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This week we discuss getting older, public executions, how NCSOFT properties are doing, and yet more conjecture on Wildstar’s subscription-to-f2p transition. Welcome to Casual Core Radio, where we talk about MMOs and we’re not sure how we’ll find time to do more than seven daily zones each week.
MMO News
Money Money Money
http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/05/12/square-enix-profits-double-thanks-to-mmo-and-mobile-titles (and WTF is up with that hair… it’s full-on JRPG-level height.)
It’s not newsy, but it’s interesting – Diablo III is often described as kind of almost-an-MMO. Turns out, it WAS almost an MMO.
http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Diablo-3-Was-Almost-An-MMO-71858.html
Near and Dear to my heart… MMOs and Working Adults.
http://news.mmosite.com/content/2015-05-13/das_tal_fixing_sandbox_mmos_for_busy_adults.shtml
Catering to the casual? Yeah. The casual who used to be hardcore, aka the casual who now has WAY MORE MONEY to spend.
Ok ok, we know about WoW and it’s 3 million sub drop. Enough already. Let’s talk about 6.2 and the new Bonus Activities feature.
http://www.youthhealthmag.com/articles/15605/20150511/world-of-warcraft-gameplay-patch-6-2-blizzard-mmorpg-lost-3-million-subscribers.htm
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/18985406/patch-62-preview-bonus-events-and-adventure-guide-5-7-2015
ESO on the Console. The company that loves console RPGs is finally putting it’s MMORPG on consoles, and it’s releasing June 9th.
http://www.vg247.com/2015/01/21/elder-scrolls-online-no-subs-ps4-pc-xbox-one/
http://www.vinereport.com/article/elder.scrolls.online.console.release.date.console.versions.offer.improved.version.of.glitchy.pc.version.of.tamriel.unlimited/203.htm
Guild Wars 2 Cheater’s toon is publicly shamed and executed. Then all of his toons are deleted.
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/guild-wars-2-hacker-publically-executed-mmo-cheating-1500648
https://youtu.be/h_hS_XNpg30
SWTOR – Irony in the extreme. The second part of the Sixth Line story starts with ledge crawling. Funny, that’s how the now defunct exploit worked.
http://www.swtor.com/info/news/blog/20150428
To end on the money note: NCSoft Earning Report – Lineage 1 still kicking ass. WildStar, not so much. All the rest – doing ok.
http://global.ncsoft.com/global/ir/earnings.aspx
http://www.mmorpg.com/showFeature.cfm/loadFeature/9683/What-We-Can-Learn-from-the-Latest-NCsoft-Earnings-.html
WildStar, Guild Wars 1 and 2, AION, and all NCSOFT properties subject to a now-complete extended maintenance.
https://forums.wildstar-online.com/forums/index.php?/topic/126026-extended-ncsoft-maintenance-13-may-2015/#entry1316861
WS Coming to Steam
http://massivelyop.com/2015/05/13/rumor-wildstar-is-coming-to-steam-and-might-be-going-f2p/
https://therepopulation.com/index.php/news/188-15-2-1-build-update
MMO Community
For the Love of Money – Bulletboys
If I Were A Dev
How would you handle advancement mechanics?
JOE:
For basic experience – Levels with, as we’ve mentioned, have no real cap. Just max-ed skills. Maybe levels that don’t end, maybe no levels listed. A bit TSW-like or WildStar-like. Tough to say. Also, the ability to start a character at above the starting zone area like Age of Camelot and WildStar once you’ve already maxed a character.
Crafting – traditional leveling with recipes and rewards, but with the possibility of gaining crits by using more materials or special materials. End-game crafting gear would be JUST AS GOOD as end-game instance gear, and all gear can be modded by crafters, as we’ve already mentioned..
Factions – a classic reputation system. To make crafting valuable but not cookie-cutter, there would be materials and even recipes gated by both level and reputation.
DREW:
No levels, just minor quality of gear differences, and slots for skills. Skills unlock through achievements.
Skills from crafting achievements that consume crafting materials
PvP renown, infamy, and honor. Renown is from raid-v-raid kills, Infamy is from piracy and ganking (large power disparities or raid-v-solo), and Honor is from killing high-Infamy players.
Pick a faction and move up in it, doing missions for them (or killing players from enemy factions), seals for your player-run faction that allows the leader of the faction to pick which crafting materials to make the seal, thus draining the economy of too-prevalent crafting material
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This week’s end music is Qeynos from Everquest 2