Filed under: World of Warcraft, Game mechanics, Warhammer Online, PvE, Player Consequences

As long as World of Warcraft remains the top performing MMO on the market most game developers are going to assume that only the minority of players actually prefer grouping. I've seen people compare the subscription numbers of World of Warcraft to games like EverQuest 2 to support this argument. It's obvious that most players would rather keep the solo friendly format then be forced back into the days of required grouping. However, the situation doesn't require that MMOs have to be designed to cater to just one style of gameplay. Some minor changes could be implemented in modern questing and leveling design, which would greatly encourage cooperative grouping. Most MMOs that are oriented on solo questing only discourage grouping by accident and not on purpose. Still some of these "accidents" tend to be very annoying to anyone trying to level with a group of friends.

Continue reading Player Consequences: Getting back to Grouping

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Filed under: Fantasy, Game mechanics, Warhammer Online, Opinion

	Did you enjoy this? Make sure to check out all of our previous Warhammer Online features, and don't miss any of our ongoing coverage as Massively goes to WAR!

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Filed under: Fantasy, EverQuest II, Patches

• The Guild Hall Event! The cities of Qeynos and Freeport are busily working to build guild housing for EverQuest 2's mightiest organizations. You can help out!
  
• Veksar! We first noted the addition of this dungeon back in the Senior Producer's letter to the players, but it's great to see it finally in-game. The dungeons acts as a 'teaser' for content in the upcoming expansion and is appropriate for characters at the highest levels.
  
• Everfrost Overhaul! The first in what is likely to be a series of zone re-makes sees this icy realm given much better level progression, more solo content, and even a more intuitive design.
• Shiny new armor! Armor appearances have been updated and improved across the board, with brand new writs and quests for the non-adventuring-inclined.
• Tons more, including more zone tweaks, gameplay changes, the addition of a 'guild points' system, UI fixes and spell changes!

Continue reading EverQuest II Game Update 48 now live!

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Filed under: At a glance, Betas, Fantasy, Sci-fi, Dark Age of Camelot, Dreamlords, Fallen Earth, Flyff, Events, in-game, Expansions, Forums, Game mechanics, Lore, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Free-to-play, Massively meta, Saga, Grand Chase

Continue reading News from the Wider MMO World: September 2, 2008

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Filed under: Fantasy, Screenshots, EverQuest II, One Shots

Today's One Shots shows a heroic shot from EverQuest II, showing a brave adventurer who just happened to run up against one too many Orcs. This screenshot comes in to us from Korvin, who plays a Shadowknight in EverQuest II, and said he ran up against this band of nasty orcs in the Commonlands. We understand he also cleaned their clocks, so huzzah to you on your victory, Korvin!

Have you taken on a group when you thought the odds were impossible and triumphed? All screens, all topics, all games are welcome; from the silly to the sunny to the scary! Just bundle them up and send them to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com. It's more fun than letting them gather virtual dust in your screenshot folder.
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Filed under: Fantasy, Screenshots, EverQuest II, Expansions, Wallpapers

	Well met, fellow Norrathian! Make sure to check out all of our coverage of the next EverQuest II expansion, The Shadow Odyssey as well as Seeds of Destruction, the next expansion to EverQuest!

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Like Everquest II, but different

Final Fantasy XI will soon be coming out with a new "Level Sync" system, designed to help people differing levels gain experience together. It will basically work like a normal group, only everyone's level will be scaled down to the same level as a target player. Note: I said scaled DOWN... not up.

The new Level Sync system is the result of extensive discussions on how to resolve these concerns, while preserving game balance and avoiding abuse and power-leveling by RMT groups. It addresses the issues that have resulted from a steady stream of new, low-level players joining an existing game world populated by scores of high-level veterans, and is part of the ongoing effort to clean up the FFXI community and remove players in violation of the users' agreement.

At the heart of the feature is the new ability for members of a party to "power down" to the level of a designated target player. Now friends will be able to adventure together and gain experience as if they were all the same level!

For more information on the new "Level Sync" system, please check the Final Fantasy XI Official Site.

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How many commas are in a gagillion?

Hold your pinky to your mouth and say it with me, "One Billion Dollars." Then look awkwardly around and sense the stares from nonbelievers, rethink your position, and then say this, "One hundred million dollars." This should meet with acceptance and we can fade to black.

After setting the interwebz on fire a while back with a statement that a billion dollars would be required to compete with World of Warcraft, Activision has brought out some naysayers to their "ridiculous numbers" as Mythic Entertainment's Mark Jacobs calls it.

Mister Jacobs probably has a pretty good handle on real costs. He can take a look at his actual development costs for a game about to launch, Warhammer Online, and use a multiplier, and maybe a big multiplier to determine how to compete against a four-year old juggernaut in WoW. Jacobs would not comment on how much it cost to produce WAR except to say it was less than $100 million but still a lot of money. In addition to the discussion on battling for the top spot, Mark did describe his vision of success for WAR:

"Would I like us to be number one? Well, of course. Do we have to be number one to be successful? No. I want us to be no less than number two; that would make me very happy.” For the number two spot, Jacobs reasoned that “Warhammer” would need at least a half-million subscribers, which he guessed was close to what “Final Fantasy” and “EverQuest 2” have now. “Let’s just say north of half a million would mean we’re successful. Now how a far north? I wouldn’t mind being a little bit cold.”

Interesting take on the projected FF and EQ2 numbers. Read the rest of the interview at MTV.

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Filed under: MMO industry, Opinion, Ask Massively

I'm feeling a bit cranky these days, so for this week's Ask Massively, I thought that I'd give you all my unvarnished opinion instead of kissing your collective backside in order to generate a few more page hits. Get your claws out for this one, folks. This nugget of truth is going to hurt a little.

Why do MMO's only have 1 shot when they change so *drastically* over time?

Games such as EQ2, DDO, Vanguard, Tabula Rasa, perhaps AoC...

6 months to a year later when the game is good and bursting with content etc. Why do players always chime the mantra "Too little too late" and perfer to just wait for the "next big thing" instead of re-visting these other games?

I understand feeling burnt for not getting everything at launch, but who cares? if the game has everything you wanted *now* who cares about the past when it *didnt*?

I just dont get it.

-Ding Dong Dang

Continue reading Ask Massively: Second chances in MMO's

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