Everyone has a fighting chance
Holidays have become very important for MMOs. It allows the developers and players to breathe a bit and just have some good old fashioned fun. My favorite has always been Halloween, and it’s just right around the corner. Sadly, there isn’t a lot of attention being thrown towards it. The first Halloween for Guild Wars 2 was an amazing event that really set the standard for what to expect from the developers, which is why it may have been too good, as the following year was a serious let down.
Thus far, the perception has been that tablets and MOBAs just don’t mix – and for good reason. Competitive MOBA players (is there any other kind?) require a level of technology and a degree of speed and precision that heretofore have existed only on PC. Current gen tablets have removed the first obstacle, and with its upcoming MOBA Vainglory, Superevil Megacorp has plans to remove the second.
This may or may not matter to some of you, as I do not know who here plays games like NHL, NBA2K or Madden outside of their MMO and RPG habits. But recently, after years away from sports games, I picked up both this year’s Madden and NBA 2K15. I have a history with both games, but what I found in this years’ versions hit me right in the nerdy bone. It’s like the funny bone, but instead of jokes it’s RPGs, Star Wars references, and comics that tickle this one.
With changes coming to several games, and the release of others like ArcheAge, I’ve been thinking about player-driven systems and the space a game’s story leaves for players in between. Do things like story, scripted elements, and even predetermined politics necessarily stifle player involvement and fun? Is a sandbox the only way to give players room to feel in charge of their own destinies, or are there alternate paths to make this happen?
Indie developers Fakedice this week kicked off funding for their upcoming tabletop/RPG/CCG on Kickstarter and have already reached a third of their goal. The company describes Dicetiny (pronounced "dice-tinny") as "a tablet board game mashed with dungeon crawling and card battle" and plans to release it soon via Steam Early Access.
October 8 to October 19, ambitious level 60 players can enter the Dragon Nest World Championship server. There, they’ll be able to create a special "DWC" character and create 4-player teams that can compete October 20 to determine who are the best Dragon Nest players around.
Hard to believe, but it’s already been a month since Destiny’s launch. To celebrate, Bungie’s featuring a list of player-related game achievements on its weekly update.
Action-RPG Shadows: Heretic Kingdoms just became more accessible with the addition of a useful new tutorial and back-story-rich prologue. Its playable character population also just went up by one as Carissa Cantrecht, melee queen and former member of Penta Nera, joins the game.
According to a Twitter post from the Dragon Age Inquisition team, both the PlayStation 4 and XBox One have been "maximized" for the best graphic potential available.
Blizzard has announced that a new comic by Robert Brooks that is based on the World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor expansion is now available. Called "Blackhand", the comic centers around one of the faction leaders that players will encounter when returning to the past in Draenor.