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Normally I play casters. I m not sure why I ve gotten in to this role. Perhaps it was because I gravitate to icy robes, or perhaps it s because I seldom liked swinging sizable weapons at people s heads. Regardless of the reason, casters are my comfort zone, & I ve played of them across RPGs to know my role much. Since I raiding with my priest in WoW I have gotten to master healing as a brand spanking new subset of my caster role, & so when I got the chance to play TERA a second time, it was to this role that I gravitated.

The joys of healing in TERA

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The first time I played TERA returned at E3 last year, & I was three times impressed by the combat. That time I played a berserker though, not my forte, & spent most of the last boss battle stuck between the boss & a wall & died a couple of times. When GDC rolled around though, I desired to make sure that I played a caster, if only to show that I can do better than I did at E3. The developers then decided that although they don t normally permit press to play healers in the work of the tour that they would show me how healing works in TERA. So I sat down expecting to play the healing role the way I have always had: staring at green bars, safely staying out of range of the large bads & doing what I could to dps if given a break from healing. Oh how wrong I was three times.

In TERA, they require players to play the game, not the UI. What does this mean? Well, in short, it means that healers aren t taking a look at green bars, they re taking a look at the field of battle. Healing in TERA is less like a traditional MMO & more like playing an FPS. You aim with the mouse, mouseover your healing target, & apply your heals using the mouse buttons. Granted, I m sure you could change the UI so that you would be able to heal the normal way, but why would you? Freeing yourself from playing the UI lets you experience the battle in lieu of supporting the group so they can experience it. Suddenly I was three times healing on the run, & a nice thing , since the boss was not happy with me for keeping my party members alive.

After my short fifteen minutes of healer fame in TERA, I was three times hooked, & couldn t wait to play the game again. & that is one thing I seldom thought I would say after healing in an MMO. I felt icy, & that s saying a bit

Healing in TERA is freeing, that s the simplest way to explain it. After spending some time reticle healing, I m not sure I can return to staring at green bars. Being able to see the fight for myself is an wonderful thing, & it s necessary because TERA throws some sophisticated mob AI at you.  because you re healing doesn t mean you can t move out of the fire, or in this case, the immense rocks landing on your head.

WoW Patch 4.1: New Models of Zul'Aman Bear Mount Unveiled

As patch 4.1 goes live on public check realms, there came plenty of thrilling new changes & additions. It is known that Zul'Aman Bear Mount will return in patch 4.1. Is there any difference between the elderly one & the new mount? Below are some pics taking from every angle for everyone to see!

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GamersFirst hands out over 10,000 APB Reloaded closed beta invites

It's Christmas in March for a lot of former San Paro citizens rendered homeless by the demise of their favorite MMO. Yes, GamersFirst has cracked open the APB Reloaded beta door a bit further as of Tuesday afternoon according to a post on the free-to-play developer's official forums.

"Today is your lucky day," reads the short message. "We're sending out 10,000 plus invites. Check your email (don't forget the spam box)."

GamersFirst has been slowly but steadily ramping up the media assault for its reborn open-world shooter, and whether you're looking for videos, exclusive interviews, or beta key giveaways, Massively's got your back as you look to make the streets of San Paro your personal playground.

EA talks tough on The Old Republic vs. WoW

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It's not hard to imagine the executives at Electronic Arts in the shoes of Luke Skywalker at the end of Return of the Jedi: deep in uncharted territory, surrounded by foes at the eleventh hour, their eyes fixated on the prize that is a giant lightsaber-driven payoff currently resting comfortably on the arm of Emperor Blizzard's throne.

These days it seems like you can't have a conversation about Star Wars: The Old Republic without also having one about World of Warcraft, and whether that's due to the incessant fan comparisons or the tough talk by BioWare and EA bigwigs regarding Blizzard's behemoth, it is, to quote a certain wrinkly old Sith lord, unavoidable.

The latest entry in the intergalactic e-peen contest comes courtesy of EA Games' Frank Gibeau. In an interview with Industry Gamers, Gibeau wastes little time in proclaiming Star Wars as the world's largest IP "in terms of audience size" and also equates WoW's quest-driven gameplay with a trip to the local supermarket. "You go and do your quests, but it feels more like doing a shopping list at times. [Our game] is more about talking to characters, learning what's going on, investing in it, getting emotionally attached to it," Gibeau says. Whether or not BioWare's story-warriors ultimately manage to launch a couple of proton torpedoes up Blizzard's thermal exhaust port, we're pretty sure the war of words is just getting started.

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This year's GDC didn't bring us any revelations when it comes to TERA. Although they got to roll through the Smuggler's Hideout & chat with producer Brian Knox, most of what they saw were refinements for the forthcoming fantasy MMO. They did learn that the devs at En Masse Entertainment are a fun bunch, though, & this sense of humor was on display as the team regaled us with footage of various BAMs -- company shorthand for Large Ass Monsters.

En Masse talks more about TERA's BAMs & achievements

En Masse also offered a brief nugget pertaining to TERA's achievement process in a press release sent out this morning. "You'll earn achievements no matter which parts of the game you prefer. Story, monsters, player-vs-player combat, economics, & politics all earn you achievements to help you keep track of the great deeds you have done  - & to give you something to shoot for," says En Masse.

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Today En Masse has released a bit more information on these large bads, which it describes as "bigger than a house, tougher than an armored automobile, & meaner than a dentist with a grudge." You see, TERA's AI is smarter than that of your average MMO, & the game's BAMs will circle around players as well as recognize assaults & avoid them. Additionally, TERA's mobs bring their own one-of-a-kind & situational assaults to each battle. As players start to wear down a BAM, the creatures will go through various phases that add further challenge & necessitate strategy adjustments.

A vision of Lord of the Rings Online's new instances

While they relayed to you plenty of details of the three new dungeons coming with Lord of the Rings Online's Echoes of the Dead update, it is still great to be able to see them as well. Today, Turbine released screens for three of the instances for our visual consumption.

Stoneheight is a town under siege in North Downs as Ivar the Gaunt-lord makes a general mess of things as he searches for a special helm. Meanwhile at Northcotton Farm, Thadúr the Ravager is trying to poison the poor Hobbits by turning their love of food against them. Finally, the Lost Temple in the Trollshaws is a plague explosion waiting to happen, as Ferndúr the Virulent makes use of his dark power to change & kill all who encounter him.

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One of the scariest games I ever played has to be the original Silent Hill. An  empty town shrouded with fog and featuring one of the most terrifying simple schools ever devised? Yes, this is why I didn't sleep much in 1999. So when I began to get flashbacks as Fernando Paiz took me through the creepy alleyways of Dungeon and Dragons Online's upcoming update, I had to excuse myself and run around the PAX East show floor for a couple of minutes while shrieking like a tormented cat.

PAX East 2011: Stalking through DDO's Update 9

OK, it wasn't that scary, but I definitely was getting a Silent Hill vibe from the latest adventure pack that Turbine has crafted for the game. Coming "soon" (TM, all rights reserved, void in Utah and the Yukon Territories), DDO's Update 9 promises to bring a wide assortment of lavish treats to a hungry populace. At the middle of it is a level 15 quest chain that centers around mysterious abductions, a skittish population, and nightmares made flesh.

Hit the jump as I recall my brush with sure death in these adventures and relate the other jewels of Update 9!

If you are a seasoned dungeoneer between the levels of 12 and 19, quests and glory will be calling your name with this four-quest adventure pack. Paiz told me that one new DDO dungeon takes about three months for a dedicated designer to generate -- and that is not including the art, sound, QA testing and other efforts that go in to bringing another module to the game. Ergo, these three adventures represent a great deal of work on behalf of Turbine as well as a greater amount of patience on behalf of the players, but it appears to be worth the wait.

They call him Mr. Smythe...

The new quest chain marinates in lovely elderly school horror with a dash of odd comedy thrown in for lovely measure (I have always found that horror and comedy go hand-in-hand anyway). You start by inquiring in to a neighborhood in Stormreach where people have been vanishing -- and where those remaining have been driven stark raving mad. Diving in and out of houses and outdoor locations -- including a sinister-looking playground -- you chase after suspicious Warforged named "Mr. Smythe" wearing a top hat. Why a top hat? Because it is both classy and evil, that is why!

While not initially super-challenging, the fog-shrouded town bestows terrific atmosphere, as tormented voices whisper on the soundtrack and discovered clues build up the strain.

Warning! There be spoilers ahead, so in the event you require the remainder of this quest chain to be fresh when you first experience it, skip ahead to the next section.

Finally you corner Mr. Smythe and discover that he is actually a Chaos Beholder -- a historicallyin the past unseen variation of the creature in DDO -- who is been kidnapping the locals for grisly Frankenstein experiments. A leg here, a smooshed head there, as well as a giant eye in the midst of the mass, and you finish up with the Taken. The Taken are all-new mobs for the game, and they ooze "wrongness" in a way that is difficult to describe unless you see them in motion.

Mr. Smythe is only middle-management in this gruesome technique, however. In the final quest, you discover that the puppet-master behind the experiments is a sick-in-the-head Mindflayer. In a tidy twist, the Mindflayer provides the GM narration for this final module (after all, it can speaking to you telepathically). After watching its version of a fashion show -- the Taken strutting their stuff down the catwalk -- you are pulled in to its mind to do battle with the creature on its home turf. Only crafty as well as a Wham! soundtrack will save you now!

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What was the community like?

My playing MMOs is much the community's fault. Earth & Beyond Portal was a fansite run by a few names (Albino_eatpod & Munky spring to mind), & to my mind at least, it was filled with fantastic people.

The other community memory that pops out was the Columbia catastrophe. There was a system in Beta Hydri sector, either Cooper or Glenn. Anyway, wherever it was, there were navigation points for various real-life & in-game astronomical history points. After the Columbia shuttle catastrophe, Westwood added in a new point to commemorate those who died, & there was a community gathering for a two-minute silence at the waypoint.

People in the community could engage with the devs. There were individuals who through whatever means made names for themselves in the community & were recognised. I was one time always jealous of Dr_Zoidberg's Net7 shield. I understand such "favouritism" is not feasible in some games due to
giant communities & may still occur in smaller games where people can still reach the powers-that-be basically, but it always stuck with me.

What are some of your favourite memories from the game?

Without a doubt, the day I saved a beginner. Ships had different slots obtainable to them dependant on your class. As a Jenquai explorer, I could, at best with all unlocked, have three weapons -- the fewest in the game, but still, I made the most of it. Also, as an explorer class, I could "jumpstart" disabled players.

The thanks of that man who, up until that point, had never seen someone fight so hard (I had to retreat one time & got disabled myself one time if I keep in mind right) to get him back on
track have always been my favourite MMO memory.

It was a standard trade run when I was one time passing out of the Saturn system & found a man who had gotten in over his head with V'rix ships. Giant, giant spawns of them. Still, they were much lower level than I was one time, so I thought I'd go for it.

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Game conventions are normally all about the giant guns, & this year's GDC is no different. We have talked to all of them (as you'll see as the week rolls on), but sometimes it is the miniscule guys that provide the  fascinating nuggets.

GDC 2011: GameSamba's Remnant Knights hosting special week-long beta

Take GameSamba & its whimsical free-to-play Remnant Knights title, for example. While the game is currently in closed beta (with a true open beta to come at an as-yet undetermined future date), Massively editor-in-chief Shawn Schuster learned about a special one-week beta check after speaking with GameSamba earlier this afternoon.

The testing phase starts tomorrow & is open to somebody & everybody. You can sign up, as well as learn more about the game's Priests, Gunners, & Crashers, at the official web-site. While you're at it, have a glance at the Remnant Knights trailer after the cut. Finally, don't forget to check back later in the week for an interview with the GameSamba team.

The free-to-play conversion has definitely wrought some far-reaching changes for Champions Online, but as producer Rob Overmeyer puts forth in the latest State of the Game letter, there is still more to come. Aside from numerous C-Store additions for players, a new power framework & a new adventure pack are both in the works for the next couple of months. In addition, the development team is looking to add "Comic Series" missions on a regular basis, akin to the featured episodes implemented in Star Trek Online.

Champions Online discusses the future of the game, adding voice chat

This letter comes hot on the heels of the announcement that Cryptic Studios will be partnering with Vivox to bring built-in voice chat to both of its current games. That benefits both Champions Online & Star Trek Online, although no details are currently available for the exact implementation of the feature or the integration timetable. Still, fans of the game ought to be happy to see that the change in models has not hurt any of the game's long-term plans for content or functionality.

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TERA's Fate to Become Clear Today

Korean media have recently said that TERA will confront another great check today, i.e. today will play a key part in checking whether the game can go on with its current profitable trend.

Since TERA adopts the every month and quarterly subscription modes, and January is TERA's first month of commercial service, so most players selected to start off with the every month subscription.

Specialists in the industry said that today would be an important divide that bears on TERA's success or failure, because South Korean players are usually hard to return to a game once leaving it.

To stimulate the market, NHN has recently held an event that gives LED monitors and will last till March.

Meanwhile, in order to detain the players inclined to quit, TERA has also conducted a comparatively large-scale update, e.g. balancing a number of Lancer's abnormal skills, opening the cross-server battlefields, and making obtainable the 5 vs. 5 and 10 vs. 10 combats.

According to the one in charge of NHN, TERA's every month settlement today will directly reflect players' liking for TERA, and players will also choose whether to recharge their accounts for further gameplay. The updated battlefield method and upcoming politic method are the game highlights that TERA now focuses on for the sake of growth.

As NHN disclosed, TERA will bring its political method online in the midst of March, and players can then vote for the mayor who has lots of privileges that'll do lovely to players. This  serves as TERA's future core content.

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The Soapbox: Launch is optional, beta is forever

Disclaimer: The Soapbox column is entirely the opinion of this week's writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Massively as a whole. If you're afraid of opinions other than your own, you might want to skip this column.

As the Massively staffer who puts together our Betawatch column every week, I can't tell you how many times I've heard some variation of "that game is not in open beta -- a working cash shop equals launch."

While I can certainly see what these readers are saying, in the end it's up to the developer to dictate open beta vs. launch. On the other hand, I have to agree with our readers to a point -- particularly with games that have been in open beta for a year or more, have working item shops, and produce regular patches or expansions.

Let me start by being very clear: I'm not here to pick on any one individual MMO developer for its choices. I do want to take a closer look at the premise of "endless open beta," though. What exactly is happening here? In my time spent trying to solve the mystery of these endless beta periods, I found two situations pretty consistently. The first and rarer of the two is that a game will announce open beta but neglect to make any sort of launch announcement. Several games have been quietly removed from the Betawatch list after I spent a few sessions scouring the game site, searching for forums, looking for announcements via the publisher, and in more than one case, finally submitting a support ticket with my question. Every now and again, an answer will come back stating simply, "It's launched."

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The second scenario is far more common. When I ask directly regarding the game's state, I ask three questions: is the game still in open beta, is there a launch window, and what is the launch window? I have never once received an answer to that third question, and I've asked that question of multiple developers. The most common answer is, "It's in open beta," and the other two questions are either disregarded or given some version of "we do not have a launch window yet but we'll keep you posted."

Frankly, the state of the game is up to the individual developers, but that doesn't stop us from wondering why some of them are so reluctant to even consider a launch. gPotato is an excellent example of this sort of thing. The studio has four games currently on our open beta list: Aika, which began open beta on March 16th of last year; Allods, whose open beta began last February; Dragonica, with a European open beta date of June 2009; and newcomer Iris Online, which has only been in open beta since November of 2010.

I've been watching these games with interest -- particularly Aika and Allods -- because their names pop up in my email more often than many others. I've contacted gPotato twice regarding the beta vs. launch status and was told the first time (late last summer) that there isn't currently a launch window but that the team would keep us posted. The second email, sent mid-January, doesn't have a clear answer yet other than that the team is looking into it.

Again, I don't mean to pick on any one studio in particular, because gPotato isn't the only producer of endless open beta games. If you go through the announcement list in the open beta section of Betawatch, you'll see a lot of old dates. The question with most of these games isn't whether or not they're in open beta, because they're usually pretty clear that they are. The question is, "Why not just launch and be done with it?"

It's easy to jump to the first conclusion, and I've heard people say it more than once: If you never officially launch, you don't have to work too hard to fix the game. If anyone complains about bugs or broken aspects of the game, you simply shrug and say it's still in beta. Meanwhile, you release expansion after expansion and make money hand over fist in the item shops.

Power -- This skill, in tandem with your weapon skill, will determine the amount of extra damage you will cause when attacking. This damage is moderately reduced by the opponent's Dodge skill, however. There are two abilities associated with this skill: Attack Posture increases your damage output, and Dent Armor debuffs your opponent's armor and even stuns NPCs.

Precision -- This skill, in tandem with your weapon skill, will determine your critical hit chance. The critical chance will be directly opposed by the Dodge skill. There are two abilities tied to this skill. Precise Hit does extra damage and acts as a snare on NPCs. Perfect Timing is a buff that increases your chance to score a critical hit     eve isk,     maplestory mesos,     tibia gold,     lineage 2 adena,     buy rom gold, .

Melee -- The Melee skill functions as always, but damage and criticals are also determined by the Power and Precision skills. Melee's abilities are as follows: Charge gives a temporary boost to movement speed and damage done; Provoke will increase your threat level to NPCs and reduce your target's defenses.

Pistol -- The Pistol skill functions as always, but damage and criticals are also determined by the Power and Precision skills. Smoking Sabot Round is still a targeted damage-over-time ability, and Gunfighter is a stance that increases your weapon skill and Precision but reduces your defenses.

Rifle -- The Rifle skill functions as always, but damage and criticals are also determined by the Power and Precision skills. Agonizing Wound now acts simply as a snare, while Bullseye does additional damage to a prepared attack. How much extra damage will be directly proportional to how happy the new breed of Fallen Earth snipers will be.

Social -- The social skill will still get you better prices with the NPC merchants, but it will also have other useful skills. Flag of Truce still makes you neutral to NPCs. Inconspicuous is now a targeted ability and merely lowers your threat level. With the Diplomatic Immunity ability, you are unable to attack, but your defenses are bolstered considerably.

And that's just the skills. There will be major changes to the mutations, items and consumables. The main change in Fallen Earth gameplay that this new patch will make is in the variety of builds we will see. No longer will we see the jack-of-all-trades build. Builds will have to be specialized; players won't all be running around healing, tanking and killing stuff. A medic build will now have to sacrifice DPS due to the weapon skills' being expanded into three lines: weapon, power and precision. A full DPS build will have to make sacrifices in other areas, possibly mutations or Dodge, to maximize damage output. All-in-all, it will be a welcome change for most of us. And group PvP will be more tactical and involve much more teamwork.

That about wraps up the skills-change portion of the SoTG. By the time I see you here next week, I hope to be knee-deep in facts and figures that I have compiled first-hand from the PTS. Until then, I'll see you in the wasteland while I continue my quest for the almighty random AP.

In years gone by, EVE Online developers CCP Games interacted with the game's playerbase  directly through the forums & live audio developer blogs. As EVE's subscriber-base has grown, developers began to take a more hands-off approach to forum discussions & the live dev blogs gave way to solely written blogs. Back in July, reactions to the June CSM summit highlighted issues with CCP's approach to communicating with players & the way feedback was collected. Since then, CCP has been making an absolutely colossal work to communicate more with players through focused technical devblogs as well as a recent series of video blogs.

EVE live developer chat tonight to discuss Incursion game design [Updated]

Tonight, CCP is kicking that communication up another notch with the first of a new every month live audio developer chat series. The first live dev blog will begin in  five hours at 22:00 EVE time (GMT/UTC). The discussion will focus on game design in the Incursion expansion, with EVE's lead game designer CCP Hammer being joined by senior game designer CCP Flying Scotsman & game designer CCP Omen. in the work of a question an answer segment, players will have a chance to ask specific questions on the new character creator, Incursion game design goals & enhancements to the planetary interplay feature. To join in,  log in to EVE & join the chat channel "Live Dev Blog" & join EVE Voice.

Could EA's history make investors cautious about SWTOR?

Investors are not  concerned with the preliminary sales of SWTOR but also the long-term success of the game. The piece of writing makes use of the sales trend of WAR as an example. The first week's sales of WAR topped at 500,000 subscriptions, which is impressive for any MMO, yet subscriptions did not stick as customer satisfaction plummeted. If an investor is not familiar with BioWare's past successes or if he happens to view BioWare as a rookie in the MMO style, then his wariness is clearly understandable.

According to a document on Gamasutra, investors have been slow to support Electronic Arts in its latest MMORPG endeavor, Star Wars: The elderly Republic. The piece of writing released today cites Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey as saying, "We believe lots of investors are betting against SWTOR achieving market success, provided the company's (Warhammer Online from Mythic) & industry's track record at releasing successful new MMOs." WAR & naturally All Points Bulletin being the latest MMOs from EA could make a feasible investor a bit gun-shy about placing his funds in to another game of the same style.

Add another title to the standing-room only MMO beta crowd crammed in to the first few months of 2011. HanbitSoft has  announced that its free-to-play hack & slash Mythos title will slice & dice its way in to closed beta on February 8th. Beta signups are currently ongoing at the game's official web-site, & the devs have also let slip that a special sneak peek event will happen for registered beta participants between January 27th & 31st.

Mythos closed beta date announced

in the work of testing, Mythos players will be able to explore the Greenreach & Bloodbristle Desert regions as well as level their characters to 27.

Mythos was originally developed by the now-defunct Flagship Studios before being picked up by & completed by HanbitSoft. Frogster is handling publisher duties for the game's European launch.