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[GW2] Login Warning

Attack Cinematic
Upon logging in, players level 30 or higher will see a cinematic of the attack on Lion’s Arch. Lower level players will watch this upon entering Lion’s Arch for the first time. …
Note: All characters that were stationed in Lion’s Arch before the attack will be relocated to an adjoining map.

This is not true. If you were stationed in Lion’s Arch before the attack, the cinematic will play once you log in. Your character will stand in the exact spot where you logged off, and the monsters that now spawn in Lion’s Arch will kill you.

The sound effects you hear are not part of the cinematic. The screams of the injured and dying are coming from characters who also logged off in Lion’s Arch.

: Zubon

Business Model Influence

I did not even mention when Plants vs. Zombies 2 came out because it made me sad. Mobile only, F2P with cash shop? Ouch. Now that I have a device that plays it, I of course had to try the sequel to one of the best games ever made. It’s not bad, but it’s disappointing given the first. I don’t think anyone has ever thought, “You know what would really improve this game? Let’s have some EA business execs design the monetization.”

You first notice this when the game tries to sell you things. Want all the plants? Pay per unlock. Want to use the new special abilities? Pay per use. Want to skip to a new world? Pay per unlock. Want more slots for plants, plant food, and starting sun? Pay per upgrade. Most of these can be unlocked to some degree or at some point in-game. I would have been happy to buy the game; I am immediately resentful that the game wants me to buy parts of the game a la carte. Beyond the money-grubbing, nickel and dime nature of the transactions (I haven’t added it up, but there’s a reasonable chance I would pay more than they are asking if they just asked me once to buy the game), it puts game balance decisions in the hands of the business model rather than the game designers. How many plants and which ones should the players have available to face this challenge? Depends on how much money they spent. How much sun should they start with? Depends on how much money they spent. How often should we expect them to use the special abilities? Depends on how much money they spent. I don’t see how you can reasonably design around that answer.

You second notice this when the game is balanced around the assumption that the players have spent $X. I do not know the value of X, but PvZ2 is “aggressively balanced”. The first one was a fun romp, and if you wanted significant difficulty, you had to work for it. The second one gives you fewer resources and more enemies, and if you want lowered difficulty, you have to pay for it. I can reasonably foresee that all the levels can be beaten without spending money, but you will fail most of them at least once doing so because you will need to change your strategies in ways you cannot reasonably foresee and certainly cannot change mid-level. While working out the puzzle is more or less the point of a puzzle game, frequent readers will know my persistent irritation with games that require you to know the coming surprise in advance to survive it. Or, PvZ2’s business model suggests, just pay for the special abilities to respond to the sudden appearance of a huge lump of zombies.

I am mostly enjoying the game, and my wife is playing it obsessively, but I seem to develop Tourette’s every time I spot a design decision that seems motivated by the cash shop.

: Zubon

I suppose I could have just posted “EA bought Popcap,” and the rest logically follows.

The Return of Clippy

The latest smartphone I was issued is a Galaxy Note 3. It is aggressively helpful, an imperfect DWIM device. It provides a constant stream of offers and requests, most of which are not of interest to me and I am sure I have turned down some things I want just because there were six pop-ups in the course of trying to run a simple search. Those will slow down over time, I’m sure, but at the moment it is as if getting a glass of water required as many questions about my preferences as the most complex order possible at Starbucks. And then the faucet remembers that order an immediately starts pouring it the next time I enter the room, and I need to click six levels deep to make it stop doing what it thinks I want to do.

I had my first real fight with autocorrect yesterday. I ended up adding “PvZ2” to my dictionary because it was late and I was too frustrated to find the correct way to force the Google app to let me search the term I wanted without autocorrecting it to something else. I’m sure the design is very intuitive to an interface designer.

It also comes with many pre-loaded apps I need to remove. I am finding some of them because they have audible alerts for things I never turned on, although not always visible alerts to tell me why my phone is making noise. Google’s own services seem to be the main culprit there. Anytime I get an e-mail or chat through Gmail, my phone alerts me. I didn’t install or turn on Google Hangouts, but the phone helpfully comes with that. I signed out of Hangouts to stop that, which the phone helpfully reactivated when I tried to confirm that I was signed out.

I like many things about this new device, and I am sure we will settle into a workable relationship. At the moment, it is being clingy and high maintenance.

: Zubon

And now I need to go disable the audio alerts on e-mails because KTR is getting a tidal wave of comment spam. There’s a DWIM I need: after the 16th time in a morning that we send a comment to “spam” from the same name and address, start treating that address as spam. And stop asking if links from Kill Ten Rats to Kill Ten Rats are spam; I should not need to verify on my site that my posts (not comments, the posts) are not spam.

Brain Dump – GW2, LOTRO, CU et al.

I hate being sick. It’s one of the worst times to be a gamer aware of “meta” because when I’m feverish my mind start throwing massive design problems at me. The unsolvable things become nightmarish in my attempt to cool down, hydrate, and overcome the disease. Instead I lie there coming up with ways that ArenaNet could create zerg breakers. I’m now on all sorts of medications so I feel up to sharing! I’ll go in order of sadness.

Mordor or Bust

Seems Turbine is shedding more employees in a layoff round. I’ve only been picking at Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) in the past few months, and I’m still on Riders of Rohan. One of my good friends still seems to obligingly log in once a week or so. I asked him about the state of the game a couple weeks ago. Continue reading Brain Dump – GW2, LOTRO, CU et al.

[GW2] Edge of the Mists Impressions

It’s been an interesting few days playing Edge of the Mists, the new overflow World vs. World (“WvW”) map in Guild Wars 2. My concentrated opinion is that WvW just became a lot more fun, but I have a lot to nitpick and discuss too.

The Map’s Mechanics

The most important thing to note about Edge of the Mists (“EotM”) is that it is the rebellious younger sibling to the core of WvW. The designers have made things a little less balanced, but a lot more interesting.

The map plays like Eternal Battlegrounds in the sense that the map is triangular-shaped with each side theoretically having an even chance of defending their objectives and attacking the enemies points. However, each corner of the triangle has heavy environmental and mechanical change. One area is filled with overgrown ruins, while another seems like deserted charr areas. Finally the kodan area is the third environment. Each environment also gives its defenders a buff based on how many objectives they control in their zone. Continue reading [GW2] Edge of the Mists Impressions

[GW2] Stories in the Mists

Hitherby some spoilers

The Edge of the Mist is quite possibly the most beautiful map in Guild Wars 2. The only negative I have is I’m a bit unsure of all the clouds getting in my way. Otherwise I am just in awe. The land is so rich. I stop and stare at some statues with tattered flags, and get run over by a zerg. The landscapes in Guild Wars 2 continue to get better and better.

Edge of the Mists, the new World vs. World (“WvW”) map is also rich in secondary mechanics. For instance, one can turn into an invincible ball of light for a few minutes to scout. Or, sick of your professions lack of awesome? Turn into a Kodan with all new skills that make the current kings of Guild War(riors) 2 jealous. There are bridges to destroy, pre-built cannons to fire, and it feels much more like a huge sandbox instead of the comparatively sterile environment of WvW proper. I like it a lot better, but I am going to have to spend significant time to understand it all. Initial reports say it is amazing for small scale PvP, and bring your stability and knockbacks because falling deaths are what’s on tap. Continue reading [GW2] Stories in the Mists

[TT] Introduction to Deck-Building Games

Welcome to Tabletop Tuesday, something new I’m trying here at Kill Ten Rats. For most of this year, I will be gradually discussing the game Dominion, which is the trope maker for deck-building games. This is rich territory for discussion, with quite a few mechanics and expansions, and you know I can spend a whole post talking about one card.

In case you have never played one, deck-building games are second cousins to collectible card games like Magic the Gathering or Pokémon. The big difference is that you buy your cards within the game, not between games. There is a fixed pool of cards in front of you, and you start with a small pool of resources. You use those resources to buy cards, which get shuffled into your deck. You now have more resources and abilities for the next time you go through your deck. Repeat unto victory.

The ideal of a deck-building game is to capture everything good about collectible card games without the soul- and wallet-crushing pay-to-win business model. You still get to customize your deck and strategy, but everyone has equal access to all the cards. Deck-building is an excellent model of controlled randomization: you do not know exactly what you are getting, but the degree of variation is mathematically knowable and limited by the size of the deck. Controlling and manipulating probability is a key skill in effective play. Deck-building games can mix strategy, tactics, and execution as well as the best real time strategy games, minus the need for good reaction times.

Next week, we will talk about the rules of Dominion and the base game as it was launched.

: Zubon