Posts with tag gamescom

Blizzard has returned from Cologne, Germany, and the Gamescom convention with tales of triumph, competition, and tons of patch 4.3 goodness for us World of Warcraft players. The community site's blog was updated with a big recap of all of Blizzard's events from the show, in case you missed any of the fun from the live streams. World of Warcraft was represented by top guilds For the Horde and Ensidia trouncing through the Firelands in live raids for Gamescom attendees, as well as the new patch 4.3 features Void Storage, Raid Finder, and transmogrification.

StarCraft 2 showcased some cool show matches between top players, and Diablo 3 had a big hands-on gaming area that, obviously, filled up quicker than humanly possible. Seriously, can't that game just come out already? Blizzard wrapped up its recap with familiar dance and costume contests, with winners earning a trip to BlizzCon in October. Check out the full recap at the World of Warcraft community site for an awesome video of the Diablo 3 street art from the show.

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.

	Massively's Gamescom coverage Gamescom is one of Europe's largest gaming events of the year. More news comes out of that event than we could ever hope to sum up in MMO Roundup, but Massively has it all. Head over to Massively's Gamescom hub for all of the event's MMO news.
	NCsoft announces new MMO: WildStar Developed by Carbine studios, WildStar is a sci-fi/fantasy hybrid MMO of "high adventure" in which players "lay claim to a mysterious planet on the edge of known space" by playing as explorers, soldiers, scientists, or settlers. Hit Massively for concept art and the game's cinematic trailer.
	Blizzard quashes speculation about a potential World of StarCraft Just in case all of Blizzard's previous indications of a StarCraft MMO not being in our future wasn't enough, here's another verification from Blizzard senior VP Frank Pearce: Blizzard currently has no plans to adapt the StarCraft setting to an MMO.
	Guild Wars 2 shows off 40 minutes of gameplay On the Gamescom floor, ArenaNet's Chris Lye took time to walk Wartower.de through the full Guild Wars 2 demo for the event. During the tour, he shows us character customization, the Asura, and the Charr starting experience, capping it off with a giant dragon boss encounter.
	Massively Speaking Episode 161 Massively Speaking, Massively's MMO podcast, is back this week to bring you all the latest MMO news with your hosts Shawn and Rubi. This time around, the focus is Gamescom 2011, which exploded with new game announcements, video trailers, and screenshots.
	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.

World of Warcraft's expansion cycle is not the norm in the MMO genre. The Blizzard expansion cycle is a new boxed expansion every two years, on average. According to Gameinformer, which got to talk to Tom Chilton at the Gamescom show in Germany last week, Blizzard is on track for a more timely release schedule with World of Warcraft expansions.

Chilton told Gameinformer:

We've been able to do it in one sense, but not as much as I would like to in another sense. I would like for all patches to reliably have raid bosses. Our first Cataclysm patch didn't have raid bosses. From a raider's persepctive, it probably doesn't feel any faster than it did before. For us, where the biggest improvement is going to be in this cycle is in the actual expansion release. Traditionally we've only been able to do an expansion about every two years. We're really hoping to make a meaningful difference in that.

Blizzard recently announced at the Gamescom gaming convention in Germany that patch 4.3 is coming, and it's coming on strong. With brand new features like a separate bank for your old gear, a transmogrification NPC who can change the look of your gear, and even Deathwing himself as a raid, patch 4.3 opens up a ton of possibilities for the future of World of Warcraft that we might not have seen coming.

For me, the most stark change that patch 4.3 is bringing about is not a change to the systems or gameplay, but a philosophical change at the heart of World of Warcraft that spells out some of the potential big announcements that might be coming our way during BlizzCon.

Transmogrification is bigger as a philosophical leap than we think, and here's how.

The silhouette theory

World of Warcraft's factions are rooted in an idea called silhouette recognition. What this means is that you can easily tell who your friends or enemies are based on their aesthetic look. The reason there are no "humans" on the Horde side is because Blizzard wants you, as a Horde player, to point out a human on the battlefield. The same goes for every race. No two sides have races that feature identical silhouettes. This is even the reason worgen are forced into their bestial forms in combat -- players need to know that you're a worgen.

This goes for gear as well. Blizzard practically invented the gear tier system in raiding and made it so your two most prominent pieces, shoulders and headpieces, were the sought-after marks of power and prestige, and a physical reminder of player accomplishment. My shoulders currently tell you that I've been to the Firelands, killed many bosses, and taken their stuff. My silhouette is instantly recognizable as a raider who is geared and powerful.

German site Buffed.de recently posted a rundown on the newest patch 4.3 news from Gamescom in Germany, where Tom Chilton revealed that part of the Deathwing fight will take place on the back of the Aspect of Death. We might actually be fighting Deathwing multiple times, with one of the fights being on his back. The translation is a little fuzzy, but there will definitely be some fighting while in-flight as players try to bring the great dragon down.

Gamescom has already brought us huge WoW news in the form of the gear transmogrifiers as well as gear storage NPCs and the fact that we will get to face Deathwing sooner than we thought. Stay tuned for more announcements.

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Brace yourselves for what could be some of most exciting updates to the game recently with patch 4.3. Look at what's ahead: new item storage options, cross-realm raiding, cosmetic armor skinning and your chance to battle the mighty Deathwing -- from astride his back!

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European gaming convention Gamescom is in full swing this week in Cologne, Germany. German entertainment site Gamona.de sat down with both Tom Chilton and Chris Robinson to discuss the details of the upcoming patch 4.3, the patch where your dreams come true. It was revealed that the patch will include:

• Deathwing's raid and three new 5-man dungeons
• Cosmetic armor skins (!)
• An armor closet to store old gear, freeing up bank space

As patch 4.3 will include Deathwing's raid, that probably means it will be the final patch in the expansion's overall narrative. If you doubted for a moment that Blizzard will announce the next expansion at this year's BlizzCon, doubt no more. We expect that these new 5-man dungeons will provide a new tier of heroics as well, pushing difficulty about Zul'Aman and Zul'Gurub.

Follow us past the cut below for details on cosmetic armor skins and more!

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.

	EA proclaims SWTOR preorder breaks records Star Wars: The Old Republic has set the new bar for EA's preorder sales, according to the notes for EA's Q1 Fiscal Earnings Release. The previous bar was set by Battlefield 3, but according to President Frank Gibeau during an investor's conference call, SWTOR far exceed BF3's preorder sales. In fact, according to Gibeau, the sales exceeded the company's expected sales curve, therefore breaking records no one at the game developing company could have expected.
	NCsoft's Carbine Studios to reveal new MMO at Gamescom NCsoft announced that Jeremy Gaffney, executive producer of NCsoft's Carbine Studios, has confirmed that the studio's latest project is to be revealed next month at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany. Gaffney has many game titles to his name, having worked on Asheron's Call, City of Heroes/Villains, and a number of other online titles.
	Top 10 MMO mascots Weekly top 10 list The Perfect Ten tackles MMO mascots this week, lining up the best the genre has to offer. Who is World of Warcraft's mascot? Is whoever it is on the list?
	HoN goes free to play and Diablo 3 meets eBay Not So Massively is your weekly guide to the MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) genre and other significant non-MMO multiplayer games. This week, Heroes of Newerth has gone free-to-play, Blizzard announced Diablo 3's real-money auctions, and League of Legends hit 15 million registered accounts.
	Massively Speaking episode 158 Massively Speaking, Massively's MMO podcast, returns this week with Shawn and Rubi being joined by Justin Olivetti for some laughs, innuendo, and the occasional bit of MMO news. Topics include RuneScape's new Clan Citadels, APB's second open beta, and of course, SWTOR's record-breaking preorder.
	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.

German entertainment site Gamona landed an interview with World of Warcraft Game Director Tom Chilton at Gamescom 2010. They cover a myriad of topics including Tol Barad, guild leveling, the state of the various classes in the Cataclysm beta and the reasoning behind Facebook integration into their games. But perhaps the most interesting piece of data is that according to Tom Chilton, Cataclysm needs "a couple more months" of work. While that might seem terribly obvious to some, it's the closest thing to an official timetable we've heard from Blizzard or a Blizzard employee beyond the aim for releasing in 2010.

A "couple more months" would set the launch firmly after BlizzCon and leaning closer to the holiday season. Mike Morhaime recently confirmed that the expansion was still on track for a 2010 release, so we're most likely looking at a November or December launch. I, for one, look forward to another middle-of-winter midnight release.

Head on over to Gamona.de for the full video interview.