I’m a lore junky. For those who knew me back in my EQ days, they would attest to that. I used to run trivia contests using my intimate knowledge of the game’s lore to entertain. I even had devs of the game ask me lore-based questions, which, for me, was a highlight of playing that game. However, as EQ progressed, the lore changed. Now, when a game lasts as long as EQ has, you have to have growth to the lore, and no one would look askew at you if you occasionally revamped some lore based on, perhaps, some “old hidden scrolls that have just recently come to light” or something. That’s good storytelling. Because that was one of the reasons EQ had such immersion – it told a fantastic story. Around about the third time Kerra Island’s back-story was completely written, I came to understand that the story had been left on the cutting room floor. One of the most interesting complaints I see from WoW lore junkies is the way a major element of the lore is being completely re-written for Wrath of the Lich King.
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.WoW Update I
Some quick thoughts before the jump…
- The Blood Elf noob zones are amazingly well designed. They have continuity, great quest synergy and are beautiful and full of unique flavor.
- Starting over from scratch is tough to get used to.  I ran out of cash because I trained all of the weapon skills at L10, forgetting that I still have to pinch pennies. Compared to my Twink alliance alt that I started for the 10-19 battlegrounds, who had 2000 gold sitting in her mailbox when she got to the very first mailbox in Goldshire.
- Warcraft, with all of its many flaws is still an amazing game, and nothing can compare to the incredible population levels available in every zone. Many games have whole swaths of territory vacant after the first leveling rush passes, but no matter your level, you can always find others in WoW, no matter where you are or what you are working on.
Hating on Grandville
There seems to be less activity on the villain side, which surprises me given that I usually characterize City of Villains as what City of Heroes would have been if they had had another year to work on it. The classes have better solo-ability, the zones have more of a story to them, the story arcs tell flavorful stories that do not drag on unnecessarily, and the content is spread over fewer zones.
But now I am back in Grandville. Grandville is in many ways a triumph of story over gameplay, like the Shadow Shard in CoH’s endgame. It is built as a fortress, complete with high walls, guards on patrol, and gun turrets. It is a vertical zone, taking advantage of CoX’s 3-D nature, so the zone works upwards as well as outwards. These are positive, until you need to navigate. Imagine having an instance door several hundred yards above you, with enemies seven levels higher than you on patrol in front of it; some of those enemies can see through stealth; most of them have some form of crowd control and/or anti-jump/fly ability. They will still be there when you exit the mission door, and because my latest character is a Mastermind, I always exit missions defenseless and needing a few minutes to resummon and upgrade. Being two-shot for the crime of leaving a mission is unfortunate.
The more interesting content requires more dangerous paths. Anyone can get endless newspaper missions: those doors are usually easy to get to, and you can swim to the mayhem missions safely. You may have more difficulty getting to contacts who give story arcs when they are standing on ledges or under structures where higher-level enemies roam. The new Rikti War Zone is the only alternative to Grandville, and you are again on repetitive missions once you run the half-dozen arcs there. In CoH, you never need to go to the Shard, and Peregrine Island is about as linear and 2-D as it gets. The only problem is the occasional newspaper mission door that is at the feet of the 200′ tall rock monsters.
I don’t recall if my first level 50 villain had problems with Grandville. My second was an invisible teleporter with status protection, which is about as safe as it gets. Maybe I just need to re-learn how to run in panic through a zone where I am no longer the big dog. I need more panic buttons on my Mastermind.
: Zubon
Our Favorite Bugs: Recursive Resistance Debuffs
Hitting the wayback machine, I was reminded of a bug from the early days of City of Heroes. Damage resistance debuffs also debuffed resistance to damage resistance debuffs. That is, if I hit you with a 30% damage resistance debuff, not only would your resistances drop, but you would have a 30% larger effect from the next damage resistance debuff to hit you. Take Enervating Field, a damage resistance toggle, and have two characters drop it on the same enemy. Tick tick, tick tick, and it is stacking by multiples, not by adding. Some people still have screenshots of doing >10,000 damage in one hit after letting the enemy sit there with several debuffs toggles going for a while.
: Zubon
Phat Lewt in the Costume Creator
City of Heroes Issue 11 brings weapon customization. Open that link in a new window and look through it. That’s hot. I know that we are used to getting all kinds of pretty swords and guns in other games, but this is something new for City of Heroes.
Note a feature that Chronicles of Spellborn intends to use: appearance is independent of function. These weapon options are available in the costume creator. Apart from a few unlockable pieces in each set, these are all available from level one, and you can switch between them when you change costumes. You get your pretties immediately, and the developers only need to balance one set of numbers per power.
Unfortunately, applying this to all powers will be far more difficult. The developers have pled that no one realized how popular this (customization, the famed costume creator) would be during the original development. You have a long time to wait before you can start using green fire and black ice, if that gets added at all. Given how often costume options are obscured, this seems more important to me than the costume customization.
And yes, there is a shovel available for axe and mace users. Rejoice, The Shoveler cometh.
: Zubon
Break Open The Piggy Bank
There comes a time when the costs of running a site become overwhelming and so you turn to your loyal readers to ask for their support. If your readers like what you do, they will frequently help keep things running smoothly. They appreciate what you do and want to keep it going. That time has come. No, not for us here at KTR.
My good friend Brent over at VirginWorlds has offered up some memberships to help support his site. If you enjoy the many services he provides, I encourage you to consider joining up over there. From the latest MMO news and articles to a large collection of podcasts and enough links to make even me cry – nobody does it better than Brent.
– Ethic
Back In The Mud
A few weeks ago, my wife finally got her beta invite to the upcoming MMO that I have been playing a lot of and really enjoying. I can’t wait to share my thoughts but they will have to wait until my NDA restrictions are lifted. So anyway, my wife logs in, makes her character and I start to show her around a bit, and not five minutes in, she looks over at me sheepishly and blurts out, “I miss Warcraft!”
Advice and Arrogance
Last week Shortpacked!, a web comic set at a toy store, had a series starring That Guy:
I give you well-thought-out advice, and you don’t drop all your plans and do what I say? How arrogant are you? I just fixed everything, and you reject it.
The adventures start here and run for five strips.
I think you’ll see the relevance.
: Zubon
How Players Are Affected By Solo Activities
Previously, I discussed some of the reasons why I prefer to solo through most MMO content. This got me to thinking about something I’ve noticed since switching back from World of Warcraft to Guild Wars. Players in World of Warcraft, despite the ease with which the game can be soloed, seem to be far more likely to form pick-up groups than players in Guild Wars. I began to think about why this might be. I’ve come to the conclusion that this, like so many other things in life, is determined by a number of factors adding up to an individual’s experience within a game. Continue reading How Players Are Affected By Solo Activities
Developer IP and Identity
The character of Statesman is part of City of Heroes. NCSoft bought City of Heroes, but Jack Emmert, the Statesman himself, did not go along. So Mr. Emmert no longer has rights to that identity. I imagine the same thing happened with Lord British, and will with General British if Mr. Garriott leaves NCSoft.
Is that right? How does that work? Does the new IP owner ask the original fellow to stop using that name/handle/whatever? It is not as though Mr. Emmert can log into City of Heroes on Statesman, but it might cause some oddities to have a forum post from Mr. Emmert (anywhere, not just about CoX) under that name.
I like the notion, “We just bought you. Please vacate your identity by 5pm. Security will escort you out.”
: Zubon