MMO Roundup: Olympic medalists, Warhammer 40k, and more
by Alex Ziebart 
Mar 9th 2010 at 1:00PM
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10 reasons why LotRO is worth picking up over newer MMOs With all of the more recent MMOs around, why should you try Lord of the Rings Online? Or how can you convince your friends to try a three year old MMO? Check out these ten reasons why the game is worth playing. |
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Will farmers finally be the death of WoW? Activision-Blizzard's annual 10k report, filed on March 1, is chock full of worrisome anecdotes about the future of their massively multiplayer behemoth as well as some interesting tidbits regarding payment models. Mobile games like iPhone apps and social networking games such as Farmville are cited as a potential risk for the company. |
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Massively Speaking episode 91 Massively Speaking, Massively's MMO podcast, is back this week with episode 91 as Shawn Schuster and Rubi Bayer discuss the week's MMO news. Topics include Dungeons and Dragons Online's success with their new business model, LotRO's Vol III Book 1 update, the latest Guild Wars skill balance uproar and much more. |
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EVE player wins silver medal at the Winter Olympics It's not every day you run across an Olympic Medalist in your favourite MMO, much less gank them and take their stuff. For some EVE Online players, that opportunity may be closer than they think. With the conclusion of the recent Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, it came to light that one of the medal winners is not just an EVE player but also an avid PvP junkie. Casting off the stereotype of MMO gamers as unfit and demotivated, Kjetil Jansrud is a professional alpine skier at the peak of physical fitness. |
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How do you feel about 2010's MMOs? The year is still young and lots of MMOs are on schedule to release before it's over. So far, we've been able to see what Star Trek Online has to offer, but many people continue to look forward to LEGO Universe, All Points Bulletin and Final Fantasy XIV. However, we would like to know how you feel about MMOs this year. Does it seem like a pretty good year or are you thinking perhaps 2011 is going to be the big year for the genre, and why? Join the conversation! |
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Warhammer 40k devs on unusual pricing structure and WoW-killing Many MMO fans continue to keep a weather eye out for the game that will take down World of Warcraft, the juggernaut of the gaming world. No thanks, say the developers behind Warhammer 40k. Brian Farrell is the CEO and President of THQ, the company behind the MMO, and he has no desire to go after that title. "What we love about the Warhammer 40K MMO is that it's different in that it's a sci-fi, futuristic-based world. We're not competing directly in the orcs and elves fantasy environment that World of Warcraft is in. We can differentiate ourselves." |
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Alganon moves to a "subscription free" model We've just hit the four-month mark from the launch of Alganon, but it turns out that Quest Online has been paying more attention to their business model than was externally apparent. The game is moving from its current subscription-based model to a "subscription free" setup immediately, changing up a number of elements of the game in an effort to stay competitive. Similar to Dungeons and Dragons Online, the game will be converted to using a real money trading item shop as well as the option to speed up the game's Study system substantially. |
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Aion 1.9 patch details teased while videos of 2.0 dance in our heads Thanks to one crazy community manager that likes to tease information, we've gotten a sneak peek at the upcoming patch information for Aion -- patch 1.9. The patch is hosting a wealth of enhancements and updates to the game that includes a new looking for group system, quest updates, a brand new daily quest system, changes to the endgame dungeon Dredgion, a decrease in transportation and soul healing prices, increased experience gain, a two-handed weapon merge system, and much more. |
Filed under: MMO Roundup
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Attack Gypsy Mar 9th 2010 1:07PM
Ah, this month's WoW killer. Sure, ok, right. So was Warhammer, So was Age of Conan. So was
Wow has been going strong for over 5 years now. And its not stopping. expect a minimum of 2 more expansions. They still have A LOT of lore they can go through.
Docp Mar 9th 2010 2:22PM
Whilst WOW is a really good game I think a large reason why it has seen of 'wow killers' is because people now have their roots in the game. People now have end game characters with lots of mounts and trinkets and lots of in game friends so moving to another game is a lot harder. There may have been better games from WOW but it will require something extraordinary to make people give up the social life they have in WOW.
Thomas Mar 9th 2010 2:13PM
The story was about the WH40k guys not claiming the game to be the WoW killer, maybe if you had actually read that you would know.
Docp Mar 9th 2010 4:41PM
TBH I thought Attack Gypsy was talking about "Will farmers finally be the death of WoW?" which would make his comment relevant.
Sagretti Mar 9th 2010 1:16PM
Facebook games, especially annoying ones like Farmville, will likely never amount to much competition for WOW because they are a completely different play style. With World of Warcraft, you can log in and play for as little or as long as you like, and spend a free evening playing around and relaxing.
Facebook games give 3 to 5 minutes of playtime usually at most, then require you to log in every few hours and repeat the process. Not to mention they require ridiculous amounts of money for their micro-transactions (like several dollars just to make a few plants grow instantly). It really feels like another attempt by Massively to declare the death of WOW.
RobynM Mar 9th 2010 1:43PM
Not to mention that currently only a slim minority of FarmVille players actually spend any money on the game. The most quoted figure I see is 3-5%. This may increase now that they've entered the cash card market.
However, there is a hardcore crowd that refuses to spend money on the game and only buys "premium" items by accumulating the farmbucks they give you when you level (one/level), so there'll never be full buy-in, and even majority buy-in looks very unlikely.
Disclosure: Yes, I play; no I don't pay; I think the idea that FV is a threat to WoW is laughable. Now I'm off to rotate my crops and go farm for cloth on my DK tailor.
Alex Ziebart Mar 9th 2010 1:52PM
Nobody's declaring death for anything. Activision-Blizzard listed social networking games as a financial threat. That's all there is to it.
Sagretti Mar 9th 2010 2:02PM
The title of the article is: "Will farmers finally be the death of WoW?" The title of the Massively article is: "Activision: Farmers Could Kill WoW?" I understand the context is Activison's reports, but there is some definite "Death of WOW" sensationalizing going on there at least in the titles.
snowleopard233 Mar 9th 2010 2:14PM
Yeah, they got to stop using language like that. I just got done consoling my very distraught level 80 shaman for the ninth time this week. Seriously, he keeps stocking up supplies in his basement and calling all his estranged relatives every time he hears his world may be coming to an end. Stop playing with our characters’ emotions, people! They’re more sensitive than they look!
Elixir Mar 9th 2010 1:49PM
Wowkilling and the threat of social networking games pricing structure. This is the reason Massively and sometimes Wow.com have such laughable subjects... real articles would be nice every once in a while.
Its not about killing WoW. Its about offering to widen the market of MMO games in general. People that focus too much on killing WoW... really miss the forest for the trees.
Tomatketchup Mar 9th 2010 2:39PM
The problem is that FarmVille is full of valley girls. Blizzard needs to design the game so that it also appeals to them.
Tirrimas Mar 9th 2010 2:50PM
Nah, Zynga needs to design Farmville to appeal to WoWers. Drop Hogger into someone's farm and see what happens...
snowleopard233 Mar 9th 2010 3:07PM
Oh noes! You’re friend Tammy has a gang of defias bandits raping and pillaging in her farmland. She needs your help in killing ten of them.
Add in a cute picture of a defias bandit with a torch and you got a money train ready to hit the station!
Aruhgulah Mar 10th 2010 12:23AM
@snowleopard -- You, sir, owe me one can of Coke and a new computer screen.
Colerejuste Mar 9th 2010 6:32PM
I fully expect that Blizzard will be the one to provide product that will see a reduction of WoW subscriptions. Not an all out death of WoW, but a reduction of subscriptions caused by Blizzard offering product that appeals to a niche of players currently playing WoW. I'm thinking such a product might offer a proper PvP environment (a replacement for Arenas), or something that appeals to casual non-raiders (as opposed to casual raiders).
Then again, with a totally new franchise and 6 or 7 years playing the same game, a change might be as good as a holiday, and people will naturally move to a new MMO, just for something different. I only say 6 or 7 years, because it's going to be at least that long before the next MMO is released.
C'tri Mar 9th 2010 8:47PM
For the record, I have a level 80 paladin and a level 63 (7 more to go :D) farmville farm.
The difference is I wont be grouping up with 24 other farmers and going to raid a marketplace in the evenings.
Aruhgulah Mar 10th 2010 12:26AM
After playing FV for about two weeks to see what the hype was about (and I'm surprised I lasted that long)...it's BORING. A couple minutes a day, you're done. Big deal.
I'll take WoW anyday. Or The Sims (which at least gives you a far wider range of things to do ingame).