Tag Archives: PvE

EVE Fanfest 2013 day two: World of Darkness, Odyssey, and EVE Virtual Reality with the Oculus Rift

Posted on April 27, 2013 by Brendan Drain| Leave a comment
EVE Fanfest 2013 day two World of Darkness, Odyssey, and EVE Virtual Reality with the Oculus Rift EVE Online's tenth anniversary Fanfest promised to be its biggest yet, with over 1,400 players packed into Iceland's Harpa convention centre to find out the latest on EVE Online, DUST 514, and World of Darkness. The first day focused mainly on DUST and its link with the EVE universe, but today the focus largely switched back to internet spaceships. There were plenty of roundtable discussions, and the CSM and Alliance panels were as awesome as ever, but it was the EVE Keynote that really blew the crowd away.

The day got off to a good start with the highly anticipated World of Darkness talk. Most fans were probably expecting to see more airy game design ideas and another shiny trailer, but this year CCP just came out and put all its cards on the table. We saw that the game is still firmly in pre-production, with much of the previous work going into developing the engine and cool content creation tools and shaders. While I was initially disappointed at the lack of gameplay progress or shiny cinematics, I found this approach of being open and direct with fans very refreshing. As I told WoD art director Thomas Holt, honest beats shiny every time.

Read on for a full run-down of the EVE reveals from the second day of EVE's tenth anniversary Fanfest, including in-depth details of the Odyssey expansion's features.

Continue reading EVE Fanfest 2013 day two: World of Darkness, Odyssey, and EVE Virtual Reality with the Oculus Rift

MassivelyEVE Fanfest 2013 day two: World of Darkness, Odyssey, and EVE Virtual Reality with the Oculus Rift originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 26 Apr 2013 23:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVE Evolved: Five years of EVE Evolved

Posted on April 21, 2013 by Brendan Drain| Leave a comment
EVE Evolved title image About five years ago, on April 27th, 2008, I joined the Massively team and wrote the very first issue of the EVE Evolved column. Five years later, the column is still going strong and delivering its weekly dose of EVE Online to thousands of readers. I used to worry about running out of ideas to write about, but regular game updates and hilarious player shenanigans mean there's always something interesting going on in New Eden. When EVE hits its 10th anniversary in May, this column will have been running for just over half of the game's lifetime. In that time, I've written over 250 in-depth articles, guides, in-game stories and opinion pieces on EVE Online and a few on DUST 514.

As usual, I'll be celebrating this anniversary by rounding up this year's column highlights and giving away two 30-day Pilot's License Extensions to two lucky readers. To enter the competition, write a comment explaining which EVE Evolved articles from this year you liked best and what topics you'd like to see covered in the coming year. You will need an active EVE account to claim the prize, so be sure to include your character name in your comment if you want to be in with a chance. If you'd rather not give out your character name or don't have an EVE account but would like to give the game a go, you can sign up a new trial account and use the name of your new character.

In this week's EVE Evolved, I look back at the highlights from the column's fifth year!

Continue reading EVE Evolved: Five years of EVE Evolved

MassivelyEVE Evolved: Five years of EVE Evolved originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 21 Apr 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Massively’s Darkfall launch week diary: Day three and recap

Posted on April 19, 2013 by Jef Reahard| Leave a comment

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Massively's Darkfall launch week diary: Day three and recap
So yesterday I kinda rambled on at length about why I'm loving Darkfall Unholy Wars. I'm not really apologizing; after all, this is my launch week diary! Today, though, I figured I might tone it down a bit and just hit the highlights of my day three play experience. After that, I'll recap and give you some final thoughts on Darkfall as it stands in April 2013.

Continue reading Massively's Darkfall launch week diary: Day three and recap

MassivelyMassively's Darkfall launch week diary: Day three and recap originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 19 Apr 2013 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Massively’s Darkfall launch week diary: Day one

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Jef Reahard| Comments Off

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Darkfall Unholy Wars loading screen art
Darkfall Unholy Wars' April 2013 launch was quite a bit like Darkfall's February 2009 launch. For me, at any rate. One crucial difference was that this time I was actually able to purchase Aventurine's fantasy sandbox title even though I wasn't able to log into it.

Four years ago, finding a digital copy of Darkfall was damn near impossible. Fast forward to the present and AV has improved its billing apparatus but certainly not its delivery mechanism. After nearly three hours, DFUW's patcher managed to pull down 90 MB out of 6487. I switched to the torrent download, and while it was faster, I still had to leave it overnight. So technically this is day two impressions even though it's day one for yours truly.

Continue reading Massively's Darkfall launch week diary: Day one

MassivelyMassively's Darkfall launch week diary: Day one originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 17 Apr 2013 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Some Assembly Required: Your guide to MMO sandboxes in 2013 and beyond

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Jef Reahard| Comments Off
Some Assembly Required - Massively's guide to sandboxes Welcome to Massively's guide to MMO sandboxes in 2013 and beyond. I've collected the essential details on all the major sandbox titles releasing this year and in the near future in one easy-to-reference article. If you're wondering whether ArcheAge forces you to PvP, or if you can't tell The Repopulation from Origins of Malu, this is your post.

I'll be updating it as game features are added, removed, or revealed, so be sure to use the comments to let me know if I've overlooked a particularly noteworthy item. Finally, I want to point out that this isn't an exhaustive list because of the sheer number of sandbox projects ongoing. For now, I'm choosing to focus on the ones that will be playable in 2013/2014 as well as the projects that have a big-name developer attached.

Continue reading Some Assembly Required: Your guide to MMO sandboxes in 2013 and beyond

MassivelySome Assembly Required: Your guide to MMO sandboxes in 2013 and beyond originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 12 Apr 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVE Evolved: EVE’s Odyssey expansion could be incredible

Posted on March 31, 2013 by Brendan Drain| Comments Off
EVE Evolved title image When EVE Online's upcoming Odyssey expansion was officially announced last week at PAX East, the anticipation from players was almost palpable. Odyssey aims to follow in the footsteps of 2009's blockbuster Apocrypha expansion by revamping the exploration system and filling the void of space with thousands of new hidden treasures. We've been promised new ships, a new scanner mechanic with sleek new UI and additional functionality, and a rebalancing of industrial resources across the game.

Though CCP is saving most of the expansion reveals for next month's EVE Fanfest and beyond, we can make some fairly educated guesses on what the expansion will contain from the press release and teaser site. It's pretty much a given that we'll get some kind of new exploration ship, and there's pretty strong evidence that moon minerals will be changing somehow. We're also almost guaranteed to get new faction battlecruisers, and the evidence is mounting that Jove space may finally be about to open for exploration.

In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at the evidence for Jove space finally opening, explain why we desperately need a new scanning system, and make some educated guesses on what else the Odyssey expansion might contain.

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MassivelyEVE Evolved: EVE's Odyssey expansion could be incredible originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 31 Mar 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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XL releases offline farm monitor for ArcheAge

Posted on February 27, 2013 by Jef Reahard| Comments Off
Oh no, we might actually have to play our MMOs! So farming is kind of a thing in ArcheAge. According to a recent review of the game's Korean client, it's also a thing that requires a certain amount of in-game maintenance, lest your crops wither away and your cute little cows and chickens die of starvation.

Management minigames tend to give time-poor players a severe case of eyetwitch, though, so XLGAMES has released a new tool designed to help gamers keep track of their farm and its furry denizens. The system is basically a monitor designed to alert you (through either a web or mobile app) that your assets need attention. MMO Culture reports that there are currently no options to harvest your crops or feed your livestock outside of actually connecting to the game server.

MassivelyXL releases offline farm monitor for ArcheAge originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 27 Feb 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Seatribe handing out Salem beta keys

Posted on February 25, 2013 by Jef Reahard| Comments Off
Salem farm Want to get a free look at Salem, the scary hardcore permadeath crafting MMO from Seatribe and the devs responsible for Haven & Hearth? Head to the official Salem website and score a beta key while you can. There were 140 of them when we checked a few minutes ago, so make it snappy!

You can also read through Massively's multiple hands-on impression pieces to see if Salem is up your alley.

[Thanks to Nick for the tip!]

MassivelySeatribe handing out Salem beta keys originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 25 Feb 2013 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Repopulation’s crafting is serious business

Posted on February 25, 2013 by Jef Reahard| Comments Off
The Repopulation - crafting flowchart See that flowchart up there? That's a recipe visualization of a single crafted item in The Repopulation. The dodge fitting that it represents is one of the most complex items in the upcoming sci-fi sandbox, and while not all of the game's craftables are equally complex, the fitting serves to illustrate that the devs are serious about a meaty crafting system and a heavily player-driven economy.

In addition to gathering the necessary materials and producing all of the sub-components, crafters will also need to take into account the potential quality of the final dodge fitting, which is affected by recipe mastery, resource quality, sub-component quality, skill level, and luck.

The Repopulation dev team explains it all in greater detail on the game's official website.

MassivelyThe Repopulation's crafting is serious business originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 25 Feb 2013 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fallen Earth introduces new coresuit armor, free respecs

Posted on February 21, 2013 by Jef Reahard| Comments Off

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Fallen Earth introduces new coresuit armor, free respecs
Reloaded Productions has thrown a bone to Fallen Earth players who have been getting rolled by PvPers with powerful G.O.R.E. weapons. There's some new player-crafted armor in town called a Stage 3 Coresuit which uses procs to increase survivability in both PvP and PvE.

Fallen Earth's latest patch also features revamped Gamma radiation-powered mutation skill lines as well as two free character respecs for everyone.

[Source: Reloaded Productions press release]

MassivelyFallen Earth introduces new coresuit armor, free respecs originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 21 Feb 2013 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Level 50 player reviews ArcheAge, sees ‘issues for the casual crowd’

Posted on February 18, 2013 by Jef Reahard| Comments Off
ArcheAge home and garden If you're interested in ArcheAge but you haven't been playing the game's Korean release client, there's a thread at the AionSource forums that demands your attention. It's basically a review of the game by a level 50 player, and he has plenty of interesting details to share about PvP and safe zones, the legal, weather, and land ownership systems, and the significant role that crafting and resource management play in the day-to-day experience.

The author illustrates several of ArcheAge's extensive non-combat gameplay options, many of which are focused on crafting and gathering. These take a certain amount of dedication, as not logging in for a few days will result in the deaths of your crops and livestock. That said, it is possible for in-game "family" members to manage things while you're gone.

The ultimate takeaway from the piece is that the author is having a great time in an MMORPG loaded with unique features, though he does see "potential issues for the more casual crowd."

MassivelyLevel 50 player reviews ArcheAge, sees 'issues for the casual crowd' originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 18 Feb 2013 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Some Assembly Required: The sweet sorrow of choosing a new sandbox

Posted on February 15, 2013 by Jef Reahard| Comments Off
Some Assembly Required The sweet sorrow of choosing a new sandbox Late last year I penned a piece that looked ahead to 2013's most promising sandbox titles. Recent developments have necessitated that I add to that list, which is simultaneously staggering and somewhat stressful. My new MMO home is lurking in one of these games, but I must choose, and choose wisely! Help me out after the cut.

Continue reading Some Assembly Required: The sweet sorrow of choosing a new sandbox

MassivelySome Assembly Required: The sweet sorrow of choosing a new sandbox originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 15 Feb 2013 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fallen Earth devs prepping two-man Dome PvE content

Posted on February 8, 2013 by Jef Reahard| Comments Off

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Fallen Earth devs prepping two-man Dome PvE content
The Fallen Earth dev team has posted a brief state-of-the-game letter for February. In it, we're treated to a preview of something called the Dome, a two-man PvE arena concept that is currently in pre-production.

The Dome stems from a desire to provide "more ways for PvEers to distinguish themselves and provide a competitive outlet to test their mettle outside of PvP." Players will trigger a series of consecutive skirmishes that get tougher as a team gets farther, and of course the rewards will scale accordingly.

MassivelyFallen Earth devs prepping two-man Dome PvE content originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 08 Feb 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVE Evolved: Expanding on wormholes

Posted on January 27, 2013 by Brendan Drain| Comments Off
EVE Evolved title image It's no secret that I'm nuts about wormholes! Last week I looked at the reasons why EVE Online's Apocrypha expansion was such a big success and rejoiced at the recent announcement that CCP will be developing similar laterally designed expansions from now on. In the announcement, developers wrote that they would ideally have liked to iterate on Apocrypha's wormhole gameplay for several releases, which got me thinking about how that gameplay could be expanded on now. Wormholes were a massive catalyst for exploration, small-scale colonisation, industry and PvP, but would it be possible to recapture that magic in an expansion?

The Sleeper storyline certainly evolved with the Incursion expansion as it became known that Sansha forces were able to control wormholes and had invaded Jovian space, but that story sadly didn't translate into gameplay for people living inside wormholes. There's no risk of running into the Sansha home system on your travels, and Sansha forces will never lock down a wormhole system and attack your starbase. That feels like a bit of a wasted opportunity to me, and I worry that a new wormhole expansion could similarly pass up the opportunity to add interesting new gameplay. Adding more hidden wormhole systems and combat sites would be fun for a while, but the underlying wormhole mechanics and NPC capabilities are already common knowledge.

In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at various ways that a future wormhole expansion for EVE could recapture the magic of Sleeper space.

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MassivelyEVE Evolved: Expanding on wormholes originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 27 Jan 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVE Evolved: Bring on the big expansions!

Posted on January 20, 2013 by Brendan Drain| Comments Off
EVE Evolved title image I don't normally jump out of my seat shouting "hell yes!" to an EVE Online dev blog, but this week's announcement on the direction of future expansions has me a little bit excited. In two somewhat dry and lengthy posts, Executive Producer Jon Lander and Senior Producer CCP Seagull detailed the approach they intend to take to ongoing development in 2013. Instead of announcing any big headline features or making vague promises, the developers looked back at the success of 2009's blockbuster Apocrypha expansion.

Apocrypha was hands-down the best expansion EVE has ever had, adding 2500 hidden solar systems accessible only through shifting unstable wormholes. We saw a renaissance of exploration, collaborative research, and colonisation efforts that defied EVE's war-like reputation, and moreover, we saw a rebirth of small-scale PvP. The magic sauce that made Apocrypha work was lateral design: Rather than add one massive vertical feature, the expansion offered a little something for everyone. Apocrypha was EVE at its best, and hearing that developers are going back to that style of expansion honestly makes me a little giddy!

In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at the future for EVE's expansions, why the Apocrypha model works, and why I'm optimistic for 2013 and beyond.

Continue reading EVE Evolved: Bring on the big expansions!

MassivelyEVE Evolved: Bring on the big expansions! originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 20 Jan 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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