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Massively's gift guide for the Star Wars Galaxies player
They say pet owners look like their pets. There are enough people who put stock in their horoscope to see it put in the daily newspaper. Heck, even which Hogwarts House you identify with probably says something about you. So why not your Massively Multiplayer game of choice? Over the next few weeks we at Massively are going to do our level best to help you make holiday gift giving easy. We'll run down some of the player archetypes you might have among your friends, based on the games they play. We'll give you gift ideas perfect for that type of player and (if it seems right) even some in-game presents that might fit well with their play style.Today I've got a pile of gift ideas for that rare breed: the Star Wars Galaxies player. Playing a much-maligned game can be hard, but the folks still participating in the story of the galaxy far, far away have their reasons. Maybe it's the crafting, maybe it's the twitch combat ... maybe it's the awesome player housing. For that player - be they Jedi or Bounty Hunter, Sith or Savior - we have an idea that'll keep them happily humming John Williams music on December 25th.Read on for our gift ideas, and (please) toss out your own in the comments!
Businessweek chimes in on Activision Blizzard
Now that the dust is settling from the Activision/Vivendi merger announced over the weekend, the numbers fans are starting to chime in on the epic moneymaking potential of this merger. Sure, we knew Blizzard was making a great deal of money from World of Warcraft -- anyone with half a clue who paid the recurring $15 a month bill for the last three years knew that. But to many it came as a shock that in regards to 2007, WoW is expected to produce $520 million of pure unadulterated profit -- yes, that's after paying the bills. We suspect that even Donald Trump must be drooling at those numbers right about now. If you're curious about just how this merger changes the financial landscape, Matt Vella from Businessweek has done a fairly good job with an overview of the potential impact. His story covers some familiar ground, but also compares EA against the proposed Activision Blizzard corporate monster. The only thing we'd have to take issue with is the claim that Sony (SOE) and NCsoft are "scrambling to get a piece" of the MMO market. The last time we checked, SOE have had their hands in the MMO pie for almost as long as there's been an MMO market. There's also the point that NCsoft has highly successful titles in the Eastern MMO market with Lineage/Lineage II -- and where's the love for CoX, GW, TR, etc? Do they want a larger piece or the market? Sure. But with name recognition in the industry already, they're well ahead of many others just jumping into the game. Nonetheless, it's an interesting read if you are curious how the business end of all this gameplaying is expected to shape up. [Thanks, Matt]
One Shots: We took the red pill!
I imagine that right now you're feeling a bit like Alice, tumbling down the rabbit hole. That's because today we're visiting the distorted world of the Matrix Online. Here we're witnessing a Live Event for the Machinist faction that took place during the game's hey-day. Jared, who shared this shot with us, explains the game's appeal: The first two-three months where the Live Events team was online almost every other night, making personal connections to players, organizing the troops and generally stalking the roleplay community. The game may have been awful, but the combination of the live events team and roleplay community made it more than worth it.We're excited to see lots of people sending screenshots to the One Shots mailbox for games other than Guild Wars. Not that we don't like Guild Wars -- but variety is the spice of life and we love to see shots from games we haven't highlighted lately. (Trust me, we'll come back to Guild Wars eventually!) We only post what you send us send your screenshots and stories from games long dead to oneshots@massively.com. You may see it posted here tomorrow! %Gallery-9798%
Massively's Pirates of the Burning Sea character creation videos
Random Appearance and Clothing Coloring System Video When creating a new character in Pirates of the Burning Sea you pick from three nationalities, British, Spanish or French. Or you can choose to be allied with no country but yourself as a Pirate. From there you can customize the look of your seafaring avatar.Overall, the character customization is what we've come to expect from new MMOs: detailed, rich and varied. I'm particularly impressed with the embroidered trim on the clothes and the opportunity to use two color on every option, including hair.I also like that there are Asian faces and African skin tones available. Even though the national options are limited to Western European countries, the races represented visually still span the globe.More videos of each and every character creation option for Male avatars after the jump!
SOE heading to India
A story at Next Generation hints at new international expansion plans for Sony Online Entertainment. All year they've been planning moves into new markets, with not only 'usual suspects' China and Korea under consideration but locales like Vietnam and the Philippines in the mix as well. This week they've announced one of their first steps along those lines: a new studio in India. The studio will open early next year and, among other projects, will support Sony's planned release of the Ramayan 3392 A.D MMOG. "We need to have Indian content for our games and we are looking for local partners," said Dave Christensen, VP of business development and international operations at SOE, speaking during a gaming conference in Mumbai, India. "We will contribute our technology to the joint venture," he added.
Explore the SWG Chapter 8 gunships in VRML
The wait for Star Wars Galaxies players continues. Chapter 8 is still probably a little ways off, and aside from a few teases about space content, there hasn't been a lot of concrete information about the space-based content. (I'm hoping for some clarity to the space quest trees, myself)Luckily, Galaxies player "Spaceguy5" has some entertainment for us today. He's posted about a series of VRML environments he's put together that display the interior views for a number of the new Chapter 8 ships. The three featured ships are the Imperial Gunship, the Black Sun Gunship, and the Rebel Gunship.If you don't have a VRML browser installed, he has a page dedicated to explaining where to download it and how to use it. Enjoy your stroll; I imagine it will be a bit less peaceful when you're flying one of those crates in a live-fire exercise.Thanks to MrBreton for the tip!
Rumor Mill: EverQuest 2's Senior Producer quits, Scott Hartsman leaving SOE
A surprising rumor regarding EQ2's Senior Producer, Scott Hartsman aka Gallenite, is spreading across various MMOG forums claiming that he has parted ways with SOE. What makes this rumor noteworthy and more than likely veritable is that it originates from the administrator who runs EQ2 Flames, one of the more popular EQ2 fan forums. According to Scott Hartsman's bio on his personal blog he has been with Sony Online Entertainment for over six years and his first SOE credit is EverQuest: Shadows of Luclin. If Scott Hartsman is leaving to pursue other interests we here at Massively wish him the best of luck, but I don't think he needs it! If this rumor turns out to be true it would be a huge blow to the EverQuest 2 development team and the EverQuest 2 community. Scott Hartsman is a class act, and is one of the best in his field at what he does. Whoever steps in to try and fill his shoes will have a hell of a time as Hartsman has not only set the bar high when it comes to running the show, but his superb ability to manage community relationships and wax philosophic with the players. During his tenure as on EverQuest 2's, Senior Producer, Hartsman has established a remarkable reputation not only amongst his peers, but also among the more tight-knit MMOG forum goers, which by any means is no easy feat. I'm a bit shocked, especially to see this coming so shortly after Rise of Kunark's launch, and various recent interviews conducted with Hartsman about the expansion, including our own with Michael Zenke regarding grouping concerns in Rise of Kunark. What do you guys think about all this? I wonder if Hartsman will go on to work on another MMOG. If the rumor turns out to be true is EverQuest 2 screwed or is this rumor unfounded, and shouldn't have been reported by Massively? Let us know in the comments.
One Shots: Adventuring in Hilsbury Manor
Reader Sevenwind sends in this shot from the steps of Hilsbury Manor located in Thestra in Vanguard. As you might deduce from the image, it's everything you would want from a storybook haunted mansion -- only instead of reading about it, you get to explore it for yourself. (Of course, some subscription fees may apply.)We're looking for One Shots submissions and hereby challenge you, good readers, to send in your screenshots and stories! Were you there when Morpheus walked among us in The Matrix Online? Do you have screens of when Luclin came in EverQuest? Were you around for the opening of the Dark Portal in WoW? Send your screenshots to oneshots@massively.com and you could find your shot and story featured here for all to see! %Gallery-9798%
Rise of Kunark dungeon xp raised
There's been a lot of back and forth in the EverQuest II community about the xp gain via grouping in Rise of Kunark dungeons. Fingers were pointed, and we gave Scott Hartsman (EQ2's Senior Producer) a chance to rebut. Said Mr. Hartsman, in our discussion piece from last week: EverQuest II is not a game about sitting in one place and grinding. You find the activity that defines the core of your game, then you make sure it's the part you polish the most, then you make damn sure it's rewarding. That activity is questing. Tipa's response to Mr. Hartsman's statement clarified the issue from a segment of the player population:EQ2 was always about two things: Dungeon crawls and getting loot. Quests were just things you could do to make the effort more rewarding ... Most of the quests in my journal I never get around to doing, unless they result in an upgrade for my character. I don't think I'm alone in this.Apparently, she's not. Today, the word on the official forums from Mr. Hartsman is that dungeon XP is going to be increased, at least through this holiday weekend. He is clear about the reason: bringing parity to quest xp gain for dungeon grouping.We've been keeping an eye on both the objective, globally recorded experience data from the first week of Kunark being live, as well as the subjective feedback regarding Kunark experience grants, through the many styles that people play. Many of you have pointed out that the exp given from dungeonning feels too low. In the live environment, we agree that is the case. The data backs this up as well. In making the reality more aligned with the overall goal, Kunark dungeon experience gains have just been boosted on all of the live servers. We'll keep up with this ongoing balance issue as the developers and players work this out.
Lead designer of Pirates of the Burning Sea Q & A interview
The Warcry Network recently had a chance to ask Pirates of the Burning Sea lead designer Kevin Maginn a round of questions about the upcoming Jack-Sparrow-simulator. The interviewer poses queries about launching with both land and ship aspects already in-game (as opposed to a game like EVE which is only now looking to add land-based play), system requirements for the masses, the beta and stress test processes, population balancing and the user interface.Of most interest is the question on populations, regarding the different factions in the game. Players can choose to be English, Spanish, French, or the swashbucklin' Pirate. Maginn notes that, during various phases of the beta, the numbers have remained roughly the same -- 35% choose Pirates, nearly as many choose the English, and then the French and Spanish each take 15%. On this he says, "we are working on some population balancing tools, with two goals: make the game more fair if your nation is underpopulated, and make underpopulated nations more appealing, particularly to large PvP guilds". If the incentives for one race are good enough, it might swing the population the other way entirely. We'll have to wait and see what countermeasures will be employed before the game releases, as the difference in numbers so far sounds fairly staggering.
Vanguard bonus xp week on now!
Still playing Vanguard? Good for you! Now go get leveling, because starting today and until next Tuesday's server reset, you'll be earning a 50% experience bonus on all your adventuring and crafting.The bonus xp kicked in this morning around 7, and should last for all a week and through the weekend.
DC Online to get Crackdown AI
In a fairly blase bit of news, Sony Online Entertainment has announced that they'll be using Kynogen's Kynapse AI technology for the DC Comics MMO they currently have in development. Kynapse has been used in such successful games as Lord of the Rings Online, Fable 2, and Crackdown, though if you asked us we probably wouldn't be able to figure out what is quite so remarkable about it. The focus of their technology seems to be AI that works well in large environments, which would fit well with the "massive" part of the MMO equation, but you'd really be hard-pressed to find an MMO where that wasn't the case.If we were of a more conspiratorial bend, we might suggest that SOE is using this otherwise innocuous piece of news filler to simply remind gamers everywhere that not every officially-licensed super hero MMO out there is rumored to be on the chopping block. But that would be completely unprofessional, and we'd never do anything like that...[Via NextGen]
Legends of Norrath TCG Thanksgiving Tournament Marathon Weekend
Die hard fans of Legends of Norrath -- EQ2's in-game trading card game -- get your decks ready. From the EQ2 Players site, there will be a Thanksgiving Tournament Marathon Weekend running from 5pm PST November 21st, until 12am PST November 26th. Any tournaments you enter during this period will net you points, even if you lose (3 points for a win and 1 for a loss), and the top two scorers at the conclusion of the marathon will be able to choose any loot card -- a card which will grant an in-game Everquest II item -- as their prize. Keep in mind that this is points-based, and while winning more will get you more points, it doesn't mean you'll need to maintain a 100% record to take out the final prize. While this sounds skewed for the hardcore, there are prizes and incentives simply for participating as well. As long as you enter one tournament during the marathon's duration, you will receive an Oathbreaker booster pack of cards, and every tournament will have better prizes than usual up for grabs. So even if you know you won't be sitting in the top position, it is worthwhile if you enjoy the game to get your free booster pack and be in the running for some beefed up tournament rewards. There have been quite a few feature tournaments and promotions from the LoN team as of late, and it certainly seems like a good time to be involved.
Star Wars Galaxies patched to 7.2, 54 month vet awards added
The Chapter 7 update to Star Wars Galaxies went live at the beginning of the month, and has already been patched once. Now the second iteration of the Chapter content is going out to live servers - with presents! Patch 7.2 is aimed primarily at further tweaking the content recently added to the game. Fix highlights include: Correcting problems with the Tusken Raiders Heroic encounter. Adding/improving functionality on Storyteller jukeboxes. Fixes allowing some previously un-completable quests to be finished (including expanding the definition of 'Veermok' for the 'Veermok Killer' quest, thankfully). And I quote, "Removed the Emperor's underpants." Anyone want to explain that, or is this some sort of practical joke? I wouldn't want to tick off a Sith Lord, but that's just me. They've also added 54 month veteran rewards to the game. Yes, the game's been out that long. Yes, that makes you old. Players who have accounts that 'venerable' now have some attractive new options to choose between: A city-placeable flag, which can be changed between one of a dozen different designs. A podracer statue, appropriate for all your housing decoration needs. A permanent storyteller token, which will allow to spawn a boss level Super Battle Droid, Rebel Commando Vindicator, or Stormtrooper - perfect for those epic events.
Scott Hartsman of EQ2 gets profiled
Now that EverQuest II's latest expansion Rise of Kunark has been released, you'd hope that Senior Producer and Creative Director Scott Hartsman would be able to take a bit of a break -- but you can be sure it won't be too long, because its obvious that he really digs his job. TenTonHammer has a two-page interview with Hartsman that isn't so much about EQ2 as it is about the man himself.In the article, Hartsman discusses how he broke in to the industry -- his first industry job was with a text-based online RPG at the age of 15! -- his favorite games of the past and ones that influenced him, things that he does outside of work, and even some tips for anyone that would like to get involved in the gaming business. On this, he mentions that being competent with algebra comes in very handy, something that not everyone may realize.Even if you've never heard of Scott Hartsman, its a worthwhile read to hear what things are like on the other side of your favorite pastime. The link below will take you through to TTH's full developer profile.
EQ2's producer responds to expansion grouping concerns
One of the greatest things about Massively Multiplayer Games is that the dialogue about them isn't a one-way street. With most games, fans wait for the word from on high, and discussion about single-player games tends towards fighting over scraps. With MMOGs, the considered commentary of players make for interesting reading in and of itself. That's the case we find ourselves in today, just a few days after the release of Sony Online Entertainment's Rise of Kunark expansion. Mostly the buzz seems to be positive, but a pair of bloggers have given voice to players feeling a bit put out by the pack's core leveling mechanic: questing. Yesterday Tipa (of the West Karana blog) and Kendricke (currently writing at the Clockwork Gamer site) took issue with the fact that group grinding isn't as profitable as it has been in previous expansions.Specifically they're raising this objection as it relates to the famed Karnor's Castle, a bastion of EverQuest Live lore and newly revised for SOE's new vision of Kunark. Tipa sums their issue up on her site: "Just doing quests and killing in a risk-free, outdoor zone, beats hunting in a semi-risky dungeon. How is that even possible. Dungeons are supposed to give you superior benefits for the trouble of grouping - better experience, better loot. Somehow that got lost ... When word of this gets around, KC will become a ghost town. People will do the Kylong Plains/Teren's Grasp quest lines, then move to the Fens and just skip Karnor's. SOE, it's not too early to consider tuning this zone. Grouping in KC should be more rewarding than questing outside."Scott Hartsman, the senior producer of EverQuest 2, took a few minutes today to answer their concerns for us. Read on to see further discussion from the player's POV and Mr. Hartsman's response.
Faydwer: EQ's 14th expansion is live
Yesterday, Sony Online Entertainment took the EverQuest Live servers down for a Game Update in order to launch Secrets of Faydwer. Now that it's live, though, are you ready for it?Obviously, being a Massively successful EverQuester, you took the opportunity to review the beta tour, and I'm sure you've visited the Faydwer gallery, but have you spent some time looking at the luscious screen shots and glorious movies SOE made available from its main page?If you have, and you're looking for more information on the Secrets of Faydwer expansion, don't forget to check out the EQ Player's page dedicated to all things Faydwer. Whether you're looking for an overview of what the expansion contains, or you're looking to discuss the expansion in the official forums, SOE has gone out of its way to make the search for information as painless as possible.The same, of course, cannot be said of the raids. Then again, who wants their alts to live forever?
Star Wars Galaxies post-chapter state of the game
With Chapter 7 just released, and already patched, the developers and producers of Star Wars Galaxies are looking forward to Chapter 8 and beyond. To give us a sort of snapshot of what the game looks like right now, Producer Jake Neri and Lead Designer Thomas Blair passed along a State of the Game letter to the folks at WarCry. They recap the last half-year or so of content updates (like the Chapter 6 Beast Mastery system and the big bug fix that followed), and go into a good bit of detail on what was just released in Chapter 7. We just released our latest piece of content, Chapter 7: A Collection of Heroes and we're feeling very good about the release. We haven't delivered a piece of content this big since the Trials of Obi-Wan expansion pack, and it was no simple task pulling the Chapter together. The Chapter is focused around two new major systems, the Collections System and the Heroic Encounter System, which presented a great challenge, but the team definitely succeeded in pulling it off. Now that the players are engaged in the content we're hearing good things about the release and it's always nice to get that positive feedback.At the letter's conclusion the two men tease the core concept behind Chapter 8: space.Early in the year we polled players to see what they wanted in the game, and space-based content came in very high. Without giving too much detail right now, our broad goal is to provide content to SWG's space game, which really hasn't been touched much over the past two years. The Chapter gives us an opportunity to link the Collections and Heroic Systems to space content. We are already working on a new heroic encounter for Chapter 8, as well as additions to Aurilia to reflect the new heroic story.
EverQuest II's senior producer explains the Kunark Epics delay
Massively's Rise of Kunark Beta Tour from early last week had a bevy of details on the just-released expansion. One of the hot-button items among the EverQuest 2 community, it seems, is the absence of the promised Epic weapons from Kunark's launch, a detail we first reported here on the site. TenTonHammer has followed up on player concerns in this area, speaking with EQ2's Senior Producer Scott Hartsman on the issue. Hartsman reveals that, unfortunately, the Kunark Epics are yet another victim of the recent San Diego fires. "What we were faced with was a bug count in which nothing had been touched in a week. When we are in our bug fix mode, the team is capable of fixing anywhere between 13 to 17 hundred bugs in a week, so losing a week is a big thing. At the end of the day it came down to well, we obviously need to focus on the overall launch of our expansion first. Epic weapons are something that yes, we've got a number of them in the bag, but the choice we had to make was, do we launch a game with 1500 bugs and epics that are 75% awesome and 25% less than awesome, or do we launch a game that's going to be as clean as we can make it and then push the epics out on an update? " Folks looking forward to tackling the weapons need not worry, though. Hartsman states that the Epics update will likely be coming just after the holiday season ends. This will give the team time to give the important items the polish they need ... and likely will let designers have a few moments with their families as well.
The Digital Continuum: Sci-Fi, Looking Back
Where are my friggin' virtual hover craft? Where are the energy swords and teleportation devices? I'm not talking about botched attempts and broken promises. I know that redemption is a possibility and that my childhood dreams could come to fruition. I'm also very sure that anyone who gives two tugs of a dead dog's -- well, anyone who cares about the sci-fi genre of MMOs knows a bit about most of the past attempts. If you're going to make an MMO that focuses on the freedom of combat, trade and exploration in space well that's just peachy! However what you still have to remember is that a lot of us sci-fi nuts (and there are a lot of us) want more than just warp, mine, trade, dog-fight and repeat. Now I'm not knocking the types of players in EVE Online or the stick-jockeys playing Jumpgate and looking forward to its upcoming sequel. You see it's also not enough for many of us (or perhaps this is just me) to just focus on a sci-fi version of what we basically have with any standard fantasy MMO game. You have to include both space and land at launch to entice and possibly please me. Am I asking a lot of developers? I don't think I'm asking very much by current industry standards. So where do we start to get to this nirvana of sci-fi MMOs? Well, there are some good lessons to learn from the past and one game comes to mind specifically.Earth and Beyond launched on September 24, 2002 to average reviews. One of Earth and Beyond's largest issues became content and its eventual updates. This was likely due to Westwood Studios being half the studio it was before the (first of many) Electronic Arts acquisition. Unfortunately for the die hard fans of E&B, the game servers were shutdown due to an ever-declining subscriber base. This was far before the time when WoW roamed the land and MMOs were major-ultra cash cows in the eyes of industry moguls. This was the time of EverQuest and industry moguls who only desired to create a standard cash cow.
