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Advancement

Commenter Naqaj asked me to check out a thread on experience point functions. I did not get very far before mentally classifying it as “discussing preferred ways to grind.” Right now, I am so over grinding. My reaction of the moment is that the genre has so thoroughly glutted itself on advancement that it has spilled over and infected nearby genres. Long-time readers will have repeatedly heard my rantings about “RPG elements” (read: character/ability leveling) in almost every game out there because people will play for longer and our meat-based brains will actually respond positively to unnecessary grinds as long as there are numeric and/or visual rewards attached. Video games really are better than real life at stimulating important parts of our brains, and now we are taking to improving how games stimulate us rather than improving real life.

I just don’t think I’m emotionally up to reading all 175 comments in that thread. I look at the grind in the genre and just shake my head. This is really what we have come to.

: Zubon

[EVE] Idiot’s and Outsider’s Guide to Controversies

Regardless of whose right or wrong, Ms Freak definitely gets a swath of internet points for clear cutting to a ton of issues currently going on in EVE Online. Being an outsider myself, I had mostly just agreed with Tobold that the delivery of many of these items was what made it so big of a list of problems. This list makes it seem a lot more real than I had suspected.

There are rumors and filings that CCP is going through some serious growing pains regarding cash flow and management. The cash flow issue is to be expected at the very least since they are working on three MMOs, only one of which is making money. (I did find it funny that Ms Freak in the list says that CCP can do whatever they like with regard to microtransactions for Dust 514 and World of Darkness.)

Again as an outsider, I am not opposed to a $70 appearance item, and I do think it is a little sensational that it’s being used as the poster child for all that is wrong in EVE. Hopefully for all those not really understanding what has been going on as of late, these links might help clear the air.

–Ravious

[Prime] Skills and Beginnings

Prime: Battle for Dominus is the MMO that just appeared, and it’s targeted to launch this year. In a genre where it feels like we wait for a good part of a decade for an MMO, it’s pretty refreshing to hear about a new MMO so close to launch. What is Prime? A 3-faction, sci-fi PvP-based MMO made by plenty of people that have made other MMOs. Check out their very concise, BS-free FAQ.

Today we learn about Prime’s skill system. Each class (six for each faction) starts with 5 skills, and as they level this maxes out to 15 skills. Seem pretty light in the MMO age where we need 5 skillbars each with 10-15 slots maxed out.  Except that each skill can be grown by allocating skill points. As skill points are allocated it seems that the skill itself will change in functionality, at least to the degree of effecting more people. Reallocating points is going to be an easy thing to do because Pitchblack Games, developers of Prime, want people to feel free to experiment.

I think this system sound pretty good. It’s like Guild Wars without a million-billion skills or like Rift without having to painfully construct and synergize three skill trees. I am all for simplicity with customization. I know traits in other MMOs do nearly the same thing, but it’s nice to think “I want to use these skills for my build, let’s pump them up.” I am hoping they steal Guild Wars and Rift‘s build-saving features though.

I must say that Prime has caught my attention because it appears so focused and agile, possibly even a KTR-vernacularized Chipotle MMO. I’ll definitely be on the lookout for more news on this one.

–Ravious

You Paid How Much?

Jaradcel writes up another great guest post. Enjoy! –Ravious

Stemming from the thoughts on micro-transactions and the use of freemium, I thought I would offer my thoughts on the parallels from another game that has recently gone freemium – Team Fortress 2 (“TF2”).

At first blush, the game does not have anything to do with Kill Ten Rats – It’s a hat-collecting sim/FPS after all. But what it is doing mirrors closely the models that Turbine are using on Lord of the Rings Online (“LotRO”) and Dungeons and Dragons Online (“DDO”), and which other companies like SOE and NCSoft are also moving into as well. That is, turning a pay product into a free model to attract new revenue via a cash shop. And TF2 does so by scratching the same itch that MMO cash shop users have – the need to have it all and look pretty besides.

Continue reading You Paid How Much?

Are you there, [playername]? It’s me, Kingdom of Loathing.

Our dear friends at Kingdom of Loathing sent out the following open letter, or rather a message to inactive accounts. It was sufficiently amusing that I thought I would pass it along after the break. Hey, I had not heard about ascension changes. Besides, some of you still have not tried KoL, which is strange. Continue reading Are you there, [playername]? It’s me, Kingdom of Loathing.

#GW2Fanday – The Dungeon Gel

Guild Wars 2 dungeons were one of the big presentation points during the ArenaNet Community Open House (and the press event the day before). I was very excited about this because the dungeon content would have us working in teams, instead of our open world meanderings. In an MMO without healers, it would be interesting to see how this content was designed. ArenaNet told us at the start to choose whatever profession (class) we wanted without regard to our teammates’ choices. Could we really succeed without even talking to each other about our group makeup?

As we started we saw a cinematic for the story mode, and if this is the benchmark of quality for future dungeon cinematics, we are in for a treat. Elixabeth is right (in her great article on dungeons at Talk Tyria); this has to be embedded.

Continue reading #GW2Fanday – The Dungeon Gel

#GW2Fanday – Guild Wars Winds of Change

It’s a tough decision to decide what to write about first for the ArenaNet Community Open House (#GW2Fanday). My head is exploding with ideas and thoughts. I chose to start with Guild Wars for a couple reasons, one of which is that I have some neat screenshots to share (taken by the steady-handed Matthew Moore). Let me start with an anecdote.

Randy Price (Senior V.P. at ArenaNet) and I were chatting over food and libations to other times, now moot in memory, when the subject of John Stumme was brought up. Much to my surprise, Price raved about what Stumme had done with the Guild Wars Live Team for a couple minutes. It wasn’t surprising to me that Stumme and the Live Team deserved such praise. It was surprising to see one of the heads of ArenaNet so honestly and unabashedly talk about the meteoric rise of one of the employees. It wasn’t even humble (see also our libations), and I asked Price if I could quote him when he said he believed that the Live Team was so efficient and hard-working that they were producing on the level of a couple dozen-man development team.

“Absolutely.”

Continue reading #GW2Fanday – Guild Wars Winds of Change

The Truth About ArenaNet

I am extremely gracious for being invited to ArenaNet’s Community Open House. It was an amazing experience that I plan to share with everybody through a series of posts.* There will be one on our tour of the office, one on my demo play especially discussing underwater combat and dungeons (possibly split in to two), one on Guild Wars Winds of Change, and perhaps one on developer tidbits (although depending on length that might be included in the other posts).

There is a shocking truth though that I had to share. It’s actually not anything new, but I had to re-emphasize it. ArenaNet tries to share everything they can when it’s finished. They really are not keeping things under wraps for some nefarious reason. Now sure they want to release big items in a manner where it will have great effect, but from all appearances they want to share as soon as they can.

Continue reading The Truth About ArenaNet

F2P Discussion at Tobold’s Place

Tobold ponders:

Imagine a Free2Play game with an item shop that offered both purely decorative items, and items which gave you some sort of advantage in game… Which one would you rather buy?
I have the distinct impression that previous discussions on the subject were influenced by the contribution of people who actually wouldn’t buy anything.

This is a very important point. If you do not spend money, your opinion does not count for much. “I want you to pay for the game and for me to get everything I want and for you not to get anything I don’t want you to.”

The excluded middle discussed in the comments is paying for content, the model from Wizard101, DDO, and LotRO whereby you pay to unlock quests and zones. Of course, those games also dabble in cosmetics and “convenience” items, some of the latter trending dangerously into “game advantage.” And then we have League of Legends, which sells content, cosmetics, and convenience with no further gameplay effects and hopefully is rolling in currency.

: Zubon