Neverwinter: Lessons Learned

Neverwinter has clear links back to the lessons Cryptic Studios has learned with their previous titles. Continue reading »

City of Heroes / Villains: Putting Claims To The Test

Back in January an anonymous source made a number of claims about City of Heroes’ / Villains’ performance to MMORPG.com, so let’s see how they stack up. Continue reading »

MMO Predictions 2013: Morituri Te Salutant

Predicting what is going to happen to the Western MMO market in 2013 seems a lot harder than doing the same for 2012. But when it comes to random guessing about stuff I only half understand, I’m going to give it my best shot. Continue reading »

City of Heroes / Villains: NCsoft Says Sale Not Going To Happen, Closure Happening on Schedule

NCsoft issued a statement about the future of City of Heroes / Villains (CoH/V). The TL;DR version is “It’s still shutting down”. The full statement says: “City of Heroes®Players and Fans, We wanted to let you know that your voices have been heard and your concerns have been taken into serious consideration. We appreciate the … Continue reading »

Newbie Blogger Initiative (#MMONBI) – From There To Here

One of the things that the Newbie Blogger Initiative is meant to do is provide some tips and hints about blog writing. So here goes… It’s Up To You and You Alone To At Least Get Things Started My MMO writing career started with The Paragon Beholder, a faux-newspaper that was based in the City … Continue reading »

How Many Players Did City of Heroes / Villains Have After Launching Freedom?

Converting from a pure subscription-based title to a hybrid free-to-play (F2P) is something than more than one MMO title has seen happen. And generally the indication from the studio is that such a move makes mad bank. When Cryptic Studios converted Champions Online to F2P, they said revenue went up 1000%; when Turbine Studios converted … Continue reading »

Star Wars: The Old Republic – Not Failing Isn’t Always A Guarantee of Success

We’re on the downhill run to Star Wars: The Old Republic’s launch. Soon the hype will be over and the hard part – delivering MMO services to paying customers – begins. I saw a report that stated industry analysts saw SWOR as a “little risk of failure” title. In some ways this is because if … Continue reading »

DCUO: Up, Up and Free-to-Play

As expected, Sony Online Entertainment have announced that DC Universe Online is going free-to-play (F2P). Starting in October – roughly 9 months following the subscription-based launch of DCUO – players can get back into Gotham and Metropolis with no money down. I could point and mock and make fun of some of the patently ridiculous … Continue reading »

DCUO: The Power of The Green

Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) had its fan gathering recently and used it (as they typically do) to announce new content and features to those in attendance. DC Universe Online got its own announcement – the Green Lantern-based “Fight for the Light” expansion, with new powers, new areas, new missions, new costumes and probably some other … Continue reading »

DCUO: Price Drop (Maybe) For Australia, An Empty Cash Shop And Still Not F2P

I’ve already made fun of Sony Online Entertainment for pricing DC Universe Online weirdly in a lot of places that weren’t the United States. This might have changed with SOE’s recent price drop for the all-in-one Station Access pass, where you now pay US$19.99 to access all of SOE’s game stable (there are some details, … Continue reading »