pump working while you check out the rest of today's player-submitted screenshots!
One Shots: Paging the burn ward
It's a little amazing, when you think about it, that all of these magic-users who prance around in extremely flammable robes don't suffer from third-degree burns more than we see. Or maybe the game is hiding the awful, scarred truth from us. In any case, our opening screenshot this week should have resulted in a quick trip to the ER for both parties. "This is a simple yet fun battle in Vindictus' early levels," reader Carolina says. "I love the detail of the damaged shoe on my spellcaster character." Forget the human element; now the shoes are the ones suffering for our casual disregard of fiery magic! If you can get past the misery of the moment, we've got plenty of other great one shots this week for you to admire.
One Shots: Winning is half the battle
If knowledge is half the battle, what's the other half? Winning, duh. It's certainly not flaky pastries or erotic roleplaying. You got to win the game's face off, and when you're done, you should pose for a commemorative photo like Reader Ralph here: "This shot was taken just minutes from the end," he wrote to us. "After several fierce battles, our team of AFS soldiers succeeded in taking over the last Bane encampment! The Earth was ours again! WE WON! And then our universe winked out of existence, and Tabula Rasa was no more." You won and you lost? Ralph, you officially broke the universe with that. Read on for more exciting player screenshots in today's edition of One Shots.
One Shots: ???
There's a lot going on in our lead picture here. There are question marks, a fungus person, a pointedly staring frog, and enough colors to give Crayola a run for its money. But what is it about? What does it mean? Reader Stacy helps clear things up: "That's mah frog. This was around April Fool's last year (those question marks are fireworks from that in-game event and are amazing in motion). This was my first house; I got it for free from the EverQuest in-game card game, so I did not have much decoration. I bought a bunch of pets from a man down the street and set them loose, then set off all my fireworks and partied the night away with frog and friends." See, if we did most of these activities in real life, we'd be in jail. Aren't MMOs grand?
One Shots: Views from a beta
It's hard not to turn into a total tourist when you're checking out a new beta. Out comes the fanny pack, the giddy delight of a new world, and most importantly, the camera. Reader Michelle kicks off this week's One Shots column with a screenshot of the first Neverwinter beta weekend. It's a shot of her character Nora overlooking the edge of aptly named Neverdeath Graveyard. We're guessing that the caretaker down there has his hands full. Would you go into such a place if you saw it in real life? I guess that's why we have our avatars to be bold where we would flee! Let's take a look at a few other places where angels fear to tread.
One Shots: Dancing with my homies
First of all, thank you guys so much for responding to our One Shots rallying cry and absolutely flooding us with screenshots! My cup overfloweth, and that's a delightful change of pace for this column. Even though we're quite literally set for months now, please keep sending in your favorite old or new screencaps! To kick us off this week is Jerry, who's showing off how Anarchy Online can party down with the best of them: "This is Yardsale, a level 220 Trader, dancing with his trader pets in Borealis." At first glance, I almost thought we were in the Matrix. But even with polygons so sharp that you can cut yourself on them, this title definitely has a style all its own. Hit the jump to see this and other wonders of the screenshotted world.
One Shots: Back in the day...
A few weeks ago I asked everyone to send me in screenshots of pre-2004 MMOs... and only Brad delivered. Seriously, people, you've been shown up by Brad. Brad gets the gold star. Brad gets the golden ticket and can come on a once-in-a-lifetime visit to see the fabled Massively word factory. Brad is my hero. Brad (if you didn't catch his name) sent us in this shot of Ultima Online: "So much fun with vendors! This is a shot of Angelica's on the Chesapeake Server -- a popular shopping spot in Felucca to grab gear on the go. It was one of the few player-owned vendor spots in a protected zone near Lord British's Castle. This would have been taken around 2002. Notice the detail of the fish tank made from stacked cloth and the flowers made with an onion and two cooked eggs!" Yes. Notice Brad's eggs, people. In them you can see the reflection of your failure. Aw, just kidding!
One Shots: Standing room only
I love Bards and Bard-type classes. Always have, always will. There's something wonderfully against-the-typical-fantasy-grain about them in how they prefer a good solo on a harp to cleaving things in two with axes. Reader Rebecca sent us in her Bard doing an impromptu woodland concert: "Here my Bard Rozily is strumming a tune in Northern Highlands as the snow begins to drift down. Sometimes in Vanguard you have to stop and enjoy the scenery." Absolutely! Also, you may want to look into the fact that the lute seems to have severed your forearm. Check out the full picture and so much more after the jump!
One Shots needs your... shots
Do you love your printscreen key? Do you have a hankering for some weird or antique game that just doesn't get enough coverage? Do you possess a picture of your drunk BFF dancing naked on a mailbox? If so, then we need you! One Shots, Massively's weekly feature dedicated to showing off your MMO screenies, is lacking in submissions to keep it going. A quick look at our inbox shows one Runes of Magic image, a vintage 2002-era Ultima Online pic, and approximately eighty billion Guild Wars 2 snaps. We're not too interested in turning One Shots into Guild Shots, honestly, and we don't want to retire the feature again and bring about #oneshotsgate2013. So please, help us out, keep the feature going another year, and show off your gamer photography skills! Send your favorite MMO screenshots to oneshots@massively.com, and don't forget to include your name, the name of the game, and a description of the scene. Large, colorful, UI-free shots that tell a story and really show off the game make for the best images. We especially love pics from rare/oddball games, older games, and even closed games (like the one above from Star Wars Galaxies) -- stuff that doesn't make the headlines very often anymore. Thanks guys!
One Shots: Middle-earth cowboys
The recent Riders of Rohan expansion in Lord of the Rings Online has brought out the cowboy and cowgirl in a lot of us. Must be the emphasis on horseback riding over scenic plains while savage attacks are waged on settlements. It's here that we begin our journey through snapshots in MMO life this week. Reader Binklewyst sets the scene for our first One Shots: "Riding over a low hill on the plains of Rohan, I stopped my warhorse to admire a view of the Faldham fortification. In the distance to the right is the evil Nink-hai warcamp." Saddle up, pard'ners. The frontier awaits us after the jump!
One Shots: Bring out your dead
Ah, nothing like a pile of rotting stiffs to start your day off right, I always say! So nice of considerate readers to send me such pictures in my email. Maybe it's a somber commentary on the fragility of life and the tragedies that go unnoticed around us daily. Maybe it's somebody trying to gross me out. I'm good either way. Reader Volska clues us in: "Talk about morbid. Here's a screenshot of some piles of corpses from the Guardian starter area in RIFT. No happy welcoming party here." With a start like that, what other pictures will we have to share? It's a wild and wooly One Shots, and it all starts after the jump!
One Shots: 100% Guild Wars 2
Yes, we know that Guild Wars 2 is a gorgeous and popular game. Why do we know this? Because week after week, One Shots has been swamped with GW2 submissions, far outstripping almost every other game submission put together. That's not a bad thing, as I agree that it's a lovely title that has an immense amount of eye candy. It just makes it difficult when I'm limiting One Shots to one-picture-per-game-per-column. So you know what? We're throwing out the rule today. Today's all about Guild Wars 2 as we dig through the growing backlog of photos. Reader Jacob kicks us off with this awesome pose of his toon: "This is my Charr engineer pretending to be a statue in the hidden strawberry patch in Diessa Plateau. Rather angelic looking for such a fierce race!" There's more where that came from, so leapfrog over the jump and let's get moving!
One Shots: Slumbering death
Reader John's going to get me to actually say something nice about TERA. Are you ready for it? Because this doesn't happen often. Here's my compliment: It's a beautiful-looking game. Really. I can't deny that there's a special level of polish and eye when it comes to its visuals. Anyway, John sent us in this captivating picture of a place that might look pretty in the daylight, but you probably don't want to be loitering after nightfall. "I just started playing TERA upon hearing about the F2P conversion. This is my Amani Berserker traveling through the low-level Valley of Titans and stopping behind a pair of rock giants. These rock giants are all over the place here -- I wonder what will happen if they ever wake up?" Dance party? That's my guess. See John's full-color photo in all its glory after the break in addition to other terrifying vistas.
One Shots: Interior decoration
You can go after a game's mechanics, a game's sound, and even a game's grammar, but when you go after a game's looks, well, then you're treading on One Shots territory. And when that happens, you'd best tread lightly, my friends. Reader John took umbrage with Matt's take on Vanguard, especially in regard to its art design, and sent in proof to rebut it: "Having started a new character in Vanguard over the weekend, I set out to prove that, just perhaps, Vanguard isn't quite as ugly as Matt Daniel seems to think. It would be a shame if people got the wrong impression, after all." Personally, I adore Vanguard's aesthetic, but not everyone shares that opinion, nor should he -- to each his own, right? Hit the jump to see John's screenshot in its full glory as well as many other terrific player-submitted pictures!
One Shots: To those left behind
Good games may get cancelled, but as long as we have screenshots, they're never truly forgotten! Reader John sent us in this blast from the not-too-distant past that some of you may recognize. "While going through some old screenshots, I came across a few from Tabula Rasa," John shared. "It was taken in November of 2007 as Veracious Pearl was ready to do some fighting." Sadly, that soldier never made it out of the war. That doesn't mean we've given up fighting, however! Knock down a few mobs in the name of Veracious Pearl today, and when you're done, you should check out the rest of today's One Shots troops.
One Shots: Cleared for takeoff
Virtual animals exist to serve us as transportation, neutral landscape scenery, or the occasional target practice. Here at One Shots, we encourage the additional practice of harvesting as many virtual livers from them as possible on the off-chance that a quest-giver demands them. Reader John sent in this inspiring screenshot of a new friend he made in Star Wars: The Old Republic: "While Alderaan may be long and perhaps arduous as a planet, it has some absolutely gorgeous sights, and flying on the strange manta-ray beasts that carry you from base to base can be a wonderful experience." What other wonderful experiences exist after the jump? If you scroll past this post without clicking, you'll be driven mad with always wondering.
One Shots: Worlds within worlds
When it comes to winter holidays, I'm always disappointed that they come so darn early in the season. We could really use all that cheer, celebrating, and lighting come, say, February after we've been wallowing in the cold and dark for months. No matter; what's done is done, and we have a giant snow globe as proof. Reader Trevor sent in the following picture from Guild Wars 2's Wintersday, as he took a photo of a world within the larger world and wrote, "Happened upon this giant snow globe amongst the flurry of gifts, giant flying colorful snowflakes, and Wintersday cheer. If you listen closely, you can hear my computer screaming in pain." Oh, we'll make more than your computer scream in pain before this column is done!
