mmo-week-in-a-minute posts

The MMO week in a minute

by Michael Zenke Aug 24th 2008 @ 6:00PM

Big Download's sister site Massively.com has all the news you'll need about MMOs. Here's the best, brightest, and most interesting stuff from the last week, all in one convenient place for your MMO minute.

	SOE announces the next EverQuest II expansion: The Shadow Odyssey The fourth expansion to reach the game will be entitled The Shadow Odyssey, and is slated for release to players on November 18th of this year. The expansion will seek to expand on themes begun with the best-selling Rise of Kunark expansion, returning a number of nostalgic elements to the shattered world of Norrath.
	What you need to know about The Shadow Odyssey The Shadow Odyssey, EverQuest II's fifth expansion, is not just the usual bump to the level cap, a couple of new raids, and a reset for all the armor you already got. It's none of those things. What SOE has done with this expansion is go through the level 50 to level 80 portion of the game and say, let's make an expansion that has something for pretty much everyone. Let's make an expansion where even if no upgrades drop, you can be working toward some awesome stuff just by playing.
	Exploring The Shadow Odyssey with EQII Senior Producer Bruce Ferguson SOE just announced the newest expansion to their EverQuest II title, and we've got plenty of answers for your burning questions. We had the chance to sit down with the game's Senior Producer, Bruce Ferguson, to talk about what makes this such an important product for Sony Online. Join us as we talk through some of the fantastic new content coming to the game.
	Age of Conan expansion concept art unveiled As we mentioned, Funcom's Hyborian MMORPG Age of Conan is set to expand. As of yesterday, the concept art first shown at Leipzig is now available to view, courtesy of GameSpy. The dragon banners, pagoda-like structures and mask style suggest that Khitai, Robert E. Howard's composite version of China, may be the setting. If so - and this is only speculation - it might be a promising choice, despite not receiving much attention in the original Howard tales.
	Massively's state of the game: Warhammer Online beta During Age of Conan's launch, we took a final look at the game as it existed in Beta, a 'state of the game' that took in everything we knew about the title at that point. Today this blogger has attempted to do the same for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, the fantasy MMO slated for release by EA and Mythic Entertainment on the 18th of September. If anything, Warhammer Online is a title with a more tightly-wound, highly anticipatory audience than Conan was. The long history of the Warhammer IP, the evocative nature of the tabletop roleplaying game, and a legion of wargaming followers across the globe has made this a must-play game across numerous demographics.

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The MMO week in a minute (E3 Edition)

by Michael Zenke Jul 20th 2008 @ 5:00PM

Big Download's sister site Massively.com has all the news you'll need about MMOs. Here's the best, brightest, and most interesting stuff from E3 week, all in one convenient place for your MMO minute.

	KOTOR MMO confirmed by Electronic Arts We've had plenty of speculation -- lots and lots of it -- but now we've got confirmation from Electronic Arts chief executive John Riccitiello that Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is indeed getting a massively multiplayer online iteration. Portfolio.com has the story.
	Wrath of the Lich King Beta is now open Today is pretty much a landmark day for MMOs. Earlier today an interview with EA executive John confirmed the existence of the KOTOR MMO. That's enough for any two days. Why not add the unveiling of the Closed Beta test for the west's most popular MMO into the mix? That's right, the download instructions for Wrath of the Lich King's Beta client are now up on the official World of Warcraft website. Our sister site WoW Insider is carrying the news, noting that this is just the beginning of the ramp up to full Beta testing.
	Mythos beta is shutting down tonight The woes continue at Flagship Studios. It was just announced that the Mythos beta will shutdown tonight. The official time slotted for its cease of operations is at July 18th, 2008 at 11:59 CST. Community manager Tiggs left the message on the forums which are also due to close at the same time.
	Blizzard victorious in WoW Glider case Virtually Blind is reporting that the WoW Glider case has been resolved in Blizzard's favor. The maker of the epic fantasy MMO has long contended that the MDY developers are infringing on the company's copyright. MDY makes the WoW Glider bot software, possibly the most popular of a series of options that allow an unattended computer to 'play" World of Warcraft.
	E308: DC Universe Online roundup Sony Entertainment Online revealed a metric ton of new information on their upcoming superhero MMO DC Universe Online at E3 this week, and Massively was on hand to pick the spicy brainmeats of Creative Director Chris Cao, SOE-Austin VP of development John Blakely, and famed DC artist and Executive Creative Director for the project, Jim Lee.

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The MMO week in a minute

by Michael Zenke Jul 13th 2008 @ 5:00PM

	Mark Jacobs announces major features cut from Warhammer Online In the latest of an ongoing series of interviews with MMORPG.com, Mythic Entertainment VP and General Manager Mark Jacobs has dropped big news on the Warhammer Online fanbase: major features are being culled from the game in order to make their Fall launch deadline. In short, the capital cities for the Dark Elf, High Elf, Orc, and Dwarf factions will not be in the game at launch.
	The Digital Continuum: Diet WAR Diet Warhammer Online: same great taste, less content. Is it bad that the recently re-branded Mythic Entertainment just cut out a large portion of our Warhammer Online pie and put it in the deep freeze? Well it's certainly not good when a developer cuts content they've been talking about publicly for so long, especially when launch is only three or four months away.
	Massively visits Stargate Worlds: The interview This exclusive, in-depth, and conversational interview is overflowing with information about everything in the game, including TV series tie-ins and cameos, episodic content, combat, graphics, mini-games, and much, much more.
	Massively's E3 Week Prediction Bingo Every year it's customary to roll out predictions on what will and won't show up at the current year's E3 event. With Massively heading in the direction of the LA Convention Center already, we thought it might be fun to offer up some likely (and highly unlikely) predictions of what might get talked about next week.
	Jack Emmert discusses the Champions IP in fresh new video During a recent media event at Cryptic Studios, Jack Emmert gave a presentation on what the Champions IP was all about, including the history of the Champions universe and its super-powered beings. He also took some time to answer a few questions, and delineated how the Champions Online MMO will distinguish itself from City of Heroes.

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The MMO week in a minute

by Krystalle Voecks Jul 6th 2008 @ 5:00PM

	First Impressions: Requiem: Bloodymare We've been talking about this game for months now, and Requiem: Bloodymare is finally available to play. Hailed as the first horror MMO, there are definitely aspects of R:B that are pretty gruesome.
	Massively interview: KingsIsle on Wizard101 We recently had the chance to check up on KingsIsle and talk to them about their three-year conjuration, Wizard101. We sat down with the studio's director, Todd Coleman, to discuss what's in store ...
	Blizzard responds to amicus brief in MDY bot suit Last month, digital rights advocacy group Public Knowledge filed an amicus curaie -- "friend of the court" -- brief regarding Blizzard's argument that a user making a memory copy of the World of Warcraft software for purposed of using MDY's Glider program to bot violated their terms of use and their copyright.
	Age of Conan surpasses 700k registered users We've been quite taken aback by the responses many players direct at Funcom's Age of Conan. We're not sure if the accusations of the game being a "beta version" or just a "total POS" are the product of unrealistic expectations ...
	Conan's female avatar DPS bug will take weeks to correct A few weeks back our own Adrian Bott took a close look at a very ... unique ... bug in Age of Conan. It seems that differing animation cycles in the game have resulted in an unforseen side effect: female avatars do less damage then male ones. At the time, the Funcom developers said they'd let us know as soon as they could about a fix.

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The MMO week in a minute

by Michael Zenke Jun 29th 2008 @ 5:00PM

	Blizzard announces major World of Warcraft class changes at WWI Representatives from Blizzard offered up a heaping helping of Wrath of the Lich King information, with some great info for just about every class. You're going to want to head to WoW Insider for the full monty, but here are a few highlights...
	Age of Conan patch notes for June 26th The patch notes for today's Age of Conan update are now available, and a few of the fixes that we've seen talked about in recent times have made it in. There's nothing significantly game changing unless you're a Necromancer, or are waiting to get into Alchemy (and it's not the big PvP patch unfortunately) but Funcom's to-do list is now a little shorter.
	World of Warcraft Arena Season 4 begins! Season 4 is a brand-new ballgame, with stiff requirements to earn the coveted loot offered over the course of the next few months. The site has a huge wrapup post in place, working through everything they know about it ... and you can bet they know pretty much everything there is to know.
	World of Warcraft originally planned as free-to-play Blizzard's own Rob Pardo recently dropped something of a bombshell about World of Warcraft at the Paris GDC event when he revealed in a keynote that the game was originally planned as a free-to-play experience.
	LotRO interview reveals more on Book 14 In the second part of MMORPG's interview with Lord of the Rings Online's Executive Producer Jeffrey Steefel, we learn more about the final stages of development with LotRO's Book 14. Steefel discusses exactly how this final book of the first volume will unfold before the Mines of Moria expansion arrives on the scene. He also mentions the fact that Moria will not be considered Book 15, but instead be referred to as the first book of Volume 2.

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The MMO week in a minute

by Michael Zenke Jun 22nd 2008 @ 5:00PM

	World of Warcraft patch 2.4.3 notes forecast cheap mounts, fun pets We all knew that World of Warcraft patch 2.4 was going to be the last major milestone before Wrath of the Lich King released. Who could have forseen that Blizzard would be making such major changes to the original gameworld in the newest changes to the PTR?
	EverQuest 2 Game Update 46 goes live The tempest is gathering. Runnyeye, a storied dungeon since the days of the original EverQuest, is now a more dangerous locale. EverQuest 2 Game Update 46 is now live on the game servers, and we have some new media to go along with it.
	EVE Fanfest 2008 to have first public preview of Ambulation Massively previously announced some of the details of the upcoming EVE Online Fanfest 2008, but CCP Games has just updated their site dedicated to the annual capsuleer pilgrimage.
	Star Wars Galaxies Chapter 10 launches to the live servers Early this morning the live servers for SOE's Star Wars Galaxies went down, fans quieted for a specific purpose. Chapter 10 arrives today, bringing with it a whole new array of content designed for characters across all level ranges. You can find official patch notes on the game's website.
	Funcom responds to concerns following first instances of AoC's "Massive PvP" Age of Conan players have started getting to the stage where they can partake in the game's much-hyped "Massive PvP" -- the first battlekeeps are up, and you can be sure that people are all too keen to go and knock them down.

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The MMO week in a minute

by Michael Zenke Jun 15th 2008 @ 5:00PM

	Age of Conan newsletter previews new PvP, dungeons, and dancing! It's only been a short time since Age of Conan launched, but it has already seen some troubles. The newest edition of the game newsletter hints that good times are just over the horizon. Above and beyond bug fixing and regular patches, Funcom has announced they have a slew of new concepts and content ideas on the stove.
	Exclusive images of the new Legends of Norrath: Oathbreaker loot cards A week from today the next set of cards for Sony Online Entertainment's Legends of Norrath TCG will be released. Digital packs of cards will be noisily slotted into virtual racks, to be pawed over by players ... metaphorically.
	First trailer for Square/Enix's new MMO Concerto Gate unveiled Unfortunately the trailer shows almost nothing about what the actual game will be like, but we can make some guesses by looking at Concerto's successor, Crossgate.
	Hellgate staff abandoning sinking ship We never like to see a developer start to go on the down and out. Even in the rare event where we find few redeemable things about a game, we understand that the developers behind the project are generally good people and we hope that they continue to be fruitful in their endeavors.
	EVE Online blazes into The Empyrean Age Massively has been beating the war drums as EVE Online enters a new era in PvP: The Empyrean Age expansion. This time of factional warfare will sweep players of all four races in New Eden into a whirl of conflict never seen before in the game.

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The MMO week in a minute

by Michael Zenke Jun 1st 2008 @ 5:00PM

Funcom boasts 400,000 players in Age of Conan so far
An official release from Funcom has announced that Age of Conan is one of the most successful PC titles "of all time."

Massively previews Dungeons & Dragons Online's Module 7
Massively got a chance to sit down with the team and take a look at the latest update, Module 7, due out on June 3, and currently in public testing. In addition to some extended playtime with the new Monk class, we got to see updates to the lower level Three Barrel Cove area, a shrine to recently passed-on D&D creator Gary Gygax, and the new raid area under the destroyed Marketplace tent, as well as a few new monsters and raid bosses that can be found down there.

A first look at Mythos' Overworld
Though there were more than a few glitches with patching, we were able to eventually get in and take a quick run around some of the Overworld, its dungeons, the villages outside Stonehill, and the city of Stonehill itself. All we have left to wait for now is the open beta, expected in the next several weeks.

Massively goes to WAR: Emotions behind the Tome of Knowledge
In the same way that everyone on the Warhammer team seems to be suffused with passion for the game, Tome of Knowledge lead Carrie Gouskos couldn't help but pass on information about one of the game's most innovative features.

Player vs. Everything: Online Games and Sex
As humans, sex is something that plays a very important role in our lives and personal experiences. It's a pretty universal and emotionally charged topic that can dramatically influence how we think of ourselves and how we view our relationships with other people

For more of Massively's Warhammer Online coverage, be sure to check out the full series of "Massively Goes to WAR" articles, continuing tomorrow and throughout the week.

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The MMO week in a minute (Conan launch edition)

by Michael Zenke May 25th 2008 @ 5:00PM

Age of Conan opens its doors to the bloodthirsty hordes
Finally, finally, the gates to Hyboria open. Today Age of Conan officially launches. We've got an enormous wrap-up of all the recent content we've had here on the site. For the moment, though, you'll have to be happy with Massively's "best of": Age of Conan.

CoX Issue 12: Midnight Hour goes live!
CoX players can now enjoy all the new features, including long awaited Villain Epic Archetypes, the new Midnighter Club content, the beautiful Ancient Mediterranean zone of Cimerora, the vast number of new power combinations available through Powerset Proliferation, and of course the numerous Quality of Life improvements.

A World of Warcraft player's guide to Age of Conan
Join us on a brief tour through the world of Hyboria, to touch on some of the similarities and differences that join and separate Azeroth with Conan's world. We'll talk about mounts , crafting, PvP, combat, and several other gameplay elements. Join us on this cross-world expedition, and keep your pith helmets on!

Massively hands-on: Wizard101
We recently had a chance to visit KingsIsle's Austin studios (they've taken up residence in a corner of the complex formerly inhabited by Origin Systems) and enroll in the Ravenwood School for the Magical Arts for a day to get a feel for the game.

Delegates for EVE's first council of stellar management announced
The voting for the first EVE Online CSM closed just a few days ago, but already CCP has announced the nine lucky players that will compose the first Council of Stellar Management.

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The MMO week in a minute

by Michael Zenke May 18th 2008 @ 5:00PM

Massively goes to Seattle: A wrap-up of ION 2008
It's been a great week on the west coast, for the second annual MMO-centric Seattle conference. Now called ION, everything we've heard has indicated that this week's event was a tremendous success.

Ask Massively: Age of Conan survival guide (for your computer)
It's time, once again, to unleash the prognosticative and philosophical pulchritude of Ask Massively, where the only thing we take seriously is alliteration.

Anti-Aliased: How to pick the MMO for you
How do you separate the good from the bad? How do you know if you'll stick to a game? You don't want to gamble with an expensive game only to find out that you totally hate it and wish it would burn in the deepest depths of hell.

Player vs. Everything: Putting raiding on your resume
Ten years ago, the idea of putting something like being an officer in a hardcore raiding guild on your resume would have been laughable. When trying to sell yourself to a prospective employer, you want to put your best foot forward.

BlizzCon 2008 announced
A press release across the newsires has announced an unexpected development: Blizzard will be throwing another BlizzCon this year.

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