‘Beat World of Warcraft’ a game developer resolution for 2009
Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, MMO industry, Opinion
GameDaily has put together a short piece titled “Game Developers Resolutions for 2009“, which is essentially a look at the state of the industry and how they think it can improve. While the piece focuses on video games in general, it does fire a shot at the MMO industry specifically — namely its dominance by one company, and one title.
GameDaily’s fourth resolution it hopes the gaming industry adopts is: “Beat World of Warcraft.” They’re not knocking the game when they say this. In fact GameDaily says, “World of Warcraft is great, and deserving of its status as the 900-pound gorilla of the gaming world. But as fans of video game football can tell you, competition is a good thing, and it’s not healthy for the massively-multiplayer online RPG arena to have one name dominant for this long.”
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Continue reading ‘Beat World of Warcraft’ a game developer resolution for 2009
‘Beat World of Warcraft’ a game developer resolution for 2009 originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 06 Jan 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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New World of Warcraft MMO Gaming Mouse
Blizzard just came out with their new Steelseries World of Warcraft MMO Gaming Mouse with 15 buttons (let me repeat that) 15 buttons. Gamers can now configure complicated macros and in-game actions. This is all swell and all, but why don’t Blizzard just make a Bot to play for us instead. I mean is it fair for a average gamer with their 3-4 button mouse and still using a keyboard to go against this behemoth of a so called “mouse”. Here are the details they have at the Steelseries site:
- Macros up to 160 characters
- A total of 15 programmable buttons
- Over 130 predefined commands for drag-and-drop macro creation
- 16 million illumination choices with 3 intensity and pulsation levels
- World’s first gaming mouse designed exclusively for World of Warcraft®
As you can see it is designed exclusively for World of Warcraft so if you play WOW then you must get this mouse if you ever want to achieve the best WOW player ever!! Basically this mouse is useless outside of gaming, but hey you want to get a gaming mouse. Oh yea the cost of this great mouse is only “ONLY” $99.99. Hell, that is so cheap i’ll get the bundle which comes with the mouse pad for $134.99. Yes that is correct sir you only need to pay a extra $35 bucks to get a specially designed compressed fiber fabric, which is superheated and then laser cut. Not making that up go check out the details yourself at their site. Seriously, COME ON $35 bucks for a mouse pad jeez I’m already going to pay $100 bucks for your mouse why don’t you just give me the mouse pad for free. I’m sure a lot of WoW players will buy it and they will think the mouse will improve their gaming. However, some of us that play WoW can’t afford to shell out $100 bucks for a mouse that is only useful in games. Don’t get me wrong though it looks cool, but if let say you have a girlfriend or regular non WoW friends come over to your house. Will you hide the price and the mouse from them?
Personally I rather be wearing this gaming headset when I face the wrath of the Lich King:
Class balance in a post-WotLK World of Warcraft
Filed under: World of Warcraft, Classes, News items
Class balance is always a touchy subject, depending on the class a person plays. But WoWRIOT has put together an impressive look a class balance in a post-WotLK World of Warcraft. After looking through much of the post, we’re pretty impressed with its accuracy and overall take on current class balance, especially as it pertains to arena and PvP.
Normally, those who actually play the game are much more interested in these kinds of balance overviews. However, the article contains an extensive look at Death Knights and everything about where their place in the game is right now. So for anybody who’s been curious as to what’s going on with the first new class in World of Warcraft, we’d say the article is definitely worth a look. For everyone who does play the game, it’s probably a good idea to at least check out your class (or classes) if only to see why you should or shouldn’t be upset with Blizzard.
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One of Azeroth’s millions of citizens? Check out our ongoing coverage of the World of Warcraft, and be sure to touch base with our sister site WoW Insider for all your Lich King needs! |
Class balance in a post-WotLK World of Warcraft originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Public Quests.
I’m not sure how familiar anyone is with Warhammer Online. Basically, it is a game that is very similar to World of Warcraft, however players are able to achieve max level without ever doing anything on their own. And yes, I do realize this is also possible on WoW, however with Warhammer Online it is actually encouraged!
And that’s where the idea for this post came from. Public Quests are unique to Warhammer Online and have caused a lot of discussion in the MMO world. They are quests that trigger when you enter a certain area, and you can choose to take part in them or simply watch from within. Often there will be a few dozen players taking part with you, with everyone helping each other to achieve the over-all goal of completing the quest. Now, since Warhammer Online is a relatively new game, I was wondering if any WoW players would be interested in this?
I know from a personal side that this would certainly be a nice brake from all the gold grinding I have been doing lately. However, if battlegrounds are anything to go by, I think there would be a lot of internal arguing, name calling and hissy fits to witness. Say for instance the quest was failed; It’s never the fault of any of the loud mouths, is it?
I don’t know… It seems like many of these new online games have almost ‘ripped off’ World of Warcraft’s playing style. They simply take everything that is good about WoW, and add their own little spin. They are probably quite pleased with themselves too. However, I have no doubt that Blizzard will get their own back and start borrowing from them. Basically, something that was once unique to Warhammer Online will soon be unique to Warhammer and World of Warcraft.
WoW Public Quests anyone? Who are we kidding, we all know it’s going to happen sooner or later…
Viking’s punter considers World of Warcraft name change
Football is not really known for having colorful characters. It has a few scary ones with prison records, and a few unfaithful ones with relationship issues that makes the press, but so far nothing that can be called amusingly colorful. It’s definitely gotten a reputation as a thug sport, so a little playfulness certainly wouldn’t hurt. One football punter may change all that if his recent interview can be believed.
It seems that punter for the American Football Conference team the Minnesota Vikings, Chris Kluwe, declared in a recent print interview that he loves World of Warcraft so much he might change his name to reflect it. It turns out it wasn’t totally his idea. Apparently his team mates know of his addiction to World of Warcraft (often playing as much as 6 hours a day) and have given him a World of Warcraft nick name as a joke, and he is just considering rolling with it, whether seriously or in jest no one knows.
Kluwe points out that other players have changed their names as well, including Chad “Ocho Cinco” Johnson, who took the nick name “Ocho Cinco” as his new name, but to take on the name of a video game would certainly make a splash. If he goes through with the hairbrained idea he would become Chris Warcraft, instead of Chris “Warcraft” Kluwe. He’d certainly make some endorsement money with a name like that!
He has been a lifelong gamer, riding a controller since the early age of 4. In World of Warcraft his character is a troll rogue, more specifically, a troll rogue on the Kil’jaeden server, if you want to keep an eye out for him and combine two of your favorite things, sports and gaming. The interview where he talked about his love of games was in the Star Tribune and in which Kotaku originally mentioned the interesting name change.
MMOGology: Looking for incentive to group
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 until end-game raid content to play together?
Most people don’t group while leveling because there’s no real incentive to group. Soloing nets you more XP than grouping and most of the content is easy to take on by yourself. There’s no waiting around for others, no sharing of loot, and no arguing about what to do when. So why bother? I’d like to see developers provide players with more incentive to level up together. In my opinion, MMOGs should always work to increase entertainment value when players work together. Read on to explore ways to achieve that objective.
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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You’re So Vain.
Since the introduction of Wrath of the Lich King, it appears us WoW players have been becoming that little bit more vain. Apparently, people complained about the lack of ‘personalization’ within the game for their beloved characters. So, in an attempt to change this, Blizzard implemented the Barber Shop. As the name suggests, it’s where women go to get their hair styled and where men (and some women) go get ride of their facial hair shaved. In the next patch Blizzard have also told us to stand by for the hotly anticipated Dance Studio. Again, as the name suggests, this is where all the cool kids (or the players that actually care) will be heading to change their dance moves. I wonder if they will allow sexes to exchange dance moves…?
I digress.
So, to top the facial hair and the slow dancing off, Blizzard have also announced their new “change everything, but not quite everything about yourself” offer. Yeah, I somehow don’t think that’s the actual title… It basically allows you to change your characters name, skin color, hair and gender! And yes, there is a catch, and this time it comes in the form of cash! These changes can be made for £15, which is surprisingly cheap for Blizzard. Go Blizzard for not trying to rip us off!
Personally, there are a few things I would like to change about my main character. However, without being able to change his race, I don’t see the need to fork out the cash to implement these changes. I completely understand why some people wish to do it though. I know a lot of guys who rolled a chick character because she was ‘hawt’, but have since become bored of being hit on by horny 12 year old boys. There are also people who have become involved in hardcore raiding guilds. They wish to continue playing but don’t want the hassle of explaining themselves. A change in name and sex would come in handy after the dreaded /gquit.
All in all, the changes that can be made to one’s own appearance are probably for the best. For one thing, they definitely make the game more ‘main stream’ towards the masses. However, at the back of my head I can’t help but think: ‘Is world of Warcraft selling out to gain more subscribers’? If we are being honest, basically every online gamer knows about and/or plays World of Warcraft. So, Blizzard has probably noticed that their only way to expand would be to appeal to another type of audience. I’m just not sure that the ‘lets play dress-up’ audience is the right audience to attract.
One Shots: Meep!
Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Screenshots, One Shots
There are times when you just know you’ve gotten in over your head. Of course, to the resourceful player, this just means a fun challenge! One such occasion is the subject of today’s World of Warcraft One Shots, sent in to us by Greeen, who has been playing a Gnome Death Knight. Greeen writes in: This shot was taken in the Valgarde Catacombs. My first reaction was “Gulp!” ! The second one: “Attack!” The third: “Run Forrest, run!” Luckily this is from a quest where one receives a temporary immunity bubble - otherwise my little gnome Death Knight, Blues, would really have to show what she can do.…
Are you once again (or perhaps for the first time) turning to Azeroth for your adventure? If you’ve snapped a fun screenshot from your favorite game - no matter the MMO - we’d love to see it! Send it in to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name and the game it is from. Descriptions are optional, but always welcome. Yours could be next here on One Shots!
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One Shots: Meep! originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 04 Jan 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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An Unofficial World of Warcraft Theme for BlackBerry
World of Warcraft is huge in terms of player base and fans. Demographics also shows that a good amount of them are tech savvy as well. It makes perfect sense to see a new World of Warcraft Today theme being made available for the BlackBerry Curve, as fans of the MMORPG will now be able to get in-game graphics and icons on their communication devices, and they certainly don’t need a reminder to tell them that it is time for that guild raid right after work.
This would be more of a distraction than anything else since it will keep the user thinking about what they are going to do in World of Warcraft instead of concentrating on the task at hand. Horde and Alliance themes ought to be concocted as well to satiate the hardcore. The world of Warcraft Today theme doesn’t really add anything in terms of functionality or in terms of remote access for your WoW account, but at least it reaffirms your dedication to the Wrath of the Lich King. Just when you thought you could get a gamer out of the WoW universe for a few minutes, something like this comes along and pulls sucks them back in.
We’ve yet to hear any news from Blizzard regarding this stuff yet — odds are that as great as their icons are, they’re not real thrilled with seeing them used in other places. Then again, they are completely fanmade and free to download. Surely themes like this, that let Blizzard fans show off their loyalties, can be let through the loopholes.
Behind the Curtain: Take a look back
Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Sci-fi, Fury, Culture, Events, in-game, Expansions, Game mechanics, Launches, MMO industry, New titles, Warhammer Online, Opinion, Tabula Rasa, Behind the Curtain
Brace yourself for the obligatory ‘New Year’ post. I’d resolve to lose weight, tone up and be kinder to my fellow man, but I’d be lying. Not because I’m weak and won’t follow through on them, but because I don’t need to. I’m practically perfect in every way.
Except not really. I’m lying. I also hate Mary Poppins with a cold, implacable hatred. But that’s neither here nor there.
It’s been a year of ups and downs in the MMO world. We’ve seen World of Warcraft go from strength to strength with an expansion pack which knocked the socks off of Burning Crusade. Say what you will about Blizzard, but it’s always good to see a company that’s willing and able to learn not only from its past mistakes, but its past successes. We’ve seen the long-awaitied launch of Warhammer Online, but we’ve also seen some downers, with Tabula Rasa going down the tubes, and Fury falling over. Although, not as many people were upset about Fury, given that it was terrible from start to finish.
Continue reading Behind the Curtain: Take a look back
Behind the Curtain: Take a look back originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 03 Jan 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
