This Week In MMO 105: Mists Of Pandaria, Guild Wars 2, Planetside 2, & Final Fantasy XIV

Lediath

LOLZ c’mon I was laughing with Shaff, that was great pun

http://twitter.com/DaPhoolz Rp TheFoolz

Watch it on 27 inches monitor then you’ll have a full-size head of Schaffnit.

Spencer Kennedy

Great Episode. Also noticed a fantastically timed wording behind Gary right after Jason took his pants off.

ArcherAvatar

You would think the series “Archer” is hilarious Gary… definitely give it a look.

Draugmahl

Archer is fuckin’ hilarious…watch the first episode, it’s like 20 min with no commercials. It’s very smart and still very raunchy…

Eggers

The biggest influx of players with an expansion was either BC or WotLK, and 12 Million in WoW was at the start of WotLK,. Many people I played WoW with are talking about leaving WoW when MoP comes out I only know of one person who might buy MoP. Blizzard went to long with out releasing new content most people I know are looking at Rift(raiders) and/or GW2, and WoW has more competition then it ever has with RiFT, SWTOR, Tera, and TSW. I don’t think MoP will help out WoW subs as much as other expansions have.
One bad thing about trying to play GW2 and another MMO at the same time is, I think that many people who get into to GW2 may ask themselves why they are paying a sub for game they aren’t playing. I know with my sub to Rift (I pay six months at a time), that I’ll have sometime to see if I do keep playing Rift enough to justify the cost (my sub runs out in October). And remember GW2 is buy to play not free to play.
I did sign up for the Planetside 2 beta and really hope, I get in. And also I’m wonder what the Gamebreaker staff thinks of End of Nations and if it is as good or better then Starcraft II. Could End of Nations be the next big ESports Game?
Final Fantasy equals fail!!!! Don’t be fooled again!!!!

St_Draco

Blizzard giving so much access to the MoP Beta may have backfired, or may not. What I see it has done is front loaded that their sub numbers and retained people who would have unsubbed because of having Dragon Soul for a year and nothing else. Unless they can put out a content patch quickly after MoP release, they are likely to loose the subs they would have had if they hadn’t let so many people into the beta. What it comes down to is they shifted the content exposure of MoP by allowing so many people in to Beta. Its a gamble they took and are hoping will pay off.

Regarding MikeS’ evaluation of GW2 “end game”, are you really comparing an entry level dungeon experience to end game raiding? Its like basing how a WoW raid is going to be by running Dead Mines. The World Bosses in your videos actually showed they had specific fight mechanics that you had to manage, its just that falling in line to those roles was much more fluid. You didn’t need to worry about “healers” only healing and staying out of stuff and the “tanks” only keeping the boss agro and making sure not to get killed and the “DPS” just making sure to do as much damage as possible and stay out of stuff. Everyone had to do all those things and can pick up what ever role needs to be picked up. You see a portal and bam everyone dps it down. See adds and a few people start taking them out while others stay on the boss. And, those were level 15-20 World Bosses. Is Hogger really as difficult a fight to manage as Heroic Spine?

Gear is still going to be a major thing in GW2, but instead of the gear progression treadmill, it will be about customizing your gear to fit the build you want. What I mean by that is, its going to be about getting best in slot gear (Weapons, Armor, Sigils, etc.) for the build you have. Yeah you can get the level 80 gear that is the highest stats easily, but those stats may not be the best for your build and likely won’t be for the vast majority of characters.

The PS2 trailer looked cool, only problem is that it isn’t actual game play. I think it will still help build the hype meter for the game. Same thing for FF, but I can’t expect much for the game based off the past track record. I’m not a fan of the Eastern-style MMOs, they are too grindy and don’t engage me enough and it looks like more of the same. I can appreciate the art style though, they are always pretty to look at.

TL;DR MoP Beta is a gamble to retain subs by front loading content. GW2 end game can’t be judged off of early level game play. GW2 gear is more about BiS and optimizing for spec and less about straight up power progression, which may appeal to gear focused raiders more than some would think. PS2 and FF trailers are pretty.

http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

Have to figure there is some blowback from the MoP beta, I know of one player with a pally tank and he was very upset with his level 85 starting numbers in the MoP beta.

Wonder if the redesigned Jade Forest level 85 starting area and the new questlines throughout the continent will address any beta burnout.
- Old Ben
  
  > he was very upset with his level 85 starting numbers in the MoP beta.
  
  He should try playing numberwang.

http://www.facebook.com/matthew.chamberlain.16 Matthew Chamberlain

i hope the increase in comercials doesnt get to rediculeus proportions they have 2 which is okay

Joshua Dooley

holy commercials Bat Man…

Old Ben

WoW had two 12M player “peaks”, both corresponding to the release of WotLK.

One was when it was released in the West (and TBC was released in the East). That made subscriptions in the West start declining, but they kept growing in the East (except for a couple of quarters when they dropped to almost zero due to distribution issues). Then WotLK was released in the East (second peak), and subscriptions there started declining too. Shortly after that, Cataclysm was released in both regions, and the loss of subscriptions became even more noticeable.

The biggest _influx_ of players (or, to be more precise, the biggest increase in the total number of subscribers) was actually around Q2 2005 (still during vanilla), and corresponded to a big expansion in Asia. In fact, Q3 2005 was when the number of subscribers in the East overtook the number of subscribers in the West.

http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

The next milestone will be the Aug 2(3) financials. Too bad we couldn’t get the sub numbers before the last round of new player recruitment and former player incentives.

- How many players Blizzard loses at the end of the annual pass (got to figure some losses due to the D3 fiasco)
- How many players that will not purchase MoP but will continue to sub to WoW.
- How many players will not purchase MoP and allow their subs to run out.
- How many players will return to WoW during the any later MoP promotions.

While TBC continued WoWs explosive growth and WoWlk had its steady numbers, will be interesting to see if MoP is well received and experiences steady growth.
- Old Ben
  
  > How many players Blizzard loses at the end of the annual
  > pass (got to figure some losses due to the D3 fiasco)
  
  Those are players they would have lost sooner anyway, so (for Blizzard) the annual pass was a huge success. At the very least, it delayed those losses, and at best it kept those players for long enough to make them buy MoP. Yeah, they will lose some subscriptions when it runs out, but they won’t be worse off than if they hadn’t sold the annual passes to begin with.
  
  > WoWlk had its steady numbers
  
  It didn’t. The _global_ numbers were steady, but only because Asia got TBC when the West got WotLK (so one was falling while the other was growing). The month after Wrath’s release was when WoW “jumped the shark”. It just happened to jump the shark separately in the eastern and western regions.
  
  We’ll probably just get the global number of subscribers, which is kind of meaningless anyway, since the subscription model in Asia is different from the West, and there’s no way to verify the numbers independently.
  
  Ultimately what matters to shareholders is how much money the game is making (not the number of players) and what matters to (mentally sane) players is how many people they can actually play with (in their server, or in their battlegroup). Doubling (or halving) the global number of subscribers won’t make any difference to players if their own server’s population stays the same, and if they still have to wait the same time for BGs, etc..

Draugmahl

Don’t know if it was said but Blizz stopped the free month with the expansion when WotLK came out, BC did have the month when it came out.

http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

No TBC did not include a free month.
- http://twitter.com/videobuzzard David Manchester
  
  wow has the Scroll of Resurrection, if you have stopped playing, so dont really need a free month with expansion.
  - Old Ben
    
    That’s assuming your friends didn’t stop playing too.
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=23323284 Heather Kelsey
  
  I have my BC box right here and in it is a piece of paper for a free trial. I’m pretty sure I didn’t put it in there from the Vanilla box, but I could have. Anyone else get one in theirs?
- Draugmahl
  
  Nah, it did have a free month at launch. I was paying for four accounts at the time and I didn’t say WTF WHERE’S MY FREE MONTH until WotLK came out…
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=23323284 Heather Kelsey

I rememer Vanilla and BC having a free month and a free month for a friend.

Varanen

Planetside2 trailer is awesome!

http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

MikeS you got to pick up some bunny ears and cover them with tin foil. Amazon had bunny ears for two dollars and it included blinking LED lights.

Bluecewe

The funny thing about Planetside 2 is that they opted to show off gameplay, i.e. at E3 and through TotalBiscuit, before releasing the cinematic trailer. It’s great to enjoy a cinematic trailer having already witnessed extensive realistic gameplay.

brian pos

You’ll see a return to old school beta with Planetside 2. They’ve already said there will be bugs, there will be set stuff to test and they hope for tons of reports and feedback. It may turn some people off when they get in and it’s not a finished game but when it launches the game will only be more polished.

http://twitter.com/Billy341 Shaun Brown

Any idea if FFXIV with have a free trial? Can’t see myself buying it just to be disappointed after all the bad press it has got to date. Would need a free trial to see if it was worth the risk.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=23323284 Heather Kelsey

That’s how I feel too. I really doubt they have a free trial tho. FFXI never had anything of the sort and I don’t see FFXIV being any different.

http://twitter.com/missfunk Anna

When I ordered Cataclysm CE box it arrived on the Saturday – when the launch was Tuesday – most online retailers will deliver in advance of game going live.

IARRynk

The FF14 trailer was better when it was muted.

http://twitter.com/Deadalon Deadalon

WOW release date has only to do with 1 thing !. 3Q financial report. Imagine their report with D3 beeing empty… and WOW going into a whole year without an update.

http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

D3 initial sales were really high. Did notice they did not release a first month sales numbers. Also have to wonder how many returns Blizzard was forced to make.

Personally have not seen many players leave WoW within the last quarter, actually seeing a lot of new faces in my PUG raids.
- Old Ben
  
  Probably just people leveling / gearing new alts, which is what tends to happen when there’s no new content for a long time.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Angelica-Sarvo/100000523071070 Angelica Sarvo

This is probably just me but since you guys already have a WoW and GW2 show should you really spend so much time on them for this show?

Arthur Banks

Is there much mmo gaming news to even talk about? Only 2 major mmos left to launch this year. And I don’t think anything will be worth mentioning in 2013.
- L.I. Laboratory
  
  GBTV’s says people watch TWIMMO because they don’t have time
  to watch all the other show. That’s cool, you guys should know your audience,
  but I see complaints about how long those recaps go on for in chat. I
  believe there needs to be a recap, but I believe it needs to be shorter than in
  its current form.
  
  I wish they would keep the recap of the all the other shows
  to only 15-20 minutes combined, and if you do a recap on the shows, you should
  give a mention to all your shows where was my SWToR update?
  
  I guess the recaps should be enough of a tease to make people to go watch them if they hadn’t already.
  I would love to see some recaps some of the more interesting
  “Hits” from the week that are easier to miss as well.
  
  As for other MMO news this week, there was easily more to
  talk about, however that does not mean it should be talked about – even though
  I would have loved to of heard mention of the following though;
  
  -FireFall has had a constant stream of new information with
  the Dev updates: No Longer Easy to Learn, Easy to Master…it’s at part 6 now.
  
  -MechWarrior On-line released the Jenner Mech and Caustic
  Valley map.
  
  -TSW has a constant dribble of information, even if the free
  weekend was announced after the show was written I believe it was important
  enough to edit in.
  
  -The updates on the Vendi Sale of Activision-Blizzard
  
  -The mess with Windows 8 – as it affects all game developers
  
  -Game Developers Choice Online Awards announcement of
  nominees!
  
  -Trion Studios: Free play days in Rift, The DEFIANCE show
  started shooting this week.
  
  -Tera’s new update is going to be free and a free in-game stuff
  if you sub to their newsletter.
  
  -And of course, there were more 38 Studios insights that
  came out this week.
  
  I’m sure the list above is in some of the “hits” of the
  week, but I didn’t see them, I didn’t look for them either to be honest.
  
  I think TWIMMO might be in need a face lift or even a new
  format? If TWIMMO is a recap of what has happened in MMO’s this last week, is
  it necessary for a panel for opinions or discussion? Sometimes change is nice
  to keep things fresh. I dunno, just tossing that out there.
  
  And this isn’t meant to be a slight towards the hard working
  Dom or the hosts, it’ just feedback.
  
  P.S. the teaser pics of the new site format – sexy! (It was
  teased in the post-show)
  - Old Ben
    
    > TSW has a constant dribble of information, even if the free
    > weekend was announced after the show was written I
    > believe it was important enough to edit in.
    
    Namely the fact that it doesn’t work. Funcom specifically say on their site that “beta accounts may all join in”, but trying to log into the game with a beta account results in “authentication failure” messages even though you can still log into the website itself.
    - L.I. Laboratory
      
      Yeah, I can
      see why you are having that problem Old Ben, it’s because the free weekend
      starts August 3rd. It says that right above the part where “beta accounts
      may join in”.
      
      Anyone who
      doesn’t have a beta account or any TSW account can join in by registering a
      guest account, the sign-in can be found half way down the right side of TSW
      home page.
    - Old Ben
      
      > the free weekend starts August 3rd.
      
      I see. Poor wording on the post, then. It says “you may register to participate starting today, Friday, July 27th to have open access to this special celebration weekend”.
      
      Mentioning the 27th explicitly and saying “this weekend” suggests that you can participate starting on that date.
      
      > It says that right above the part where
      > “beta accounts may join in”.
      
      Actually, what is says right above “beta accounts may join in” is this:
      
      “Any player, who has any type of The Secret World account, may join us over the weekend to celebrate our first month! Early Access, Inactive Accounts, and Beta Accounts may all join in! If you do not currently have an account for The Secret World, you may register to participate starting today, Friday, July 27th, to have open access to this special celebration weekend!”
      
      The post does mention the correct date under “help the people”, though:
      
      “Your task, if you choose to accept it: During the celebration weekend running from August 3-7, solve 30 in-game missions to help those in need and receive a special in-game t-shirt and 1200 bonus points.”
    - http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr
      
      I had to follow the post all they way back to TSW offical website to get the dates.
    - http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr
      
      From Friday, August 3rd at 4pm GMT until Monday, August 6th at 7am GMT
    - Old Ben
      
      Yes, as you can see from the posts below, we’d already established that.
    - http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr
      
      lol, it was pushed to the next page. Wow, this is a really long thread.
scottsummer

Sadly TWIMMO is slowly becomes the weekly triple A title recap show.
No Rift or TSW free trials.
No Eastern MMO market or new MMO
Or The WarZ
Or many other mmo news that was shown in Massively.

but hey i am ok with that, since majority of the viewers/audience just want more WoW, GW2 or whatever new triple A titles, because for most “MMO gamers” the MMO genre is all about WoW and GW2 or whatever the flavor of the month, apparently everything else is not “worth” mentioning.

just like the FPS genre is all about CoD and BF,wait.. oh snap it isn’t.

I am ok with being the vocal minority and being bash all day.
- estafa
  
  You are not alone. That is the exactly same reasoning why I don’t bother watching this show more than once in awhile. Only thing that got me this week was news of FFXIV, but sadly not much there.

http://twitter.com/Patrikules Patrick Hargan

we all know they were waiting for arenanet to announce their release date before they announced MoP’s… sneaky blizzard

Old Ben

That would only “work” if Blizzard announced it was releasing MoP _before_ GW2, or at least on the same date.

That would have been the really “sneaky” move, since it would prevent WoW players from even _trying_ GW2. Once they got back on the leveling / gear treadmill, any “distraction” would make them fall behind everyone else, so they’d just keep playing MoP. But if Blizzard gives them one extra month of level 85, they won’t have any reason not to check out GW2, and some might get hooked.

In fact, it was bad enough that Blizzard didn’t start the MoP pre-sale before Arena Net announced the GW2 release date. A lot of people were putting off ordering GW2 because there was no solid release date, and there were even reports of people returning GW2 because no release date had been announced yet.

Once GW2′s release date was announced (and MoP wasn’t even available for pre-order), the people who were sitting on the fence went ahead and bought GW2.

So Blizzard’s timing failed to reduce GW2′s pre-sales and fails to prevent WoW players from straying (and potentially jumping ship).

In fact, I suspect it was Arena Net that found out when MoP was coming out and decided to release GW2 sooner than it had originally planned to. I mentioned at the time that GW2′s release date didn’t make much sense, and felt “one BWE too soon”, based on normal beta testing / release candidate procedures. Now we know why.

Of course, the risk for Arena Net here is that GW2 will be buggy at release due to that final sprint.

The only “weapon” Blizzard has left is the 5.0 update, which will introduce the new talent trees, etc., and which they can push on or before GW2′s release date. But, without new content and higher levels, there’s no way that will keep players busy for one month. And if _that_ (or MoP itself) is rushed and buggy, it will work against them.

At this point, Blizzard needs to focus on making MoP as polished and bug-free as possible so that players going back to WoW (after playing GW2 for one month) won’t feel disappointed and start thinking about canceling their subscription. In fact, I’m sure Blizzard’s designers will be playing a lot of GW2, seeing which features players like, and maybe even trying to get a couple of them into MoP (keg brawl, perhaps? it would definitely fit into Brewfest…).
- http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr
  
  The timing is perfect.
  
  Between now and Aug 25, I’m working on a new Goblin Rogue, hoping to hit 85 before GW2 early access. Maybe even finish up the first part of the Rogue Legendary dagger questline.
  
  The head start on Aug 25, gives me one month to get my Asura Engineer in shape for PVE, my Asura Warrior in shape for sPvP and Charr Elementalist ready for WvW.
  
  Great news is GW2 has no sub, horizontal progression and no gear grind, so on Sep 25, I put GW2 back on the shelf. Don’t think I will find a regular Dungeon team (will not pug dungeons in GW2) and hope to find a Squad Leader for WvW. If I find a regular WvW Squad, I’ll continue to log in for WvW action.
  
  Predicting Wow 50 (play Hawaii 5-O theme here) will drop within a week of Aug 25. If it does, perfect timing, I’ll be done with the GW2 early start and try out the new spec during my Tuesday night WoW Raid. When the Theramore event starts in WoW, I can play through that event on my Resto Druid and Mage. I’ll even keep up with any dailies on my Resto Druid.
  
  As I said before, Sep 25, GW2 goes back on the shelf. Plan on leveling my Resto Druid and Goblin Mage to 89 within a week, so I can tackle the Brewfest boss and then finish leveling to 90. After hitting 90, should take about two weeks to get my main toons in raid shape and settle into a two or three nights a week raiding schedule. I can then casually level up all my other 85s and finish up all their professions.
  
  I can then go back to GW2 and see how the game is doing.
  - Old Ben
    
    > The timing is perfect.
    > The head start on Aug 25, gives me one month to get my
    > Asura Engineer in shape for PVE, my Asura Warrior in
    > shape for sPvP and Charr Elementalist ready for WvW.
    
    Perfect for you, because you want to play GW2. From Blizzard’s point of view, “perfect timing” would have been “before people had even bought GW2 – let alone spent a full month getting attached to their characters”.
    - http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr
      
      I’ve played GW2 for over 100 hours. While Im attached to the combat, races, professions and WvW in GW2. I am not attached to the world or players. Except for the Asura personal story, I couldn’t tell you about any of the stories behind the Dynamic Events. I couldn’t even tell you why my Asura Engineer was wandering around other than “that’s the right way to play the game.” I cant even tell you the name of a single player I’ve encountered during my gameplay in GW2.
      
      At least in SWTOR, I can tell you the names of many of the players I ran across at the fleet, Ilum and Warzones.
    - Old Ben
      
      > Except for the Asura personal story,
      > I couldn’t tell you about any of the
      > stories behind the Dynamic Events.
      
      Er…? What do personal stories have to do with dynamic events? There are no “stories behind the dynamic events”. The “story” in that case _is_ the dynamic event (or the event chain). You kill enough river drakes, the broodmother comes to avenge her babies. Dynamic event. Portals pop up all over the swamp and surrounding areas, you close them, the Shadow Behemoth appears. Dynamic event. Bandits starts spawning from a cave and invade a farm, the farmer runs around asking people to help drive them away. Dynamic event. The guards then ask you to help them finish off the bandits. Dynamic event.
      
      It’s not supposed to be a “story”, it’s just “stuff that happens”.
      
      You can talk to nearby NPCs and sometimes they tell you something about the story of the region, but the events are designed to be “timeless” and independent from that story.
      
      > I am not attached to the world
      > or players.
      
      You certainly seem attached to the world since you keep posting that you were always in the Charr starting zone.
      
      > I cant even tell you the name of
      > a single player I’ve encountered
      > during my gameplay in GW2.
      
      That would seem to be mainly a comment on your memory, but anyway, how many people did you know after playing WoW or SWTOR (or any other MMO) for three days?
      
      Can you name the other players (or player characters) present in “The Light of Dawn” when you leveled your DK(s) ? Can you name the players (or characters) you met between level 1 and 15 when you leveled each one of your characters?
      
      Guildies and personal friends don’t count, of course, since you knew those before.
      
      > I couldn’t even tell you why
      > my Asura Engineer was
      > wandering around
      
      Wait… weren’t you in control of your character? I’m pretty sure he was “wandering around” because you were pressing W while moving the mouse. Now, why were _you_ making your character do that, that’s something only you can say. Personally, I was interested in exploring the world, seeing what NPCs had to sell, trying to fight different creatures, seeing how my actions affected the world, showing other players how to reach hidden areas I had found, etc..
      
      You know, what RPG gameplay used to consist of before the term started being used to describe “a game where you change clothes a lot to make some numbers increase”.
      
      > I’ve played GW2 for over 100 hours. Even assuming you played every day (stress tests included), that’s over 8 hours a day. I’d say they have you pretty hooked already…
    - http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr
      
      That Carr starting area, I’m not headed back there until I really need the skill points. Opposite of attached.
      
      You asked about the DK starting area. Went through it once, didn’t really care for it, deleted my DK.
      
      Wandering around, just trying to play the character the right way.
      
      Starting areas, a really interesting difference. With GW2 you start out in the capital city and wander out into the world.
      
      With WoW you start in a starting zone and journey with a purpose to the capital city. I do recall players who I see in the starting zone and then run across them again and again through the leveling zones.
      
      Like I’ve said, love the combat, races and professions.
    - Old Ben
      
      > You asked about the DK starting area.
      > Went through it once, didn’t really care
      > for it, deleted my DK.
      
      That’s not what I asked. You have mentioned several times that “you don’t even know the names of the players you participated in GW2 events with”. So, do you remember the names of the players you participated in WoW events (such as “The Light of Dawn” or “The Battle of Angrathar”) with?
      
      > just trying to play the character
      > the right way.
      
      There is no “right way”. That’s the point.
      
      > With GW2 you start out in the
      > capital city
      
      Actually, you start in a small village outside the capital, like humans do in WoW, for example.
      
      > I do recall players who I see in
      > the starting zone
      
      So, can you name, off the top of your head, two players that you met in the starting zone when you leveled your first and second characters?
- http://twitter.com/Patrikules Patrick Hargan
  
  yeah true.. i was thinking more along the lines of they knew gw2 is going to be big.. but staying power is questionable.. so releasing a month after gw2 release is a safe date. A month after playing gw2 players are going to decide whether or not they’ll stick with the game. If they released before gw2 it would effect their numbers.. too soon after gw2 release, still effects numbers. a month later after the hype dwindles a bit is perfect.
  - Old Ben
    
    After one month, players will be hitting 80 and starting to do high-level dungeons and raid bosses in Orr, working on legendaries, etc., and they’ll probably be attached enough to their characters to care about stopping. So the timing would be anything but “perfect”.
    
    If GW2 was Blizzard’s main concern, they would have launched much sooner (i.e., before GW2), even if that meant cutting some features and adding those in a patch. Or they would have waited 2-3 months, until the “hardcore” players had run out of content and felt like they were repeating stuff.
    
    I don’t think they care much about GW2, to be honest. Pandaria’s timing is more likely to be related to Blizzard’s earnings call and their competition in Asia.
    
    I think GW2 will capture a lot of ex-WoW players, but not necessarily from the current player base, or from the player base that Blizzard is aiming for. The whole panda, Pokémon and “official guild mentoring” thing seem to be a sign that Blizzard is shifting its focus to a young Asian audience.

http://twitter.com/Succorbenothi Christopher

Didnt even know twimmo was up, probably because your RSS hasnt worked for over a week now. Might wanna look into that.

DrossRocket

(FFXIV defence force)

=)

The XIV teaser is just that, a teaser. It’s not a full blown promotional campaign.

It’s there to announce A Realm Reborn (ver 2.0) to those:
1) unaware of XIV
2) players who have left ver 1.x
3) Players who have been waiting for 2.0

It’s FFXIV: A Realm Reborn COMING SOON TO PS3 & PC

not FFXIV: A Realm Reborn “available now”

This teaser sums up the current events in FFXIV. We have been getting updates through the past year that has been unfolding the events up to the fall of Meteor upon Eorzea.

Like Mike S said we can’t witness the destruction unfold before our eyes, the CGI is there to fill the gap between then and now (speaking in the future tense)

FFXIV: A Realm Reborn beta is to be distributed in September and “go live” in October. The beta period is to last from Oct – Dec and the relaunch to take place in Jan 2013. (both PC & PS3)

ANYONE who previously bought XIV will be invited back for free play Oct – Jan regardless if they subbed or not.

For the curious I haven’t offically heard, but I’m sure they’ll have an “open beta” or “free trial period” around the launch.

This current team knows they have the odds stacked agaisnt them, I’m confident from the previous years updates that they are heading in the right direction. They know this is make or break for the game.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=23323284 Heather Kelsey

I am really excited for GW2 and MOP! I am just ready. Give me the damn games and take my money already!

The trailers this week I’m less excited for. Planetside isn’t really my kind of game so the trailer I could take or leave. As far as the FFXIV 2.0 trailer goes though… this intrigues me. I’m a Final Fantasy fangirl but, damn, I don’t know if I can erase my beta / initial launch memories. *shudders* I’m sure eventually I’ll get nostalgic enough for chocobos and mogs to give it a go, but for now, I’m probably going to skip it. Now, if only they’d make that HD remake collection of the entire Final Fantasy series I’ve been hearing about…

http://profile.yahoo.com/ITHF7XKYGVXFAPCDMDJTKHLBBU Lian Wan

If you were really excited they should have your money already. :p
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=23323284 Heather Kelsey
  
  Anytime I have to have a transaction with Gamestop, I drag my feet. Not even WoW can affect that. More places need a midnight release.
  - Old Ben
    
    > Anytime I have to have a transaction with Gamestop [...]
    
    http://us.battle.net/wow/en/services/digital-deluxe/
    
    https://buy.guildwars2.com/en/
    
    There, solved that for you.
  - http://profile.yahoo.com/ITHF7XKYGVXFAPCDMDJTKHLBBU Lian Wan
    
    I was thinking digital. In the case of GW2 I already have 64% of the game and I’ll probably have the whole thing a week before the headstart.
    - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=23323284 Heather Kelsey
      
      I’m doing the CEs. =)

http://www.facebook.com/neal.reagan Neal Reagan

In line with the conversation about ordering the CE for WoW:

Traditionally, Blizz hasn’t turned on the servers until well after midnight (I’m in Texas), so me not getting in after picking up my CE at gamestop really isn’t an issue. Not to mention that SWTOR did exactly what you guys are talking about for early release. If you pre-ordered, or even reserved a copy of swtor, you got a code. The code got you early access up to a week (if my recollection is accurate), and all you had to do at launch, even for amazon users who got their CE’s late, was enter in the code and you were gtg. They extended the grace period specifically for people that had ordered the CE online to the following week, I believe. Anyways, good episode guys! Keep ‘em coming!

http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

The servers when live at 2AM for the last xpac (I’m in Texas as well). Picked up my CE during the midnight launch with plenty of time to activate my account.

I got one day early access on the SWTOR launch, it was very annoying to check my email for 4 days and see the same message, early access is completed for the day.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Alex-Pickrell/100000428945988 Alex Pickrell

To anybody wondering, vehicle surfing and jumping from aircraft to aircraft is 100% possible through use of the Light Assault’s jet packs, but that doesn’t mean it will be common or easy.

Revanhavoc

In response tp Mike S playing Devils advocate…A contrairian opinion is not always required. Contrary to popular belief there aren’t always 2 sides to every story nor is a skeptic always required. I enjoyed the GW2 skepticism because it was based on realistic concerns shared by people who have played the game.

I did not enjoy the Planetside 2 skepticism regarding the CGI trailer because it was just raining on the parade. All we have to judge is the videos released from E3 and since those show considerable promise I think it’s questionable and rather forced for Mike to warn the audience not to get too excited over

http://www.facebook.com/people/Michael-Johnson/1353890372 Michael Johnson

I hated the trailer for 2 reasons.

It looked like it was directed by Michael Bay and the only Terran Republic in the trailer were the one’s getting ROFLstomped by 1 guy.

ssjjr21

I love GBTV, but seriously, even I feel awkward when you guys keep doing the “not so funny” jokes and puns….. just sayin. :p

http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

The Rift starter box is $5 and no longer includes free 30 days.

ligeia_mapes

White polo, looking dapper me ol lad.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=23323284 Heather Kelsey

Nope, I want the Collector’s Edition. I just have to suck it up and pre-order from Gamestop. No other place in my area does a midnight release. I really do hate gamestop though. *grumble* Opening games and calling them new. Bastards!

http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

Sigh, no headstart? Can’t tell if game companies are trying to get you to purchase both.

ExtraPaleAle

Richie or scott should be in the last box adding their awesomeness

AkumaShogun259

Scott Hawkes? No thanks.
- http://www.facebook.com/chaz.rpg Chaz Davis
  
  lol why?

http://www.facebook.com/paul.lasalle Paul LaSalle

Im not in the wow Beta….doesnt feel any more accessible to me..

http://profile.yahoo.com/FPXO267IVAHL3MK4HRRNRQPNDA Bush Swanson, The American Dre

I think that these are good ideas for mmo’s, but i dont see why they have to add monkey slavery into a futuristic city simulator

DoctorOverlord

Thanks for the laugh Jason, the pants made me chuckle.

Gary you need to watch Archer. It’s funny as heck! Great spy spoof like a raunchy Get Smart.

Gray said is exactly – the lack of the sub fee in GW2 is the game-changer. Not only for the players but the influence it had on the game design. ArenaNet could focus on making a fun game, not a timesink game. It’s far past time
the myth that MMOs needs a sub to maintain their playerbase be proven to be as false. It’s been that was since the genre started.

Gary’s expression during the PS2 trailer gave me a great laugh, thank you Blur always makes amazing trailers and they actually work very closely with the game companies when they do them. I would not be surprised if all the stuff we saw in that trailer are not actual game mechanics. Sure the graphics won’t be
that good but I’ll bet you can jetpack on top of shuttle and kill the people in it.

Mike S does have a point though. The last MMO trailer Blur did was SWTOR. And the one before that was WAR. It’s almost like a curse and
if PS2 sucks then it will confirm it lol

This Week In MMO 105: Mists Of Pandaria, Guild Wars 2, Planetside 2, & Final Fantasy XIV

Patch 5.3: Blizzard’s First Ever Live Video Interview!

This Week in MMO Ep 144:
WildStar, Rift, Dust 514

Legendary Ep126:
Raiding Ra-Den Revelations!

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