Elder Scrolls Online console preorders are now open

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Having relaunched The Elder Scrolls Online as a buy-to-play, sub-optional PC game last week, ZeniMax has now announced pre-orders for the console versions of the game. The game will officially launch on the PS4 and Xbox One on June 9th of this year.

The studio will offer two editions for each platform: The standard edition grants a minipet and bonus treasure maps plus the ability to roll any race in any alliance, while the Imperial edition includes the requisite physical map, 12″ statue, 224-page illustrated book, an extra minipet, duoing rings, a horse mount, and the chance to roll up an Imperial character.

Still thinking about picking up the game on PC? Of course you are. You’re an MMO player. Check out YouTuber Elloa’s tips video below before you do.

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World of Warcraft gears up for WoW Tokens and arena championships

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Can you part with real money more easily than you can part with hours of time to farm up gold in World of Warcraft? If so, you’re probably excited about the new WoW Tokens, which will work akin to EVE Online‘s PLEX as consumable items that can be sold to players for gold. While a date still hasn’t been announced, the price for the tokens has been pegged at $20, with region-wide exchanges set up to ensure that the game automatically adjusts the gold value of these items to match market demand. Those of you with more gold than real money can also benefit from this, of course; pay your gold, get your token, enjoy a month of subscription for free.

But maybe you don’t worry about that, you just want to take on the best opponents in the arena for the championship title. Good news there as well, since the game will be hosting another world championship this year at BlizzCon 2015. Qualifying rounds will be held soon, so now’s the time to start brushing up on your skills even though the convention isn’t until November.

[Source: WoW Token Coming Soon, 2015 WoW Arena Championship announcement]

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The Daily Grind: Is there an MMO mob type that totally icks you out?

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For some people, it’s spiders. For others, it’s bats or snakes. (For Justin, it’s elves.) And for me, it’s roaches.

I’ve been incredibly lucky, honestly, that MMORPG developers are stuck on bears and spiders and orcs and haven’t figured out the whole roach thing, but there it is. Roaches and beetle types freak me out, even in video games. I’m not even going to go google for the formal term for “beetle types” for this post because I know there will be pictures. There were entire levels of Torchlight II (shown above — sans roaches) that I simply couldn’t play until some lovely modder came up with a plugin to get rid of them after many players begged him to. (What’s less cool about that thread is how many people showed up to laugh at people with critter phobias or lectured us on exposure therapies that fail more than work. On second thought, don’t read that thread. Just cheer the modder.)

I certainly won’t make fun of you, and I want to know what freaks you out. Is there an MMO mob type that bothers you so much you just run the other way? [PS: Please don’t embed pics of stuff you know is going to freak people out. Just link!]

Every morning, the Massively Overpowered writers team up with mascot Mo to ask MMORPG players pointed questions about the massively multiplayer online roleplaying genre. Grab a mug of your preferred beverage and take a stab at answering the question posed in today’s Daily Grind!

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Not So Massively: D3’s ladder reset, HOTS’ team league mode, and Starfall Tactics

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Diablo III is getting ready to close its second ladder only two months in on April 5th but will be providing a 100% gold and XP boost for the remainder of the season. Blizzard discussed how the development of Project Titan led to its new online FPS Overwatch and revealed that the title will be the first of a series of games set in the same universe. Path of Exile‘s Torment and Bloodlines leagues ended today, and a tournament this weekend awarded four of the game’s top players with some nice Alienware swag.

Indie RTS Starfall Tactics announced its intention to develop a persistent online shard in which players can wage wars and conquer each other’s territories. Riot Games announced a new contest in the EU region that will give university-based League of Legends clubs €1,500 toward the costs of running an event. Warframe‘s massive Sanctuary update landed this week, introducing new quests, weapons, tons of bugfixes, and the Chroma warframe. And Blizzard announced an upcoming Team League mode for Heroes of the Storm that aims to let everyone take part in competitive team play.

Read on for a detailed breakdown of the stories above and a roundup of all the other big news this week from the wider world of not-quite-massive online gaming.

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The Stream Team: Sharing the story in Marvel Heroes

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MassivelyOP’s MJ is already decisionally impaired, and nothing emphasizes that as much as trying to choose whom to play in Marvel Heroes! There are just so many possibilities. Thanks to the ever-increasing selection, MJ’s spent so much time showing off new characters lately that she’s neglected her first loves: Storm and Rogue. Join us live at 9:00 p.m. as MJ picks the storyline back up on one of these two — assuming she can pick one! Eeny, meenie, miny, mo…

What: Marvel Heroes
Who: MJ Guthrie
When: 9:00 p.m. EDT on Monday, March 23rd, 2015

Enjoy the show!
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RuneScape adds its 200th quest

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A new quest in RuneScape is something to be celebrated and enjoyed, as that MMO’s quests often go far above and beyond menial tasks. So it is with great fanfare that Jagex has announced that the fantasy game has added its 200th quest.

Called Dimensions of Disaster, the 200th quest allows players to cross over into an alternate reality and perform five sub-quests before facing off against a necromancer. The quest was the winner of an in-studio competition to design the game’s bi-centennial mission and is limited to subscribers only.

You can watch the 200th quest overview video as well as a countdown of the players’ top 10 quests after the break!

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Final Fantasy XI welcomes spring with this week’s update

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It’s terribly hard to believe that it’s already spring, particularly if you’re watching a glacier slowly envelop your neighborhood in the northern hemisphere. Fortunately, we have Final Fantasy XI to welcome some virtual warmth into our lives with this week’s update.

On March 26th, the game will trigger both its Easter egg hunt and the Feast of Swords. Bigger and better than that, however, is the addition of all-new Vagary battle content that will pit players against three powerful bosses. For more peaceful players, the Mog Garden is receiving some quality-of-life improvements as well.

Soak up the patch goodness while you can: Final Fantasy XI is slated to go into maintenance mode later this year followed by the introduction of a mobile edition of the game.

[Source: March version update announcement]

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Players seek world record for longest Hearthstone turn

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By setting up a chain reaction of around 240,000 arcane missiles targeting a player who cannot be killed at the moment, two players have engineered a Hearthstone turn that is currently running and will last approximately 40 hours and will hopefully net them a Guinness World Record.

The turn uses a combination of Arcane Missiles, Velen’s Chosen, Prophet Velen, and Ice Block to produce the hundreds of thousands of automated damage-dealing strikes without eliminating the second player. Until the next turn, that is, which should happen sometime on March 25th. You can watch the turn in progress live on Twitch.

[Source: PC Gamer, Twitch]

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Frontier turns Elite bug into community event

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Frontier has turned an Elite: Dangerous bug into a canonical community event that is still ongoing through March 26th. A player purportedly fired on a Farragut-class capital ship, prompting a return attack, which hit the nearby Hudson Dock space station.

The station returned fire and wiped out over 75 percent of the Farragut’s hull strength — and gave it a 72,000-credit bounty — before the devs fixed the bug. Players may now sell metals at Hudson Dock, which will go toward repair efforts. Participants will be rewarded according to “individual and community efforts,” according to PC Gamer.

[Via: PC Gamer; Source: GalNet; thanks Colin!]

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Dave Georgeson talks all things MMOs

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Have you missed the enthusiastic Dave Georgeson since he got the boot from Daybreak last month? Well, he certainly hasn’t gone into seclusion; Georgeson has been making the rounds talking about his experiences, and the latest sounding board for his wisdom is the Level Up Morning Show.

If you’ve got an hour-and-a-half to spare, you can listen to Georgeson comment on the MMO industry in length. Warning: This may trigger nostalgia and longing in some veteran EverQuest hearts.

[Source: LUMS #35 via GeekOutStudios.com]

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Dungeon Fighter Online returns tomorrow

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After a two-year absence from the NA gaming scene, Dungeon Fighter Online is roaring back for another chance. The title’s first open beta test launches tomorrow and will run through April 13th. Don’t let the “beta” part of that mislead you, however, as this will be one of those soft launch scenarios with no expected wipes.

Even though the beta starts tomorrow, you can go ahead and download the game today so that you can get ready to jump in when it starts.

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Factions: Origins of Malu’s early access launch and interview

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Origins of Malu has certainly had a long, bumpy road to launch. Showing up on our radar back in August 2011, this title has weathered two engine changes (each necessitating starting over), unsuccessful cowdfunding ventures, and even a name change as the design changed to offer the battlegrounds first. And this past Friday, at the very last minute, the team learned that the launch would be further delayed because of something beyond its control on Steam’s end. But that’s behind the game now, and the first iteration of the game with battlegrounds is live today.

Throughout the whole process, the team has been dedicated to bringing this game to life, going so far as to keep funding it out of pocket throughout the journey. We sat down with founder Michael Dunham to talk about why the additional wait was needed, what players can expect now, and when the full MMO is coming out.

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Big changes are in the works for EVE structures

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CCP has released a giant dev blog that covers EVE Online’s new structure system. Much of it is “highly theoretical,” and the company says it’s playing its hand months in advance so as to collect and act upon player feedback.

Oh, and don’t fret about your existing structures. If and when the proposed changes take place, there will be some sort of transition phase to mitigate potential space tears. For more on EVE’s structure revamp, be sure to see our Fanfest one-on-one with executive producer Andie Nordgren.

And while we’re talking about Fanfest, we should point out that CCP is already planning the 2016 version of its annual gala as well as selling tickets to EVE Vegas 2015.

[Source: Dev blog]

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