Vanguard Forums close

All I can say is, "thank God!!!". I find it very ironic that the discussion that follows kinda gives you an idea of why there should be no forums for MMOs

I don't like MMO forums. Sure, some of them are very helpful and full of very useful information such as leveling guides, character guides and important impressions of the game for new or potential players. What I don't like is the whining, the complaining and the general disrespect the majority of people show to one another for simply having a different opinion. Can you imagine if the real world was like a forum? Good Lord. I'd be able to scream, yell, swear and spit at every person who I think deserves it. OK...I'm not being exactly fair, I know. Most of the above impressions come from the cesspit that are the WoW forums. If there was any occasion for a Darwinian process to naturally select, that would be a good place to start.

I for one am hoping that this is a trend that the MMO industry will take in the future. Let the fan sites be the place for forums and the like. Let the MMO companies concentrate on what we want them to do more of...making great games.

D out.

The Wizard of EQ2

When I started in EQ2 I started an Elf Wizard on the Guk server (named Beldarion if any of you want to say hi). Well, I've started playing him again and am having a very good time doing it. I just forget how to play a wizard. I'm usually use to sticking the pointy thing in the bad guy...its hard to suppress that instinct sometimes.

I've been back playing EQ2 for about a week now...nothing too heavy, maybe 2 hour sessions at a time. My other toon is a level 48 Swashy and I noticed something about my now 26 Wiz that just made my jaw drop. I hit harder with a 26 Wiz than my 48 Swashy. Last night, I hit a blue con mob for 1180 damage with my main fireball nuking spell. I have never seen a number like that, ever, with any of my Swashy hits. I think the highest I've seen him hit for is around 800. I must be doing something incredibly wrong with my Swashy, or incredibly right with my Wizard.

I have about 12 quests to finish up in TS before I head back to BB and start hitting the new content. Its really nice to be in TS though...kinda nostalgic for the 'ol place. As I was questing in TS, a group asked me to join them in RoV, which was a lot of fun...got 2 levels out of that run, plus a quest or two completed. I sometimes forget how fun this game is in a group and it makes me miss the 'ol gang who have moved on to other games....oh well. The Wiz is a level 19 Scholar, so I'd like to get him up to 20 tonight so that I can actually start using the stuff I'm farming out of TS and BB.

I think I'll be sticking around EQ2 for the next couple of weeks. I don't plan on logging into WoW anytime near the BC launch...it'll just be too crazy, and I'm just not in the mood. I'm using my wife as a guinea pig for this one. If she can log in and it's not nuts in there, then I'll get on sooner than I thought.

D out.

More Vanguard Beta Previews

More stuff from Van Hemlock (who has links to other previews, including your truly) and from Tobold. Brent also has an excellent Vanguard segment on show #47. The over consensus is that its a real diamond in the rough and it's certainly not ready for its Q1 2007 release date. Brent mentioned something quite fitting that Brendon (FalconTwin.com) told him...Brendon called the game "Funguard" because it guards the fun from you. Very apt description.

However, despite all of these negative Beta Previews in the Blog-o-sphere right now, everyone that I've read wants this game to succeed. We all want this game to get to where it needs to be. Like I mentioned before, we live in a post-WoW MMO world right now and there are design implementations that are now expected to be standard in the MMOs that we play:

• Low barrier to entry.
• Noticeable and fun character advancement.
• Manageable death penalties.
• Ease of world travel.
• Multiple and fun alternatives to adventuring.
• Fun and accessible end game for all players.

With the exception to the last point, it seems like Vanguard has very little of these. Part of me thinks they are doing this just to stick their finger in WoW's eye. It's kinda like that rebellious teenager who wants to dye their hair purple and pierce everything just to be different. Fine, dye your hair purple and pierce your toenails if you want, but jeese, put on a suit like everyone else when you come to the company party...please.

I do think Vanguard will get on its feet eventually within its first two years once it gets some patches and expansions...and I really do hope that is the case for game with this much potential.

D out.

A patch a day...

For anyone who is in the Vanguard beta, you may or may not have noticed. They've had a patch out every day since January 2. Thats quite an impressive pace they are keeping.

Vaguard Beta Impressions

According to this, the Vanguard NDA is now lifted...which means I can now talk about my beta experience, as limited as it may be. Be aware though, the maximum level that I got to with any character is level 10, so when I say limited experience, thats what I mean. So, take everything that I say here with that in mind.

I'm not going to give Vanguard any score what so ever. I will not do that for any game I preview or review here...especially for MMOs. I consider MMOs works in progress and they usually find their stride 2 years after they first release...so any number I give is useless a this point.

My System:
AMD 64 3500+ Processor
nVidia 7900 GT Video card
1 Gb RAM (I know...I know..)
...yadda...yadda...

Now...onto our regular scheduled program.

First Impression - The Newbie Experience

I'll be honest, I wasn't too excited when I got the invite. I heard a lot of bad things about Vanguard from certain sources, but hey, I like to get my own opinion so I loaded it up. What I first saw was not good...the character creation screen. The characters models themselves look very wrong...especially when you start changing physical attributes. Its hard to explain, so let me give you an analogy. Remember when Bonzo the Clown takes those long skinny balloons and blows them up to make poodles...well thats the Vanguard character creation screen. It's like you're given a half filled balloon of a character and if you want to increase the chest or head size, the program blows more air into those areas without any consideration to proportion. It's just weird.

OK...so I created a human-ish Rogue (who looked like a cross between Pee-Wee Herman and Cher) and entered the world and oh my Lord. The sound was skipping the screen turned black, and oh look, there's my character's head...there's his foot. I didn't measure it, but I had time to go to the bathroom and get a drink while I waited for it to load up....but hey, its beta.

After that, I killed 10 zombie farmers, hit level 2, turned off the game and didn't touch it for another week. I was that disappointed with it.

I went back a week later promising myself to really get an impression of this game. I reminded myself that this is just a beta and carried on. This time, I created a half elf Ranger...and the experience was noticeably better. I was able to get to level 10. I grouped with people and completed a lot of very interesting quests within the newbie area. I must say, once I got over the technical glitches, the newbie experience that I had was very similar to EQ2. So, this is what I recommend you set your expectations for the first 10 levels of your life in Vanguard...a very EQ2-like experience.

I then created a Necro next and was able to experience how two other aspects of the game where introduced to new players. Crafting and Diplomacy (I'll explain those two later on in their own sections)

Graphics

Honestly, the graphics are nothing that I haven't seen before in EQ2...maybe a bit less than EQ2. Though, the graphics in Vanguard did seem a bit more drab and dark than in EQ2. The starter areas that I was in were either a dark forest, or a red desert-like area or a shore town in which its always raining. Because it was so dark everywhere, I didn't really find the landscape or the graphics that inspiring.

All of the monsters that I encountered were very well done and looked reasonably intimating, but anything that looked humanoid just looked and moved very oddly to my eyes. They looked stiff when they walked and they really didn't give me that organic feel. This goes back to the character creation comments that I had...all of the humanoids just look wrong.

Currently there are plenty (and I mean plenty) of graphical glitches and bugs in the game. I'm sure they'll be addressed with some patches.

Sound

The sound is really nothing to write home about. The music track is ok, but it really doesn't get me into the game

Crafting

I leveled up to 6 in Artifacting in the game...and honestly, I don't really get the crafting system right now. It's much like EQ2 in the way that there are reaction and counter-reactions that you need to watch out for. The one thing that was really cool was cutting down a tree. Yes, to gather wood, you just don't find a log on the ground, you actually find a resource tree, cut it down, it falls (TIMBERRRR!!) and you loot the fallen tree. it's a nice cosmetic gameplay element.

Questing

Questing leads you very nicely through levels 1-10. I was lucky enough to find a very good group and we just shoot through them. The quests in that level range where really the kill 10 of this, get 5 of that variety.

Diplomacy

This is an interesting 3rd dimension of game play that Sigil has introduced. Its essentially a card game that you play with an NPC as you try to win an argument or discussion...at least, thats how I understand it. You're given these strategy cards that increase certain attributes of an argument. You set up 5 of your cards as your strategy and you play these cards as the discussion with the NPC progresses. The goal is to get more points than the NPC to the point where you win the argument. I know, its a bit of crappy explanation, and it is a bit more complex than that, but I hope you get the general idea.

The introduction and quests to diplomacy are very well done, so if I completely confused you, at least the game will set you straight.

Atmosphere/World/Lore

For the first 10 levels, I got no sense of the world I was in. As far as I was concerned, I was just there doing quests. The Lore in this game and my place in it really eludes me as a new player.

The world is not really that inspiring at all. I didn't log in and get that, "wow, I wonder what's over that hill" type of feeling. Atmosphere is really missing from this game.

What the Future Holds

It's quite simple really, this game is not ready...at all. Don't get me wrong, it's got great potential, but it needs another 6-8 months of development and testing before Sigil even thinks about releasing it. The first 10-15 levels are crucial to getting that hook into a new player, and its just not there...not yet anyway.

What Sigil is looking at right now if they release as planned, and I've said this before, is what EQ2 experienced with their release in 2004...and that wasn't very pretty. Its up to them if they want to release, but I really wouldn't recommend it at this point. Sure, the game at level 50 might be better...I don't know, I didn't get to level 50. All I know is that if I had bought this game, I would have canceled my subscription within 1 month. I would have watched it for 2 years and probably get back into it after a couple of expansions and patches.

That's it for now. Beta 5 has started with the Fileplanet open beta offer to subscribers. I encourage everyone to take a look.

To Sigil, you guys really have a good game in there somewhere. If you really want to be successful and deliver a QUALITY product, then you need to delay the release date. It'll be good for you, good for the game, and good for players...bad for the fanboi's I guess.

D out.

Charting the path

This just makes me dizzy.

The linked chart is the raid attunement chart for the Burning Crusade. Yes, if you believe the data on the chart, you need to complete all of that in order to get into Mount Hyjal. Mount Hyjal is the Big Bad raiding content for BC. The chart also shows the requirements for the other raids as well.

Now, I'm not really going to pass judgment on this yet because it very well might be that this attunement will fall out naturally by just playing the BC content. If that's the case, bravo to Blizzard. It should take a lot of work to get into that instance, that I agree with and is just good game design. However, the player should always feel that they are moving forward towards that goal while still maintaining the feeling that they are playing a game, not working at a second job. Just looking at the chart, you see a lot of Revered rep requirements...and we all know how much fun getting that is.

This is Blizzard's big test as far as I'm concerned. Have they really learned the lessons from current 60+ game? If the rep doesn't accumulate naturally from quests and other meaningful tasks then the answer is no and I really do think that Blizzard will be in a bit of trouble. Don't misunderstand me, I don't think all 6 million people will cancel their accounts because they have to rep grind for 2 months. By "trouble" I mean that the experience of the BC expansion will be seriously shortened by those who are turned off by a grindy end game. Those that see this pattern might just move on to other things and if Blizzard takes another 2 years for their next expansion then this might be a problem.

Getting off of WoW now...Fileplanet now has an open beta for Vanguard for subscribers. If you're interested in checking this one out, I suggest that you do. We want to make sure that Sigil gets as much feedback as possible for this game...they need it.

D out.

The Coming Crusade

Tobold has recently put up a series of posts in the last couple of days revolving around the same kind of theme, that theme being the outcome of the first couple of days of the BC release. He brings up some server distribution issues and also asks why we're in such a rush. I'm not going to rehash any of that because he gets the point across very nicely. He did get me thinking about how I'm going to handle the expansion.

We all know how crazy its going to be. Every rat and boar will be camped out for weeks when people start questing in Hellfire. I'm really not looking forward to that. I'm seriously considering not even installing the bugger for a week or two until everything has settled down. There really is no point to experiencing the virtual "door crasher sale" that will be the first two weeks of BC.

I can wait. If anything, this will give me more time with EQ2 and betas while people in WoW trample all over each other for rat tails and wolf hides.

D out.

Five Things About Me

Crap...I've been tagged.

This sound like fun, so I'll give it a go. I thought it would take me longer to come up with these...but they came to me quite quickly.

1. I was in Martial Arts since grade 8, so thats about 17 years-ish, give or take. I have one black belt in Kuk Sool Won (not active anymore). I currently have a brown belt in Goju Ryu. Studying this stuff has always been fun, but with two kids, work and other responsibilities this is becoming a hard hobby for me to maintain.

2. I was in Air Cadets in high school and I actually wanted to be a fighter pilot. I changed my mind in my senior year after I saw the crappy conditions our military had at that time.

3. My favorite book is Phantoms by Dean Koontz. Don't ask me why, but the book just freaked me out and thrilled me at the same time.

4. I love Colorado Springs. My wife and I went down there in 97 or 98 and I just loved the variation of the countryside. I saw my first set of mountains on that trip...I must have stared at them for an hour. Wow. The people there are very nice, if not a bit nutty...and boy do they know how to cook a steak.

5. I love to golf. Almost too much if you ask my wife. Every year, a group of friends and I go down to Manitoulin Island for a yearly guys-only golf trip. It always seems to be sunny there and for some reason I always shoot about 95 for some strange reason (I usually a below 90 golfer).

Since I'm new to this stuff...not too many people to tag. Maybe Wilhelm2451 if he hasn't already been tagged for this.

D out.

Try, Try again

I logged back into EQ2 last night....like I said, I'm continually trying to make that game click for me simply because I want to. I did hit level 49 with my Swashy and got an adventure level out of it, so yay for me.

I think I know what the problem is with me and EQ2, its the fact that I really don't have a regular group in that game anymore. Most of the guys that I play MMOs with are having lots of fun in WoW, and I don't plan on really getting back to WoW until BC. I am in a very good guild. They are well organized and probably one of the older ones on the server that I play on. However, being an "older guild", they have a lot of level 70's so most of the members are in the raiding part of the game right now. So, I'm on my own watching guild chat stream by with stuff I really don't understand just yet. I think I've got three choices when it comes to EQ2: 1) cancel my account and move on, 2) level like a bastard to 70 so that I can raid with the rest of my guild, 3) find another guild or group of players to adventure with. If I really want to stick to EQ2, I think #3 is the best option. Of course, this whole EQ2 question of mine won't really matter in a couple of weeks anyway.

Oh, and before I sign off, I want to direct your attention to The Escapist. There is a Curt Schilling interview in there that everyone who is interested in MMOs will want to read. Of particular note was this little tidbit from Curt (bold added by me):

"You have to make a game that appeals across the market, across platforms, that has a low barrier of entry, that people will want to play."

"Low barrier of entry" seems to be the new buzzword for the industry now. It basically means that we need to make our game play as easy as WoW does to new players. He gets the current MMO picture, which is good to hear....unlike some developers we won't mention. "Across platforms" is also interesting because it implies that this game will be coming out on either the 360 or PS3 as well as the PC. Read the rest of the interview. No real details regarding the planned game, but lots a great insight into what angle they'll be taking.

D out.

Gamebunny follow up...

Yeah...it was a fake story. Ha ha...almost got me.

The hits of 2007

On the dying days of 2006, I posted my top picks of the big MMO releases for 2007. Just to refresh your memory, they were:

• Vanguard
• Age of Conan
• Warhammer Online
• Lord of the Rings
• Gods and Heroes
• Burning Crusade

I'm going to go into more detail and do a little bit of predicting for each of those titles. I think it will be fun for us to look back a year from now and see how close I was.

Vanguard

I think that Vanguard has a hard lesson to learn. The days of corpse runs and that "old school" feeling are over. That chapter in MMO history was closed in 2004. Guys, I'm sure that bell-bottom jeans where a great idea in the 1970's, but I don't think anyone really wants to go back to them. The developers seem to be stuck in that old nostalgia groove, and they need to get out if it if they want to be successful. You can already see them start to back track from their earlier hard-core statements...they see it coming, and they're scared.

They will experience the same type of launch pain that EQ2 went through when it was hit square in the head of the post -WoW MMO world. It will take them 2 years and as many expansions to dig themselves out of the hole that they made for themselves.

Age of Conan

This one does have the potential to do some good things for MMOs because of a) the combat control scheme and b) the world/lore. The graphics look very nice given the videos that have already been released. I think one of the highlights of this game will be how they approach classes that use magic. I don't know, having the possibility that your spell will backfire on you is appealing to me.

I really have no idea how this game will appeal to those who are no familiar to Conan. What's going to be the hook that gets people to play this game over all of the others that are coming out this year? My guess is that the combat will drag people in, but will it keep them?

Warhammer Online

I have maintained the idea that this one has the potential to rival and unseat WoW as the next big MMO, and I still think this will be the case. The people over at Mythic have plenty of experience to draw on with their past DAoC series. RvR, PvP and how it all interacts with the PvE experience is where this game will shine.

Essentially they are promising quite a bit with this title and I have a feeling that they are going to execute very nicely on most, if not all, of the features that they've promised. A year from now, this game will have at least half of WoWs numbers (2-3 million). This prediction, of course, assumes that WoW does nothing to evolve their game from its current grindy state.

Lord of the Rings

This one will be the PvE hit of 2007....trust me. We've seen previews of this game and everything points to Turbine being onto something with this title. What will make or break this game is how they build and expand on an already solid foundation. Will they bring in evil races? How will they go outside of Tolkein lore yet still stay true to the world he built? Being that this will be mainly a PvE title, how they build and expand the world will be a crucial element to growing and holding their player base.

LoTR Online must differentiate itself clearly from WoW, but also offer itself as a viable and fun alternative for burned out WoW players.

Gods and Heroes

So far, the only thing that makes this one look interesting is the fancy combat moves and the potential of beheading Medusa. I'm sorry, but when you're singing the same song, adding extra dance moves is not going to hide the tune. What will save this game from this obvious skin deep combat feature is the world in which it is placed. I want to be part of a world in which there are vengeful gods and monstrous titans...this is what makes games memorable, not that you do a triple lutz before you plunge your sword into a mob.

Game sounds cool, but I think they are focusing too much on fluff and that will only give them a rough start and questionable longevity.

Burning Crusade

By all accounts, WoW's first expansion is very well done. Thats great news because it's a long time coming. I think BC's only weakness will be that the content will be eaten up within 3 months. By that time, most will have hit 70 and will be facing the same end-game grind that they do now. This realization is lost on a lot of players and my theory is come Q2 or Q3 of 2007, we'll have a lot of WoW players hitting other options. I think EQ2, LoTR Online and Warhammer will be the benefactors of this.

That's it. May the tomato slinging begin :)

D out.

Whoa??!

I saw this a couple of says ago over at Gamebunny. I didn't mention it before on this site because: a) the story they point to is about some drunk driver in Germany and b) I can't confirm it anywhere else. For now, until I get confirmation of this, it is in the "high rumor" category. It's been up on the Gamebunny site now for about 3-4 days now with no comments to the story.

This would be major news if Blizzard took this kind of pay model, and I don't think it would be a good sign of things to come. I really am not convinced that a player should pay real money for in game equipment which intrinsically have no value to begin with. Well, ok, they do have value if you look at the cost to develop that armor or sword, but I really don't think it comes close to the cost of running a server for a month.

With this model, a person can completely outfit their toon for around $80-100. Now thats fine for those people who have $80 to spend...but those who don't will be stuck with greens, according to that brief snippet from Gamebunny. Remember, everyone paid the same for the game in the first place. This brings up another interesting point. It is currently argued that those who have more time currently succeed at WoW, especially at the end-game. If this is true, this would shift the balance of power away from the typical "hard-core"gamer. If you believe the stereotypes, they have no money and live in mom's basement...they will not be happy.

Anyway...as soon as I find out that this is indeed true, I'll let you know.

D out.

Results of Reader's Choice

...not even going to comment. Take a look at the discussion brewing of this steaming pile of shit.

More console MMOs

A couple more have been added to the list of MMOs that are coming to the console. Warhammer and Battlestar Galactica Online. BG will be exclusive to the 360 and Warhammer is still in the category as a rumour IMHO.

I'm still firmly in the "I don't like this..." camp, but lets face it, this was bound to happen. I have no data to support my misgivings of this, call it a guy feeling that a move to consoles will water down the gendre. I'm also wondering what will happen to PC MMOs once devs get a taste of the console market. BG is already 360 exclusive, and if they hit a homerun with it the it might be a system seller as well which moves MMOs even further from being a PC centric game gendre.

The console market is a huge and has not been touched my any of the major MMO developers. You know that the first one there will get a head start on that market share. I would bet my left arm that Blizzard hasn't dropped the whole issue of WoW on the 360 or PS3.

I'm all Mr.Doom today, sorry, but the makings of a trend is appearing....I'm probably waaay out in left field on this one though. We'll see.

D out.

Clueless EB Parents

As was mentioning before that I cashed in my $60 worth of EB games gift cards during the boxing day sales. I bought a copy of Medieval Total War 2...great game by the way. While I was waiting in line, I noticed a lot of parents around with their kids. The man in front of me bought a copy of Diablo II and some other console game. Do to his purchases, he somehow got to get a free PC game of his choice. What did he choose? Auto Assault. His only question about this game was, "This is a PC game, right?". The EB worker said, "uhhh, yeah". The man who bought the copy of Auto Assault didn't even look at the box..had he done so he would have realized that its a MMO which requires a subscription fee of about $15/month. He just was happy that it was a PC game, and off he went.

This is another example of how parents don't read the boxes of games they get. For some reason, it just doesn't register with them. They read how much fat content is in their Cheerios, but they can't be bothered to read the box of a game. I'm looking at the box of EoF for EQ2 right now. On the box it says, "Internet Connection Required. Additional Subscription Fee Required". Now, I don't have an Auto Assault box with me, but I'm 99% sure that it says the same thing. Granted, the EB employee had same responsibility there, but the ultimate buying decision lies with the consumer.

The real kicker is that there was a no return policy for any games bought that day. So, that guy is stuck with a game he has to pay monthly fees for all because he didn't take 2 seconds to read the box. It wouldn't bother me normally, but these are the same types of parents who ask for government to regulate games due to their laziness.

D out.

Onward marching soliders...

2006...what was it good for??

It was not a great gaming year for MMOs. This year was mostly about WoW. If I had a dime for every WoW related article, podcast, and screen shot I would be a very rich man. Of course, this blog is very guilty of that as well. Can't blame us really and it does prove that 2006 was a dull MMO year if all we're talking about is one game. I'm hoping to keep the WoW chatter on this blog site to a minimum. I'll probably be only commenting on major news coming out of Blizzard and some stories of my adventures from 60-70...that's it. I hereby give you permission to virtually slap me for any WoW fluff that I put up here.

I restarted Eve Online and like I mentioned before, this game and I really did not like each other at first. That all changed when I got the point of the game...setting your own goals. My first goal of the game was to get a cruiser, and when I accomplished that first goal a giant light-bulb went on over my head. I'm not really "playing" Eve right now, just skilling up. I'm going to stick with this one because I really want to see the graphics upgrades and other goodies they put in when they finish up the Revelations patch.

Started playing EQ2 again in 2006. I first started it when it launched in 2004 and promptly left due to its bad execution. It was the first MMO that I joined a guild in...and I'm glad I did. The friendships that I made in that guild are still going on today. I started, stopped and restarted EQ2 a couple of times with the latest being the EoF expansion. The game is really good, but its just not sticking with me. I'm not sure if its because of the amount of time I'm spending in the two betas or if its the game itself, but something is missing. I think it comes down to the fact that I really don't have a solid group to play with in EQ2, so there really is no motivation to log in.

The Surprises of 2006

Ryzom was a nice surprise for me in 2006, even though I didn't end up signing up for it in the end. The game play was fresh but the character graphics and lore just didn't grab me. I'm very glad that this one came along to add some variety in this WoW dominated year.

I'm going to be keeping an eye on this game for 2007 as I may go back to see if it hooks me. I put this one in the same category as EQ2, i.e. I want this game to hook me and I'll give it every opportunity to do so.

Going Forward in 2007

Going forward in 2007 for MMOs, we've got an exciting year ahead of us. All of the blogs I frequent, the podcasts, we're all going to have a very good year in 2007...if everything works according to plan. We've got some big hitters coming out:

• Vanguard (Q1 2007)
• Age of Conan (Q2 2007)
• Warhammer Online (Q4 2007)
• Lord of the Rings Online (Q2 2007)
• Gods and Heroes (Q1 2007)
• WoW: Burning Crusade (Q1 2007)

I plan on hitting every one of those and post reviews here...but my plan is to really stick with only one plus Eve. Right now, I feel like an 8 year old with ADD...I'm jumping all over the place. The plan is to try each of these, and by the end of 2007, to have one MMO to rule them all.

The Gaming Resolution

Brent over at Virgin Worlds posted his latest show #45. The show has great interviews/commentary with almost all of the major players (as far as I'm concerned) in the MMO blog/podcast space. In the show, he asked everyone what their gaming new years resolution will be. It's a great idea and I had better follow suit since I'm a junior member of the community (Brent tends to beat those who don't comply.... :) )

So, my gaming resolution is to find one MMO and stick to it until I get max level. I've only got to max level in WoW...and thats really not a true MMO accomplishment. I do want this game to replace WoW so I'm hoping that one of the games on the list will be one to do it.

The Site

I reopened this site this year after a bad false start earlier in the year. The reason I didn't get it going earlier was a lack of focus on my part. Well...I've got that focus, i.e. MMO commentary/reviews with a bit of news and fun stuff. 95% gaming, 5% of stuff I see happening around me. I've gotten some great support from people like Brent (Virgin Worlds) and Bill Harris (Dubious) to help me get this site out there...without them, I think I'd still be talking to myself.

For the coming year, I'm going to put more solid content up. I've been mixing it up with link blogging and commentary and as I grow I want to try to get rid of the link blogging and put more commentary, editorials and reviews up. This will involve more work, but hey, I like doing this so it's something I look forward to.

As I mentioned before, I'm doing some developing on my spare time (such that it is). I would like to grow that into a site feature, where I step through my designs for a game, post the code and try to help others who would be interested. This is probably a 2008 resolution due to how long its going to take for me to really get proficient in C++ programming , but there it is.

So....2006 is almost behind us and we have 2007 lurking above the horizon like the monster that it is. I'm really excited about the future of MMOs and about the future growth of this site. Even if no one is reading in the end, I'll still write and continue to be a voice out there.

Talk to you soon.

D out

Under the tree...

I hope everyone had a great Christmas. It was a pretty big one over at our house...especially for the girls. It's amazing to me how little space there was under the tree when you go from one kid to two.

So, what did I get?

• MP3 player
• clothes
• $60 of EB Games gift cards
• Firefly season 1
• Family Guy Volume 4 (love this show)

With the EB games gift cards, I went and got Medieval War II since there were no MMOs to get right now. The game looks good so far. My wife got Super Mario for her DS and we're both loving that game as well. She also got Sims 2 Expansions as well...Pets and Open for Business and thats all she's playing right now.

Oh, speaking of EB...man do I feel bad for those guys during the Boxing Day sales up here. Dealing with all of those impatient thumb twitchers and their clueless parents must make one want to gouge one's eyes out with a spoon. As mind numbing as my job is, I'm so very glad I don't work at an EB Games store.

I also got invited to another MMO beta. I was kinda 'meh' about this game due to it being too much like another game that I play (if you're a regular reader, you know of what game I speak). I must say, that this game is starting to slowly win me over. Personally, I think this game needs some more soak time...more than what I think they are planning. It's slated for Q1 2007 release...if they launch it then, it won't be pretty. I'm hoping they prove me wrong.

That's it for now...got lots of other stuff I want to talk about, but that can wait. I hope everyone enjoys the rest of the holiday. Talk to you soon.

D out.

P.S.

Merry Christmas

I'd like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Enjoy this time with your family and friends.

I won't be writing much during the holidays, but check back frequently anyway...you never know when the mood will strike me.

We have a great MMO year to look forward to in 2007. See you all then.

D out.

So close...yet so far

I had about 10 minutes to kill before picking up my daughter yesterday, so I decided to stop by my local EB Games. When I got in there, I noticed a line of parents (mostly mom's...who only show up at EB at this time of year). An EB employee emerged from the back with a stack of Wii boxes. Damn!! I said, "You got some it?!". She said, "Yup, but they're all gone". DOH!! (yes...I actually said, "DOH!"). I must have missed the ticket distribution by 10 minutes. Oddly enough, she did say that she had a PS3s for me to buy...pffft, I think not.

Take away the fact that the wife would have killed me if I had bought one, but thats the first time I've even seen a Wii box and the closest I'll probably be getting to one this year.

D out.

Rediculous...

So...I went into Battelgrounds last night with my Rogue. What a waste of time that was. Quoting from Lauren over at Mystic Worlds: Blizzard, I hate you.

Here are the numbers. I was in Arathi Basin. I figured I'd get the 30 tokens and 22000-ish honor required for the Rogue chest piece. I spent 2 hours playing...I got 700 honor for my trouble. That's 350/hr. If I do that math I would have to PvP for 62 HOURS!!! Now, the rate at which you gain honor in AB may be different than in other BGs, but really, I can't see how it would shave down that number by much. And yes, I was kicking ass and taking names...lots-o-kills. So, I've had it...I don't want to grind it out anymore. I think I'll be either playing the mystery beta or my WoW warlock until BC comes out. I'm really tired of the diminishing returns for by game time when you hit 60 in WoW...its getting old.

If anyone knows of a better way to get honor in PvP, let me know.

D out.

The wierdest thing....

Almost forgot to mention this.

As I was driving home last night, I heard a news segment about our local food charity here in the Ottawa area. These are the people who collect food for families and individuals who really need it during the holidays. A woman who works there was interviewed and she said that they would rather not take any canned or packaged goods because of, wait for it, the fat content. That's right, she's worried about hungry people getting fat during the Christmas season.

Of course, in her defense, she did mention that they were worried about heart disease and such, but come on. I'm positive that given the choice between turkey with artery hardening gravy and empty stomach, that most hungry people will take the gravy.

..."looking a gift horse in the mouth" comes to mind on this one.

D out

Geekin out

OK...so I've been playing my Mystery Beta (...man, I hate calling it that...) and I just had what can be call my "hook moment". It's the moment in a game where you think, "this is something I need to play when it comes out...". I had that moment about an hour ago.

It was an encounter with a certain creature, and I just geeked out all over the computer...I'm still cleaning up from the incident.

I've got to calm myself down...I know. This is still a beta and they have yet to launch the game. The developer still has to prove that they can handle this IP, not just at launch, but 2-5 years during the lifetime of this MMO. When I look at MMOs, I think it’s crucial that they start off on a solid footing and then grow from there. If they haven't got a solid base from which to grow, then it will be a long, tough haul to get out of the hole (i.e EQ2, DDO, Auto Assault).

They've got a good baseline from what I see with this beta. How they execute the first year of this MMO will make or break this title...and trust me, we do NOT want them to fail on this one.

D out.

Water runs dry...

Wow...the lack of news is appalling. I thought game developers worked at all times, slept in their offices and never went to the bathroom. Well...looks like I was wrong and now my world has come crashing down around me. Thanks a lot guys...

Anyway, it's going to be link day here at TCSGamer. So, hang on to your hats people...keep your hands and feet inside at all times, etc.

Christmas in the 80's was lots of fun. Given the toys we got, I'm very surprised we made it out of that decade alive.

And this....well, that is just insane.

A little bit of MMO stuff. Brent has put up a very nice video with some great looking action from Conan. I think the game is really looking nice, but its going to need more than looks and I'm almost certain that this one will deliver.

D out.

Good Game Development Info

Waaay back in 2001-ish, I was laid off when the high-tech bubble burst. I started taking up coding in C++ in order to pass the time. I also started dabbling in DX8.0 and 9.0 as well. I didn't get too far, but I learned quite a bit. Flash back to now and I've started coding again. Now, for those who want to start looking at this, there are some resources that I found very useful...

Web Sites

Gamedev
Flipcode

Books

Teach Yourself C++ in 21 Days
Beginning C++ Game Programming

..the last book is especially excellent I found.

Gamedev also has a forum thread that acts as a companion to the Teach Yourself book.

Now, take it from me....it will take time to learn this stuff. Plan to spend a good year or so to really understand how to code properly. I'm an electrical engineer by training, so I've done coding before, but I've got kids, work, gaming etc, so a year is the goal I set for myself. By that time, I should be proficient enough to start my own project. The forum thread above gives a great project and I've already started that.

Just thought I'd share.

Oh...and here is a free IDE and compiler if you don't have one.

D out.

The WoW Wall

What is the WoW wall? Well, it's what hits you right in the face at level 60. Yeah, I kinda thought you were wondering what that stinging sensation is.

I'm starting to see a little bit of a pattern in my WoW playing. I played a lot from 1-60. When I first started raiding, I also played a lot. The taste of my first tier 1 gear was awesome...they were my "Boob" shoulders (you Rogues out there know what I'm talking about). After that, I got my boots, then my pants. Then I wanted to Core Hound Tooth...so I raided..and raided...raided some more. BAM!!!! I hit the wall. I stopped playing because of the futility of it all. Sure, the CHT did drop once when I raided, but someone had more DKP then me and decided they wanted it. I started up again after a 1 month break. And I raided...pvp...raid..raid. No progress at all. PvP grind was too much to get the dagger in AV. Raiding MC...same problem...nothing dropped. After 2 more months of playing I stopped again, this time for 3 months...didn't touch WoW at all. Played EQ2 and Eve a lot. I started replaying WoW again to "gear up" for BC and I find that the time between hitting walls is getting shorter and shorter.

Tobold but up and excellent article for a possible solution to my "wall" problem. Well, its not a solution, more of a patch....but at least I get to control my destiny a bit more. He has a lot of truth in that one piece. Take a look, its the one titled Choice vs Random. Great work.

D out.

Back in the saddle of non-linearity

Well, looks like most of my cold is on its way out. I hate staying home from work sick...all I want to do is sleep and I end up getting bored out of my skull. No, contrary to popular belief, I really don't game much when I'm sick because, well, I'm sick.

OK...on to business. If you're even remotely interested in Warhammer Online, this is a must read article. It's a report of a teleconference with the guys over at EA-Mythic. If you don't believe that this has the potential to hit WoW where it hurts, well, you really need to think a bit harder. If these guys execute on their vision, they've got a hit. What really impressed me was this:

“How deep is the character system?” 6 races. Most of the races have two sexes. (Greenskins are orcs and gobbos.) As characters get more powerful, they start to look distinctly different (dwarven beards get longer). Even if a player has no equipment on, you’ll be able to tell the difference between a 1st and a max-level character. You can further customize your character during gameplay, by acquiring trophies. They’ll be discrete items you can actually place on your character somewhere. Trophies will be acquired from quests, from events, etc. There’s a screenshot on the website that seems to show a dead cat hanging from a player’s belt. This is one area I simply can’t find anything to complain about. Extra character customization is something you can never put ‘too much’ into, I think. Paul broke in and said “The goal is to be able to line up 10 different orcs, all of the same level and of the same class, and to have each and every one of them look different.”

Who wouldn't want a dead cat hanging on their belt...jeepers. Ryan, Gary, if you guys are reading...this is the game you are looking for. If I'm wrong...well..I don't think I'm wrong.

Two things about Wow. First is a nice analysis of the current PvP system in WoW as it pertains to AV (Alterac Valley). OK..so how do I put this nicely....AV is a piece of PvP shit. I'm not going to go into the whole imbalance thing of Horde vs Alliance, but the whole point of AV has been lost on players and Blizzard. It's no longer strategic. Like the author of the article says, it's turned into a zerg to the other player's base. We're in a PvP area, we run buy each other to engage in a PvE boss take down. No body really engages in an all out war anymore. I remember when we first started AV (before everyone got stupid) and it was strategic. The Horde would summon that big ice giant dude...see, I forget his name because he hasn't been summoned in months...damnit!! Anyway, the Alliance and Horde would free the Wing Commanders to get air support, and wolf riders as well. Not anymore. The only fighting with Alliance is at one graveyard...Stonehearth...and after that, it's only stalling actions to their base until they kill the Horde General. The author gives some good suggestions on how to fix this. Here is mine. Make the Generals indestructible until certain objectives are taken and held buy the opposing team. This would essentially kill the zerg. I like what the author says about making it more like Company of Heroes. I would also add that maybe stat bonuses are given to the team who links up these territory zones to simulate continuous supply lines...bebuffs to teams who don't have a supply line chain established. They've got to fix BG...its not working.

Lauren over at Mystic Worlds has put up a very funny rant-like article. The more I read of her, the more I like her. It had my wife and I laughing quite hard last night. What more can I say....I feel her pain

And this is not good news for Gods and Heroes. Official statement of the layoffs goes on to say:

"As some of you may have heard we have made some staffing changes at Perpetual. We are proud to announce that we are within a month of being content complete on Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising, our upcoming AAA MMO title. As we achieve this major development milestone, a number of content production roles come to an end. The Gods & Heroes team remains over 80 talented people strong as we enter the final phase prior to launch -- play-testing and tuning to deliver the highest quality game possible.

In addition, because we value the feedback our beta testers have been giving us, and because we want to ship the highest quality game possible, we have moved our target ship date from the spring to the summer of 2007. This extension of the testing and tuning phase of the project will allow us to focus entirely on making a great game – which is our #1 goal.

Perpetual remains 100% committed to shipping a fantastic Gods & Heroes game and to continuing development of the much-anticipated Star Trek Online."]

I've seen that kind of talk before in other industries and from my perspective, layoffs are never a good sign for a company. No matter how an executive tries to spin it, this will impact the product in some way...and usually not in a good way either. I don't know, I could be wrong and I hope I am because I want to see Gods and Heroes as well as ST Online succeed. Good luck to all those who where let go, you will get back on your feet again...trust me.

There is a very nice debate going over at Virgin Worlds (as usual) regarding sandbox MMOs and whether all MMOs fall within that category. Brent (not Brad...inside joke) has put up a solid theory that by their very nature and by definition, all MMOs are sandboxes. I, being the pain-in-the-ass that I am, think that most MMOs are decidedly not sandboxes.

As I was developing my argument, I found that the definition of sandbox was its weakest on the the following:
Non-linear or nonexistent plot. If there is a plot at all, the player can simply ignore it, or there is a branching plot that evolves based on user choices (resulting in a game that is never the same twice).

None of the current MMOs are non-linear...they are, by their very nature, linear in their design. The definition of non-linear, from a mathematical sense:

Linearity of a system allows investigators to make certain mathematical assumptions and approximations, allowing for easier computation of results. In nonlinear systems these assumptions cannot be made. Since nonlinear systems are not equal to the sum of their parts, they are often difficult (or impossible) to model, and their behavior with respect to a given variable (for example, time) is extremely difficult to predict. When modeling non-linear systems, therefore, it is common to approximate them as linear, where possible.

In games like WoW or EQ2, it is extremely easy to predict and model the progression of a character. In WoW, I can predict that a character after level 10, if he's a orc, can be found in the Crossroads..9 times out of 10 I will be right on that. At any given time, I can predict the progression of any character in WoW because that progression is easily modeled. This is not a bad thing because that was the way WoW was designed. Eve models more closely to a truly non-linear game system. Take a typical new Eve pilot. Can you tell me, with the same degree of certainty, where he will be in 5 months? No...you can't. Of course, you can never program a truly non-linear game...that's impossible, but saying that a game like WoW is non-linear and therefore a sandbox is reaching a bit.

D out...

Still sick, yet still blogging

...what I trooper I am.

Turns out my 1 year old daughter is also sick. She's sleeping it off as I write this. And in this brief but wonderful moment of peace, I'll bring you this wonderful article by Elsyium over at Gamers With Jobs. We've probably all been there with WoW at one point or another.

Enjoy.

D out.

It starts...

I'm home sick with a cold-ish type bug....suffice to say, we're not getting along very well. I just wanted to comment on this.

I don't like it...no sir I do not. I know there were a lot of rumors last year regarding the port of WoW to a console and while some where saying "yayyy", I was saying "boooo". Consoles are a broad market appeal platform...they always have been. Console gaming has traditionally been more accessible than PC gaming simply due to the plug and play nature of the beast. You plug it in, put in your game and you're playing. PCs are finicky and are known for incompatibility issues....just because you buy a game for a PC, does not mean it will work on your PC.

With MMOs getting into the console space, once again we are appealing to the lowest common denominator. We all know how console ports for PCs turn out...shitty. I just get the feeling that if the MMO industry get a taste of that large console install base, that they'll develop MMOs for consoles only and maybe port them to PCs. In other words, our future MMOs will be watered down pieces of console ported crap. Oh yeah, and you know who are really good at making those kind of MMOs? Eastern animie MMOs for everyone.

D out

The basics of math

I just needed to post this...not game related and is suitable for work. It's just amazing to the ears at the sheer stupidity that we all encounter sometimes:

http://www.videosift.com/story.php?id=24151

D out

The WTFness of MMORPG.com - TCSGamer's 2006 List

Those who listened to Virgin Worlds podcast #43 have probably already taken a look at the ridiculous Readers Choice Wards of 2006 over at MMORPG.com. The categories are questionable and the finalists within those categories are even more so.

Take a look at the "Favorite Game" category. Only two choices?? Are you out of your frickin minds!? Where's EQ2? Where's AC? Where's Ryzom? CoH?? Those are really good games and I'm sure that they're somebody's favorites.

I can't add much more to the conversation and disgust that Brendon and Brent had, but I can compensate for the shitty job that MMORPG did. So, here is my list and categories for 2006. Vote if you want and I may put up numbers if I get enough responses.

Best Graphics

• Eve Online
• WoW
• EQ2
• Guild Wars
• Lineage II
• Ryzom

Best PvE

• WoW
• EQ2
• SWG
• CoH/CoV
• DDO

Best Sound/Music

• WoW
• EQ2
• SWG
• Eve Online
  

Best PvP Implementation

• WoW
• Eve Online
• Guild Wars
• EQ2
• CoH/CoV
  

Best Lore/World

• WoW
• EQ2
• Eve Online
• Ryzom
• SWG
• Matrix Online

Most Anticipated

• Warhammer Online
  
• Star Trek
• Vanguard
• Conan
• Pirates of the Burning Sea
• Lord of the Rings Online
• Rome Rising: Gods and Heroes
• Spellborn
• Star Gate: Worlds
  

Game of 2006

• Eve Online
• Guild Wars
• WoW
• EQ2
• Lineage II
• Ryzom
• City of Heroes
• DDO
• SWG

There you have it.

See guys...its not that hard, even an amature hack like me can do it.

D out.

The Perfect MMO

I've been doing a lot of reading lately. Lots of really good blogs out there with some great insights on the current trends and opinions of MMOs. We're all players in the virtual world, and armchair developers in this blog space that we've created. I think that this type of discourse can have nothing but a positive outcome for the gaming we all have come to love. But, will there ever come a time when we'll feel the need to stop writing about the games simply because we're having too much fun playing? What kind of game would it take to make that happen? Now, don't get me wrong, I hope it never happens because I think we have a great blogging community. But lets just suspend disbelief for a second and think...what would be the perfect MMO?

Basic Features:

There are some basic features that should come with every MMO. No matter if its using elves or spacships, every MMO must adhere to certain unwritten standards or it just won't fly.

• Intuitive UI.
• Progressive quest system.
  
• Intuitive crafting system.
• Character Creation system (with more than two options for hair type).
• Travel system.
• Guild system.
• Current Graphics engine.

There maybe some missing for the list...but you get the idea. An MMO should have at least those very basic features. Now, lets go into some detail of what would make the perfect MMO.

PvP

Whenever an MMO comes out, some of them choose to leave PvP out. I didn't put this as a basic feature because its still not a standard with most MMOs just yet. It should be, but its not. Most of the MMOs that shipped without a PvP system put it in at a later date as a content expansion...and in there lies a big problem. The perfect MMO would have a PvP system that is implemented right out of the box. If a game does not have PvP designed into the system from day 1, then I would argue that any system designed afterward would be incomplete and far from seamless.

Another issue with current PvP implementations is instancing. Some MMO designers choose to either create PvP systems that are separate from the PvE world or they create 1 or 2 servers for the PvP crowd. PvP should be implemented on each server, with some protections for those who don't want to participate (consent etc). PvP should impact the world as a whole. A noticeable mark should be left on a city that has been attacked, for example. The players should be able to build and destroy any structure within the game. PvP should not be something that is turned off or on in the world...it should always be there, always be persistent and impact the world in noticeable ways.

Player Appearance

CoH did this perfectly. No character should look the same...ever. Not much more to say about this. I don't see that in the real world that look exactly like me, I shouldn't see it in the virtual one either.

Customizable UI

Given the creativeness of the mod community, the players should be able to customize their UIs. I see no excuse for MMOs of today to have a fixed UI these days. WoW is a great example of this implementation. There are literally hundreds of mods out there that players can use and tweak. This not only changes the look of the game for players, but enhances the accessibility of the game.

Non-grinding End Game

Somehow, and I don't know how or why, the end game in MMOs have just become a grind. A second day job for most of us. We all seem to have lots of fun leveling up to the cap, but once we get there its all about grinding for equipment, grinding for reputation, grinding for materials... grind, grind, grind. I'm sure an employee a Starbucks does less grinding than the average MMO player. We have to change that. The game past the level cap should be just as fun and engaging as the post level cap game. How do we do that? I really don't know. What I do know is that the current time to reward ratio is way off the mark. Lets get it to a more reasonable and accessible range.

Maybe the solution is multiple leveling systems. Once a character reaches a cap, they become a demi-god like figure and start leveling in a different realm of existence. They can interact and influence the lower plane player characters as they level up to a more god-like state.

Power and looks

Lauren over at Mystic World wrote in her recent article that EQ2 is missing a certain "god" factor. She's right of course. Take a look at a level 70 character in EQ2 and they don't look powerful. They look kinda, well, meh. Now contrast that to a level 60 character in WoW....big difference. Those characters look like they'll eat you up and spit you out for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

In the perfect MMO, you should look good throughout your character's life in that MMO. At the level cap, everything should glow, twinkle and oscillate to show off the fact that you've kicked a lot of ass. Now this goes back to the grinding point....every character should feel this way, not just those who have 8 hours each day to spend sitting in front of a screen. Player contribution when it comes to evaluating equipment rewards should not be dependent on large values of time.

Meaningful Crafting and Quests

Everything that I do in the MMO world should have some sort of meaning. I shouldn't be doing "Kill 10 rat" filler quest...unless those rats are 10 feet tall and shoot lasers out of their eyes (now, thats a threat that needs to be taken care of). I should feel like I'm changing the world somehow. I'm a hero damnit! When I was a kid we had a kid next door named Jimmy. Jimmy was one of those kids who liked to burn up bugs with a magnifying glass. OK..we all did that at one point, but he did it in that creepy "next is a cat" kind of way. That's how MMO quests are right now...we always start as that kid with the magnifying glass, and its creeping me out.

Now, next thing I say is purely a personal opinion, because I usually don't craft in MMOs..well, I do, but I usually get bored of it very quickly. I don't find crafting very useful in most of the MMO that I have played. They really haven't enhanced my game play by that much, and they certainly don't really provide anything of any real use or staying power. I would like to see crafting become a bit more engaging to the player. How? I have no idea. I would love to hear from real crafters on this one. How do you guys feel about crafting in MMOs right now? Do you feel as I do, thats its really not that useful? Any comments I get I'll be sure to post in a follow up.

Well...thats all that I've worked out so far. More thoughts are baking in my head but aren't quite ready.

I would love some comments on this one. What features do you guys think would make the perfect MMO?

D out.

So much to do...too much to do???

So I logged in with my level 47 Swashy on Guk last night and I immediately ran into a problem. There was too much to do. I think the EQ2 quest log can hold upwards to 75 quests on it...I was looking at around 50. They were scattered all over the place...Enchanted Lands, EverFrost, Ferrott etc. I must have sat there for a good 10-15 minutes trying to figure out what to do with myself. I started to feel a bit overwhelmed at how much there was to do. Its a good to have lots to do mind you, but it also has a bit a of a paralyzing effect.

I think this is one of the things that WoW does nicely. They limit the quest log to 25 (was 20 before the 2.0.1 patch). This is a nice number. You have lots to do and you at least have a vague memory of where you got the quest from and why you're doing it. No so with EQ2. If you have 75 quests, you start to forget why you're doing them. There is also a danger of out leveling the quests that you pick up. With my Swashy, as soon as I log in, I immediately feel like a 6 year old Ritalin kid.

What I really need to do is sit down and go down my quest log and knock them off one by one. Have one big huge quest clearance sale with my Swashy...or, dump him and start again and just experience EoF.

D out.

WoW Problems and Firefly

I usually make it a point never to log into an MMO a week or so after an expansion and/or patch...its just too much crap going on for it to be even worth the effort. My wife was playing WoW last night on Gilneas, and she encountered very large queues to get in. One guild member of mine had one as large as 800 or so. Just saw this nice little piece of information as well....nasty.

Thought I'd throw this one up there. Firefly is becoming an MMO. All I can say is, meh. Don't get me wrong, I love Firefly (Serenity was awesome)...actually I love anything that Joss Whedon does. For me, TV died when Buffy and Angel went off the air. I mean that, I don't watch TV anymore. An MMO in the Firefly universe...I don't know. It doesn't really excite me when I hear it. I guess we're going to have to wait and see on this one. The game is expected to launch in 2008, so they have lots of time to turn my "meh" into a "wahooooo".

D out.

Getting the hate on, Massive

Gary and Ryan of MOG had a great show in episode 42...and boy did they have a large hate-on for MMO games. If you listen to these guys regularly, you'll understand that they don't really like games like WoW or EQ2...they appreciate them...but they don't like them, at least that’s my impression. They like games like Eve, where the player makes their own destiny and impacts the world around them. I guess they're getting frustrated that the current and future set of MMOs don't have much to offer them on those terms.

Guys, I hear ya, and I agree. There really aren't any MMOs out there right now that step it up above and beyond the amusement park. Honestly, your expectations might be a bit high so you may have to drink the Koolaid like the rest of us. The only games that I can see that may fill the bill is maybe Warhammer Online and Darkfall (there maybe one or two that I'm missing...).

Man, I was finally able to find a copy of Massive. I'm really impressed with the quality of the articles I found. Of particular interest was some of the statistical breakdown that they had regarding the age and sex composition of MMOs. I need to collect more of my thoughts on this and then I'll write something about what I saw in those numbers. I highly recommend this mag to anyone who is even remotely interested in gaming. I usually don't buy gaming magazines due to the fact that the content is questionable and usually out of date. I'm glad to see this is not the case for Massive. Good job guys.

D out.

EoF Screenies

Not sure how this will look...but hopefully I'll get better as I go.

EoF So Far...

So my journey's in EoF have been brief up to now. I had no internet connection on Wednesday, and the beta I'm in had a big update put in yesterday that I wanted to check out.

I now have a level 11 Illusionist on Venekor named Belithu. Here are my impressions so far:

• I like the new starter zone. I get a good sense of size and scale from it...its absolutely huge. Although, I wish a bit more sunlight would come through as it is a bit on the dark side.
• In true EQ2 style, the number of quests that are available is staggering. There is always something to do.
• I'm not traditionally a PvPer, nor do I really understand EQ2s PvP system, but its nice to have that extra sense of danger while you're questing. I'm wondering whether having that extra danger will turn out to be a hindrance to my play experience down the line.
• The Fae race is very cool. I jump off of stuff whenever I get a chance.
• The new horse animations are a welcome change. I remember thinking that the old horses looked like the ones Cowboy Barbie would use.
• I haven't tried the deity system yet, but plan on looking at that tonight maybe.
• Harvesting is a bit of a pain. I'm finding resource nodes very scarce.

I've got screen shots that I plan on posting soon.

2006 Review Part 2, Comments on WoW 2.0, LoTR

Brent has put part 2 of his 2006 MMO review. He hits the nail on the head with those games. Of course, I'm sure the the gun that was at Ryzom's head has been lowered to the knee cap area.

Heartless Gamer has put up his views on the current WoW 2.0 patch. This is one of the highlights for me:

The main complaint with the PvP changes has come from the hardcore rank grinders who were pushing for rank 14 prior to the 2.0 patch. They feel cheated because all their hard work was washed away when Blizzard reset honor back to ZERO. The only thing I have to say to these idiots is; "You got what you deserved. Blizzard announced the changes in plenty of time for you to stop, but you continued to grind. Someday you will wake up and realize what a waste your life has been and maybe then you will go out and do something with it." Yes, that is exactly what I would say and I believe I've just said it.

Word brother....word. I mentioned back in November that the "uber PvP dudz" would get grandpa on us....and its happening in spades. The only reason these guys are pissed is because they now realize how much time they wasted. I'm hoping that getting their nose rubbed in their own proverbial grinding shit will teach them something. If not, let me spell it out...if you need to spend 8-10 hours a day for 1-2 months playing a game for an item or rank, then something is either wrong with you or with the game. Its usually both though.

Lord of the Rings Online interview can be found here. Some great insights in to the game. It's in Beta right now and from what I hear/read it's going well. I think they may have a winner in this one if they manage to differentiate themselves from WoW and EQ2.

D out.

Aion trailer, WoW 2.0, 2006 in review

Don't know why I bother with this one....maybe because I love to hate Asian ports. A new Aion trailer here. This is yet another Asian port that I won't touch with a 10 foot hot-dog....mmmmmmm....hot dog. The graphics are very good, no doubt about it, but the character models are I get a console feeling from the combat sequences for some reason. Every humanoid character looks like a 15 year old school girl...even the men. Would it kill these guys to actually make male characters who, I don't know, look like actual men??

WoW 2.0 went live on Tuesday. Don't know why I failed to mention this on Tuesday...meh. Suffice to say, my UI mods are screwed and the Gilneas server seems to be quite hosed since the patch. I had a friend call me last night saying that she couldn't retrieve her character. I plan on staying away from WoW until the dust settles. Oh well, got EoF to keep me busy anyway.

Last, but not least, Brent has started a 2006 MMO review. Looks like he's going to tackle this is 4 parts. First part are the failures for this year. One thing stuck out on his list was DDO. I really don't consider that a failure really. I would have put that in the "wait and see" column. I think that DDO has one of the best implemented dungeon experiences to date in an MMO. Yes, its not a persistent world and its all instanced, but Dungeons and Dragons was a game about instanced dungeons. In that sense, Turbine delivered exactly what they promised: a truthful and accurate D&D experience. Brad did mention how ill suited this IP is for an MMO and I guess thats where the implementation clashed with player expectations. I think a lot of people will be surprised after this title soaks for a couple more years.

D out.

Nevrax, Vaguard, Eve...and a partridge in a pear tree....

We have an update regrading the Nevrax situation here. The important thing I get out of that brief statement is that Ryzom will not be dying away. Looks like they have some serious buyers for the game. If the buyer turns out to a be a big studio, like Sony, I wonder where that leaves the Free Ryzom campaign?

Vanguard pre-orders are now available. I'm leaning toward not getting this game at launch, but that can quickly change in a heartbeat. Right now, my first impression of Vanguard is that it's just EQ2.5. I haven't played it yet, so I may be completely out to lunch on that. I don't know, right now, Vanguard interests me but it's not screaming "play me!!". Is anyone out there excited about this game? If so, why? Tell me why this is not just EQ2.5??

Lastly. Eve Online hit a new record of concurrent users. Wow. Congrats guys.

D out.

EQ2 becoming WoW...part 2

Well, my article regarding the convergence of EQ2 and WoW has gotten a bit of play on this site. I think it got some of the most hits so far. Other bloggers have taken a look and also added to the discussion....awesome. I haven't got any hate mail or anything from EQ2 fans and I really don't expect any. The EQ2 community is just not like that (don't prove me wrong guys...lol)

All I can say is good....good that we're all talking about it and putting it out there. Again, its not bad if EQ2 borrows game play or entry barrier level aspects from WoW. Let's face it, in terms of getting a new player to play the game, WoW is king of the castle. There is nothing wrong with EQ2 evolving into a better game, I just don' think we need it to evolve into the same game. Sony has made the necessary changes to correct the mess that was EQ2 back in 2004, and that should be applauded. Now, the real test, is what their vision for the future is.

OK...bare with me on this analogy. In 2004, Sony and Blizzard got up to the tee box on the first hole, par 4, 350 yards. Blizzard hit a nice 210 yard drive down the center of the fairway. Sony got up, and duck-hooked the ball off the tee. Blizzard finished out with a par, Sony a double bogey. Second hole, Blizzard again drives it very nice and pars out, Sony still had a bit of a hook but managed to stay on the first cut and recovers with a bogey. Third hole, they both hit it in the same spot on the fair way, both get a par. We're now on the third hole...what will Sony do? Will they again try to match Blizzard shot for shot, or will they start to play differently and try to get those birdies. Maybe fade the ball a bit around the trees. Perhaps, put a bit more spin on the ball to stop it on the green, because we all know Blizzard will always hit the ball far and straight.

The golf analogy really fits nice for MMOs I think, because there are still 15 holes left for Sony and Blizzard to play. Like golf, MMO evolution is very much a strategic and long term process. If you screw up one hole, there is always the next one to improve. One bad hole will not loose the game for you. Now that Sony is on par with Blizzard, its time to start playing the course to their strengths.

D out.

P.S Sorry about ruining this article completely with the golf analogy...I know that my wife is rolling her eyes. But hey, its my party and I'll golf if I want to :)

Ok...I lied. Auto Assualt, Archlord

Yeah...seems I spoke to soon on stuff happening. I noticed a couple of things I want to talk about today.

First...the game I wanted to love: Auto Assault. They've released Update 3...lots of changes on the update list, but nothing that really makes me want to play the game again. I had a chance to play the game a while back...both in beta and a free trial. The game is visually very well done. The one thing that really turned me off was when you got out of your car and went into town. The controls were awkward, the characters weren't believable. I don't know, something just rubbed me the wrong way. Crafting really threw me for a loop mind you. I had no idea what to do and at the time I played there was no real directions on how to use the crafting system. When you're in your car, the game was a lot of fun. You blew up stuff, you crashed into things...yayyy...but it got a bit repetitive after a while. The game felt very much like CoH/CoV on wheels. I like to keep an eye on this this one because it has so much potential.

Archlord is now free. God...who cares...really. Man, I can't express my disdain for Korean MMO ports. My disgust for these games just doesn't come through over the web very well. If you can imagine the worse thing you can do with a cheese grater, duct tape and lighter fluid then thats how I feel about Korean ports. I'll leave it to your imagination. You you know why I can leave it to your imagination...because I know readers out there have one. These game-cloning smack-tard hacks obviously have no such thing.

D out.

I, the undersigned

There is really nothing much happening right now...at least, nothing I want to comment on. So, whilst I gather my thoughts about EoF, here is something for you guys to munch on.

Back in the 80's, the one day I really dreaded in school was report card day. I think we all did back then. We got these things from the teacher which would tell us how inadequate we were...I kid...kinda. One of the rituals was getting the report card signed by your parents. Ohhh boy is that ever fun. The signing of anything like that from school was the bane of most kids school life back in the day.

Welcome to 2006. We got The Boo's report card last night. She did very well....oh and guess what, not only do we have to sign it, so does she. W...T...F! When did this happen? When did we start requiring 6 year olds to sign off on their own report cards? What value does that bring to the table? Yeah yeah...inclusive education process, yadda, yadda....well, blow it out your ear.

Here's how it should go. The kid brings home the report card...parent sees report card...parent congratulates or scowls at child...parent signs report card...child returns report card to school. Child does not sign report card as if to give some kind phony approval to the grading process he/she just received.

World gone mad....that is all.

:)

D Out.

Uncle! Uncle I say!!!

I got EoF last night. There. Now the voices in my head will finally stop.

I started a Fae Illusionist on Venekor and started to play him. Got to about level 5-ish...until my daughter walked in and saw the wings. With The Boo eagerly looking on, we created a Fae...oh, sorry, fairy...a female Wizzard with the biggest pink wings we could get. The Wizzard was one of the first classes I had when EQ2 first came out in 2004....wow, I've forgotten how much fun it is to blast the crap out of stuff. I had so much fun with the wizzy that I leveled her to level 10 last night.

I've taken screen shots of my adventures so far and plan to write something up when I get one or both of my toons up to 20. I think I should have some good impressions of EoF by then. I'll also have more thoughts on the convergence of EQ2 and WoW as well.

Just as a side note to Brenden, Brent and Lauren. I blame you for tempting me back to this game again. Sure, there were other great reviews out there, but I figured it was your turn :) ...I've unleashed the hounds.

D out.

Free Ryzom, Mystery beta news, Mystic Worlds

Given the current situation with Nevrax, a group of players wants to make Ryzom's code open source. I love this idea. It does two things really: 1. It saves a really great game from oblivion, 2. Allows the actual community to shape the MMO, which I'm always for. Let's hope they pull this off.

Mystery Beta...been playing it like a mad man. It's driving me crazy that I can't do a beta preview for you guys. I've been taking screen shots and gathering my impressions for when the NDA is lifted or I get permission to put something here on the site. I think people are going to like this game. I've played almost all of the races, except for one, which I refuse to play on principle. I've also played most classes...and like what I see. There is still plenty of improvements and fixes that need to be put in, but it looks like the developers are all over the current issues. Thats all I can really say right now.

There was a special guest on Virgin Worlds podcast #42. Lauren from Mystic Worlds. I've linked her site for easy access. I like her...and I hope to hear more of her views in the future. I particularly noted how similar our stories are in terms of MMO introduction. I too was introduced to MMOs when I got AC2. Before that, I was mostly a played single player games. I must say though, I have some really fond memories of AC2. Good job on the podcast Lauren...I'll just be adding your name to the crowds of people tempting me to pick up EoF :)

D out.

Wiping the Floor

If any of you have kids around the age of 1 year, you'll get this...if not, I'm in more trouble than I thought.

Childhood from the years 1 and onward is really my favorite time when if comes to my daughters...its when they start to find their personality (read...they start getting funny). My youngest is at that age right now and I really don't understand her obsession with putting everything on the floor. If its on the kitchen table, it should be on the floor. Hey look, there's a coaster on the nightstand...floor. Oh my gawd, there is a book put away neatly on the shelf...floor. By the time this kid is done, there is no floor....there is only a mine field.

Insanity at its best folks...

Blizzard's Background "pain-in-the-ass" Loader

Hands up if any out there think this thing is a pain in the ass (hence my title)....

...cue crickets...

OK then.

As John Steward says...Blizzard, can I see you over at camera three.

You have a great game...a really great game. You've introduced millions to MMO gaming. You've opened the market to other developers and brought countless hours of joy to grinding fanbois. Ummm, so, you need to stop developing downloading utilities....you need to stop now. Every time you develop a tool like this, God kills a kitten...no no...worse, he kills a baby seal. So Blizzard, help save the baby seals...they've done nothing to you.

D out.

Innovation and Mii

I had a recent discussion with people about innovation, specifically in regards to the Nintendo Wii. The most recent is with Brenden over at FalconTwin.com. Some think the Wii is not innovative and that it is just a rip-off of other technologies paired with a less than stellar console.

OK...let's look at innovation for a second:

Main Entry: in·no·va·tion
Pronunciation: "i-n&-'vA-sh&n
Function: noun
1 : the introduction of something new
2 : a new idea, method, or device : NOVELTY

(source Merriam-Webster)

I know, I know…its takes more than a dictionary definition to get a point across.

Does anyone remember who Karl Jatho is...anyone...anyone? No, you really wouldn't. Does anyone know who Orville and Wilbur Wright are? You should...if you don't, please, please make sure you go back to school or for the love of gawd read a book on flight history. They're credited to be the first to sustain controlled, heavy than air flight. They are the ones remembered as the innovators of flight because they were able to take an idea, improve upon it (from the failure and successes of others...and themselves) and make it commercially viable tot he world.

See, innovation does not mean make something completely new. It also means taking an existing idea and making it better. Now, granted, the Wii console is not much better than the Gamecube...granted. The Wii games, are currently not much better than the Gamecube...granted. However, the way the player interacts the games they play is where the innovation of the Wii sets in. Yes, we've seen Nintendo do this with the PowerGlove in the 1980's...it didn't work out so good for Nintendo. Only two games where published with that functionality (Super Glove Ball and Bad Street Brawler)...both, crappy games as I recall. The PowerGlove is nowhere near the Wii controller...different technology and implemetation.

Now..Nintendo did not create something as historical as flight, nor am I saying that. What they have done is changed the way in which people interact with their games. They have taken an already existing idea, made it better and they were able to make it available to people’s living rooms. That, my friends, is innovative. I'll be very surprised, very, if Nintendo does not come out on top of the console wars just because of this.

Play the Fae

Update 30 is coming for EQ2. Mostly holiday stuff, however; they are putting in a 7 day trial where you get to play the Fae. Here are the details:

Play the Fae
As you can see, there's lots of fun headed your way with Game Update 30! But we also wanted to mention a special addition coming even before that.

The EverQuest II team is extremely proud of the Echoes of Faydwer expansion. We're looking forward to sharing it with all our friends and family over the holidays – and we hope you will too! In order to make the expansion accessible to all we will be launching a new trial program called Play the Fae. Starting on December 5th, anyone with new Station Account can log onto playthefae.com (.fr and .de for French and German) and try out a new Fae character through the Play the Fae 7-day free trial. This trial is similar to the Trial of the Isle, but it adds the ability to start in Greater Faydark as a Fae or any of the other races that can begin there. Your first character has to be a fae, and once you've been in game and checked it out, you can be anything that Trial of the Isle would let you be.

This update promises to be filled with excitement and fun! Goodness knows we're excited, and we sincerely hope that you are too. So have a good weekend, and we'll see you in Norrath!

...damn temptresses.

Really good interview over at RPG Vault regarding Warhammer Online. You doubt that this has potential...read this:

Play starts off within these ancestral pairings, but characters can move to other fronts to join their friends from allied armies. The ultimate objective in the inter-realm warfare is to seize the enemy's capital, which requires invading its homeland and winning key battles that take place in goal-based areas and instanced scenarios. An interesting twist is that although Player vs. Player combat and Player vs. Environment quests will occur on the same map, it will still be possible to contribute to the war effort without participating in the former. Naturally, we're following the game closely to keep you fully informed.

There is also a video there as well. I really hope they deliver on this world PvP, or I will be very cranky.

D out.

Is EQ2 becoming WoW?

In the course of my current internal EQ2 EoF struggle of "to buy, or not to buy", I came across this review here.

The Gamespy article opens with this:

EverQuest II has resided in the shadow of World of Warcraft since both games launched two years ago. This fact is far from lost on Sony Online Entertainment, evident in the direction that they've taken the game during the past two years. The game's third retail expansion, Echoes of Faydwer, is essentially the culmination of this process. SOE has worked the sort of casual-friendly, directed play experience into EverQuest II in as many ways as could be reasonably applied to its formula, and without question, it's the players who benefit. Echoes of Faydwer, in short, is quite possibly the most thorough about-face ever seen in the MMO world that did not bring with it disastrous consequences.

This seems to point to something I think we're all seeing and probably what I've been feeling about EQ2...the WoW-ification of EQ2. This evolution to a more WoW-like game seems to be well received by the community in general, however; am I the only one who has a red flag going up in his head?

In 2004, Sony screwed up...they really did. They created EQ2, a game with great graphics and promises of immersing game play. All true at the time, until you hit level 20. At level 20, a progression wall came sneaking behind and bitch slapped you. WoW, of course, took off like a rocket with its fun game play and low entry barrier.

We're now at 2006 and we see EQ2 and WoW starting to converge. Features, game play and experiences are starting to look very similar. Great for Sony and EQ2, but is it good for the MMO players? Ummmm, no. No it is not. If Sony's numbers start to go up due to this convergence to WoW, we're all in a lot of trouble because other companies will notice that trend. If they have any business sense at all, they'll do the exact same thing, i.e. copy WoW. This will give us, as gamers, very little variety. Basically, we're heading down the road that RTS's now find themselves in. WoW is turning out to be MMO's Command and Conquer.

Now, this really isn't that bad. WoW is a fun game from 1-60. I just would really like to see MMOs grow in a more three dimensional manner, so to speak. How do we get rid of grinding at end game? How can players really feel they can change the world they play in? How do we really strike a balance between graphics and performance? Can we make PvP really meaningful?

D out.

Free Trials, WoW attack, mystery beta

Fileplanet has a huge list of MMO free trials available. I don't think you need to be a subscriber to have access to any of these. Some really good ones in there .

Apparently there was a massive battle in Azeroth, you can read about it here. Great stuff to see in WoW....really it is. It's just too bloody bad that it really didn't make a mark in the world like it should have. Heck, I'm sure all of the cities in question already have a fresh coat of paint on them.

So I played a bit of the mystery beta last night. Was able to create a character and finish the tutorial. Wasn't able to get into the game after that due to server issues. The game looks very promising so far. Graphics are great, character feels right, and game play impressive as well. I know, I know...this is as about as useful as a knife in a gunfight if you don't know what game I'm talking about. All in good time my minions...all in good time.

D out.