The final Sea of Thieves beta has started and will run until Sunday, March 11th. This is the last chance testers will have to play the game prior to its launch on March 20th. The final beta is open to anyone via the XBox Store or Microsoft Store. Players will be required to have an XBox Live account to access the download. What will I be playing? In the Final Beta, alongside the Gold Hoarders, we will be testing Merchant Alliance voyages for the first time, giving players an entirely new way to play. We are also introducing an intense, emergent opportunity into the world with the chance of a Skeleton Fort now being occupied. Watch out for that telltale skull cloud above a fort which indicates the chance of great rewards but also great risk. Will other players have seen it? Might they even be there already? Will you work together or against each other? We can’t wait to watch and find out. In addition, we’re excited to announce that Sea of Thieves’ Xbox … [Read more...] about Sea of Thieves: Final Beta Testing
Sea of thieves beta
Sea of Thieves: Second Scale Test for XBox Insiders
Sea of Thieves Executive Producer Joe Neate has announced the commencement of the second weekend Scale Test for XBox Insiders. Players can expect to “see issues” so the team “can learn from and address”. The goal is to manage traffic of high player counts trying to connect to the game. The Scale Test is open for XBox Insiders who’ve had previous closed beta access and will end on Sunday, February 25. What features are in this? This will purposefully be a similar feature set to the Closed Beta, again restricted to the Gold Hoarders trading company and accompanying Voyages. The purpose of this test is to drive scale and test issues at a high scale of player concurrency. We will not be seeking feedback on the game experience itself. For more information, please click here. … [Read more...] about Sea of Thieves: Second Scale Test for XBox Insiders
Ask Mo: The hits and misses of Massively OP’s 2018 predictions
As we do every year, today we’re going to peek back at the horrifying outcomes of last year’s MOP staff predictions for the genre and the games within it to determine how well we did. After all, what would be the fun of making predictions if we couldn’t giggle over our guesses a year later? So did we nail it or fail it? And did you fare better? Let’s find out. World of Warcraft and Blizzard Andrew: “World of Warcraft’s next expansion will exist, but not do as well as the previous ones as the mighty Titan has fallen, but people will still come back and enjoy it for a month or so before waiting for another major update while they play other games.” In fact it did rather well in terms of sales, even setting a sales record for the game, though that’s partly down to its now-global rollouts. Bree: “World of Warcraft’s expansion will do much better than Legion. We won’t see Classic in 2018, however … [Read more...] about Ask Mo: The hits and misses of Massively OP’s 2018 predictions
NetEase’s Age of Exploration MMO Ocean Legend sets sail for mobile
Multiple new-to-us games calling themselves MMORPGs seem to land on mobile devices every week these days. On our radar today is Ocean Legend. Live on iOS and Android in some soft launch beta hybrid mode, it’s a swashbuckling “Age of Exploration” MMO that’s a mix of Sea of Thieves and Pirates of the Burning Sea and Sword of the New World. Here’s NetEase’s pitch: “Players take part in the growing naval empires of 15th and 16th century Europe. Choose between four different characters and five separate countries for your own oceanic adventure in the Age of Exploration! In single player mode, join Columbus and his shipmates on their third expedition, battle against pirates, then set out on your own to make a name for yourself as commander of your own fleet.” Exploration is accomplished through “Cards of Discovery” – History, Theology, Architecture, Art, Biology, and Geography – each of which “opens up a … [Read more...] about NetEase’s Age of Exploration MMO Ocean Legend sets sail for mobile
Sea of Salty Thieves
13 Sea of Thieves came out today! Yes, that’s an exclamation point at the end of that sentence. I used one because I’m excited. That’s a statement coming from someone who played the alpha and beta tests, and knew exactly what kind of game I was getting. I’ve written a few times now about what kind of game Sea of Thieves is and what kind of game Sea of Thieves is not. Despite there being no room for confusion after so many beta tests being open to the public, and so many people streaming the game, there are still countless salty sea dogs posting bad reviews on meta critic, reddit, and anywhere they can share their opinions. Most of them are complaining about what the game is not. Let’s once again make it clear — Sea of Thieves is an action-adventure game. It’s one of those fun ‘sail the seas and find treasure’ games. Sea of Thieves is not… A hardcore pirate survival game A survival game of any kind A Battle Royale An MMORPG … [Read more...] about Sea of Salty Thieves