Filed under: At a glance, Massively meta

GamerDNA and Massively look back at the MMO year in review Today’s column features data from July through December. GamerDNA being a startup, our data collection in the first half of the year was not consistent enough to use for anything but wild guessing and drinking games. Listen, a start up tech company can make ANYTHING into a drinking game.

Anti-Aliased: Top 5 things MMOs should learn in the new year I am absolutely no more inventive than every other blog in existence, this edition of Anti-Aliased is dedicated to the top 5 things the industry…

Continue reading The week in Massively features

The week in Massively features originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 04 Jan 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Fantasy, Final Fantasy XI, Events, in-game

Those moogles are crazy, ya’know? First they almost cause a buffalo stampede for the opening of the Mog House Management Union Buffalo Bonanza Ranch (try saying that three times fast) and only now do they realize that buffalo eat a lot. Sadly, these poor moogles ended up working during all of the holiday festivities just to keep their buffalo happy. That’s heartbreaking by anybody’s standards. Yet, while the moogles work, herdsmen have come from the ranch on behalf of the MHMU to bring us buffalo based treats and festivities to the streets of the four main cities of Vana’diel. Plus, if you…

Final Fantasy XI throws a bovine bonanza for the Year of the Ox originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, MMO industry, News items

The new year has already brought with it a new milestone for EVE Online, which has now broken all previous records for players active at a given time in its setting of New Eden — over 45,000. This is a substantial achievement for a game where the setting is one single server, representing a vast galaxy of over 5000 solar systems to explore or control. CCP Manifest writes: “What a great way to start out 2009 — a new PCU (Peak Concurrent User) record of 45,186! While we’ve made tremendous serverside changes in the EVE Online infrastructure with the EVE64 and StacklessIO initiatives, it is…

EVE Online sets new record with over 45,000 players logged in originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Opinion, The Daily Grind

Today’s the day many folks are heading back from vacation - either to school, or back to the office. For most, this means that the majority of their gaming once again becomes the stuff of nights and weekends - at least, when it comes to their MMO gaming. There again, there are those who carry their games with them on their laptops and will log in during lunch or periods of downtime between classes. (Nothing wrong with that so long as you’re not getting yourself in trouble by playing when you should be focusing elsewhere, eh?) Of course, with casual MMO games on the web, MMO sites to read news…

The Daily Grind: Getting your daily gaming fix originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Fantasy, Screenshots, Chronicles of Spellborn

You’ve got to admit it - Chronicles of Spellborn has some seriously amazing graphics. And to prove that’s true, Tipa at West Karana has posted a great selection of screenies. They include some of the High Houses, cityscapes, temples, and yes, the gratuitous undressed character shot. As if having Within Temptation do the music for it wasn’t enough to tempt you (pun fully intended) into the game, these screen shots provide the additional visual stimulus needed to point you to the beta sign-up. If you’re in the EU, you can download the client for free. So hop over, take a look, and commence the…

Four cheers for Tipa’s Spellborn gallery originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Game mechanics, Guides, PvP, Tips and tricks, PvE, Hands-on, Education, EVE Evolved

Back in 2005, I became obsessed with the art of tanking in EVE Online. Before writing the definitive tanking guide for EON issue 2 (for which the EVE community dubbed me “the tanking guy”), I spent a lot of time working out the mathematics behind the art. At a time when people preferred a trial and error approach to combat, I went as far as to create a spreadsheet to automate calculations on the strength of your tank. Over the years, more advanced tools like EFT (EVE Fitting Tool) have been released which have this functionality and more. In this short series of articles, I aim to cover…

Continue reading EVE Evolved: The art of tanking - Armour tanking

EVE Evolved: The art of tanking - Armour tanking originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: News items, Legal, Virtual worlds

Just to update you all on the progress of the Worlds.com vs NCsoft lawsuit (a patent suit that is pitched to spread to other MMOG and virtual environment developers/operators), the Korea Times reports on 31 December 2008, that NCsoft had yet to be served with notice of the suit.
There are essentially only two ways in which the notice can be legally served to NCsoft in the Republic of Korea to establish jurisdiction over NCsoft as a defendant. One is through formal diplomatic channels, and the other is via the Hague Service Convention. The HSC was established because of the enormous delays in…

Continue reading Worlds.com vs NCsoft: Not yet served?

Worlds.com vs NCsoft: Not yet served? originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: World of Warcraft, Game mechanics, Leveling, Grouping, Opinion, MMOGology

In a post-World of Warcraft world the concept of grouping while leveling has changed. Where grouping was once essential to survival in MMOGs, today it’s an optional extra. As a result, leveling up can feel pretty lonely. In most MMOGs it’s no longer necessary to group unless you’re running an instanced dungeon or the rare quest geared toward a specific number of players. While I love the fact that I can play WoW on my own terms and my own schedule I feel like I’m missing out on the whole “massively multiplayer” thing. Isn’t that the reason we play MMOGs to begin with? Why should we wait…

Continue reading MMOGology: Looking for incentive to group

MMOGology: Looking for incentive to group originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Massively meta, Meet the Team

Once a week our writers will give you a glimpse into their lives, to let you get to know them and the characters they play a little better. Click here to read more Meet the Team. What do you do for Massively.com? I contribute the weekly column, Behind the Curtain. Instead of having a real job on the site posting up actual news, I’m lucky enough to just hang around and ramble on for a few hundred words every seven days, in a general opinion-based format. What’s your favorite MMO? World of Warcraft, easily. Like the T, I feel like a bit of a sell-out choosing WoW, but this is my time in…

Continue reading Meet the Team: Craig Withers

Meet the Team: Craig Withers originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Fantasy, Screenshots, Guild Wars, One Shots

Today’s image may not look nearly as awesome as it is when you consider the limitations of the blog format, but the above thin strip of image is actually an enormous Guild Wars Wintersday panorama! These gorgeous panoramas are compiled from several screenshots, carefully edited together by Shawn W. and then posted to his Flickr gallery of lovely Guild Wars panoramas for all to enjoy. You can not only find a full-size of today’s frosty festival image there, but several others, all waiting for your eyes. Great work, Shawn, and thanks for sending this in to us here at One Shots! If you’ve…

One Shots: Lion’s Arch Wintersday panorama originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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