Make My MMO: Crowfall’s EU servers, Camelot’s newsletter, Star Citizen’s perks (February 3, 2018)

albion online

Official Site: Albion Online
Studio: Sandbox Interactive
Launch Date: N/A
Genre: Fantasy PvP Sandbox
Business Model: N/A
Platform: PC

Make My MMO: Crowfall’s EU servers, Camelot’s newsletter, Star Citizen’s perks (February 3, 2018)

February 3, 2018 Bree Royce Leave a comment

This week in MMO crowdfunding, Camelot Unchained’s idea of a “short” newsletter is still over 3000 words, but it’s live this week with a rundown of the news that’s still buzzing from January: that the studio is making new hires left and right in the wake of a huge cash investment that’ll speed up production of the game. It’s also called its first alpha a success now that it’s smashed some lag bugs.

And in surprising news, one of the principals on Greed Monger actually began processing refunds for its 2012 MMORPG Kickstarter after years of abandonment.

Meanwhile, the Elite Dangerous community thwarted griefers, Star Citizen added earliest test access to subscriber perks, Legends of Aria began another round of beta, AdventureQuest 3D teased its new Paladin class, Albion Online rolled out another update to the Kay patch, Dual Universe’s pre-alpha edged up to R0.8.16, and Crowfall made good on its promise to get the EU test servers up and running.

Read on for more on what’s up with MMO crowdfunding over the last week and the regular roundup of all the crowdfunded MMOs we’re following.

Make My MMO: Camelot’s new producer, Star Citizen’s alpha 3 features, & SOTA’s R50 (January 27, 2018)

January 27, 2018 Bree Royce 2 comments

This week in MMO crowdfunding, Camelot Unchained devs say they’re getting really close to finalizing the date for beta one. This week, in addition to fiddling with the beta calendar, CSE says it’s been working on poses, rocks, casting and UI animations, new armor and weapon textures, container permissions, and performance for buildings, as well as training up the new tech producer.

Meanwhile, Shroud of the Avatar pushed out R50, Elite kicked off the beta for its next big update, we continued our tour of Project Gorgon, Dual Universe teased new concept art, War of Rights got a wee patch, ROKH patched up (devs say they’re still “looking for the best way to make [their] come-back,” and Fragmented admitted it’s essentially in maintenance mode.

Read on for more on what’s up with MMO crowdfunding over the last week and the regular roundup of all the crowdfunded MMOs we’re following.

Betawatch: Sea of Thieves hits closed beta (January 26, 2018)

January 26, 2018 Eliot Lefebvre 3 comments

It was foretold, and then it happened. Sea of Thieves hit its closed beta this week with play anywhere functionality fully intact. The bad news is that beta hit back with some bugs, one of which has a workaround of requesting a refund and then re-purchasing the game. Hopefully extending the beta until January 31st provides a bit more time to fix these issues?

Ah, well. Let’s see if other games are navigating their betas decently. What have you got for us, magic list (it’s not actually magic)?

Remember Rust? It’s leaving the comforting warm blanket of early access for launch on February 8th. You can decide for yourself if that’s because the game is ready for launch or if it’s just a matter of needing some new source for outrage after people got angry about no character creation.
The closed beta for Closers ends on February 6th, bringing the game formally into the launch world. The only other thing I can add to this is that when I was trying to work up an extended song lyric spoof for this, I called it a “shoot-brawler,” which seems… apropos.
The Repopulation has plans for 2018. Big plans, the biggest plans. It’s going to be so big, you’ll see. We would all like to see.
The mobile client for Albion Online is currently in testing, which is pretty cool. It’s only on Apple devices, which may be less cool if Android devices are your mediums of choice, but it’s one before the other.
Speaking of sandboxes where you kill other players, Darkfall: New Dawn is launching today out of beta. Let’s see how well this revival does!
Last but not least, survival box SOS apparently has the official Snoop Dogg seal of approval as it heads into early access. Look, have him do the stream alongside his good friend Martha Stewart, and we’ll talk.

It’s nice to see that 2018 is both replete with beta news and with stories that are just plain weird (it’d be sad if we couldn’t call back to Steven Seagal on a boat, after all). So what about other beta stuff? We’ve got a list down below! Let us know if something on it is inaccurate, like a game that’s tacitly launched or something that we may have missed. It’s appreciated.

Albion Online explains the new guild roles and guild UI options

January 24, 2018 Eliot Lefebvre 2 comments

The developers of Albion Online know that the guild system in the game needs work. Heck, it needed work for a while, but it was itself just so much work that it had to wait for a little while. But with the game’s next patch, that work is being fully realized, so you can enjoy all of the new features within the guild setup. This includes multiple tabs for guild vaults and a full transaction history for the guild vault, so you can both know who’s taking what and make it easier to divide up resource access.

How can you divide that? With the new role system. In essence, the new system doesn’t assign permissions by rank, but by role, and you can then assign individual members as many roles as seem appropriate. So if you have one bank tab with lots of combat gear and one with lots of crafting material, Attackers might have access to the former tab and Crafters might have access to the latter tab. A player with both roles could access both. Check out the explanation in the video just below, and look forward to these new guild features with the game’s upcoming Lancelot patch.

Massively OP Podcast Episode 154: A Prime experiment

January 23, 2018 Justin Olivetti 7 comments

On this week’s show, Bree and Justin hit up a week of huge MMO news, including Camelot Unchained’s investments, RIFT’s new subscription server, Devilian’s demise, and more!

It’s the Massively OP Podcast, an action-packed hour of news, tales, opinions, and gamer emails! And remember, if you’d like to send in your own letter to the show, use the “Tips” button in the top-right corner of the site to do so.

Listen to the show right now:

Albion Online kicks off its mobile testing on Apple devices

January 23, 2018 Eliot Lefebvre 6 comments

One of the big selling points for Albion Online right out of the gate was the promise of a game that could be played on pretty much any device in the same world. PC, Linux, mobile devices… same thing, across the board. That goal is getting closer to being a reality with the game’s new closed beta on iOS platforms. If you’ve got the game and either an iPad or an iPhone, you can jump in and start playing.

You’ll need to have at least a starter or founder pack to take part in the closed beta, but assuming you do you can log in and, well… play. It’ll have all of the same features and options as the desktop client, it’ll just be on a mobile device. There are some light system requirements in terms of recommendation, so be sure to double-check your device before logging in and reporting bugs. But, you know, do log in and report bugs.

Source: Official Site

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Albion Online characterizes layoffs as downsizing to ‘pre-release beta testing’ levels

January 18, 2018 Bree Royce 8 comments

Earlier this week, we got a tip claiming that the Albion Online team had been severely cut back before Christmas, perhaps as much as 50%, owing to poor performance. Turns out there were some layoffs, but not quite so many, and in fact the studio says it had ramped up studio numbers ahead of launch and is now downsizing to a live team. Moreover, the studio says its playerbase has “stabilized” and is still growing.

Here’s the full statement Sandbox Interactive issued to Massively OP this afternoon:

“Albion Online saw a successful release in July 2017. To get ready for release, during beta testing, our team size almost doubled to more than 50 people. Now that release is behind us, we are reducing the team size to levels similar to those at the start of pre-release beta testing. 31 people in total, supported by talented freelancers, will constantly improve and expand the game. This goes hand in hand with our strategy to fully focus on the game’s original core vision: with the release of our Kay update in December, player numbers have stabilized at a high level and continue to grow. Our next update, Lancelot, will continue on this path and is set to release in March, with further updates to come according to our road map.”

Our sympathies go out to those affected.

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Make My MMO: Camelot Unchained’s big announcement is set for Thursday (January 13, 2018)

January 13, 2018 Bree Royce 15 comments

This week in MMO crowdfunding, Camelot Unchained fans are stocking up on big bags of popcorn because the announcement has been announced! If you care about the future of the game, you’re gonna want to show up this coming Thursday to hear what’s in store. Hint hint nudge nudge. It’s all teased in the game’s latest backer update, which further covers CSE’s progress on the engine, latency, the UI, tools, networking code, animations, and art.

Meanwhile, we got a personal tour of Ship of Heroes, Project Gorgon gently hyped its upcoming early access, Chronicles of Elyria announced it’s abandoned SpatialOS, and Elite Dangerous delivered beta and launch windows for its update chunk.

Read on for more on what’s up with MMO crowdfunding over the last week and the regular roundup of all the crowdfunded MMOs we’re following.

Albion Online’s Christmas event is better late than never

January 10, 2018 Justin Olivetti 6 comments

Hey, why are you taking down those Christmas lights and hauling your browning tree to the curb? There’s still some life left in this holiday yet, even if it is technically over! Just look at Albion Online, which kicked off its Breath of Winter event today to keep players occupied during the rest of the month.

During this event, players can go on a “good deeds” quest chain to help the little NPCs of the realm and earn an essential item that will allow the creation of a Yule Ram mount.

There’s also an Icy Battleground for PvP, a quest to help Father Frost, and an extra-wintry version of the Three Sisters Expedition. Plenty of rewards await those who participate, including fancy winter finery, Christmas trees, and a placeable present chest.

Source: Albion Online

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The best Massively OP streams of 2017

December 25, 2017 Bree Royce 7 comments

As captain of our Stream Team, Massively OP’s MJ Guthrie and Larry Everett were joined by Andrew Ross this year to play zillions of games live, some old and some new, providing our community with an interactive look at some of the games in (and around) our genre. I’ve picked out my 10 favorites from the year, from sunsets and interviews to early access MMO sneak-peeks and even a group stream for the launch of one of the year’s biggest MMO expansions. Let’s dig in!

Make My MMO: The biggest MMO crowdfunding news of 2017

December 23, 2017 Bree Royce 11 comments

Welcome to a special edition of Make My MMO, Massively OP’s regular recap of what’s going on in crowdfunded MMOs, which we do specifically for those of you who are convinced Kickstarter is the absolute worst (it’s not) and that no crowdfunded MMOs ever launch (they do). Plus, somebody’s got to keep an eye on what your money’s up to! Tonight’s edition isn’t going to be our usual recap of the last couple of weeks, however; we’re going to look at the most important MMO crowdfunding news of the entire year. Lock up your wallets and let’s get to it.

Albion Online sheds light on its roadmap for the next update

December 22, 2017 Eliot Lefebvre One comment

It’s not quite the end of the year just yet, but Albion Online has still taken the opportunity for an end-of-year look at the stuff that’s coming for the game’s next big update. First and foremost is fishing because it’s not really an MMO if you can’t sit by the shore and match wits with a fish, right? The game’s fishing will work differently than most of the gathering options, as there will be no nodes to harvest from, just bodies of water that may logically contain fish. Are there fish there? Try to fish and see if there are any in there.

Other major components being added are the addition of siege engines (with only a couple of engines planned for the initial offering and more for the future) and the imposter mechanic to let you slip in your own siphoning mages after killing an enemy mage. None of the things mentioned in the roadmap are sure components of the next update, but they’re all in the plans; check out the video down below for all of the details as the year winds down.

Albion Online brings the Breath of Winter to the game on January 10th

December 21, 2017 Eliot Lefebvre 6 comments

So Albion Online does have an event for this year’s winter holiday season… it’s just starting on January 10th, 2018. Which makes it a little late for the big ones like Christmas, but it’ll still hit… whatever happens in mid-January? Look, let’s not focus on that part and focus instead on being sent all over the realm to do good deeds so that you can earn the bridle to craft a festive Yule Ram mount. That sounds more positive.

Of course, there’s also a new icy battleground and a new harder-than-usual version of the Three Sisters Expedition available for players to take on for further seasonal rewards, which also include cosmetic outfits and some conifers that look like… well, some sort of familiar tree. (You know the sort.) So you’ll have to wait a bit until after the usual holiday season to kick things off, but you’ll still have plenty of holiday fun to engage with just the same.

Source: Official Site

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