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One Shots: Death by tentacles
Massively reader The Platypus knows the secret behind taking a good One Shots entry: a good death! He sent in this amazing shot from The Secret World with a quick note: Hey Massively -- long-time reader The Platypus here! Two friends and I decided to three-man the Polaris dungeon in The Secret World last night, and while it went more smoothly than I imagined it would, we still had a little trouble with the Ur-Draug (TSW's Cthulhu analogue). As I was dying the first time and the creeping inevitability of my fate overcame me, I did the only logical thing I could do with the last few seconds of life: I took a screenshot! Enjoy! Tentacles past the break. Hit it!
One Shots: It's the shades
The Guild Wars franchise is infamous for its crazy outfits and gear, from banana scythes and librarian spectacles to jack-o'-lantern hats and... whatever the heck this is supposed to be. So it's no surprise that Guild Wars 2 is following in its elder sibling's footsteps! A reader named Darla sent One Shots this image of her character from the very last beta event before launch, along with this note: This is a screenshot of the final big event of the third beta weekend event, Hunger Royal. You can tell by the smile that the glasses make her feel badass. I was thinking the hot pink gun might have something to do with it too, but the sunglasses are pretty awesome! Darla's shot and a few others await you behind the break if you dare.
One Shots: A big white blur
Conventional wisdom holds that snow zones in games and movies make for a featureless, monochrome eyesore that bores onlookers, and yet both Star Wars Galaxies and Star Wars: The Old Republic couldn't resist the allure of Hoth. Today's One Shots from reader Brooks reveals his character resting above an imposing crevasse on the notorious ice planet as depicted in SWTOR: Surrounded by the harsh beauty of ice and stone, Jedi Knight Omiko Kell takes a meditative moment to reflect on the weight of her responsibility to the native people and Republic forces struggling for freedom and survival on the desolate and unforgiving planet of Hoth. Does she sway from her primary mission set forth by her Order and help others, or will she let them stand alone in their fight against the Empire, pirates, and mercenaries while she focuses on her Masters' directive? Whichever one gives you the most legacy points, of course. Brooks' full screenshot and a few others are beyond the cut!
One Shots: The Hutt in the hat
Massively reader Leandra sent us a delicious batch of screenshots from new shiny The Secret World, but her "throwaway" entry from Star Wars: The Old Republic is the one I couldn't resist highlighting. She wrote in, I recently resubscribed to The Old Republic to check out the changes made in the last few patches. The devs have made a lot of much-needed improvements, and I'm having a lot of fun. This is my Jedi Consular character on Nar Shaddaa, one of my favorite areas in the game. The statue of the Hutt in the hat always cracks me up. Why is he wearing that hat?? He's wearing that hat because it provided me an awesome post title and a giggle, that's why! The color shot and a few more from around the MMOverse await your clickery!
One Shots: Nyctohylophobia
Most MMOs aren't trying to actively spook their players (unless the sight of sparkle ponies creeps you out), but The Secret World is an exception to that rule. In honor of TSW's launch week, today's One Shots is all about Funcom's new adventure-slash-puzzler MMO. Massively reader Drinkfist has gotten into the spirit of the game with today's featured screenshot. He writes in, The Secret World just started, and the game looks amazing! This is a picture of the haunted forest in Blue Mountain. The Ghosts that inhabit it are especially rough as every 30 seconds they phase in and out of this world, changing their resistances. Brace yourself for this and a few more TSW pics after the cut!
One Shots: Signs and portents
We're deep in the throes of The Secret World's pre-launch weekend, and here to celebrate the game's arrival is Massively reader Sharvis, who sent in several potential One Shots of the game, including one of his character puzzling his way through a quest. He writes in, I found this map of Kingsmouth with a strange symbol on it. It only served to mystify my character Cole. Something sinister is underfoot in Kingsmouth, but what could it be? The plot thickens after the cut! Well, not really, but we do have a few more user-submitted screenshots to show off!
One Shots: This old house
It'd be easy for me to sit back and say that games without housing are just lazy, so that's exactly what I'm going to do. Well, that and feature a few awesome reader screenshots of games with housing in today's One Shots! Contributor Mayrin earns the top slot this week with this image of her home in Wurm Online, a much-beloved sandbox around these parts. She writes: This is a screenshot of my house, originally taken last September. It's a stone house built back before Wurm Online had inner walls, so it's U-shaped to suggest different rooms inside. The left side is our kitchen area (the wisp of smoke over the house is from our oven), and the right side has our beds, while the center area is used mostly for storage. The gold shape near the oak tree on the left is an altar to Vynora (one of Wurm's deities); the silver one peeking out from behind the right tree is a Fo altar. Right off the path is a "spirit castle," which is used to send mail to other players. It's located where the village of Allure once stood on the Independence server. Mayrin's entry is tucked behind the break alongside a few other residential beauties!
One Shots: Building character
This week's One Shots is all about characters -- your characters, to be precise. Kicking it off is One Shots veteran EuchridEucrow, who delivered this sultry pic of his Guild Wars 2 beta character giving the camera... The Look. He wrote us with this lovely bit of description: Disturbed from a moment of contemplation, she gives you "the look." As her face turns your way, trailing the mist from her breath on the cold air, you find your own breath catching in your lungs. Is it the cold that has frozen your lungs? Her beauty? Or is there something else? Something behind the beauty, a kind of casual, indifferent grace that seems to promise violence? You see a snowflake drift onto the soft black bars of her eyelashes, but she doesn't blink it away. Perhaps it would be a good idea to go inside where it is warm. We've put a few more of your characters on display past the break!
One Shots: Before and after
Massively reader Drannos earns the One Shots spotlight today, having sent in not one but two Lord of the Rings Online screenshots: a before and after shot of Orthanc, the spire at the center of Isengard that's home to Saruman the White in the game's time period. Drannos writes in, Though I've yet to see the inside of Orthanc, I've been, shall we say, a guest. An involuntary guest. From a distance, it's very impressive, but up close, it's suitably intimidating as well! Having seen it both before and after Saruman's fall, I have to say that it also has an appropriate air of tragedy and despair. Both shots and two more from other MMOs await behind the break!
One Shots: Orrery is an awesome word
Today's One Shots is going to make you smarter because it's got an orrery in it. What's an orrery? It's a 3-D clockwork planetarium that mimics the solar system, and there's an amazing one in this lovely Guild Wars 2 beta screenshot by Brazokie. In fact, Brazokie sent in six stunning pics along with this cry for help (kidding!): I have too many! They are all pretty! Please pick one, or two, or three... Well, I've picked two plus two more from our stash of One Shots submissions, and they're all in full color behind the break!
One Shots: Bamboo Kat's
If you followed MJ's Choose My Adventure in City of Heroes throughout the month of May, you know that veterans constantly recommended that she do one thing: roll blueside. More people play superheroes than villains, and if you want to group, Paragon City is the place. But I say the villains of the Rogue Isles surely have the best scenery. Massively reader Jeromai chipped in two gorgeous shots of the grimy skyscrapers of redside with this note: One of my favorite spots villain-side is the Jackpot area of St. Martial, especially when it gets dark and the building lights are a stark contrast to the gloom of all the other previous zones. Sure, it's still a soulless Las Vegas-style strip wannabe, but I love super-jumping down the street as the music changes. This is my normal view of things when super-jumping. But if you get down to street-level, it's also surprisingly immersive. Notice the Marcone or Family gangster leaning nonchalantly against one building as the cars and pedestrians cruise through. Both shots (and a few others) are tucked behind the break!
One Shots: Lone wolf
Long-time Massively follower but first-time One Shots contributor Ilix sent along today's highlighted screenshot of Fallen Earth, which we think is quite timely, given the PvP revamp soon headed to everyone's favorite post-apocalyptic sandbox. He writes in, Fallen Earth is my top hard-RP MMO. Ilix, after three decades of isolation, attempted to fit in with a player-run town. But he was too rough-edged, too guarded, and still isolated in his mind, and he could not find joy among others. After several days trying to force himself back into what remains of humanity in the blasted terrain of the apocalypse, he admitted to himself that he could never return because he was too quick to anger, and he wandered off back into the desert. Irradiated scorpions haunt the land he wandered into, so he finds rest on the blade of a ruined helicopter's rotor, just out of reach of stingers. This shot defines the dual beauty and harshness of the life he resigns himself to. Ilix's gorgeous sunset is tucked behind the break along with two other One Shots shots!
One Shots: Woodland critters
TERA isn't quite two weeks old, but it's already offering up some spectacular views. Kromic on the Dragonfall server paused while riding on his mount to take this shot. He writes in, While doing some exploring on my trusty steed in TERA, I found a great view of the capital city Velika. His screenshot is just after the cut, along with three more images of woodland critters doing their duty to spice up our MMO scenery.
One Shots: Sequelizin'
Massively reader Sharvis, a familiar name throughout our comment section, landed today's One Shots feature with a screenshot from the most recent Guild Wars 2 beta event for pre-purchasers. And it looks like he managed to figure out a way to see the Asura and Sylvari in NPC form, in spite of their absence from the test as playable characters. He writes in, My Ranger, Leander Delmanos, overlooks the water beyond Lion's Arch in Guild Wars 2. He's accompanied by Snoots, his faithful bear companion, and two NPCs. We've got more GW2 pics for this special One Shots edition after the cut!
One Shots: Warped
Massively reader Johanis delivered today's One Shots image, which features one of TERA's pegasi in flight. He tells us, Here is a shot of Honeynut, my TERA Archer, who was exploring during last weekend's open beta. While flying from one destination to another, she suddenly warped through one of many travel gates, and it was gorgeous. She emerged into a beautiful land just waiting to be explored. Enjoy Johanis' entry alongside a few others past the break!
One Shots: City of who?
Massively reader Torch Light has a theory that someone at Paragon Studios is a Doctor Who fan, and I think he might be right -- and not just because the game boasts a Time Manipulation power set. Torch Light sent in today's featured image from City of Heroes' VIP testing servers along with this explanation: The beta for Issue 23 of CoH has just gone live with a new parallel world of spookiness. While exploring around, I saw a familiar (yet strangely colored) police box. Looks like Paragon called in an expert to help fix those wibbly wobbly timey wimey problems. The image isn't bigger on the inside, but it is after the cut alongside two more reader pics!
One Shots: Internet spaceships
EVE Online is one of those polarizing games that seems to spark debate at every mention, but even if you're not a fan of the game's mechanics, there's no denying that the game's visuals are breathtaking. Infamous EVE pirate Helicity Boson sent in today's highlighted screenshot with this note: Today I come to you with an amazing screenshot taken during a joint operation with several of Shadow Cartel's friends who happened to have trapped an unsuspecting super capital pilot. The visuals were just... amazing. There are a few more on my site, machine9.net. I hope you'll share this with the world! Helicity's screenshot and two more starship-themed pics are tucked behind the break!
One Shots: A new dawn
One Shots is making a tentative return in its new format and timeslot this weekend! Kicking off the screenshot-madness is Johanis, who's delivered a gorgeous shot of what looks suspiciously like a sparklepony in RIFT (and seriously makes me want to resub). He writes in, I wanted to share a picture of Samya, my level 20 Mathosian Mage in RIFT. This particular shot was taken just as she had received her achievement awarded for climbing to the highest mountain in Silverwood. I had to climb quite a few mountains before I hit this spot, and the view made the climb worth it. Just beautiful. She was also quite proud to be riding her newly acquired Nebula mount, which she earned during the current Carnival. Johanis' screenshot, along with a few other gems from this week, is just behind the cut!
One Shots: Bringing it back for realsies
By now, everyone's figured out that today's One Shots revival was an April Fool's joke, but you guys have been such great sports about it that we're going to Bring Back One Shots starting next weekend as a once-a-week featurette. No... really. No joke! So... do send your screenshots to oneshots@massively.com, and don't forget to include all the usual details, like your name, the name of the game shown in the screenshot, and a little explanation of the scene. Large, colorful, clear, UI-free shots that tell a story and really show off the game make for the best images. We'll pore over the submissions every week and pick out one that really sings to us to showcase, and then we'll see how it goes. If we get lots of submissions and the feature does well, we'll keep it around more permanently! We've tucked our first entry, from Ehra, behind the break to cap off the April Fool's festivities!
