My night last night in WoW was just frustrating. Perhaps it’s the circle I move in, but I was sure most people understand spawn tables. I was so wrong. A spawn table is an electronic version of the wandering monster table your pen and paper RPG dungeon master would use to figure out what jumped you while you ran from the dungeon to the town. That’s all that it really is. There’s no secret science involved. If it makes you more comfy, pretend there’s some guy rolling a d20 behind his little screen every time a monster spawns. Why am I obsessing about this? Well, it has to do with this quest I was on last night. Those of you who play EQ already know spawn tables intimately, so you’ll probably spend a lot of time going “doh!”. I don’t think it’s possible to get to 10 and not have a working knowledge of EQ’s love affair with spawn tables.
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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.
.Avast Belay, Yo Ho, Heave To!
[Pirates!] I’ve set sail t’ find me riches. Don’ know when I’ll b’ back, matey. Hoist one fer me whilst I b’gone.
– Ethic
Introducing Crusade
[Crusade] For those of you who had not noticed over at Lum’s (I hear he has more readers than we do), David Allen is getting a new game going, Crusade. Honesty points to Mr. Allen for interview responses that amount to, “We wanted to make our version of WoW, for people who like that sort of game but don’t like some of the design decisions.” Maybe this one is the exact shade of Yet Another Fantasy MMORPG for you.
Crusade will be having design journals over at IGN. The first is about character progression and skills. Interesting notion: start with a class-based game, then add use-based skill system, then add an EVE-like real-time study system. This could be either the ideal system that everyone has always dreamt of, perfectly incorporating competing concerns, or else the greatest nightmare of balancing ever.
I have hope.
: Zubon
Project M Revisited
[The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar] Some sort of announcement was made at PAX the other day from the folks at Turbine. I have not been able to confirm this, but it has promise. This is something I would love to try out myself. (Note to Turbine: the game’s name isn’t long enough – please add more words.)
Funcom delivers
For those interested in looking at the 16.3 patch notes, you can check out the link here.
And since I enjoy keeping abreast of Funcom’s mishaps, I’ll keep updating this post as I see more and more issues pop up. And today’s issues are some good ones.
Today’s patch 16.3 did… something special. The faction system introduced with The Shadowlands managed to get broke. Mobs of one faction are giving their opposite faction. Excellent. The servers were up probably for 2-3 hours, and then taken back down. (No exact time, as I was at class when this all happened.) As the title states, Funcom delivers.
Three years and patch 16.3
Saturday, August 26th, turned out to be my three-year anniversary for subscribing to Anarchy Online. Yes, I freely admit that it’s not that much. Nor is it three years of consecutive playing time – I’ve taken several extended breaks from the game. But it’s still an achievement. It’s even more interesting to think that three years prior I didn’t even know what an MMO was, much less any other acronym that I know freely throw around these days.
Hey – this grass isn’t really green…
Ah, fresh back and all relaxed from a two-week vacation in Orlando I sat down on my last day of work vacation and logged into WoW. Well tried to. Because as my luck would have it, it was Tuesday, and that’s patch day. My luck never ceases to amaze me. Still later that night after the servers came up, then down, then up, then down (fast forward a few hours), and up, I logged in. You see, I’m now playing a Horde Priest, having taken my own personal semi-challenge about healers I posted previously. I’ve decided crow doesn’t taste nearly as good as advertised, even with BBQ sauce.
I Finally Bought Civilization IV
Optional things like MMOs, sleep, and standing up have gone out the window. My wife has not decided to leave me yet, which is promising. We will see how long that holds up. When you are spending more than a thousand years under continuous attacks from the Aztecs and Emperor Hirohito, you start worrying more about Louis XIV’s cavalry than, say, dinner.
I can quit any time I want. *twitch*
: Zubon
Plug it!
I finally got this ripped to something digital. The following link is to an mp3 of the piece of the Sound & Vision Radio E3 coverage where Robert (Nicodemus) & I spoke about games and plugged KTN. You even get to hear me snort! Woop! (I was out of breath and scrambling to come up with something after Robert stole my answer hehe).
All and all it went well.
Study: Researchers State The Obvious
Study: Researchers Determine Sex May Cause Pregnancy!
Study: Researchers Believe Poking a Bear With A Sharp Stick May Result In Mauling!
Yes, those both sound a bit uhm, like a waste of time and money, no? Well, look at this little gem I saw the other day on GameDaily Biz:
New research conducted at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has shown that massively multiplayer online games, such as Asheron’s Call (pictured) and Lineage, can expose gamers to alternate worldviews and promote sociability.
OMG, can it be true? I never noticed?! Ok, snarky sarcasm aside, is this just a case of some lazy researchers trying to win an award for stating the obvious, or did they actually miss the boat and get the wrong conclusion to their research? Read on…