Friday, December 29, 2006
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.
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.
Thursday, December 28, 2006
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.
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:
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
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)
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
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
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?
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.
So, what did I get?
- MP3 player
- clothes
- $60 of EB Games gift cards
- Firefly season 1
- Family Guy Volume 4 (love this show)
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.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
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.
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.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
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.
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.
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.
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
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
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
Monday, December 18, 2006
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.
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.
Saturday, December 16, 2006
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.
Friday, December 15, 2006
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.
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...
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...
Thursday, December 14, 2006
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.
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.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
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
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
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
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
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
Best PvP Implementation
See guys...its not that hard, even an amature hack like me can do it.
D out.
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
- WoW
- EQ2
- SWG
- CoH/CoV
- DDO
- WoW
- EQ2
- SWG
- Eve Online
Best PvP Implementation
- WoW
- Eve Online
- Guild Wars
- EQ2
- CoH/CoV
- WoW
- EQ2
- Eve Online
- Ryzom
- SWG
- Matrix Online
- 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
- Eve Online
- Guild Wars
- WoW
- EQ2
- Lineage II
- Ryzom
- City of Heroes
- DDO
- SWG
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.
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.
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.
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.
Monday, December 11, 2006
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.
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.
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