The Daily Grind: What’s the best way to boost MMO populations?

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An anonymous Kickstarter donor pinged us with this question for this morning's Daily Grind: With the breadth of niche MMOs available, how will companies resort to increasing players? I presume our donor refers to the absolute deluge of smaller indie titles that we've seen crop up in development over the last few years thanks to Kickstarter. While some folks praise the creativity that these...

The Stream Team: Bring on Marvel Heroes’ Cowpacolypse!

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We know what you are thinking: What's a Marvel Heroes anniversary celebration without cows? Lots of cows. Thankfully, you don't have to find out! The Cowpocalypse descended on the ARPG over the weekend, and MassivelyOP's MJ is diving into the thick of Bovineheim. But she'll have to keep moooving to avoid being trampled by the herd because these bovine...

Not So Massively: All the online gaming news from E3 2015

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It's been a big week for online gaming, with several high-profile reveals and announcements made at E3 2015. The latest version of MOBA-esque space dogfighter EVE: Valkyrie was playable on the event floor using the Crescent Bay Oculus Rift. MassivelyOP freelancer Andrew Ross also got some hands on time with newly announced MOBA Gigantic and picked developer David Braben's brains...

Albion Online video explains how it’s bringing back player freedom

Sick of being penned into certain roles and linear progression in MMOs? Albion Online invites you to experience a game where player freedom and choice is king. In a new introduction video, the Sandbox Interactive team attempts to explain how Albion Online is separate from modern MMO contemporaries by returning to past design ideas for inspiration. The devs talk about...

World of Warplanes is bringing back lethal crits

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Wargaming's latest World of Warplanes dev blog announces the return of lethal critical damage situations. Breaking a wing or a tail off of an enemy aircraft with a well-placed shot was "fun and rewarding," according to the blog. It was also a high-skill endeavor, which left newbs wanting and adversely affected balance. The new crit system, which debuts "this Autumn,"...

Path of Exile: The Awakening eyes July 10 release

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Path of Exile's next big content update, The Awakening, is coming soon... but how soon? The team said that it's getting close to nailing down an official release date but that it should be happening in the earlier part of July. "You should expect to see a proper trailer, announcement of the challenge leagues, and a content update for The...

ArenaNet addresses Guild Wars 2 pre-purchase controversy

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The Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns pre-purchase announcement sent the community into a state of agitation, to put it mildly. This was exacerbated by a silence on the part of ArenaNet, a silence which has been broken today as the studio addressed the various related issues head-on in a new post. For starters, ArenaNet announced that it will be...

ESTsoft announces Cabal 2 founder’s packs

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Cabal 2 is launching as a free-to-play MMO, but if you'd like to actually pay for it, ESTsoft has announced its founder's pack offering. For $19.95, you'll get a black ostrich mount, a cherry blossom weapon skin, a forum and in-game title, 10 revive stones, 100 HP/MP potions, and the ability to play on June 29th, which is three...

Here are a whole bunch of Black Desert gameplay vids with an English patch

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Reddit user asciisyaez has posted a plethora of Black Desert gameplay videos. The footage was captured on the fantasy sandbox's Korean beta servers, but it makes use of an English translation patch, which comes in handy if you'd like to examine the game's character creation screens or portions of the interface in detail. Videos include Witch, Valkyrie, Ranger, and Sorcerer...
It's like there's a party on your hard drive and you need that party to accomplish anything.

EverQuest’s popular progression servers face content competition challenges

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Daybreak says that it is tweaking raid targets and high-end zones for EverQuest's new progression servers. "There are more active players on Ragefire and Lockjaw than there ever were on our launch servers, and right now there's too much competition for some very limited resources," the company explains in a new forum post. The challenge is increasing accessibility without resorting to...