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One Shots: Fried calamari
Good games require memorable villains, I've always said. And while suave, well-dressed British masterminds are good in a pinch, nothing can top 150 tons of ticked-off gigantopus. So rest in peace, City of Heroes, and be content that you will be remembered for haunting the darkest dreams of superheroes for all time. "Here is my squid (a Kheldian Peacebringer in Nova form) as part of a team vs. a larger squid. This is the giant octopus Lusca, frequently seen in Independence Port," reader Ben sent in. Seriously, that thing is like an elder god taking a steam bath. It's going to react to your puny eye beams and frost blasts by warping all of reality with a sneeze. Speaking of warped reality, get a load of our other player-submitted screenshots after the break!
WildStar puts up patch notes for its latest weekend beta
It's about a month until WildStar launches in full, possibly while playing an electric guitar and riding a motorcycle over a bus that's been set on fire. That means that the patches are coming fast and furious with each weekend beta, and this weekend is no exception. The most recent patch trims up some lag and instability issues while also updating and improving several aspects of the game, from character customization to Warplot functionality. For example, players will no longer be subjected to having facial customizations that don't quite work, nor will they be able to hurl themselves to their doom while building Warplots. War parties now require at least 10 members online to queue as a group. Players will now be limited to editing their costumes at Protostar Dye Specialists in Illium and Thayd. Dead players may no longer be the target for starting a duel (not counting Mordesh, obviously). You get the idea. Check out the full patch notes for a clearer picture of this weekend's beta.
Carbine CM David Bass leaves WildStar
Community Lead David "Scooter" Bass announced today that he has decided to leave Carbine Studios and his work with WildStar. In a farewell letter, Bass notes that the decision was made on his end: "The truth is my personal life's taken a turn and I've made the impossibly difficult decision to leave Carbine. The guys will continue building up the community team, and will share some of their plans with you in the near future, and I have no doubt that you guys will see some amazing stuff as we get ready for launch and beyond." Bass said the community team is hitting its stride and has a great foundation going forward. He also said that he can't wait to experience the game's launch as a regular player.
Last Week on Massively: ArcheAge's buy-to-beta
This post originally appeared on Massively from Editor-in-Chief Brianna Royce. At the end of every week, we round up the best and most popular news stories, exclusive features, and insightful columns published on Massively and then present them all in one convenient place. If you missed a big MMO story last week, you've come to the right post. This week, Trion Worlds revealed ArcheAge's glider mechanics, hinted at a June closed beta, and oh yeah, announced that early access for the hybrid free-to-play sandbox is not going to come cheaply. Founder packs run from $49.99 to $149.99 and include perks ranging from gametime to credits to armor. If you can't wait for launch and don't want to fight through Russian servers, that high-end pack is your guaranteed in. Read on for a look at the rest of this week's top MMO stories.
WildStar dev donates LEGO sculpture to Child's Play charity
WildStar developer Carbine Studios made a special donation at PAX East this year that included a $10,000 check and a 50,000-piece LEGO Rocket House that will be auctioned off for the Child's Play charity. The rocket house LEGO sculpture stands three feet tall and four feet long and was created by LEGO artist Mariann Asanuma specifically for the charity. The sculpture will be auctioned off at the annual Child's Play Dinner later this year with all proceeds going towards partner hospitals and facilities. "We wanted to not only find a fun way to bring a small piece of WildStar to life, but also see the efforts go to a good cause," said Mona Hamilton, vice president of brands, Carbine Studios. "Child's Play is a wonderful charity doing really great things with the gaming industry and we're looking forward to seeing the result of the auction later this year. It was also important for us to say thanks by giving back to the Boston community; they've been great to us over the years at PAX East." You can check out a video of the LEGO sculpture being assembled just after the jump below. [Source: Carbine press release]
WildStar unveils Warplots DevSpeak
Do you consider yourself something of a military genius? Do you also consider yourself a big enthusiast for player housing? Have you long wished for some form of gameplay that combined your love of building the prettiest dwelling possible with your love of killing other players? Then you're looking for WildStar's Warplots. They're a thing. Yes, they're customizable fortresses that you pit against other customized fortresses from other players, that is the whole deal. Want to know more? Well, if you see that little "Continue Reading" button down there, you can click that and watch the latest DevSpeak from the development team covering Warplots. Is that not enough for you? All right, then, you can read through our coverage of the gameplay mode from PAX East when we got to take an advance look at it. Still not enough? Maybe you'll need to wait until the game launches in June, then. Do not convert your front lawn into a death fortress and attempt to fight a PvP Nerf war with the mail carrier. That won't go over well. [Source: NCsoft press release]
WildStar springs another 'bonus' beta weekend for all
Carbine's limited four-part WildStar beta weekend run leading up to release is now in danger of becoming a Friday the 13th-sized franchise, as the studio announced today that it will hold another bonus beta weekend starting on Friday. Anyone who has signed up for the beta will be given a code for the weekend, so there's no reason not to check this game out if so inclined. The bonus weekend begins on Friday the 25th at 10:00 a.m. EST and will conclude on Monday, April 28th, at 3:00 a.m. EST. The team is raising the level cap to 25 and giving everyone a hoverboard to enjoy. Each day of this bonus beta weekend also counts toward accumulating "boom boxes" full of goodies that will be delivered at launch. [Source: Carbine Studios press release]
Last Week on Massively: The end of the World of Darkness
This post originally appeared on Massively from Editor-in-Chief Brianna Royce. At the end of every week, we round up the best and most popular news stories, exclusive features, and insightful columns published on Massively and then present them all in one convenient place. If you missed a big MMO story last week, you've come to the right post. Early this week, CCP announced it had canceled World of Darkness, a hardcore Vampire: The Masquerade sandbox that had been languishing in development since 2008. A pre-production video was shown at 2013's EVE Fanfest, but layoffs slammed the studio last December. Read on for a look at the rest of this week's top MMO stories.
The Nexus Telegraph: In which no WildStar injuries happened
My performance on the dance floor during PAX East 2013's WildStar party is the stuff of dark legends (in my mind, anyway), but it was not replicated this year. Indeed, when I tried to get into this year's WildStar community party, the entranceway was inaccessible due to the sheer mass of people. As I naturally handle crowds about as well as a Mechari handles knock-knock jokes, I opted to turn around and go back to my hotel room. There was a Ghostbusters marathon on, so it was still kind of awesome. This did not, however, mean that the convention was devoid of interesting stories; it just was devoid of stories in which I sustained injuries greatly impacting my normal hiking routes. So let's talk about what things really stuck out in my mind through the whole con. For my money, that comes down to the focus on the endgame and a really stupid statement. Where to start?
WildStar's new interface profiled in video
Friend of Massively Richie "Bogotter" Procopio is back with yet another WildStar video, this one focusing on the beta title's brand-new user interface 2.0, which flattens some of the UI elements that before floated a little bit too high into the field of play. Of course, as he notes, the UI is moddable and can be altered to taste by each player. Combat popups, inventory, and menu options have also been tweaked. If you missed it, Bogotter covered the new character creation options in yesterday's video. Enjoy his UI preview after the break!
The Daily Grind: What naming restrictions do you approve of?
A recent beta patch in WildStar included several changes to its naming rules. Numbers in names are out but special characters are in. I'm really not a huge fan of most special characters because they're used to circumvent the fact that your desired name was chosen and so you're going to create a similar-looking name that will be all but impossible for your friends and guildies to type. Of course, in some games this isn't a problem because players can pick any name they like as long as it's attached to their permanent handle. But that's got its pros and cons too. What naming restrictions do you approve of? Personally, I wish all MMOs allowed for first and last names, since this usually solves the problem of taken names while increasing variety. I also don't know how prevalent "leet-speak" is these days to necessitate the removal of numbers. 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!
Check out WildStar's new body customization options
Earlier this month we discovered that Carbine was planning to add additional (as in "more than one") body types for each race and gender in WildStar. The changes are in with this weekend's beta test update, and YouTube sensation and friend of Massively Richie "BogOtter" Procopio made a 21-minute video looking at all of the new options for characters. He's got the video broken down into sub-sections, so if you want to skip to a certain race/gender combo, you can do so. He also includes the new hairstyles that went in with the patch. Give the video a watch after the break and let us know whether Carbine did a good job with these additions or not!
PAX East 2014: WildStar shows off Warplots at last
Do you want to go to war in WildStar? Then you're going to want a stronghold. No, that's not right, you're going to want a fortress. You're going to want a fortification that makes others quake in terror. And then you're going to want to drop that fortification down on your enemy's front lawn and claim their territories while laying waste to their fortifications. Welcome to Warplots. They're the game's answer to player-made fortresses and high-end battlegrounds all at once. More specificially, they're team-based 40 vs. 40 maps that drop you into a race to tear down your enemy. At either end sits the carefully constructed fortress held by each team, in the middle sit resource nodes, and both sides are pushed together to be the last side standing or the one putting a fortress back together post-battle. Want to know more? That's a good thing. Take a look at the typical WildStar trailer past the cut, and then let's talk details.
PAX East 2014: Pre-launch words with WildStar's Jeremy Gaffney
WildStar is being released in about a month and a half. It feels as if it's been forever since the game first revealed its announcement trailer. Now we've finally got a release date in sight, and the last few features for the game are being revealed to the public. It's one of the last chances that we'll have to talk about the game before it releases. On the last day of this year's PAX East, I had a chance to sit down with executive producer Jeremy Gaffney to chat a little bit more about the game before it launches. While the game has gone gold and the discs are being manufactured, the team is still refining and improving the game and plans to do so up until the day of launch. That meant talking about the endgame, the development process, and the changes that have been made already in the most recent stages of beta.
Last Week on Massively: PAX East 2014
This post originally appeared on Massively from Editor-in-Chief Brianna Royce. At the end of every week, we round up the best and most popular news stories, exclusive features, and insightful columns published on Massively and then present them all in one convenient place. If you missed a big MMO story last week, you've come to the right post. Massively took on the wilds of PAX East 2014 this weekend. Here's what we've seen so far: PAX East 2014: WildStar's panel was all about the endgame PAX East 2014: First impressions of Warlords of Draenor PAX East 2014: Landmark's current tools and future crafts PAX East 2014: The Repopulation's Josh Hall on the future of the game PAX East 2014: Hands-on with Infinite Crisis PAX East 2014: State of Decay eyes multiplayer, stays offline PAX East 2014: Guns of Icarus Online's expanding environment PAX East 2014: PlanetSide 2's Matt Higby on weekly updates PAX East 2014: Hearthstone reveals Naxxramas single-player adventure PAX East 2014: Star Citizen and the DFM are 'more than just PvP' There's more to come over the next few days. Read on for the rest of this week's top stories!
PAX East 2014: WildStar's panel is all about the endgame
So what happens when when you reach the end of WildStar? You've got a while to think about it, obviously, the game isn't even out just yet. But it's an obvious concern. People are going to hit the level cap, and what are they going to be doing then? Staring at the walls, singing songs, perhaps clawing desperately at the metaphorical walls in the hopes of getting the next major patch somewhat sooner? According to the WildStar panel at PAX East, the development team is hoping to launch with a fairly robust endgame no matter what you're hoping to do. The panel went through pretty much every part of the game, from items to PvP to solo story questing, all of which is intended to work together to create an environment wherein you don't run out of things to do and don't find yourself forced out of what you find fun. How well it will work remains to be seen, but there's certainly a lot on the table to start with.
WildStar's elder gem system to get post-launch love
What you see is only half of what you get, at least in regard to the elder gem system in WildStar. Carbine Studios Product Director Mike Donatelli churned out a good-sized post on the forums this morning concerning WildStar's elder gem system and what the studio has planned for it after the game's launch. He said that what's currently in-game is "only half of the intended final system," and while the team can't get in the full deal by release, the rest will be included in the first major post-launch patch. Elder gems are a type of currency that players will earn with XP once they hit the level cap. There's a weekly limit to the number of gems that can earned, and players can use these gems to buy gear and items from special vendors. Future plans for the system include the ability to buy amp and ability tier points that haven't been procured elsewhere and weekly and daily quests to earn more gems.
WildStar devs need your help building an in-game weapon
Carbine is partnering with PC Gamer to give players a chance to build one of WildStar's weapons. Actually, let me back up. You're not really building a weapon as much as you're voting for one of four pre-existing Carbine designs. The first is an Esper multitool, the second is some sort of toaster, the third one is a beer cannon, and the fourth one is a "mystical pointy uprooted tombstone with a handle," according to producer Stephan Frost. You can see all the choices in the video after the cut.
WildStar's beta patch expands character customization, balances classes
Carbine has just released WildStar's UI 2.0 patch notes, and while most relate to bug fixes and modest game enhancements, there are some real gems casually included in the list. Like these two: Added new character hair options in Character Creation. Character Creation now offers various body types for all races and genders. Oh, you care more about gameplay than about customization? Fine, fine: The patch notes have that too. All the classes got a hefty balance pass with plenty of bug fixes to boot. So did tradeskills. And the UI. And pretty much everything else. "Promise me no one's going to freak out about balance changes until you've had a chance to play with the new patch. Deal? Deal," the game's Community Lead David Bass implored on Twitter. If you're recovered from reading the Warlords of Draenor alpha patch notes, then enjoy another helping courtesy of WildStar's over on the official forums.
Last Week on Massively: The Elder Scrolls Online's PC launch
This post originally appeared on Massively from Editor-in-Chief Brianna Royce. At the end of every week, we round up the best and most popular news stories, exclusive features, and insightful columns published on Massively and then present them all in one convenient place. If you missed a big MMO story last week, you've come to the right post. After a few pre-launch hiccups, ZeniMax's Elder Scrolls Online MMO formally launched on PC this week. We celebrated with a five-part launch week diary, a guide to exploration, two livestreams, and a month-long Choose My Adventure series in which you'll boss us through playing the game. Read on for a look at the rest of this week's top MMO stories.
