FFXI Burnout: {You can have this.}

[Final Fantasy XI] Being the new guy, I was eager this morning to sit down at my computer (the one I get paid to sit in front of and pretend that I am working at) and see if there were any comments. Lo and belhold, there were! I was prepared to soak up the love and adoration of my fan base, and embrace the kudo’s they were raining down upon me.

Then I woke up.

It appeared from the comments that the general problem with Final Fantasy XI is the grind. When one feels that the time input does not equal reward output in-game (there is probably some kind of scientific equation to be found here, if I understood equations or science). I hate to say this about my favorite game, but this is the state of nature in Vana’diel. FFXI is a grind. More grind than most MMO’s. The problem for me is that I love the grind, but this removes me from the perspective of other gamers (you know, like “normal people”) that don’t. We just can’t connect on the same level. So I engaged in some self-reflective thinking on the issue and even if I can’t justify the level of grind I was hoping to put some perspective for others as to why the grind exists.

The first thing to come to mind is that FFXI, unlike almost all other MMO’s currently available, has a truely international playerbase. More specifically, it is an MMO that was not designed with the American teenager in mind (can’t really think of a reason that is a bad thing). It was designed with the ravenously obsessed Japanese player in mind. I have heard that there may, in fact, be some cultural differences between Americans and the Japanese. There are somethings here that wouldn’t fly in Japan, and there are somethings there that, well, defy definition by American standards (although I have heard that Poki is yummy). The Japanese players enjoy a level of tedium in their games. Japanese games are generally longer, harder, and, by American standards, boring. That being said there are quite a few Americans that engage in, and thoroughly enjoy, these kinds of games. OCD has become a term of art in America, and these people would be the poster children. FFXI provides an opportunity to delve into a world of obsessive/compulsive behavior derived from a thousand years of neurotic and repressive Japanese social hierarchy.

FFXI definitely was not designed with the casual gamer in mind. The problem for me though is this: should an online game be designed for the casual gamer? At the current time, the game most designed with the casual gamer in mind is taking the world by storm. The latest I have heard is that Blizzard has enough people playing World of Warcraft to establish themselves as an independent nation-state and receive recognition by the United Nations. The problem with this is sustainability. The casual gamer not only plays less frequently than the normal MMO gamer, but is also more likely to permanently leave an MMO. I am not trying to doomcast WoW, more explaining the staying power of FFXI. FFXI continues to expand, but this is not observed by those that don’t cover the game or have left the game. FFXI can not capture all the gamers in the world, but for the ones they do catch, SquareEnix has sunk their hooks deep.

But I suppose this is all metacommentary at best, a useless waxing of my superior obsession. I mean, how can you not enjoy repetitively slaughtering the same innocent Couerls for hours on end? Wait, don’t answer that question.

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Pedro the Tank Smasher

[City of Heroes] Because the world needs irony points after that earlier post, I was out farming Dreck’s mission a bit.

We met Pedro the Tank Smasher. Pedro has been going on a series of magical adventures, and his story will be told in the upcoming picture book, “Pedro the Tank Smasher in the Land of Make Believe.” Cryptic is publishing it as a companion book to “Web of Arachnos” this fall, for a younger audience.

The other Tank Smashers and Slashers are never nice to Pedro. He just wants to be liked and accepted, but they always make fun of his off-brand cybernetics. They can’t see through the metal to the sensitive core within. After one particularly sad day when even the Warriors in Talos Island laughed at him, Pedro goes on a journey of exploration through his imagination. In the end, he learns to accept himself, and in doing so comes to be accepted by others. Later that day, a hero beats him into unconsciouness for 108 experience points.

It was a touching story. Our blaster is considering learning Spanish so that he can translate it for the international audience. I think it is a pretty universal message. No word yet on the film rights.

: Zubon

Welcome… to me?

I am a new MMO blogger person here at Kill Ten Rats. This is one of those introductory posts that you have to write when you first start just about anywhere. Its generic and obtuse, where you find out something about me but it won’t be meaningful to our relationship.

Anyway, I would like to give you my qualifications (my curriculum blogae if you will) in a way to justify my inane rambling about MMO’s. I am an intense and avid player of Final Fantasy XI. A game which some have (and rightfully and divinely so) called the “Best Game in the Universe” and “OMFG, Game Most Likely to Suck Your Will to Live!” I haved enjoyed this game for many hours a day, many days a week, for several months now. I fancy myself as a “hardcore” on-line gamer, as I even enjoy the time sinks that are built into FFXI. I also have just started playing the “uber-hotness” game of the year, World of Warcraft. This game intrigues me and I am ready to dive into more of its content. Finally, I also hope to start playing the Matrix Online in the free week test period that is coming up, and I may pick up that game if I enjoy it enough.

Now that I have blandly presented my experience with MMO’s, I would like to move on to my purpose here. As I see it, many MMO blogs have moved past FFXI as being part of the old age to MMO’s. The evidence is to the contrary though, if SirBruce is to be believed, as the game still holds more players than all except for the juggernaut that is WoW (excluding, of course, certain Korean NetCafe gank-fests). Most blogs dont even have commentaries on the most recent expansion for FFXI. I am here to fill that void in your MMO blog experience! I am your contact with all things Vana’diel. And no you can’t touch my Moogle.

That being said, I don’t think of myself as a fanboi. Playing a four-year-old MMO doesn’t make you an addict. Right?

I may have a fatal flaw as a MMO blogger. I am an optimist at heart, and though I enjoy delving the depths of pure cynicism as much as the next guy, I find myself incapable of staying there. I am not much of a doomcaster, and I don’t take life sustenance in ripping to shreds any persons life work. My goal is to be as balanced in my criticisms as possible and try to place reviews of games within the context of the industry as a whole.

Well, that is me. I will likely spend some time comparing and contrasting other games to FFXI. I also would like to document the expansion of WoW as it grows over the years, as I believe that much can be learned about MMO’s by watching their development and maturation. But mostly I will spend my time ranting and raving, exploring strange and wonderful tangents, and babbling about whatever MMO related thought process shoots through my head.

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Drive-by Buffing

[City of Heroes] In most of my games, I play the healer or support mage class. There is nothing quite like turning your allies into massive engines of destruction. It is a lot like playing a pet class, only the pets are really good with a strong AI (few control commands, though).

Another advantage to being the buff class is that you can go help folks. I have a level 50 Kinetics Defender, so I can bounce around the low-level areas and buff everyone I see. The easiest one to give out is Speed Boost: vastly faster running, plus endurance and faster attacks. “The poor little guys, no travel powers until level 14.” *blue swirly* There he goes. In the second it takes him to wonder what happened, I have already bounced away, in search of more heroes. Ooh, there’s one who I can give the damage buff during his fight…

Kinetics Defenders also get an area-effect jump buff, Inertial Reduction. It is what I use to bounce around town, and since I have it more enhanced than I really need, I move very quickly. I think I’m around 375 yards per jump. It’s fun to toss that on a cluster of level 2s and watch them turn into flying monkeys. I hope they know it only lasts a minute.

Super-jumping around the low level areas gives you that real superhero feeling. Since there is a lot of float time at the peak of the jump, and the newbie zones are not that big, you can fly half-way across town in a bounce. Did you know that Superman originally just jumped like that, rather than flying? That whole “leaps tall buildings in a single bound” thing…

Another way that you feel like a real superhero is fighting while you are in those low level zones. Folks on the forums want to be more like comic book superheroes, but they are thinking of when Superman takes down muggers or something. Yeah, he can one-shot a huge group of them, does so for half an issue, and then tries to solo an archvillain. (Luckily, as an Invulnerability/Super Strength Tanker, he can solo an archvillain if he has enough inspirations and time!) Anyway, I spent a while bouncing around Perez Park and visiting the gangs on the street. Psychic Scream, and they’re all arrested – lovely. Telekinetic Blast, and he flies over that car. I wonder if I can shoot that one up the stairs… If I use Power Build Up before TK Blast, I can literally send one guy over the next gang down the street. Pretty.

Ooh, level 12s fighting slime monsters – more drive-by buffing! Do you feel odd if someone 40 levels higher than you follows you around a bit and, without comment, throws every buff and debuff s/he has during your fights? I worry that I was training that group to go after things much bigger than they can take.

: Zubon

Dreck: Hero of the City

PARAGON CITY, RHODE ISLAND –

Dreck, leader of the Freakshow, has been given an award by the Paragon City Council for his work in training the city’s heroes. Speaking from City Hall, the City Representative said that heroes owed Dreck a great debt of gratitude.

“When Dreck first set out to conquer the Council-ravaged world on the other side of the portal, we thought it was horrible that our dimension’s problems had spilled into the lives of those poor souls. Little did we realize that Dreck was not just terrorizing a planet, he was setting up Paragon City’s greatest training grounds. At any given moment, hundreds of heroes are in that dimension, honing their skills on the seemingly endless supply of Freakshow warriors that Dreck brings with him. It has become a rite of passage for every new Hero of the City to spend at least ten hours, and sometimes an entire career, crushing these Freakshow.

“The greatest virtue of Dreck’s cross-dimensional training camp is the ease and efficiency with which heroes can be trained. Not only does Dreck replenish his ranks in an eyeblink on the other side of the portal, but most heroes get their training while napping just on the other side of the portal. Dozens of Fiery Aura Tanker trainers work with Dreck’s minons to train groups of up to eight heroes who need not even be paying the slightest attention. This unique method of developing power and experience while on the mystic plane of ‘AFK’ has given Paragon City many of its mightiest heroes. While many of these heroes have moved to spend their time in the new arenas, rather than patrolling our streets, I feel assured that they will respond to the city’s call in its time of need.”

Not everyone is so enthusiastic about this award. Azuria, a long-time resident of City Hall who gets several visitors every task force and story arc, voiced her concerns. “What about those poor people in the Council-ravaged world who need to be rescued? Granted there are only four of them, but they need our help! Oh, and the Jewel of Hera has been stolen from MAGI’s vaults again, if anyone has seen that around.”

Heroes in Peregrine Island seemed to be of mixed feeling. A few still hold Shadowhunter in great esteem for his similar efforts training heroes with wolves, but Shadowhunter’s busy schedule keeps him from spending more than an hour with most heroes these days. “Sure, the wolves are nice,” a local Regen Scrapper commented on condition of anonymity, “but he gave them all rocks a while back. I hate those rocks. Man, back in the day, Shadowhunter was where it was at. Now I don’t even remember Maria Jenkins’ number.” Other heroes commented, “farming team needs bridge level 42-46 pst” or a cryptic “kan ne1 pl me plz!!!”

: Zubon

AO 4 Free 4 Me

[Anarchy Online] Got this in my email today:

Have you missed Anarchy Online lately? Funcom now gives you the perfect opportunity to revisit the ultimate sci-fi MMORPG, completely free of cost.

Since you last played Anarchy Online the basic game has been offered free of charge until 2006.

As a previous customer you can now continue to play on your old Anarchy Online account, and participate in the free part of the game.

This means that you can revisit Anarchy Online without any financial commitments! As a returning player you will find your old characters, equipment and credits waiting for your return to Rubi-Ka.

Free is free, I’m going to have to give it a shot.

– Ethic

Paladin Protagonist

[Guild Wars] I took my warrior/monk (W/Mo in GW terms) up to level 7 last night, still in the “pre-searing” area. I did not realize how much content I had missed here, there is a lot of map to explore.

I found 2 new cities as well as finishing several quests. I gave up on one quest where I had to keep someone alive while they hunted down someone else. She kept charging into a group of 8 bad guys and I could not keep her alive. I want to finish this one however as it is a part of a line of monk quests and they grant more skills. Instead of staying back to heal her, I’m going to charge into battle myself. That might do it.

I managed to find all(?) the collectors that would trade warrior armor for items that different creatures drop. The only piece I have not upgraded is the helm and I’m not sure there is an upgrade. I like the idea of the collectors, it pays to save the odd stuff dropped if you can.

One thing I will say is that (so far) a W/Mo combo is very strong. I can outlast most anything and if I am in a crowd I have several area effect skills to help take them down. I now have a few warrior skills that work in a combination and it does very nice damage. The first is a bloodletting skill and the second only works if the person is bleeding. To use these skills you need to let them build up (rage? adrenaline?) before you can use them.

I have every intention of exploring the whole map and doing every quest I can find before I leave. Perhaps I will be level 10 by then, hehe.

– Ethic

Turbine Gets More Capital

According to Gamasutra, Turbine has just secured $30 million dollars in venture capital funding. This follows a recent influx of $18 million.

For those that don’t know, Turbine is the creator of Asheron’s Call, Asheron’s Call 2, The Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons & Dragons Online. The latter two have not yet been released.

It appears someone out there has a lot of faith in Turbine.

– Ethic

Having A Great Time, Wish You Were Here

[Guild Wars] I decided to roll up the last remaining class I had not yet tried in GW and that is a Warrior. But let me go back a little first.

I took my Monk/Mesmer through the “searing”. It was quite amazing and once it was over I immediately found myself longing for the old towns and fields and streams. I felt like my home town had been destroyed. It was something I wished I had waited longer before going through and thus decided to abandon him for a while and go back in time (pre-searing) since I could. Thus the Warrior was born.

Fast forward to Saturday night. I rolled up my Warrior and went out into the world. It didn’t take much time before I was level 4 and had chosen Monk as my second class. I was given a quest to find someone inside a nearby dungeon. It was this quest that really sucked me into the game. It felt like a classic dungeon crawl from my old pen and paper days. What a treat.

As you work your way deeper into the underground, the scenery changes. The lighting gets darker, the air even seems stale. You find yourself confronted with undead creatures at first. Eventually I found myself in a creepy area. It was in this area that the spiders attacked. It was great. They would drop from the ceiling on a strand of silk. The further you went in, the more would drop so you had to pace yourself. It was pure joy to watch. After getting through that area I came to a corner where my radar lit up like Rudolph’s nose, red everywhere. I did not want to meet up with whatever was on the other side of that wall, and luckily I didn’t have to. The guy I was looking for was just around the corner.

I’ll sign off with this one nitpick. Please put in a feature to autolog people that /dance for more than 30 seconds. These nutjobs dance all around the merchants and the other NPCs and it is driving me nuts. I beg of you.

– Ethic

*wave*

Hi, I’m new here. You may have noticed Ethic’s post about new bloggers. I seem to be the first one. This means I get the cubicle closest to the water cooler, which may or may not be a good thing in the long run. I’ll tell you how that works out. It also means that I get to learn to use WordPress, and it is always exciting to find new software to break. Many exciting things lie ahead, surely.

Oh, I’m the new City of Heroes guy. I get a cape and everything. Issue 4 went live last week, so I will find something really edifying to say soon. For the moment, though, Ethic wants a cup of coffee. Coming!

: Zubon