https://massivelyop.com MMORPG news and opinions Thu, 15 Dec 2022 03:01:49 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.1.1 https://massivelyop.com/2022/12/15/stick-and-rudder-the-year-that-was-in-elite-dangerous-from-self-owns-to-sloppy-updates-to-slight-hope/ https://massivelyop.com/2022/12/15/stick-and-rudder-the-year-that-was-in-elite-dangerous-from-self-owns-to-sloppy-updates-to-slight-hope/#comments Thu, 15 Dec 2022 18:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=417358 To say that Elite: Dangerous had a rough 2022 is putting it mildly (and pretty much dismisses the nuance this retrospective hopes to provide). The launch of Odyssey last year poisoned the well of this spaceship sandbox so hard that it’s taken practically a year and a half for Frontier Developments to try and right […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2022/12/15/stick-and-rudder-the-year-that-was-in-elite-dangerous-from-self-owns-to-sloppy-updates-to-slight-hope/feed/ 13 https://massivelyop.com/2022/10/10/stick-and-rudder-everything-we-learned-from-star-citizens-citizencon-2022-presentations/ https://massivelyop.com/2022/10/10/stick-and-rudder-everything-we-learned-from-star-citizens-citizencon-2022-presentations/#comments Mon, 10 Oct 2022 13:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=408939 I’ve lost five hours so you don’t have to. This year’s CitizenCon event for Star Citizen was definitely something, and while a great deal of it was interesting as CIG detailed what it called its “Road to 4.0,” every second of interest and intrigue that the show built up was pretty much vaporized in the […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2022/10/10/stick-and-rudder-everything-we-learned-from-star-citizens-citizencon-2022-presentations/feed/ 62 https://massivelyop.com/2022/09/29/stick-and-rudder-venturing-into-eve-onlines-nullsec/ https://massivelyop.com/2022/09/29/stick-and-rudder-venturing-into-eve-onlines-nullsec/#comments Thu, 29 Sep 2022 17:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=406903 EVE Online is a game that offers many experiences, from NPC faction warfare to harvesting, refining, and building to market speculation. But the one thing that’s always fascinated me the most about the game is null security – nullsec – space and what EVE players have decided to do there. Those major headline-grabbing space battles? […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2022/09/29/stick-and-rudder-venturing-into-eve-onlines-nullsec/feed/ 1 https://massivelyop.com/2022/09/19/stick-and-rudder-robin-hood-scammer-claims-he-robbed-rich-eve-online-corp-of-100-billion-isk/ https://massivelyop.com/2022/09/19/stick-and-rudder-robin-hood-scammer-claims-he-robbed-rich-eve-online-corp-of-100-billion-isk/#comments Mon, 19 Sep 2022 13:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=405929 EVE Online is a game that will certainly go down in MMO history as one of the most fascinating studies on human behavior to be conducted outside of a formal research environment. Tales of spies, lying, and backstabbing are nearly as legendary as the Guinness record-breaking fleet battles, and much more interesting. If reddit poster […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2022/09/19/stick-and-rudder-robin-hood-scammer-claims-he-robbed-rich-eve-online-corp-of-100-billion-isk/feed/ 5 https://massivelyop.com/2022/08/26/stick-and-rudder-so-youve-completed-the-eve-online-tutorial-now-what/ https://massivelyop.com/2022/08/26/stick-and-rudder-so-youve-completed-the-eve-online-tutorial-now-what/#comments Fri, 26 Aug 2022 16:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=401859 Since rejoining the player ranks of EVE Online, I’ve noticed a common sentiment from fellow newbies: Most agree that the environment is beautiful, the ships are fun, and the prospect of discovering New Eden intriguing, but once the tutorial is completed, new players often feel lost and unsure of what to do next. We’re so […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2022/08/26/stick-and-rudder-so-youve-completed-the-eve-online-tutorial-now-what/feed/ 9 https://massivelyop.com/2022/08/05/stick-and-rudder-giving-eve-online-another-shot/ https://massivelyop.com/2022/08/05/stick-and-rudder-giving-eve-online-another-shot/#comments Fri, 05 Aug 2022 16:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=399001 I’m not really sure how to break this to you, dear reader, so I’ll just come out and say it. Oh rats, you already read the title of the post, didn’t you? In fact, that’s as far as 85% of you probably got, based on past observations of the comment threads, but here it is: […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2022/08/05/stick-and-rudder-giving-eve-online-another-shot/feed/ 11 https://massivelyop.com/2022/05/20/stick-and-rudder-some-thoughts-on-chris-roberts-annual-star-citizen-address/ https://massivelyop.com/2022/05/20/stick-and-rudder-some-thoughts-on-chris-roberts-annual-star-citizen-address/#comments Fri, 20 May 2022 15:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=388884 As many of our readers are familiar by now, Chris Roberts has put out his annual Letter from the Chairman for the Star Citizen faithful. As the length of the news post indicates, there was a lot of things that were said, and as I was looking through the address, thoughts were springing to mind. […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2022/05/20/stick-and-rudder-some-thoughts-on-chris-roberts-annual-star-citizen-address/feed/ 101 https://massivelyop.com/2022/04/22/stick-and-rudder-using-no-mans-sky-outlaws-as-a-way-to-fill-the-space-sandbox-void/ https://massivelyop.com/2022/04/22/stick-and-rudder-using-no-mans-sky-outlaws-as-a-way-to-fill-the-space-sandbox-void/#comments Fri, 22 Apr 2022 14:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=384550 Hello Games just keeps on proving itself over and over again. That’s been the overall reaction whenever No Man’s Sky makes an update from both myself and a lot of our commenters, but for some reason I never really bothered to dig in super hard to the game. I’ve been around since its astonishingly lackluster […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2022/04/22/stick-and-rudder-using-no-mans-sky-outlaws-as-a-way-to-fill-the-space-sandbox-void/feed/ 6 https://massivelyop.com/2022/03/31/stick-and-rudder-revisiting-12-year-old-mmo-star-trek-online/ https://massivelyop.com/2022/03/31/stick-and-rudder-revisiting-12-year-old-mmo-star-trek-online/#comments Thu, 31 Mar 2022 16:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=380622 Star Trek Online is an MMO released during the height of the “let’s grab an existing IP and make it into an MMO” craze of the early 2010s. While many of that era have since come and gone, STO continues to plod along, propped up by a fanatical base that enjoys sharing starship blueprints on […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2022/03/31/stick-and-rudder-revisiting-12-year-old-mmo-star-trek-online/feed/ 22 https://massivelyop.com/2021/11/30/stick-and-rudder-checking-up-on-elite-dangerous-odyssey-after-eight-updates/ https://massivelyop.com/2021/11/30/stick-and-rudder-checking-up-on-elite-dangerous-odyssey-after-eight-updates/#comments Tue, 30 Nov 2021 16:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=364731 When I originally wrote my impressions about Elite Dangerous: Odyssey earlier this year, I noted that the game was broken, but broken could be fixed. I also contend that the level to which Odyssey was broken is probably far, far deeper than I had first surmised, as the devs have thus far kicked out at least […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2021/11/30/stick-and-rudder-checking-up-on-elite-dangerous-odyssey-after-eight-updates/feed/ 17 https://massivelyop.com/2021/10/11/stick-and-rudder-recapping-everything-star-citizen-showed-at-the-latest-citizencon/ https://massivelyop.com/2021/10/11/stick-and-rudder-recapping-everything-star-citizen-showed-at-the-latest-citizencon/#comments Mon, 11 Oct 2021 14:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=357321 The digital CitizenCon event has, for all intents and purposes, come and gone, lining up a series of seven different video panels that were full of plenty of reveals, details, plans, and future features for Star Citizen. What I’m here to do with this edition of Stick and Rudder is to try to break them […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2021/10/11/stick-and-rudder-recapping-everything-star-citizen-showed-at-the-latest-citizencon/feed/ 42 https://massivelyop.com/2021/09/16/stick-and-rudder-gaining-traction-as-a-newbie-in-eve-online/ https://massivelyop.com/2021/09/16/stick-and-rudder-gaining-traction-as-a-newbie-in-eve-online/#comments Thu, 16 Sep 2021 16:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=353689 EVE Online has a reputation for being difficult for new players. The varied, complex systems, some of which are a product of the era when EVE launched and some of which have been accumulated over time, do indeed present a steep learning curve for a pilot attempting to jump right into New Eden. While I […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2021/09/16/stick-and-rudder-gaining-traction-as-a-newbie-in-eve-online/feed/ 7 https://massivelyop.com/2021/07/28/stick-and-rudder-trying-eve-online-as-a-new-player-in-2021/ https://massivelyop.com/2021/07/28/stick-and-rudder-trying-eve-online-as-a-new-player-in-2021/#comments Wed, 28 Jul 2021 16:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=346507 It’s not often one has the opportunity to step into a bit of MMO history and do so with a fresh set of eyes and no expectations. Luckily, I’ve recently had the opportunity to do just that as a brand-new player in CCP’s classic space sim/sandbox/gankfest EVE Online. Like most fans of the genre, I’ve […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2021/07/28/stick-and-rudder-trying-eve-online-as-a-new-player-in-2021/feed/ 13 https://massivelyop.com/2021/06/10/stick-and-rudder-launch-impressions-of-elite-dangerous-odyssey/ https://massivelyop.com/2021/06/10/stick-and-rudder-launch-impressions-of-elite-dangerous-odyssey/#comments Thu, 10 Jun 2021 16:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=339853 On June 3rd, 2020, Frontier Developments made an announcement that had fans of the Elite franchise excited for new possibilities. After decades of being confined to the cockpit of various ships and land rovers, the most recent Elite iteration (Dangerous) would release a mind-blowing expansion that would allow pilots to roam the surfaces of planets, […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2021/06/10/stick-and-rudder-launch-impressions-of-elite-dangerous-odyssey/feed/ 11 https://massivelyop.com/2021/06/01/stick-and-rudder-elite-dangerous-odyssey-is-not-bad-but-it-is-broken/ https://massivelyop.com/2021/06/01/stick-and-rudder-elite-dangerous-odyssey-is-not-bad-but-it-is-broken/#comments Tue, 01 Jun 2021 16:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=338391 All right. I get it. I understand. The Elite: Dangerous community is pretty rancorous right now, and I can’t say that I blame them. The Odyssey expansion arrived with all of the grace of a comet’s strike, and people absolutely have a right to be upset about that. I don’t know that I’m in that […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2021/06/01/stick-and-rudder-elite-dangerous-odyssey-is-not-bad-but-it-is-broken/feed/ 20 https://massivelyop.com/2021/05/10/stick-and-rudder-phase-4-impressions-and-overall-thoughts-on-elite-dangerous-odyssey-expansion/ https://massivelyop.com/2021/05/10/stick-and-rudder-phase-4-impressions-and-overall-thoughts-on-elite-dangerous-odyssey-expansion/#comments Mon, 10 May 2021 16:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=335365 Well, the alpha testing has concluded. Frontier Developments have presumably collected all the metrics and opinions they could want, and Elite Dangerous is heading for its new Odyssey expansion. So the questionn that’s expected to ask is: Is it ready? Yes, but with an asterisk or two. Or three. As far as my phase 4 […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2021/05/10/stick-and-rudder-phase-4-impressions-and-overall-thoughts-on-elite-dangerous-odyssey-expansion/feed/ 4 https://massivelyop.com/2021/04/26/stick-and-rudder-the-frustrating-and-unsuccessful-search-for-life-in-elite-dangerous-odyssey-alpha-phase-3/ https://massivelyop.com/2021/04/26/stick-and-rudder-the-frustrating-and-unsuccessful-search-for-life-in-elite-dangerous-odyssey-alpha-phase-3/#comments Mon, 26 Apr 2021 16:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=333208 I should have been more capable. If I were a better exploration pilot in Elite: Dangerous, I suspect I would have had a better time. Or would have had more fun. As it stands, this past phase of alpha testing for Odyssey left me a bit more frustrated than I would have liked. But then, […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2021/04/26/stick-and-rudder-the-frustrating-and-unsuccessful-search-for-life-in-elite-dangerous-odyssey-alpha-phase-3/feed/ 3 https://massivelyop.com/2021/04/16/stick-and-rudder-elite-dangerous-odysseys-second-alpha-phase-had-more-fps-goodness-and-even-more-bugs/ Fri, 16 Apr 2021 16:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=331892 The whole that made up the second phase of Elite Dangerous Odyssey’s alpha testing could easily be broken up into two parts: Frontline Solutions and the related combat zone gameplay, and being able to join friends for whatever other things we wanted without the use of Holo-Me. In my experience, the former felt a little […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2021/04/02/stick-and-rudder-shaky-space-legs-and-promising-potential-in-elite-dangerous-odyssey-alpha-phase-one/ https://massivelyop.com/2021/04/02/stick-and-rudder-shaky-space-legs-and-promising-potential-in-elite-dangerous-odyssey-alpha-phase-one/#comments Fri, 02 Apr 2021 15:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=329760 Yep. This certainly was an alpha test. For those who are curious, yes, I bought my way in to the Elite Dangerous Odyssey alpha, as did my good friend Britarnya and my husband. The three of us were more than eager to make our first steps and have been excited for this first phase of testing […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2021/04/02/stick-and-rudder-shaky-space-legs-and-promising-potential-in-elite-dangerous-odyssey-alpha-phase-one/feed/ 3 https://massivelyop.com/2021/04/01/stick-and-rudder-five-potentially-stupid-yet-fun-elite-dangerous-spaceship-builds/ https://massivelyop.com/2021/04/01/stick-and-rudder-five-potentially-stupid-yet-fun-elite-dangerous-spaceship-builds/#comments Thu, 01 Apr 2021 15:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=329017 Even though I’ve logged a total of 112 hours of Elite: Dangerous at the time of this writing, I’m still pretty much a noob in the grander scheme of things. I’ve only just recently gotten into core mining. I’ve slowly started to crawl up the Trader ranks towards Elite status. I still haven’t really gotten […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2021/04/01/stick-and-rudder-five-potentially-stupid-yet-fun-elite-dangerous-spaceship-builds/feed/ 1 https://massivelyop.com/2021/02/24/stick-and-rudder-seven-player-made-elite-dangerous-tools-that-you-should-check-out/ https://massivelyop.com/2021/02/24/stick-and-rudder-seven-player-made-elite-dangerous-tools-that-you-should-check-out/#comments Wed, 24 Feb 2021 17:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=324114 Since beginning my Elite Dangerous journey, I’ve been impressed and delighted to find many community-supported tools available to aid Elite players in navigating the large, complex world of our future galaxy. One might argue that the necessity for such outside resources points to deficiencies in the game, and that is partially true, but the talent […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2021/02/24/stick-and-rudder-seven-player-made-elite-dangerous-tools-that-you-should-check-out/feed/ 6 https://massivelyop.com/2021/02/09/stick-and-rudder-leader-of-elite-dangerous-slavery-racket-espouses-a-cult-like-guild-full-of-chaos-and-evil/ https://massivelyop.com/2021/02/09/stick-and-rudder-leader-of-elite-dangerous-slavery-racket-espouses-a-cult-like-guild-full-of-chaos-and-evil/#comments Tue, 09 Feb 2021 18:05:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=322131 Last week we reported on an effort by several players of Elite: Dangerous to dupe new players into a sort of indentured servitude by offering them mining ships, training, and credits, but effectively taking them to an inescapable region of space and forcing them to mine materials to sell at prices that were well below […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2021/02/09/stick-and-rudder-leader-of-elite-dangerous-slavery-racket-espouses-a-cult-like-guild-full-of-chaos-and-evil/feed/ 103 https://massivelyop.com/2021/01/27/stick-and-rudder-nine-non-combat-activities-to-enjoy-in-elite-dangerous/ https://massivelyop.com/2021/01/27/stick-and-rudder-nine-non-combat-activities-to-enjoy-in-elite-dangerous/#comments Wed, 27 Jan 2021 17:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=319601 I’m horrible at combat in Elite Dangerous. It took me several tries to get past the bot in the combat tutorial. Not the advanced combat tutorial, mind you – the basic one. Due to my astounding level of ineptitude, I’ve outfitted my ships to be able to run from trouble, not confront it. It should […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2021/01/27/stick-and-rudder-nine-non-combat-activities-to-enjoy-in-elite-dangerous/feed/ 6 https://massivelyop.com/2019/11/22/interview-cigs-jake-muehle-on-the-player-economy-and-doing-crimes-in-the-star-citizen-universe/ https://massivelyop.com/2019/11/22/interview-cigs-jake-muehle-on-the-player-economy-and-doing-crimes-in-the-star-citizen-universe/#comments Fri, 22 Nov 2019 18:30:42 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=256501 We’re zooming on toward CitizenCon tomorrow, when Cloud Imperium will deliver its annual live showcase of the state of Star Citizen – and drop the requisite tantalizing nuggets that tease the future. Ahead of the event this weekend, we spoke with Star Citizen Systems Designer Jake Muehle all about one of those recently buffed game […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2019/11/22/interview-cigs-jake-muehle-on-the-player-economy-and-doing-crimes-in-the-star-citizen-universe/feed/ 19 https://massivelyop.com/2019/10/11/interview-star-citizens-sean-tracy-on-the-gameplay-features-of-alpha-3-7-live-today/ https://massivelyop.com/2019/10/11/interview-star-citizens-sean-tracy-on-the-gameplay-features-of-alpha-3-7-live-today/#comments Fri, 11 Oct 2019 13:00:00 +0000 https://massivelyop.com/?p=248065 Today marks another big installment for the alpha of Star Citizen. The 3.7 update should now be live for everyone as you read this, bringing along a variety of updates and features that we’ve been covering for the past few weeks including FPS mining, new caves to explore, the remarkable new RSI Mantis interdictor, and […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2019/10/11/interview-star-citizens-sean-tracy-on-the-gameplay-features-of-alpha-3-7-live-today/feed/ 11 https://massivelyop.com/2015/10/13/stick-and-rudder-the-best-bits-of-star-citizencon-2015/ https://massivelyop.com/2015/10/13/stick-and-rudder-the-best-bits-of-star-citizencon-2015/#comments Tue, 13 Oct 2015 22:00:02 +0000 http://massivelyop.com/?p=29572 Wow, so, where to start with this week’s Stick and Rudder? I guess I picked the wrong time for a vacation, and shame on me for forgetting the CitizenCon date! In any case, Star Citizen acquitted itself pretty well last weekend by most accounts, and whether we’re talking about Squadron 42’s A-list cast reveal, our […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2015/10/13/stick-and-rudder-the-best-bits-of-star-citizencon-2015/feed/ 131 https://massivelyop.com/2015/09/04/stick-and-rudder-star-citizen-is-starting-to-come-together/ https://massivelyop.com/2015/09/04/stick-and-rudder-star-citizen-is-starting-to-come-together/#comments Fri, 04 Sep 2015 18:00:00 +0000 http://massivelyop.com/?p=24084 Last Tuesday I woke in the wee hours of the morning to install Star Citizen’s 1.2 patch. I wasn’t battling insomnia or anything like that; on the contrary, I set my alarm and made sure to start the mammoth download so that it would be finished when I rolled out of bed for real. Why not Monday or […]]]> https://massivelyop.com/2015/09/04/stick-and-rudder-star-citizen-is-starting-to-come-together/feed/ 105