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Forochel

Going through Forochel a second time, it shares some of the merits of Eregion, combining them with other merits and flaws. The epic quest chain takes you through Forochel in a way that tours the zone well, but it remains an optional area that is out of sync with the leveling path. It makes a better use of the reputation system than any other zone, providing a model for how reputation would work in Moria (less so in Lorien). Having roamed on my first character, I found it a surprisingly tightly built zone on my second pass. Sadly, it is now almost entirely irrelevant to the game.

Continue reading Forochel

Hang out spots

When I first started playing Star Wars Galaxies, I noticed there were certain “hang-out” spots in each city.  Even if you went to a different server, the hang-out spots were exactly the same.  I thought it was weird because back then, you could choose to start in any city on any planet.   There were no quest-hubs to draw anyone to any place in particular.

After thinking about what all the hang-spots had in common, I came to realize that gamers are very lazy creatures.  If the game mechanics didn’t force a player to go somewhere to hang out, they would hang out wherever they loaded in.  This meant the main hang-out in every city was the starport.  The developers tried to force people into the cantina’s by giving them a nasty debuff called “battle fatigue” that could only be slowly removed in certain locations.  They also tried to force people into hospitals to have their other crippling debuffs removed.  But even if these locations were 30 seconds away from the load-in spot, people wouldn’t make the journey.

You can’t artificially create game-mechanics to force players to hang out somewhere.  Oh, you can try, but leaving the load-in spot to go have a medic remove my wounds in the hospital was about as much fun as waiting in line at the DMV.  If they really wanted players to hang out in the hospital, then they should have made the hospital the place you load into after you die.  But they didn’t.  You woke up as a clone,  if I remember.  A wounded clone…. or something.

By contrast, everyone hangs out inside the Prancing Pony in Lotro.  Could the developers behind SWG believe that players use instruments to play music there on a daily basis without being forced to grind “entertainer xp”?  The Prancing Pony has several reasons it’s a hang out spot.  First of all, there’s a mile-stone right outside to make it a possible load-in location.  Second, the beginning of the Epic quest line forces you to go there several times.  Third, there are many amenities inside such as a barber, vendors, and a bard, so people can stop off there for multiple reasons.  And of course, it’s a memorable location from the books/movies.

Star wars Galaxies, if you want people to hang out in a cantina, let me land on the roof!  Put in bazaar terminals, mission terminals, bank terminals, and bounty-hunter terminals inside it, and then make the cantina the default place to land when coming from another planet.  Basically, if you let me load in and get my stuff done without having to move my little virtual legs, then I might consider hanging out there.

Eregion

Going through Eregion a second time, without the full weight of Mines of Moriaâ„¢ expectations, I found it to be a rather straightforward, enjoyable zone. It is placed horribly in the zone progression, but it features a clear structure, a small story, a coherent layout, a few new mechanics, two new monster types, and strong solo content. It does not feature much group content, and adventuring there is entirely optional except as a pass-through to Moria. Eregion notably ends with the two three-man instances, the School and Library.

Continue reading Eregion

Game Developers and Porn Stars

They are hired in young, generally in their late teens and early twenties. They are energetic and excited about getting paid to do something they really enjoy (and probably have been doing on a small scale for years without pay). They tend to have more experience than you’d think, less than they think, and hopefully are able to take direction well.

In those early years, they are worked hard. As much as you can get out of them, as soon as you can get it, before they realize this is not as glamorous as they thought. Yes, even the ones who heard about the working conditions were still being a bit optimistic. Make sure to have the appropriate chemical stimulants on hand to let them keep going to the limits of youthful endurance. Until they get burned out, these are the best years to work them until they are dry.

They will get burned out soon. The disillusionment process can be traumatic, and many try to hide it because they cannot admit it was a losing decision. They will keep going, pushing those hours, hitting those stimulants hard. If you look back in a few years, you will see how their bodies have changed, not from aging, but from the work itself.

Eventually, both aging and the work catch up to them. In any other industry, they would still be young, but here you can see how used up they are. Now is the time to cast them off for the next crop, and there always is a next crop of eager young things who want to take their places, and will do so cheap.

A few survive this process. They are the old hands you sometimes see around, increasingly as names rather than faces. They become producers, running the shops that employee that next crop. Some of them join the cycle of exploitation, knowing exactly what illusions the young ones enter with. Others think there must be a better, more humane and sustainable way to do this work, and they found their own projects with better conditions. This latter group seems less visible and prosperous, although more outspoken.

: Zubon

Mission Architect Video

This kind of thing is why, despite its flaws and despite being (because it is?) nearly five years old, City of Heroes has much to teach the industry and is probably better than whatever game you’re playing. The main thing City of Heroes is missing at this point is a sense of “new shiny,” and now players can create an endless pool of shiny.

How many games remotely approach that character creator? Does anyone have anything approaching Mission Architect? I am very much about new games’ competing with old games as they stand now, not as they stood five years ago. There are several superhero games in development, and they better offer the world if they want to compete with City of Heroes.

: Zubon

Theft, Links, and Spam

WoW Insider has a link round-up post that includes our “Daily Quests.” So far, we have received pingbacks from four other sites that have stolen their content and reposted it word-for-word, including the opening words, “We here at WoW Insider…” Plus ads, of course. You don’t get to see those pingbacks, because I mark them as spam comments, but it strikes me that stealing posts with lots of links is the best thing for one of those sites. You get the stolen content to help your Google hits, then any site that leaves those pingbacks is giving you free links that further help your Google ranks.

: Zubon

Guild Wars Funnels (And April Update)

Funneling MMO population is a big deal that can have huge effects on daily online, active players (or subscriber numbers).  The Guild Wars Live Team is doing just that for their game, where population decline is sometimes an issue.  They are doing this in the way of “daily” quests, called Zaishen Challenge Quests.  This information was just released in the Guild Wars 4th Anniversary content preview.

The goal of the Zaishen Challenge Quests was to direct the critical mass of players.  Each day players can go to and grab the daily quest, which features a new challenge for the day.  The challenge could be winning a PvP match, defeating a dungeon boss, etc.  When complete the players get all sorts of goodies ranging from gold and faction rep to Zaishen barter items.  The Challenge Quests are not daily quests, per se, because a player can hold on to them indefinitely (up to 3 at a time), and it seems like they won’t repeat that often.  Regardless, it seems like a great way to get players together.

There are plenty of other features coming like a pet zoo, expanded storage, and a Hall of Monuments upgrade, but I think the Zaishen Challenge Quests are by far the best thing announced in the April update so far to give Guild Wars a stronger heartbeat.

–Ravious
trial by stone

A Legend Passes On…

Tuesday, one of the co-creators of Dungeons & Dragons, Dave Arneson, sucumbed to his ultimate battle with cancer.   Mr. Arneson is unquestionably a legend, having in his short 61 years, influenced and touched the lives of millions of faithful fans.  His brain child, D&D is one of the most popular and successful fantasy franchises in history, and the MMO industry draws more from his work than any other source.

Lets celebrate his life and his contributions to our culture by leaving comments related to D&D.  Share a great story or adventure, share how the game influenced you, or just leave a simple Thank You below.

~Cyndre