MMO Roundup: Blizzard's new MMO, latest RIFT trailer and more
by Alex Ziebart 
Feb 15th 2011 at 1:00PM
Sometimes you'd like to know that there are other MMOs out there, right? It's not all WoW, all the time! Our sister site Massively can provide you with everything you need to know about all of the other MMOs around -- past, present and future.
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Blizzard speaks (briefly) about new MMO plans "To break the mold, sometimes you have to start over," says Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime. "We're really trying to leverage all the lessons we learned through the years. Some of which we were able to address in World of Warcraft and others that maybe because of the design decisions we've made, you just can't address. So we're kind of taking a step back with all that knowledge to make something that's completely new and fresh." |
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New RIFT trailer shows off dynamic invasions RIFT developer Trion is preparing for the MMO's impending release and has released another trailer. This trailer (titled Cry Havoc) is composed entirely of in-game footage, highlights of zone-wide invasions from the game's last phase of closed beta. |
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The evolution of /dance Who doesn't love a good /dance? Even the most serious of gamers needs to break down and /dance once in awhile. In this weeks' edition of The Perfect Ten, Massively breaks down the ten best dances in all of MMO gaming. Did any of World of Warcraft's dances make the list? |
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Massively's guide to Valentine's Day festivities World of Warcraft isn't the only MMO where love is in the air. From Lord of the Rings Online to Free Realms to DC Universe Online, gamers are celebrating Valentine's Day all across gaming. Interested in how other games celebrate the holiday? Head over to Massively to find out. |
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Massively Speaking episode 134 Massively Speaking, Massively's MMO podcast, returns this week with possibly the largest collection of Massively writers ever! Hosts Shawn and Rubi are joined by Senior Editor Bree Royce, Contributing Editors Larry Everett and Brendan Drain, and Columnist Patrick Mackey to discuss the life and death of MMOs. |
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Massively's week in review Don't let WoW Insider do all of the talking when it comes to Massively's best content of the week. The Massively staff themselves have picked out what they think is the best content their site has to offer in their own weekly roundup. |
Filed under: MMO Roundup
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Dreyja Feb 15th 2011 1:13PM
The feeling I get from RIFT is just like all the other games I've seen/dabbled-in that claimed to have better graphics than WOW. These "less cartoony" characters start to venture into The Uncanny Valley for me. They look awkward, even creepy, rather than epic.
I've not seen real game-play so people can comment on this but every game I've seen like this ends up succumbing to rag-doll physics. The jumps, falls, deaths look funny.
Do the actions of your character sync with game play? This is a priority for wow and is even why we don't have a lot of character modifications because when you mess with things like height, girth, etc - you mess with the physics of the skeleton in relation to how it moves through space.
These are all things I'm curious about because even relatively recent games like Aion were plagued with these issues. As great as some things looked it fell flat in practice.
Mr. Tastix Feb 15th 2011 1:19PM
You need to look past the graphics of a game and look at it for the features it has or doesn't have.
If you don't like the look of other games, I question how you ever liked World of Warcraft in the first place.
Dreyja Feb 15th 2011 1:40PM
No, I'm actually saying that I LIKE the graphics of WOW. It's the other ones with the weird physics that I don't like. That's just about all of them.
I was asking if this happens in Rift because, yes, how it feels to move and react in a game is very important to me. :)
Mr. Tastix Feb 15th 2011 2:01PM
Not from what I've noticed, personally. Though some animations were missing, such as weapon sheathing, which was rather odd and noticeable, for me. All that happens when you push the sheath keybind is that your weapons just disappear from your hands and reappear on your back/waist.
Oni Stardust Feb 15th 2011 2:19PM
"You need to look past the graphics of a game and look at it for the features it has or doesn't have."
The thing to remember here is that while good graphics can not and will not make a bad game good, poor graphics can often have a negative effect on the player's enjoyment of an otherwise decent title.
Believe me, I'm a big supporter of the 'gameplay > graphics' philosophy when it comes to games, but that doesn't mean graphics should be ignored.
On a semi-related note, I knew a guy in high school who would look through video game magazines and judge the worth of all the games based only on the screen shots. He was also of the opinion that any game that's not on the newest game system automatically sucked because of the lesser graphic capabilities. He thought I was crazy for even suggesting that classic SNES or PSX games could be superior to even the worst of X-Box games. All the time spent sitting next to him in study hall was a big contributor to my insanity.
"If you don't like the look of other games, I question how you ever liked World of Warcraft in the first place."
Probably because WoW's graphics are better than most of the other games in the first place.
Cartoony =/= Bad
Realistic =/= Good
KvanCetre Feb 15th 2011 2:43PM
Open beta started today for about a week. You could take a free peak at it if you'd like.
Pam Feb 15th 2011 3:08PM
I did play in the Rift beta, and the graphics are so, jumpy? overtly sharp? idk, but I can't get past 10 min before my eyes start hurting.
Same thing with Aion. The attempt to make 'better' graphics made it just hard for my eyes to focus.
Don't get me wrong, I love the customization available on the toons in those games, which is the one thing WoW is missing (past the basic barber shop stuff).....but the sacrifice is the world blends in with the character too much, esp during combat...
Jorges Feb 15th 2011 3:28PM
Actually the game feels an plays much like wow. Animations are well done and characters are beautiful. Mostly because you can tailor them to your taste when making your character.
However, there are a couple of thing that I don't like: There's no seathe/unseathe weapon animation, no sit animation (or at least your character can't /sit), no stationary turn animation (when you turn in place), swimming feels odd because you don't swim up with your jump button, you actually jump underwater lol. Oh, and you can't turn your character while holding the left button (the camera turns with you).
Other than that, the character animations are very fluid and very pretty, just like in wow.
iammurlocftw Feb 15th 2011 4:55PM
actually you can turn the camera with the left button, go into the camera options which i think is in the interface stuff, switch it so that it only follows when moving or it doesnt follow at all.
Frase32 Feb 15th 2011 7:10PM
I don't but the Uncanny Valley argument at all. Unless of course it only applies to MMO's of course, but that is pretty unlikely. Console games and various single player games have had much more photo realistic graphics. Look at current gen sports games for gods sake. So to me the Uncanny Valley argument is just a shallow and thinly veiled excuse.
Mr. Tastix Feb 15th 2011 1:17PM
God, I'd love it if Blizzard didn't include PvP (or PvE, depending on what direction they're taking) in their new MMO.
I know many don't like that idea but frankly, that's one of the reasons many MMOs fail today: Instead of choosing a "side", so to speak, developers (Blizzard is just notable for this but isn't the only one to do it) try to include both PvP and PvE in their games.
I never liked the game myself, the Guild Wars separated the two game-types rather well. Was there balance issues? Of course, there'll always be balance issues, but they weren't nearly as bad as they are in World of Warcraft.
I think developers should either pick either PvE or PvP and ignore the other entirely in their game, or learn to separate the two completely from each other.
Grovinofdarkhour Feb 15th 2011 1:17PM
Nice video.
So basically, RIFT is like WoW, except now I'm required to bring 100 friends?
Sorcha Feb 15th 2011 1:29PM
...no?
A lot of hostility for Rift in the comments. I don't get it.
Alex Ziebart Feb 15th 2011 1:46PM
Nope. That footage was all out in the world, not a raid or an instance.
Grovinofdarkhour Feb 15th 2011 1:46PM
The summation of my thoughts on RIFT, WAR, LOTRO, Aion, etc. are as follows.
If you're going to build something from scratch that is almost exactly like WoW (making sure to include a couple of interesting tweaks in a pathetic attempt to show how you're actually "BETTER than WoW"), in hopes of breaking off a little chip of its subscriber base and making a couple of bucks, you'll be better off hiring no staff, and just buying Blizzard shares ( http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=ATVI&ql=0 ). It's a lot easier to live off of Blizzard's success by actually participating in it, than by trying (and potentially failing) to imitate it.
Sorcha Feb 15th 2011 1:58PM
I genuinely don't get this. Have Trion harmed you in some way by daring to make an MMORPG? You come off as if denouncing them for daring to compete in the same market.
Grovinofdarkhour Feb 15th 2011 2:12PM
What, do you work there or something? I just don't distinguish them from any of the other also-rans. I think they're wasting their time, pure and simple, just like all the others were.
Wild Colors Feb 15th 2011 2:35PM
Actually, Rift has more in common with EQ than with WoW, though its difficulty curve is much more in line with WoW's.
You have to remember, WoW was no more original than Rift is. They are both iterations that have more in common with their predecessors than they have to set them apart. WoW is a very well done iteration, with great art direction and a huge amount of time and effort put into quests and story lines. The verdict is still coming in on Rift.
Sorcha Feb 15th 2011 2:36PM
Ha. No, I don't work there. What I don't understand is why many people seem to think that success in the MMORPG market is equated with 'destroys WoW' and anything else doesn't count. Most likely, RIFT will be a niche game, but that's not the same thing as failure.
Anyway, I'm going to agree to disagree with you!
Grovinofdarkhour Feb 15th 2011 2:52PM
That's fine; I guess if they genuinely believe they're making a great game and they're OK with the possibility that they may see very limited success breaking into a well-dominated market, then power to them. I haven't kept track of how the various competitors have fared, if only because after the initial hype, you never hear much more about them. Maybe some have quietly disappeared; maybe some are getting their crumbs from the table and perfectly happy with that in a long-term way.
Even 4 years in, I still dig WoW. I dig it a lot. I don't care what else comes along. And I'm happy to agree to disagree. :)