With early release and launch day for The Secret World fast approaching, I took a moment to glance back over the game's development history. In the back of my mind, I knew I'd been waiting on the title for quite some time, but it surprised me to learn that it's been well over five years since I registered on the official forums following Funcom's first ARG brain-teaser.

Guild Wars 2 fans can also see the light at the end of the tunnel, though we don't have a definitive launch date as of yet. Regardless, today's Daily Grind is all about patience. More specifically, how long have you been waiting for your next great MMORPG?

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!

At times, playing Star Trek Online can feel like the strangest possible variant on Pokémon as you shuffle duty officers. The development team has worked on several methods to help players acquire new duty officers and find more uses for existing specializations, and the latest developer blog paints the new Reinforcements Pack as the culmination of several lessons. It's certain to contain officers from existing species with a familiar distribution of rarities, but these new officers are meant to add a little more spice to the system.

Each of the officers acquired from the new pack will have alternative active roster abilities, resulting in a grand total of 13 new abilities across 11 specializations. New abilities will also be added to officers without active abilities across the game, even non-pack officers. The Reinforcements Pack also contains other rewards, including a chance at a civilian cargo hauler that functions akin to a shuttle with merchants, bank access, and crafting stations. It's certainly a tantalizing potential reward for regular players -- and the new officers that come along won't go unused either.

If you're an avid Dungeons & Dragons Online player, you probably already have Menace of the Underdark preordered. After all, the expansion is launching on June 25th, so you've got less than a week to wait. But that's still not quite "launching right now," and even if you have the expansion purchased, you might want a look at more of what to expect. The newest batch of expansion screenshots should help tide you over for the next few days.

So what's in there? Aside from previews of two of the new quests coming in the expansion, there's also a look at the environment and architecture of Sschyndrylin, which is not exactly a pleasant spot to hang out over the weekend. Take a look at the gallery below for a full lineup of all the new screenshots as well as the previous shots of the expansion, and mark your calendar for Monday, when you can start killing Drow on your new Druid.

[Source: Turbine press release]

Last week's polls sent Higiri off to handle horrible dungeons, while Rielene continued to quest across the land. Much as in a certain famous fantasy trilogy that may have won our first bonus poll, this means that there are two distinct paths now being following by our intrepid TERA protagonists, and that means more time to focus on each. So I'm starting off with Rielene and her quest into the depths of Arcadia, beginning with the unexpectedly tumultuous Fey Forest.

The opening explanation behind the quests here is fairly well handled, and it actually gives a reason that adventurers are being sent off into the depths of danger when an army would seem more suitable. Put simply, the Valkyon Federation's armed forces are primarily focused against the invading Argon, and that means that the rest of the world has kind of gotten messy. Adventurers aren't meant to represent some strange amalgam of soldiers and free operators; they're the last-ditch reinforcements for a home front that's deteriorating rapidly.

Continue Reading

The writing is on the wall, and the hens are laying eggs of prophecy: Free-to-play is the inevitable future of all video games. This comes from EA COO Peter Moore, who thinks we'll be seeing the free product plus microtransaction business model trump the up-front cost of a retail box.

In an interview with Kotaku, Moore laid it out: "I think there's an inevitability that happens five years from now, 10 years from now, that, let's call it the client, to use the term, [is free.] It is no different than... it's free to me to walk into The Gap in my local shopping mall. They don't charge me to walk in there. I can walk into The Gap, enjoy the music, look at the jeans and what have you, but if I want to buy something I have to pay for it."

Moore says that free-to-play works in favor of the industry because it constantly brings in new players -- and new potential buyers. He acknowledged that some gamers might be entrenched in how business has always been done in the past, but it will change no matter what. He pointed to the downfall of Blockbuster and Tower Records as examples of companies that didn't adapt to a rapidly changing landscape, declaring that EA is determined not to stubbornly stick to the past.

We're on the eve of update 1.9 in RIFT, and I think it's full of great changes that will bring back returning players. But if you're one of the many who tried the game at launch and left a few months later, it might feel daunting to make a comeback because so much has changed.

Fear not! In this week's Enter at Your Own Rift, we'll gently introduce you to some of the biggest changes to the new player experience and provide a condensed rundown of the updates since launch. If you're seeking out a tl;dr version of the game since launch, you've come to the right place!

Continue Reading

With the rash of MMO-related job losses in recent weeks, it's nice to see the occasional blurb about a dev finding a new home. Former Dominus and Dark Age of Camelot community guru Sanya Weathers has landed at Undead Labs, where she'll be heading up -- you guessed it -- the community relations department.

This is good news for fans of the firm's tentatively titled Class3 zombie MMO as well. As Undead Labs' Jeff Strain writes, "you don't hire a kick-ass community director if you have nothing to say."

What do Vikings, Excalibur, native Americans, and Mayan hell-beasts have in common? They're all part of The Secret World's Darkness War dungeon, of course.

The instance's story setup is pretty slick, and I don't think we're treading too far into spoiler territory if I reveal that you'll be taking a peyote-fueled trip through time and memory to experience a traumatic event from the annals of the Wabanaki tribe that dwells in the game's Blue Mountain region.

Earlier this week I took my own trip through the dungeon -- as well as parts of Egypt, Transylvania, and New England -- with a trusty Funcom guide and a pair of similarly enthralled game journalists. While it wasn't necessarily mind-altering, it was bizarrely enjoyable in a uniquely Secret World sort of way.

Continue Reading

Wargaming.net is all over the place lately. When they're not dominating E3 booth space or installing gaming centers on real-world battleships, the devs find time to update their action shooters.

World of Tanks' 7.4 patch brings two new game modes, new maps, and new premium tanks to the table. The new modes are called encounter battle and assault. Each is designed to emphasize strategic gameplay. Two opposing teams fight over a single base in the former, while one team defends a base against an assault team in the latter.

The new maps are offering differing gameplay experiences due to their terrain and object placement. Widepark is a "dense labyrinth of streets in a half-ruined European-style town," while Airfield takes place in the hilly terrain of North Africa. Full details on the patch are yours for the reading at the official World of Tanks website, and don't forget the new trailer after the break.

[Source: Wargaming.net press release]

Continue Reading

Starship captains awoke today to a mighty change over on the Star Trek Online forums. Perfect World notified players that in order to use the new forums, they now have to use a PWE account instead of a Cryptic account.

This appears to be an attempt to coax players to abandon the old Cryptic accounts in favor of those of STO's new overlord. While there have been complaints about the move, Perfect World also announced that it is offering a limited-time promotion for all players who link their accounts: an in-game package that includes 5,000 unrefined Dilithium ore, bonus XP, a rare weapon, and various consumables. Perfect World notes that this promotion can only be claimed once per account, not per character. The promotion also applies to anyone who has previously linked these two accounts.

If the classic MMO is an open sandbox wthout direction and the modern MMO is a guided ride along the quest railroad, City of Heroes was made on the day in between those two points. Nowhere is that more evident than in classic zones from the earliest days of the game, which featured a large number of contacts who would send you scurrying across a zone to largely random points without any real rhyme or reason. It was a different time then, and I think we all still expected to get most of our rewards via killing random things on the streets.

You knew that they were criminals because they attacked you, see.

These days, MMOs are very different, and not entirely coincidentally, City of Heroes as a game keeps revamping its zones. After the Atlas/Mercy/Galaxy revamp that we all thought would never happen, it seems that the team behind the game is really making an effort to give players some redone and more invigorating zones with coherent plot threads. And for many reasons, this is one of the best things that can happen to the game from start to finish.

Continue Reading

Do not call Second Life a game. If you find yourself in the position of describing the game at all publicly, be prepared to be corrected: Second Life is not a game; it's a world. Let me amend that: Second Life is an experience, a world, a game, or whatever the players, residents, and consumers want to call it. In fact, the Linden Lab baby is whatever you want to make of it, and I have seen many, many sides of it over the last eight years since I joined the experience.

Don't worry; this column will not be a fanboy rehash of the successes of Second Life and will not be a recount of my favorite memories. Instead, we'll focus on facts to prove just how incredible this latest ninth anniversary is.

Continue Reading

Many a Tolkien fan has looked forward to traversing the regions of Rohan ever since Lord of the Rings Online was first announced way back when. Now, with the release date for the Riders of Rohan expansion set for September 5th, those fans are literally champing at the bit to run with the horses.

To give players a taste of the area, Turbine has released numerous screenshots of the beautiful landscapes of the Rohan region. A flythough video also highlights waterfalls in East Wall, fields in The Wold, settlements in Norscrofts, and the forests in Eaves of Fangorn, as well as other notable areas.

Check out all of the new images in the gallery below and head past the break for the video flythrough of the gorgeous scenery of Rohan. And for more information about the expansion, check out The Road to Mordor's recent feature focusing on Riders of Rohan.

[Source: Turbine press release]

Continue Reading

Getting a handle on MOBA-style games can sometimes be tough, particularly if you're brand-new to the genre. That's why Hi-Rez Studios has created an eight-minute tutorial video for its upcoming SMITE: for purely educational purposes. If it so happens to get you totally excited about the game, well, it's not the devs' fault, now is it?

The video explains both the ins and the outs of MOBA gaming in general as well as SMITE in specific. Players are walked through a 5v5 match between the gods. Some of SMITE's particulars are important to note, such as how the game is played in third-person over-the-shoulder view and relies on skill to hit targets (versus locking on to them).

You can get your beginners SMITE certificate by watching the video after the jump. Certificates are completely fictitious and will be mailed seven to nine weeks after course completion. Make sure to also read about our recent hands-on impressions of the game!

Continue Reading

Oh give me a home, where the... well OK, so it doesn't really matter what roams, as long as there is player housing; for a sandbox game, this one feature is practically a staple. Now Face of Mankind joins the ranks of those games offering a place to call your own. Nexeon Technologies announced that along with other updates, the sci-fi game now has a public apartment feature where players can make a hangout for their friends, create an underground dueling club, or any number of other possibilities. The houses have various permission settings, including charging an entry fee.

Also in the update was a new character panel that helps players organize their character better as well as stay on top of new information released about major combat revisions. To encourage players to get the word out about the game and the new features, FoM implemented a new referral system that rewards 15 days of premium-level game time to anyone (including trial accounts) who has a friend sign up through the referral link and then buys a premium subscription.

[Source: Face of Mankind press release]

We've all been wronged by others in games. It's a fact of life. And how we respond to these slights can reflect on our character (moral character, not in-game... you understand). Sure, we can be the bigger person and turn the other cheek. We can appeal to higher authorities to come and smite our enemies, when applicable. More often than not, we can sit there feeling impotent and without a way to strike back.

But... but every once in a while, an opportunity for revenge comes along. Finally, you're able to deliver some payback. Maybe you did it fully within the confines of the game's mechanics -- PvP, for example -- or maybe you structured a revenge scheme so unorthodox that several motion picture studios are vying for the film rights.

Let's hear your revenge stories today. When did you get it, and did it satisfy you in the end?

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!

OK, PlanetSide 2 faithful. Do you want the good news first or the bad news first? The bad news is that the latest gameplay video is woefully short (like, 48 seconds' worth of short). The good news is that the action is fast, furious, and suitably heart-pumping, so you'll want to watch it at least a couple of times.

Galaxies? Check. MAXs? Check. Ground troops? Check, check, and check. The clip, titled Ground Assault on Tech Plant Hvar, shows off a firefight between forces of the New Conglomerate and the Terran Republic. You'll find it after the cut, so double-time it soldier!

[Source: Sony Online Entertainment press release]

Continue Reading

Bree's off this week, so Justin is joined by Elisabeth to fashion a new empire in their own idiom. We have to warn you: It will not end well. There will be unfortunate mutations, a revolt in the slave mines, and international pressure to shut down Massively Speaking due to its torrid language. On the plus side, we get to gab about Guild Wars 2!

Have a comment for the podcasters? Shoot an email to podcast@massively.com. We may just read your email on the air!

Get the podcast:
[iTunes] Subscribe to Massively Speaking directly in iTunes.
[RSS] Add Massively Speaking to your RSS aggregator.
[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.
Listen here on the page:



Read below the cut for the full show notes.

Continue Reading

Facebook may not be your first choice for gaming, but it's impossible to ignore the influence that its games have had on pricing and the social landscape. Starting next month, the development team behind the site is empowering companies to give players a very novel way of paying for items: a recurring subscription for a fixed amount each month, which one might call a "subscription fee."

Yes, that's right: Facebook is opening up the option for subscriptions to its games in the hopes of drawing in more money. Subscriptions are already being tested in several games, such as KIXEYE's Backyard Monsters. This coincides with the development team's shift away from Facebook Credits as a universal microtransaction currency for all of the many games floating around, mostly since developers preferred to use in-brand virtual currencies instead.

None of this is particularly new to MMO veterans. It's still rather interesting after years of business model changes to see subscriptions being touted as the future of payments.

[Thanks to Space Cobra for the tip!]