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[Rift] Shaded Events

I am nearly done with Scarwood Reach. The weekend hit a nice upswing in zone population, and we actually completed a few zone wide events. Sadly the Winged Horror event to defeat 50 invasions (then the boss) always seemed beyond our grasp. I think too many people were still rift chasing when that event really just requires defense. Anyway, I am starting to see more shades in Rift’s dynamic event system beyond the basics. Continue reading [Rift] Shaded Events

Bears, Bears, Bears

Tobold mentions the “bears, bears, bears” video promoting WAR: “Now that was a great video, and one could say that the enthusiastic hyping of a feature which then ultimately didn’t make it in that form into the game neatly summarizes people’s disappointment with WAR.” Yes! Exactly! I’ve never even watched the video (and why bother to go back and do so at this point?), but if anyone asks about WAR, I summarize it with three (one?) words. It is not so much the enthusiastic hyping as identifying the problem, summarizing it neatly, identifying a solution, and then willfully failing to implement it. Bitter, bitter venom every time I was sent back to kill a named enemy I just killed, and it spills over to other games that make me do the same thing.

: Zubon

[GW] First of April Content

Lots of great MMO gags are running across this year’s April Fools. ArenaNet brought their own with the release of the “9th” Guild Wars 2 profession (with video!), the Commando, and the annual April Fool’s Guild Wars patch notes. One thing I really like in the fake patch notes is the constant mockery of possible in-game store items. I think it shows how much they are really listening to fans. I also laughed at the jab against Kormir, who stole the player’s thunder in a similar way at the end of Nightfall.

Anyway, each year ArenaNet also does something goofy in game, such as switching genders of characters in town, turning them into stick figures, or even cute, little chibi-dolls. This year the live team raised the bar with an actual quest on the newly added Embark Beach. Seek out Corporal Bane, who traveled from Guild Wars 2 to Embark Beach, to get players to join him in the past to stop a time-traveling golem from killing Sarah of Lakeside county. Plus it appears players will get special Commando-themed skills to use in the quest.

Usually the April Fool’s Guild Wars content is only on for the day. It being a quest, instead of a mere appearance change, the Corporal Bane will stay in Embark Beach until Monday. After that it’s likely the Doctor* will come and take care of him.

–Ravious

*the asuran one with the smoking hot quaggan sidekick, not the British one

Sinker

Lightning strikes twice! Less than twelve hours after mentioning last year’s pranks, the New York Times has actually published… You know what? I’m not going to spoil the punchline. I will just refer you to Ted Frank.

I mean, sure, he was involved in lawsuits about Grand Theft Auto (you read that right, 5 years over “Hot Coffee”) and NVIDIA, so he sounds like a guy who would be a good source. Ignore the date, cut-and-paste, it’s news!

: Zubon

Follow the links if you are having trouble getting past the paywall. Spoilers allowed in the comments.

Hook, Line

Tomorrow is one of the internet’s favorite holidays. I recall my first year in Asheron’s Call, when a fansite mentioned a bug granting a Darktide (FFA PvP server) character a GM flag that effectively gave him godmode. Last year, some friend sites were part of a small conspiracy that was re-blogged at the New York Times and Wall Street Journal after they made up a controversy that was “too good to check” before publishing. Curse that 24/7 news cycle. One hopes that a combination of caution and the new paywall will prevent embarrassment this year.

Read safely this Friday. Consider the comments on this post open for linking your favorite jokes and pranks of the year. Unfortunately, Poe’s Law applies generally: no matter how absurd your joke, we can find apparently sincere examples that are worse. Exaggeration is hard these days.

: Zubon

[Rift] Chloroformed

Usually I play a healer (World of Warcraft priest) or healer utility (Lord of the Rings Online captain). With Rift I decided that I was going the ranged DPS role. I played around with a Pyromancer/Chloromancer build in beta, but I found that I really liked the Stormcaller soul for live. For soloability and excellent energy management, I added on a helping of Elementalist (pet included). A little late at level 3o, I finally decided to really start messing around with builds. I decided that since I love supporting, I was going to create a Chloromancer build for use in group content where a healer was needed.

I dutifully switched roles (saved Rift builds in game), dumped all my points in to Chloromancer with the excess in to Warlock, and stood back. My skill bars were just awash in green. It was easy to pare the few Warlock skills away, many of which were long term buffs, but I was just bombarded with way too much information. I felt like I had just been dumped in to a cockpit of an airplane, and then I was told “go.”

Continue reading [Rift] Chloroformed

[Rift] Take Me to the River

The first major patch for Rift is happening today. While there have been many patches from minor balance issues to hot fixes in Rift’s first month after launch, this is the first patch that deserves a whole tenth of a version. The 1.1 Update is bringing plenty of heavier balance changes, a lot of other tweaks, a new raid, and an event. Of course this first patch is well timed for players sitting on the fence subscription-wise, but Trion Worlds has told PCGamer that they intend to be “the most nimble and dynamic MMO developer in the AAA market.”

I am excited about the whole patch, especially the changes to the mage class, which is my main, but I am most excited about the Endless Court event. This event is gamewide. Every zone (except the tutorial areas) will be affected as an onslaught of Death plane invaders attack Telara. This is a true invasion as each zone erupts with rifts and footholds, which of course start sending out invading groups to attack any area left unscathed. Like the current zone wide events, player activity will be considered when the system is about to drop the Endless Court event. The big difference is that with normal zone wide invasions if all the zone’s wardstones fall, the event fails. With the start of the Endless Court event, the zone has already lost, and players have to fight to reclaim their world.

This is what excites me about Rift. The dungeons, class system, raids, and PvP (and I guess quests) are all nice, but it is their dynamic events that are really making me a fan of their game. It has taken some time to unlearn much of my conditioning caused by MMOs of the past, but now I am reveling in the chaos, dynamics, and camaraderie that these dynamic events bring. I want more of this. I want planar nukes dropping on capital cities. I want more complex events that chain to bring a greater story to life. I want to feel like I am building up Telara and breaking down the invading planes. The update is taking the game one step closer to this dream. For now, I am looking forward to a world bathed in Death tonight.

–Ravious

When Cheese Fails

On the non-MMO online gaming front, one of my friends is all about competitive StarCraft 2, to the degree of having his favorite commentators when he is watching replays. He recently introduced me to a StarCraft 2 replay comedy series, When Cheese Fails 101.

“Cheese” is a technical term in StarCraft, referring to an early, all-out offense that will secure either victory or failure in a few minutes. Successful cheese wipes out the enemy or so cripples his/her early economy that the rest of the game is clean-up. When cheese fails, the attacker’s economy is crippled, having thrown all his/her resources at an early attack instead of long-term investment.

When Cheese Fails is a series about games in which … yeah. We all love to see lamers lose, but the better games have something special. Sometimes the cheeser fails to execute or follow-through. Sometimes the other player engages in masterful micromanagement that counters the early rush at very low cost. And some of them have such great surprises that I will not spoil it by even suggesting (although you may use spoilers in the comments). The true hilarity may not be fully apparent until the commentary after the game.

I recommend Episode 8 as one of their better games. Come for the cheese, stay for the pleasant Canadian accents.

: Zubon

MMO Love to Japan

The world is supporting the crisis in Japan, but that support doesn’t just end with individuals and governments. Game companies are stepping up too. Valve is trying to get gamers to buck up by buying Japanese-themed Team Fortress 2 hats (all proceeds after tax to Red Cross). Two MMO companies are taking another route.

NCSoft has donated over 6,000,000 USD directly to Japan, which overshadowed every other Korean corporation donation at the time it was made (including Samsung and LG). It even outshadowed Japanese corporations donations like Nintendo and Sony. Now it is likely that Japanese corporations are “donating” with paid-time off and other ways to help employees and their communities, but it does put a point on NCSoft’s significant generosity.

US-based Trion Worlds with the shiny-new MMO Rift is taking a more personal route. They are finding their Japanese customers and giving them a free month of play. It’s not necessarily as humanitarian as donating money to aid, but it adds yet another showing that Trion Worlds values its customers. I have recently been a little critical of the mid-level zones and fuzzy edges of the dynamic content engine, yet as I noted in my last Rift post, they are keeping me a happy customer.

Prayers and thoughts continue to go to the island gaming nation. Also, one can never have too many hats.

–Ravious