Промоакции для игроков не только в шутерах — воспользуйся промокодом Vavada от наших партнеров и получи бонусы, которые подарят азарт и атмосферу, сравнимую с игровыми победами.
.A game you play (or played) is about to (or just did) have a major update/expansion. There will be an overhaul of core systems and/or your main class. Is your reaction:
Congratulations, you now have a decision criterion for whether you should spend that money. Please run through this exercise before you resubscribe, rather than having that reaction while you stare at a row of skill icons.
: Zubon
A personal story, apart from the mundane hub happenings, seems fairly commonplace in MMOs. RIFT has zone-wide stories. Guild Wars 2 has the personal story. Lord of the Rings Online (“LOTROâ€) has the epic line. I like the term personal story because it is a stronger narration of the events affected by player character, and for this post I will use that term in a broader sense.
I reflected on my journey through Dunland, the Gap of Rohan, and the Great River as I broke bread with some Thane. I had blasted through a few Books in LOTRO’s personal story. I realized that so much of the finesse of the storyteller was not in the actual story, but in the explanation of the ripples, the effects of the player’s doing. This went forward and backwards in time. Continue reading Reflecting on the Personal Story
Combos are poorly documented in-game (if at all) but they are awesome and useful. (This seems common for ArenaNet.) They are like LotRO’s fellowship maneuvers but simpler, less powerful, more mobile, and more varied. (This post adds “thought” to the previous “hey, these exist.”)
I opened a can of chili. Recognizing the sound of the can opener, the cat was immediately, vocally, constantly demanding to be involved. I gave her a small sample. She sniffed it and walked away with no more attention to the matter.
: Zubon
Quests and Events: The Return
Coming back to a quest-based MMO, in this case Lord of the Rings Online (“LOTROâ€), after spending so much time in Guild Wars 2 was eye opening. I never once believed that the renown/event system of Guild Wars 2 (“the Guild Wars 2 systemâ€) would kill quest-based design in any sense of the word. Guild Wars 2 had something very similar in their personal story. I did however think that perhaps the renown/event system was better, at least for me.
I realize now after spending a couple hours in LOTRO, that “better†is not the right word. “Different†is more accurate.
How are your server’s WvW match-ups? Ours have been dramatically one-sided, with one server wiping the floor with the other two. This week, we are the victors; last week, a different server held 75% of the map consistently.
I am told that one of our competing servers had an exodus last weekend, with a major guild or seven leaving Eredon Terrace. (There are stories about what happened, but never trust Us when they tell you what is wrong with Them.) Numbers disparities are hard to overcome, and once your server is losing that badly, people stop trying. You cannot build the momentum to get past your own gates, while people flock to the winning team. The winning server has a long queue for WvW and your WvW team is half-full at best.
Bandwagons are a problem that will continue as long as free transfers are available (to more populous servers). People generally want to be on the winning team. Without server transfers, this just means that people are more likely to hit B and join WvW if they are ahead. With server transfers, people leave losing servers and join winning servers. Any swings are exaggerated by immigration. Continue reading [GW2] Unbalanced
As I deathmarch to Rohan, most of my time in Lord of the Rings Online (“LOTROâ€) has been in the Dunland zone so far. I hit level 70 last night, and I seem to be able to pull about a level per night. I do admit that the leveling speed to “catch up†is tiring compared to the leveling speed I had gotten used to in Guild Wars 2. I am enjoying the content, but I want to be at Rohan.
So far I have enjoyed three distinct hubs in North Dunland. The first hub, surrounds the plight of the Stag Clan defending itself against the Dragon Clan, which appears to be backed by the White Hand. Overall, it is the best hub of the three with its use of phasing and geographical content. Continue reading [LOTRO] Staging North Dunland
Funny moment in Guild Wars 2 but maybe you had to be there:
My son and I were hunting in a level 30ish area when we came upon a champion. It was a long fight and several others joined in during the battle to make it a success. I started to run off and look at my loot but he tells me to hold on as he wants to grab a souvenir. I turn around to look and here he comes running carrying a huge bomb! I just did not expect that. He then ran over and dropped it by a cute white bunny and next thing I know he had earned an achievement for master of overkill with over 10,000 damage. For the rest of the evening, he was looking for souvenirs. Even if it was a rake or a hoe, he just had to grab something on the way out of a battle. It became a running joke for us all night.
Like I said, you probably had to be there but it still makes me smile.
– Ethic
(This is my final post of the Double Down series following Part 1 and Part 2.)
While ArenaNet was shifting towards Guild Wars 2 production, they created a new rewards system based on re-using content. Obviously they were aware that any Live Team would not have the resources of a new zone, or the like, and so the Zaishen content was created bringing new life to old content. For Guild Wars 1, this was possibly the only option.
Guild Wars 2 is different because the studio is entirely focused on Guild Wars 2. There are resources for new zones, dungeons, etc., and new things are exciting and shiny. The biggest question is still whether to press onward or iterate on what is available. For instance, exploring the Henge of Denravi in Guild Wars 2 was huge, in my opinion. A lot of mystery still surrounds the druids of Guild Wars 1, and with the current conflict surrounding the Henge, I felt the actual content was a tad underwhelming. For me the area downplayed my memory instead of ramping it up, like it did with Sorrow’s Embrance. A team at ArenaNet could decide to push a lot more focus on this out-of-the-way area, but is that worth it? Continue reading [GW2] Sunk Costs (Double Down III)
I consider a game alt-friendly if it has a relatively short time between when I start a character and when I can meaningfully play with my friends. These games support the creation of a stable of characters, a toolbox. Games with slow levels or long grinds encourage having a main character, and alts definitely have a subordinate status. You may play your low-level alts with your friends, but that is clearly a separate activity where you are all messing around on alts. You would not bring one of those alts on a serious guild activity without taking it through the long slog to the level cap.
The three dominant factors in MMO alt-friendliness seem to be up/down-leveling, time to the level cap, the distance between effectiveness/nominal cap and the absolute maximum.