The hiring of customer support personnel doesn't usually make the news, but when you consider Trion World Network's latest service side hires, it might be a different story. Of course we all know Trion as the studio in charge of the SCI FI channel's new MMO project. Some recent hires include ex-Blizzard developer and Carbine Studios founder Kevin Beardslee, and the tradition continues with Thor Biafore as Customer Support Manager, Jack Wood as In-game Support Manager, and Erik DeBill as Senior Platform Billing Lead.
Today marks the first installment of the Star Wars: The Old Republic online webcomic series that we first mentioned earlier in the month. This webcomic has been created as a joint venture between BioWare, LucasArts and Dark Horse comics, and offers fans an opportunity to discover the Old Republic era in preparation for the yet-unannounced launch date for the TOR MMO.
The Swedish Youth Care Foundation has an upcoming report in which they describe World of Warcraft as "the cocaine of the computer games world", indicating that it has been involved in every case of gaming addiction that they have dealt with. As the report is not yet published, it doesn't indicate what other games might be involved. Swedish news outlet, The Local, interprets this with the headline 'World of Warcraft is as addictive as cocaine', a statement that is neither supported by the quotes, nor apparently supported in fact. The addiction rate for cocaine is 5-6% per use during the first decade and 15-16% per use thereafter. If World of Warcraft were really that addictive, then umpty-million players would be well and truly addicted -- a fact not in evidence. The Local's headline therefore, appears to be purest hype (or as we like to think of it, an attention-getting lie).
One of the things coming to World of Warcraft with the upcoming 3.1 patch is the option for players to have what's called a dual specialization. As we've heard from Zarhym, they will be available at level 40 for a cost of 1,000 gold, and essentially will be a button that will swap you from one spec to another in a matter of moments. This will also cause your glyphs and action bars to swap around as you change specs, so you don't have to screw with swapping glyphs around. (You'll still need to swap gear around, but most people who've paid to swap specs are pretty used to that - and besides, there are mods to do that.) This will be of great use to those who play hybrid/healer classes, or have different raid and PvP builds. It won't work in the Battlegrounds or Arenas, though.
Ok. Ulduar looks amazing. We really, really, really want to go raiding in the Halls of the Titans and learn more about the ancient city that resides in the Storm Peaks. But, sadly, we're relegated to waiting until patch 3.1 launches onto World of Warcraft's servers. Or are we? Our sister site, WoW Insider, got a hold of the test schedule of Ulduar raid bosses. Tonight is the first, Hodir, and he's already started (since 7 PM)! If you can't get on tonight (as some of our correspondents at WoW Insider are locked out) then no worries, as the Iron Council will be the boss for tomorrow night at 7. The full schedule is as follows:
The Agency HQ fansite had a chance to interview a group of developers from SOE Seattle who are working on upcoming MMOFPS/RPG title, The Agency. If you don't know much about this cross-platform game, check out our past coverage and the excellent primer up on Wikipedia. That said, the game is still in development and things may change. Questions asked during the interview were thought up by fans from the HQ forums, so you know they're going to be insightful. SOE's answers alluded to signature "class" abilities and counters, planned progression motivators with the "you are what you wear" system, a more intensive resource management system (e.g., ammo) than you'll find in most FPS games, and the MacGyvering, er, crafting system based on schematics and resources (e.g., chemicals and minerals).
It's safe to say that everyone here at Massively is excitedly awaiting Cryptic Studio's forthcoming Star Trek Online. So our very first interview with executive producer Craig Zinkievich was both a great opportunity and an enlightening experience. Beyond the cut, you'll find answers on player-made starships, holodecks, diplomatic encounters and much more.
With the promise of upcoming Tech 3 ships, so many EVE Online players just can't wait for Apocrypha to come out. Packed with all manner of new features for EVE players to look forward to, it's going to prove to be a lot of fun. Today's one Shots comes to us from Farrellus who has been so kind as to report back from the test servers for us, with some images of the new ships players can look forward to soon. He writes in: Here's a strategic cruiser I put together on the test server. It's one variation of a Gallente Proteus.
Listen up, soldiers! We're going to post this once and only once, so I want all eyes and ears on this blog post! Do you get me!? *Waits to hear the chorus of "We get you, sir!" coming from the computer monitor.* We have gotten word from AFS High Command that the Bane are preparing for an all out attack against the Allied Free Sentients in Tabula Rasa. This will be the single largest troop movement that the battlefields have seen to date. This is why all soldiers are being asked to fortify all AFS bases in preparation of an attack on Saturday at 8 PM GMT for the Centarus (EU) server and again at 8 PM CST for the Hydra server.
Grinders is a new weekly cartoon here at Massively devoted to chronicling your adventures in your favorite MMOs! If you have a funny story or just a funny character, submit your tale complete with a screenshot . The best will be etched in stone and displayed in the town square for all to see. Or just put in the comic.