.

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.

.

Wild Thoughts Unchained

Camelot Unchained

A Mark Jacobs appears! I have plenty of mixed emotions. He’s been a role model for me for reasons I’d rather keep to myself. He also got me and every other blogger riled up for an MMO that ended up not really working in the end. There are a lot of other reasons I want him to make more waves in the MMO business and just as many reasons to see him go away. My hope is that he is now humbled and right-minded…. And hungry to make a damn good MMO.

I want this Chipotle MMO. This mirror world Dark Age of Camelot. With Darkfall floundering around, there is plenty of room for a strong, fantasy-based RvR game to make its mark. Yet that room is beginning to fill. The biggest competitors are going to be Guild Wars 2, which is currently having some WvW growing pains, Pathfinder Online, which seems more EVE corp. v. corp. and could vaporize at any time, and The Elder Scrolls Online, which has another Dark Age of Camelot dev at the helm. In 1-2 years, who is to say what will happen?

I do want a successful MMO to have tiered subscription options. I do want crafting to be a huge fuel for PvP. And, I want one crown jewel to rule. ‘Everything owes allegiance to RvR’ is exactly the right way to make this game. That’s how Camelot Unchained is going to differentiate itself from the pack.

Pathfinder Online kickstarted the process with nearly 110% funding, and I hope Camelot Unchained can turn memories of Dark Age of Camelot in to cash for its own Kickstarter coming next month. Theoretically, many Dark Age fans have grown up and make some decent money now. Of course that also means less time for MMOs, or they are still applying salve to the Warhammer Online burn.

WildStar’d

Carbine Studios tells people they are ready to rumble in 2013. Syp is excited too. I get the feeling that WildStar is MMO soda-pop in the best possible way. Since my thoughts are unchained here too, I think it will be lots of fun in a light way. Oh, don’t get me wrong, there are deep, deep things… like a competitive 40-man raid that evolves or player housing with PvP. Just the feeling I get is that this is going to be a great game for jumping in, experiencing something fun, and jumping out.

Its primetime competitor, The Elder Scrolls Online, seems more-of-the-same in conventional MMO ways. WildStar feels fresher. Their information release so far feels like Star Wars The Old Republic vs. Guild Wars 2 all over again. Star Wars was cinematics and pretty scenes. Guild Wars 2 was gameplay, gameplay, gameplay. It’s the same thing here. The Elder Scrolls Online is talking about lore and history, and WildStar is showing off paths, telegraphing, and UI. Maybe it’s a small thing, but I feel like I know more about how WildStar is going to play than The Elder Scrolls Online, even though both have been in development at least 5 years…. And both want to be the MMO of 2013.

And, Kill Ten Rats will know more. Zubon and I are heading for Arkship 2013! We’re going to have a lot to tell you, and unfortunately some things that will be bound by NDA. Either way I’m sure between the two of us, you, valiant reader, will get a well-rounded opinion on WildStar. If you have questions you’d like us to ask, feel free to put them below. Either Zubon or I will likely do another question gathering post after all the dust has settled from press demo and interviews have come about this week (and early next?).

–Ravious

[GW2] The Daily Review

I have been doing the daily achievement pretty much every day since their laureate inception. Actually I’ve been doing it on two accounts (though not every day on both) since I picked up one for $30 on Amazon awhile back. Eventually that will be my girls account, but laurels are a good source of gold. Throughout the week there are 5 achievements pulled. Today it is one set of five, tomorrow it is another. I am going to review the individual achievements through the lens of my playtime.

Assured

Daily Kills – Of all the achievements, this one feels the most certain for nearly any active block of playtime in Guild Wars 2. Indiscriminate animals count too so make sure you have extreme prejudice against those rabbits on your daily walk in the woods. Continue reading [GW2] The Daily Review

[WS] Layering Against Compartmentalization

MMOs seem to continually be pushing the consumption of content. First there were quests, which World of Warcraft helped launch forward as the content for MMOs. Lord of the Rings Online strung quests together in an epic line. Warhammer Online and Rift made some content into a cycling, public event while also keeping quests. Guild Wars 2 further advanced on that groundwork and evolved the content in to public dynamic events and renown areas. The Secret World decided that quests as movie-like vignettes was the way to go. There is a theme here though: the content is all compartmentalized. Continue reading [WS] Layering Against Compartmentalization

[GW2] Beautiful Things

I’ve always been enamored by the Orr zones in Guild Wars 2. It portrays the whole “epic civilization that was lost” feeling so well. At nearly any point I can turn around and see the ruins of a humongous structure. Trying to imagine it as it once was feels impossible. It feels like I cannot fully appreciate that-which-once-was.

Jeromai is trying to evoke this feeling through an excellent series of posts. Edgar Allen Poe’s The City in the Sea is accompanied by dozens of great landscape shots by Jeromai. It is very well done, and Jeromai’s technique in getting all those landscape shots is quite good given the lack of a first-person landscape camera.

Another Guild Wars 2 fan took a bunch of his favorite screenshots, ran them through Adobe After Effects, and turned out a very peaceful, 2.5D movie. It’s called Moments Suspended in Time. JamesPBUK added a ton of great effects. I would love to see more of this, but with perhaps a wider character selection. I am surprised that more After Effects-loaded pictures haven’t been created by fans given all the 2.5D cinematics in game.

In other news, there’s only a few more days to get those entries in to win a ArenaNet-signed CE of Guild Wars 2. Once the clock says February 10th, that’s it.

–Ravious

Done Rarely, Done Badly

The book Waiter Rant recommends against varying too much from the menu when ordering. When you order like Sally Albright, you are getting the cook’s first shot at preparing it that way rather than something s/he has made 1000 times. And s/he is also making six other orders and does not have extra time to think about it.

I took a train to a conference last week. The relevant train runs once per day. When your connecting train is late, there is no Plan B beyond waiting for tomorrow. In New England, where Amtrak is profitable and traffic is high, there is a Plan B other than waiting for tomorrow. Airplanes seem to have problems with lateness and cancellation at about the same rate as trains, but there are flights leaving every minute and sixteen alternate routes and four other airlines with reciprocal agreements. The problems that can happen happen so often that the backup plan is already ready.

Most games have just the one release date. Many companies launch games badly. Even if they are doing it well, the scale and number of problems are unknowns that are difficult to plan for. While some big publishers have horrible reputations in terms of game development, they add value by having released hundreds of games and knowing what they are doing there. MMOs get special note: there are only a few big releases per year, and only a few have ever launched really well.

Within games, you rarely see just one of something where that one is really good. If a game does something well, it probably does a lot of that; if it does not do a lot of that, it probably does not do it well. Learning by doing is important. You are not going to create the perfect boss encounter on your first try, whereas Shadow of the Colossus is all boss fights. As much as I loved City of Heroes, for years it had just the one raid, and neither developers nor players ever settled into being really happy with it.

: Zubon

I should note that this is about the intended level of quality. Many companies mass produce crap, but they do it on purpose and very efficiently.

[GW2] Flame and Frost: Prelude – Part 1, The Bouldering

You know how when you order a nice big steak dinner, and they forget the side of creamed spinach you ordered. They bring it out with apologies. You do not attack the creamed spinach as if it has now become the only item worthy of eating on your plate, ignoring your medium-rare steak, twice-baked potato, and that wedge of fiber, water and bleu cheese they call a salad. You incorporate it in to the rest of your meal. Welcome to Guild Wars 2 Living Story.

Of course most players didn’t know how the new content was supposed to work until last night when Bobby Stein clarified the goals for Flame and Frost: Prelude. He writes: Continue reading [GW2] Flame and Frost: Prelude – Part 1, The Bouldering

[GW2] Just A Small Patch

It’s kind of a joke, with the 5000+ word patch notes, that Guild Wars 2 just received it’s small January update. It will pale in comparison to February and March. Is it a fraction of a campaign-size update season? I don’t know, but in my few hours last night the game felt a lot shinier.

I spent most of my time in Orr last night. Destroying the Orrian Balthazar went great, for once, and it was nice filling out my Obsidian Shards I need for Gift of Mastery. The Grenth priest event on the other hand was brutal. Polish was apparent across Orr. I heard a lot of players saying that given the changes they were planning on returning there instead of constantly running dungeons. I know the dungeons got a lot of updates as well, which hopefully will feel similar. Continue reading [GW2] Just A Small Patch

[GW2] Roundtable with GW2Hub and Massively

Continuing our Guild Wars 2 round tables, I chatted with Guild Wars 2 Hub’s Lewis B and Massively’s Elisabeth Cardy about something that’s been on my mind as I find myself spending more time in WvW. The balance of classes in WvW cannot be ignored. ArenaNet is talking about balancing area-of-effect (AoE) abilities, which some classes can do better than others. However, it also feels like there are two other abilities that have become critical to WvW, and unlike AoE abilities, these are class-based abilities. I’m talking about stealth (mesmer and thief) and Portal (only mesmer). What do you two think about these two very class-restricted abilities having such a great impact in WvW? Continue reading [GW2] Roundtable with GW2Hub and Massively

[GW2] Sunday Papers

On this lazy, rainy Sunday morning it’s nice to snuggle in with a good read. Have you checked out The Orrator? Long time MMO blogger, Steve “Slurms” Lichtsinn who has written and talked over at Multiplaying for some time has really found a genius node. I am really impressed because he really keeps on hitting really good faux-Tyrian articles that touch on current Guild Wars 2 memes and issues. I really like that he intersperses the articles with relevant ads. Definitely check it out.

If you are looking to get as creative as Slurms, there are now 5 ways to win 7 signed Collector’s Editions. I’ll just replug Syp’s contest since he is dutifully keeping tabs on the other MMO blog contests that pop up, and Guild Wars 2 Guru has 3 of them to give away too.

Also Borat kegbrawl. Is Happy Sunday, yes?

–Ravious