Author: Ravious

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[GW2] Space for Failure?

I’ve been mulling this for a little bit. It’s an evolution of The Essential Scatter found in Rift. Is there room in the design for player failure in the event system in Guild Wars 2?

Let’s point a finer point on it. We know that events can fork when there is failure. If centaurs are attacking a fort and there is no player defense, then the system is set up so that the fort will fall. There is also the scenario of an elite event occurring with only one or two active players. Those occurrences are more like branching scenarios than actual failure. What I am talking about is an occasion where the players are simply too ragtag, unskilled, uncooperative, or not lucid enough to beat the event. Is ArenaNet ready to punish them?

Continue reading [GW2] Space for Failure?

WoW Fortress 2

I was reading The Lazy Geek’s thoughts this morning about the new World of Warcraft (“WoW”) pet store companion. “Real” journalists picked the story up a little later. Anyway it now appears that people can spend real money in WoW in order to buy an in-game salable, tradable item… which, you know, is a luxury item to show off some bling. I make no comment on its effect on the shaky WoW economy (both in-game and out) as I do not currently play the MMO, but I would caution that as we enter the next era of MMOs, this will become more prevalent.

Anyway, while The Lazy Geek’s thoughts were more negative, I couldn’t help but silently applaud Blizzard. They have this sinking ship. It’s sinking slowly and still dredging up tons of gold and oil, yet I have a feeling the captain already sees the end coming. Except, it’s not going to be the end in a sense. Sure, it will be the end of the massive floating ocean liner that engulfs oceans, but the ocean liner could be retro-fitted into something else. Maybe with hats. Continue reading WoW Fortress 2

A Word of Thanks

My last post has actually opened my eyes a lot. I had a conversation with a friend about my post, and while my original point about ‘seeing no change is tiring’ stands, I feel like I see something differently now. I see that I am in a minority, but more importantly that the majority are not idiots or catering to the lowest common denominator. Getting change and trying to overcome the cost to change in any arena is fucking hard work.

After the discussion my respect for all real minorities working for real-world change has risen a hundredfold. Questions of “how can they not see” or “how can they not want change” that comes across in real life issues every single day must be damn near insufferable. Here I am the minority of a stupid MMO mechanic’s club.

It’s a tough dichotomy to not only want change but also to assume that people content with what I want changed are not idiots. I’ve always believed that I have been mindful in life of my actions and their effects around me. Yet, I feel like my world view has been a tad solipsistic. And, I especially apologize for my McDonald’s and K-Mart comment.

Our hit counts tell me that I do better to share love, so that’s how I will keep on trucking. Thanks for reading our fine blog. Excuse the mess.

–Ravious

The Punditry Dark Side

Lewis B has some great impressions of the upcoming Stars Wars MMO over at Tap Repeatedly. I wouldn’t call them bad impressions per se; I would call them disappointed impressions. He gives praise where praise is due, mostly the script and voice acting. The art style is enjoyable, and then there’s everything else. For the sake of this post let’s just say it’s basically the gameplay millions have experienced in World of Warcraft, Rift, Lord of the Rings Online et al.

While I particularly trust Lewis B impressions, as subjective as many may be, this is approximately the feedback I have seen on this upcoming game for awhile. There are neat shiny bits apart from BioWare’s trademarked storytelling like the cover system or the use of personal mooks to do all the player’s crafting for sure. Yet it’s still a vanilla ice cream regardless of the sprinkles.

Unlike Rift, which in my opinion clearly tried to push the MMO genre with it’s dynamic events, the hundred-million dollar costing Bioware MMO doesn’t seem to push anything. With all the problems involved in stand-and-deliver combat, the holy trinity, kill stealing, boring quest design, etc. of vanilla MMOs, tacking on a shared single-player branching story feels flat. At least Rift tried to get people playing together in unique ways. Continue reading The Punditry Dark Side

House Entitlement

Tobold over at his blog is soapboxing on an issue he’s had with Facebook. It appears that Facebook doesn’t like his alias, and so banned him. Unfortunately for Tobold, he actually had invested in his identity on Facebook to the point where he had purchased virtual items from Facebook games. Now it appears the money is sunk. In other news, people are tearing apart the click-through legal agreements for EA’s Origin platform, which facetiously asks such things as a sacrificing your first born and selling away all rights to your genetic matter.

I find these issues interesting, but I find it more interesting the responses they evoke. There seem to be two generic responses. The intelligent response is “I won’t buy it,” or some form thereof, and the entitled response is “that’s not fair.” Continue reading House Entitlement

Like Guild Wars 2, For the Very First Time

I’ve played Guild Wars 2 on two separate occasions at PAX East and when I was invited to ArenaNet. I remember the first time I sat down and played the game, but so much of that feeling was muddled because as much as I wanted to play Guild Wars 2, I wanted to meet the makers of the game as much, if not moreso. I miss that feeling now of discovery, mystery, and imagination.

So, it was really nice to read comrade-in-arms, Lewis B’s first impressions post over at Tap Repeatedly. He gives a bunch of facts and feedbacks, but most importantly he writes with emotion. His excitement bleeds through the article. I feel that as more people see actual plays on YouTube and get to see the demo themselves, this excitement period will be lost. At least until launch. Then all bets are off.

–Ravious

Coin ‘n Carry

Long time reader and commentator, Muckbeast, who actually has a real name I suppose. Let’s call him “Michael Hartman.” Anyway, turns out he’s in charge of Frogdice, Inc., which has been around for nearly a score, and a Mid-West game developer on top of that! He asked if we could shed some light on their new social web game that “is NOT on Facebook.”

It’s called Coin ‘n Carry, and it seems pretty neat. There is a very thorough tutorial/overview on the game at YouTube, which tech-deficient parents might find useful if they don’t understand how to sign up for things. The basic premise is economy and mini-games. Working with the community is helpful, but Frogdice created the game with those implied Facebook games in mind. In other words, things that are wrong and annoying with Facebook games, like mega-spam, they developed away from.

The game is free-to-play, which is what Frogdice have been doing for their games since when I was a lad. Hartman says that:

“Unlike many other F2P companies, we target the long term with our customers. It is our philosophy that deep gameplay designed to entertain people for the long term will result in players eventually choosing to pay something towards the game. We feel that value proposition works best for all parties in the long run. As a result of this philosophy, a significant portion of our customers on Threshold RPG have been playing for over 10 years.”

Kind of refreshing, actually. And, they have years of evidence to prove it. Anyway, supporting developers on the ‘sphere is a good thing, in my humble opinion. Hence the plug. If you check it out, feedback here is most welcome.

–Ravious

[GW2] Asuran Intricacies

I was a little silent over Asura Week. Usually my goal during those weeks is to find some different angle to push and provoke thoughts along different lines. I just wasn’t finding it with the asura. I wasn’t finding anything of depth. I would easily say they are the most superficial player-race in Guild Wars 2. What you see is what you get. Continue reading [GW2] Asuran Intricacies

Binding Rituals

The next big thing is Star Wars the Old Republic (SWTOR), of course. For those that have now just regained internet after some hurricane, tornado, or gopher-pocalypse, the release date is right before Christmas. Chris at LevelCapped pretty much sums up my general feelings on the game. I do hope that the half-million and rising mob of pre-orderers have fun. I look forward to the many MMO blogs on the ‘sphere thoughts from actual play sessions. Story time is the best, don’t you think?

Anyway, the LevelCapped post got me thinking about all those MMO things that we constantly post about when the urge arises. What is an MMO? What is persistence? Which is better F2P or subscription? Etc. et al. Veni, vidi, vici. More importantly (to me and you) I thought about my own game buying in the past few months. The recent ones off the top of my head were Trackmania² Canyon (“Canyon”), Magic the Gathering’s new Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012 (“DotP2012”), and Bastion. I’ve also been going full Explorer mode in Minecraft. I’m sorry to say that as of late most MMOs just haven’t caught my interest. I’ve been spoiled silly with my little time playing Guild Wars 2, I guess. Continue reading Binding Rituals

[GW2] Stereotypical Guilds in Five Acts

I, Norman the Wary, have cataloged some of the many guilds of Tyria in interviewing so many of the races. I have done my best to transcribe the, shall we say, intricacies of each race as I learned and sought to find a guild of my own.

The Charr

My guild, meat? Are you looking to join us? Well you can’t. Plain and simple. My guild is my warband, and my warband is my guild. We cut our teeth toegther; we will die together. That’s why you can’t join. You haven’t known us for the better part of a decade. We don’t allow outsiders, and our focus and dedication is to the guild. We are going to be the best guild on the field because of it.

You did not see Triok speaking with another guild! No, he would never defect even if they explore more dungeons. It doesn’t matter that he’s allowed to join another guild. He’s not allowed with us. We’re too close for that bull skritt. Go away, meat, I have a Triok to deal with.

The Norn

So, you want to join our guild, huh? Good, the more the merrier. Bring me another drink so we can celebrate you and those other five guys in the guild. Here’s to you six more! Naw, I don’t know how big our guild is. It just is. We’re here just to have fun. Exclusivity? Exclusivity of what? You can be in as many guilds as you want.

Look, our guild is based on ancient norn tradition of “do what you want.” It’s a good tradition too! Norn a plenty, I say. Sure, there are penalties. If you pee in my cask of ale, I probably break your legs and might kick you out of the guild. I don’t know though, some guild drama let’s me sit back and eat this new asura snack. Something like ‘Popp’s butter-injected density-modified kernels.’ There’s probably a few other words I’m missing. So, anyway, I might just break your legs.

The Sylvari

What is a guild? “Guild” is a word. Like “love.” A way of saying “these are the people I play with.” I do not resent the people outside my guilds – I am grateful that they too are part of Tyria. We are all here together, and that is a gift.

You’ve never heard of a sylvari speak of “love”? Oh, “guilds.” No, it is just a word. What matters is the connection the word implies. I see you wearing guild colors. Can you tell me what you would give to hold on to that connection? Then perhaps the reason you’re here is not so different from the reason I’m here. Perhaps we will start a guild too then.

The Humans

This guild here is based out of Queensdale County. We’re good farm folk and bandit-killers. No, that’s the Queen’s Reach Gate guild. They’re located at a different tavern. Look, I don’t mean to be rude, I mean you can join our guild if you want. I just don’t think you’ll understand the nature of our guild. We have deeper roots than just, going to the Mists to beat back the Sparkfly Swamp boys.

It’s just, I don’t know you, and even though I don’t really know Bynn the Breaker over there neither. I know her stock. I know that she knows the taste of Queensdale pork shoulder smoked with Queensdale apple wood. That means a lot around here. Each year we head to a tavern in the Mists for a meet and greet. Like I said, just because I don’t know you, don’t mean I don’t know you. Not, you, I mean… Bynn over there.

The Asura

Why are you wasting my time? Asuran archives already has volumes on the guilds of the lesser races and the mighty asura. What do I think? Well, you’re right, the volumes are probably a bit off from what’s true. Asura build guilds for purpose. It is purpose that binds us; purpose that drives us. For without purpose, our guilds would not exist. No, I am not angry. You stop talking in your angry voice!

Anyway, do the job is what we say. I don’t care about Glikk over there any more than I care about you. I know that he will do what it takes to get the perfect ioniclear crystal amplifier off of some ancient desert king’s grave. and I got his back for it. There is no other connection. When we are done, we part ways.

–Norman the Wary

(This post is for the GuildMag Blog Carnival 2. Be sure to check out all the other entries! I will update this post with the Blog Carnival 2 link when it goes up. –Rav)