Category: Guild Wars 2

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Managing Expectations

Hunter links to a developer interview:

These two months combined are basically an expansion’s worth of content for free.

and goes on to explain:

I think people are getting the wrong idea. It’s fine as long as people keep their expectations reasonable but we will not be getting an expansion worth of content

Commenters proclaim it dishonest to promise an expansion’s worth of content without delivering an expansion’s worth of content. Hunter explains that it is unreasonable to expect an expansion’s worth of content just because a developer said there would be an expansion’s worth of content.

I can’t disagree with either response. I just love this example because it encapsulates so much.

: Zubon

[GW2] The Final PoI

Like Elisabeth at Massively I am working towards a legendary, and my pace is going to match hers. I am just going to play, bank, and see what happens. Some of the portions of a legendary do require more focus, such as the Gift of Exploration. I am dreading the Gift of Zhaitan I will need, but for now the Gift of Exploration can be done mostly during the leveling process. Who wouldn’t want to complete each map, cries my completionist self.

I hate that I swapped to Blackgate. I wanted to stay in WvW Tier 2 because I felt I could learn a bit how the enemy operated, and for Exploration it needed to be done. To my defense I did not kill any Sanctum of Rall comrades during that time. However, Tarnished Coast chumps were fair game. My goal was only to snag the handful of points of interest (PoI) I needed in the Eternal Battlegrounds. Tier 2 is interesting because I feel Sanctum of Rall holds its own consistently in second place. I think Blackgate constantly wins because they do a better job beating up on Tarnished Coast. In other words, Blackgate wins because they capitalize offense far better than Sanctum of Rall does. Continue reading [GW2] The Final PoI

[GW2] Jump in dee Line

Most players want to rock that monthly on time. With the New Year came January’s Monthly Achievements in Guild Wars 2. The evergreen monthly WvW player kills achievement remains evergreen, and the fractal completion has continued from last month. Monthly event participation has returned from the early days too. The new monthly achievement is Intrepid Explorer – find the locations of Tyria’s jumping puzzles.

Monthly achievements, in my mind, are one of the developer’s ways of herding players towards the better parts of Guild Wars 2. WvW kills has remained because WvW is a really good, active part of the MMO. The Fractals of the Mists dungeon is the best instanced group content in my mind. The monthly achievements have also heavily highlighted the holiday events where high concurrency is desired. Now the jumping puzzles, one of the heralded jewels of Guild Wars 2, get their turn in the monthly sun. Continue reading [GW2] Jump in dee Line

Yearly Contemplations and Prognostications

2012 was a good gaming year for me. There were some nice surprises. I am looking forward to what 2013 has to bring. Here’s what I thunk and think as we cross the yearly threshold.

Play to Finish MMO Paradigm

With all credit to this term going to SynCaine, this simple concept has been in my rock tumbler since it opened my eyes. It is also very pertinent because arguably my favorite MMO relies on the concept. A “play-to-finish” MMO is one where players get to some end of their choosing, such as a storyline, max level, or something clearly designed as an end point. Then the bulk of the experience has been played. Players that do stick around do so in a fashion similar to single-player gamers doing game achievement unlocks. This is an oversimplification, but this is where I want most MMOs to head. Continue reading Yearly Contemplations and Prognostications

[GW2] Stages of RNG

I can’t believe ArenaNet made an untradeable set of miniatures in the Wintersday Mystery Boxes. It must be a mistake. There will be ways to get those account-bound miniatures another way. They wouldn’t have decided to restrict this collectible to straight up personal randomness.

I got burned so badly during The Lost Shores where I stupidly gave them $10 for a failed attempt at exotic miniatures. I used to be collecting all of the miniatures back when people didn’t understand the pyramid scheme that is miniature collecting. When those three ultra-rare karka miniatures hit, I just threw my hands up.

Okay, here’s another $10, ArenaNet. Let’s pick up a sack of Wintersday Mystery Boxes and hope they aren’t loaded with default coal (tonics). All I want is the Mini Festive Golem. I know I am going to take one across the face by the RNG, just like I did for Halloween and The Lost Shores. Maybe I will just get something worthwhile this time. I don’t even want the chase item. Just give me something cool, ArenaNet?

Foo. I got three Mini Snoman miniatures. They got forged into Foostivoo; stupid little quaggan staring at his feet is how I feel. People want this dumb miniature too, and I can’t do anything about that. I also can’t gamble anymore because Lionguard Lyns is down without comment. I guess I’ll just play some Wintersday content with this dumb beluga-thing following me around.

Even with this disappointing gamble, Wintersday is pretty fun, you know. I still get a kick out of the jumping puzzle even though I can one-shot it daily. The story of Tixx is also pretty good. Are the skritt being turned in to toys in the Infiniararium? There’s some Tyrian pest control there. I’m starting to like Foostivoo too. My little girls get a kick out of seeing the “blue frog with the silly hat” following me around. I crafted them an early Christmas present of an Endless Princess Doll Tonic, that I can’t wait to give them. I think ArenaNet definitely earned my $10. Excuse me, I have to go snipe some people in a snowball fight.

–Ravious

[GW2] Wintersday Flurries

In the downtime surrounding the stress of the passing of a loved one (who lived an awesome, long life), I did get to play a bit of Guild Wars 2 Wintersday event. Unfortunately in picking up the pieces and tearing up drafts of some of my more frustrating thoughts, all I have left are brief windswept flurries. Feel free to add your own too! Apologies; I meant to add that Bhagpuss and Jeromai already have very thorough posts up about Wintersday!

  • As a holiday event, Wintersday is amazing. I am just blown away with the magnitude of the event. It feels like there is something for everybody.
  • Snowball Mayhem is now my favorite Guild Wars PvP aside ever. It blows away Dragon Arena and Costume Brawl of old, which used to be my favorites. It sucks that the achievements tied to Snowball Mayhem are not fun, especially Gift Stopper. It’s a small dent in an otherwise beautiful game mode.
  • I am exhausted and puzzled at what the team behind the gem store are thinking. We go from souvenir miniatures (Halloween) to exotic tradable miniatures (The Lost Shore) to rare, untradable miniatures (Wintersday). Untradable RNG leaves a really bad taste in my mouth.
  • This puzzlement is compounded by taking down Lionguard Lyns and padding the RNG chests with so much crap! Who wants tonics? Seriously.
  • I love Bell Choir and the Wintersday themes. I hope that ArenaNet puts them up for people to download again like they did for Halloween. Some great holiday songs.
  • The difficulty of the jumping puzzle and the Tixx events are just spot on. The jumping puzzle is a tad hard, but definitely not impossible. The Tixx events are great for a 5-man solo/group instance. Could this lead in to something like Rift’s Instant Adventures?
  • I need to go check out WvW breakout events now. Cya!

–Ravious

 

I Buy Bad* Games

Julian wrote yesterday about The Secret World’s switch to a buy-to-play model with episodic content not being the only issue for The Secret World. At the outset, I have not played The Secret World, and it was for one reason. I did not try it out because it had a subscription fee. I had followed The Secret World prior to the announcement, and I felt that it would have been a great game to follow an episodic buy-to-play model. Yet FunCom decided that a forced episodic model relying on subscriptions to advance the content would be the better way to go.

Now, the reason I did not buy The Secret World is gone. Will I buy it now? It is likely, but I must say that the momentum of launch is also gone. Syp and Bhagpuss seem to enjoy it, and their MMO playstyles are very similar to my own. I think it will go on my Steam Wishlist to be considered next time I want to buy a game. Continue reading I Buy Bad* Games

[GW2] Wintersday Wuv

The Winterday patch for Guild Wars 2  is coming this weekend, and Habib Loew, one of the WvW iconics on the Guild Wars 2 forums, stopped by for a quick peek at what to expect in the snow-covered, mist-shrouded battlegrounds. He hinted at larger developments for a huge game update in February, but these smaller changes are much needed.

The first two revolve around client stuff. ArenaNet can push at least 6 builds a day if they wanted to, and this can severely cripple WvW offensives. Now players get a notification that a build is on its way, which will help somewhat. The other thing is that killing the client will no longer save your sorry butt from dying. It takes a long time kill people with my necromancer, and any time I 1v1 my target usually knows a few seconds in advance that death is inevitable. Poof! I get nothing. Well instead of a server-side countdown akin to some other MMOs, the client-killing player automatically dies and gives the opponents experience and loot. Poof is now autolose. Continue reading [GW2] Wintersday Wuv

[GW2] Interview with Izzy on Data and Design

In the middle of development between Guild Wars 2 The Lost Shore and Wintersday, ArenaNet’s Isaiah “Izzy” Cartwright took some time to answer a few questions I had about using data for design. (Be sure to also check out the recently publicized video of a GDC talk by Cameron Dunn also discussing data and design for Guild Wars 2 on a more technical aspect.) Read on for Izzy’s thoughts on designing content around the economy, player activity, and other surprises in the data. Continue reading [GW2] Interview with Izzy on Data and Design

Loot Bonuses: Bad Multiplayer Mechanic

Socializing costs and privatizing benefits is a lousy combination.

Many games allow you to increase your difficulty and your reward. This could be explicit in the form of a difficulty dial tied to rewards, but it is more often an opportunity cost. For example, you might equip an item that improves your loot, but doing so forgoes equipping an item that improves your damage. The fight is marginally harder and your rewards are marginally better. Kingdom of Loathing is an example of a game that does both: there are ways to increase monster level, and you can also equip items that have +monster level instead of (or in addition to) stat bonuses.

Kingdom of Loathing is also a single-player game. City of Heroes similarly gives you tools to adjust mission difficulty, and it gives the same difficulty increase and reward increase to everyone.

Multiplayer games that allow individuals to equip +loot items allow those individuals to increase their rewards at a cost of increased difficulty to everyone on the team. Alice is a tank using best-in-slot gear for damage resistance while Bob is a healer using best-in-slot gear for improved loot drops; Alice is working harder and incurring more repair costs for Bob’s benefits. Alice’s only way to avoid players like Bob is to stick with known companions or be That Guy and demand to see your equipment before letting you into the group. If everyone or no one is wearing +loot gear, the situation is fair and both risks and rewards are shared. Allowing individuals to unilaterally increase group difficulty for personal benefit is a solid example of anti-social design. Continue reading Loot Bonuses: Bad Multiplayer Mechanic