MMO Roundup: Last week on Massively
by Alex Ziebart 
Oct 18th 2011 at 9:00PM
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BioWare says gamers find it hard to go back to other MMOs after playing SWTOR As Star Wars: The Old Republic's release date looms larger on the calendar, BioWare cofounders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk are starting to be seen with increasing frequency on the PR circuit. The interview also touches on lore inspirations for both The Old Republic and the classic single-player Knights of the Old Republic RPG, as well as the team's confidence in its new massively multiplayer product. |
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Square-Enix announces end of Final Fantasy XIV's free play and roadmap for next year Square-Enix has put a lot of work into repairing Final Fantasy XIV's poor launch and has recently announced that its unbilled period of the game will be coming to a close. In addition to the changes already made, a full graphics engine and UI overhaul is in the works. |
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BioWare's Damion Schubert takes a wrecking ball to the casual vs. hardcore model Schubert says that devs are often trying to double code MMOs for both casual and hardcore players. This is where the well-known slogan "easy to play, hard to master" originates. He held up Blizzard as a primary example of this model. Blizzard's "donut," as Schubert calls it, has a casual outer ring and a hardcore center for both types of players. By double coding, Blizzard ensures that casual players can invite their hardcore friends to experience the game and vice versa. However, this model is faltering, and Schubert pinpoints why. |
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THQ releases flood of new details for Warhammer 40K: Dark Millennium Online THQ has released a huge list of data on design, gameplay, classes and races, and much more in the upcoming Warhammer 40K: Dark Millenium Online. The information ranges from all-encompassing, such as talk of art style and who is involved in development, to very specific, such as a party size of five, raid size of 50, and level cap of 60. |
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Massively Speaking Episode 169 Massively Speaking, Massively's MMO podcast, returns this week with hosts Shawn and Rubi. Topics include SOE's newest battle with hackers, Lineage II's upcoming freemium business model, Fallen Earth's chopper and freemium launch, Blizzard's dive into RMT, and more! |
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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 1)
MusedMoose Oct 18th 2011 9:27PM
Before anyone gets their rageface on about the BioWare comment, please read the actual article. It's pretty much a throwaway line in the interview - it's not like BioWare's people are talking crap or anything like that.
@_@
Al Oct 18th 2011 9:53PM
No, they saved that for their "global" release. The Troll'd Republic suckered me again with that line.
jfofla Oct 18th 2011 9:47PM
But Bioware does seem to be saying they will not follow the casual/hardcore model. So, is SWTOR a Casual game, or a Hardcore game?
MusedMoose Oct 18th 2011 10:34PM
The article didn't answer that, because Mr. Schubert wasn't there to address the game. But as he did say, he recognizes that the hardcore-casual thing is a spectrum, not an either/or, and they want to find ways for hardcore players to aid casual ones. It'll be interesting to see what they actually do.
Quark1020 Oct 18th 2011 10:58PM
I thought I read in another article in massively that all that info leaked on warhammer 40k mmo was fake. Something along the lines of THQ mentioning they'll post an official announcement when they felt ready to give out information.
Quark1020 Oct 18th 2011 11:00PM
Found it, here's the link:
http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/10/13/thq-says-war40k-release-date-features-list-is-pure-speculation/
LeftVentricle Oct 19th 2011 3:01AM
From what I managed to see of it, it's a casual game (but one that takes a much larger time commitment [though, I barely noticed]) with hardcore elements. When it comes to grind, there isn't much of that at all. It is very engaging, easy to get lost in. Altoholics like me, will probably burn out if we make too many characters. Despite the time it takes to get to end game, there is lots of stuff to do there, and plenty of challenge built in. But the game is quite enjoyable solo or in small groups. It feels like the kind of game you can put down for a while and easily pick up again. But only time will tell with that one. Regardless, fans of KOTOR and KOTOR 2 will love this game.
MusedMoose Oct 19th 2011 8:02AM
Many thanks. ^_^ I'm definitely interested in the game, and hearing this about it, I'll definitely give it a try when I can.
Phaelan Oct 19th 2011 8:47AM
I found the same thing when I played last weekend. It's REALLY hard to switch characters because the story is SOO engrossing. There are things that need to be fixed (chat) and there are plenty of things that I would like to see change but at this stage probably wont (getting dark/light points far to simplistic in that the Darkside seems almost like psychotic killers with no nuance, no manipulation, no playing the subtlety game).
BUT that being said I absolutely fell in love with the game and find it hard to play WoW now. I'm pre-ordering SWTOR this weekend and can't wait for it's launch.