No, I am not being sarcastic with the header. I am truly, truly giving Trion a nice, standing ovation.
Just to be clear, I do not believe that Trion is the Luke Skywalker to Blizzard or EA's Darth Vader as fans make them out to be. Trion themselves try to enchance the impression that they are what everyone else wants bigger developers to be.
Truth of the matter is that, while. as a relatively small company that automatically garners empathy from their customers almost as if they are an independent (or "indie") developer, they are still a big company with big goals. Not EA or Activision levels naturally, but large nonetheless. They are not immune to bad press or bad decisions, but are small enough to be able to disappear through the cracks of larger news (i.e. next gen consoles, EA gaffes, etc.).
No, if nothing else shows that Trion is just your average corporation, there is always Defiance.
So why am I applauding Trion despite them being a cold, heartless company? It is because they seem to have such an uncanny sense of timing, marketing, and making things accessible.
Flash back to late 2010. World of Warcraft's playerbase was only getting larger but big companies were getting ready to attempt to take a piece of that consumer pie. In particular, Guild Wars and Star Wars: The Old Republic were getting their big guns ready to come out of the gate blazing. But they were at least one or two years away. There was just a huge gap of practically nothing noteworthy being released for the MMO genre.
Then a few months later comes lesser known Trion Worlds that suprised a lot of people with their MMO offering beta weekends. There is no shaking the fact that this was a huge marketing ploy for pre-ordering the game, but it was quite an excellent game. It was pretty much like World of Warcraft but with enough differences and improvements to be a fresh experience to experienced gamers.
Needless to say, Rift was a huge hit on release. Not only was it a great game in it's own right, it was lauched early 2011 when there were no other major competitors other than World of Warcraft. They even had monthly updates to the game, which, even now, is rather unprecidented.
It didn't take long for subscriber levels to shrink and larger competitors started showing up. Still, Trion was able to use this time to gear up and, just as they did during release, brought out their first expansion when there were no other major announcements from competitors.
Now that Rift is going free to play, they appear to be capitalizing on the one thing competitors like Neverwinter doesn't have - previous gamers. In advance of their free to play release, Rift has now become playable to anyone who has bought their game, even if you only played the free month that came with the original game 2 years ago.
Granted, the Storm Legion expansion has to be bought in order to play that content, Trion's partnership with media and the Raptr service (raptr.com) has provided a lot of free copies. In fact, Raptr still has some codes to give out should you meet their requirements. This is how I got my copy, but I certainly was willing to shell out the $40 to get the expansion when free to play started.
I know it is just circumstantial evidence, and my own experiences cannot be read as fact, but logging in to Rift duing prime gaming hours saw a bustle of activity from people coming back to the game and trying it out again. In many dungeon groups, 3 out of 5 would state that they have come back after months of hiatus. Sometimes, everyone in the group was trying to relearn the game, which proved very interesting.
In order for people to be willing to pay for virtual items in a game, they have to be able to play the game and Trion seems to understand this. Having free players access to all content is just a great decision which also been good for games like Guild Wars.
I have no doubt there will be a spike of players once the free to play update goes live. The question will be how much of that player base they can retain and, among those, how many would regularly buy from the store. Only time will tell, but for now I can say that it's good to be back to Telara.
Showing posts with label MMO. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MMO. Show all posts
Friday, June 7, 2013
Sunday, September 2, 2012
On Disliking the MMO "Holy Trinity"
To make sure proper context is provided, the "holy trinity" of MMOs means having the core roles of tank, healer, and damage dealing in a group to deal with player vs. environment (PvE) encounters. A good majority of MMOs make use of this group setup and the responsibilities of each member of the group are pretty straight-forward - most of the time.
ArenaNet has been using the lack of this group setup as a major part of their hype machine for Guild Wars 2. While this certainly ramped up talk about how people are discontented about the "traditional" MMO group design, this discussion has been around for a very long time.
Group cooperation is never really an issue. No matter how a game is designed, having proper communication and planning will always be superior to just getting 4-5 random people together and just hope everyone knows what to do.
No, a lot of the talk revolves around damage dealers having trouble finding groups - because few people decide to take on the tank and healer roles.
Being a tank or healer in a group is about taking on a lot of responsibility. The tank usually ends up controlling the flow of the encounters while the healer ensures the right people stay alive long enough to finish the fight. Both roles have to make decisions on the fly and mistakes by either are the most visible and so blame easily falls on one of the two...or even both. I have personally seen the extra responsibility take it's toll on players and it often leads to tanks and healers to play a different role, refuse to run random groups, or just stop playing altogether.
So damage dealers can't find groups because of few tanks and healers. Tanks and healers get burned out easily and stop playing their characters. It's a vicious cycle, and it won't stop until people just wake up and realize they need something that is sadly lacking with the human race in general:
Personal Responsibility.
So my little gaming article now has become a social commentary piece? Online gaming has always been a social hub, whether one likes it or not. There is no doubt the worst of people can show up in an online game, but also can the best of people. You can tout all you want on how good or terrible an MMO is; terrible graphics, great game mechanics, balanced classes, etc, but the social aspect are online gaming's true heart.
The lack of personal resposibility means that the dislike of the "holy trinity" boils down to a social problem rather than a game design issue. In the past few years, games like World of Warcraft and RIFT have been putting more emphasis on personal resposibility. Concepts such as avoidable damage in encounters puts part of the resposibility of staying alive on each individual. The encounter Ultraxion in World of Warcraft is a good example as it becomes very obvious who failed to activate the ability to avoid the instant death attack. Encounters such as these are always the hardest in the game, not because the fight is designed to be hard, but because individual failures can cause the whole group to fail.
And that, in my most humble opinion, is exactly how it should always be.
Removing the "holy trinity", such as in Guild Wars 2, does the exact same thing other MMOs have been working towards for a while now. Granted, not having a dedicated tank or healer, it becomes even more important for individuals in GW2 to make sure they do their part in controlling the encounter and staying alive. It has to be clear though, that repeated failure to do so is not about being stuck in the "holy trinity" mindset, but about not able to, or not willing to, go the extra steps to ensure the group is a success.
I suppose the question is whether I dislike the "holy trinity" myself. No. Neither will it's absence bother me. No matter how a game is designed, it will always be the player that makes a group a success of failure. Always.
ArenaNet has been using the lack of this group setup as a major part of their hype machine for Guild Wars 2. While this certainly ramped up talk about how people are discontented about the "traditional" MMO group design, this discussion has been around for a very long time.
Group cooperation is never really an issue. No matter how a game is designed, having proper communication and planning will always be superior to just getting 4-5 random people together and just hope everyone knows what to do.
No, a lot of the talk revolves around damage dealers having trouble finding groups - because few people decide to take on the tank and healer roles.
Being a tank or healer in a group is about taking on a lot of responsibility. The tank usually ends up controlling the flow of the encounters while the healer ensures the right people stay alive long enough to finish the fight. Both roles have to make decisions on the fly and mistakes by either are the most visible and so blame easily falls on one of the two...or even both. I have personally seen the extra responsibility take it's toll on players and it often leads to tanks and healers to play a different role, refuse to run random groups, or just stop playing altogether.
So damage dealers can't find groups because of few tanks and healers. Tanks and healers get burned out easily and stop playing their characters. It's a vicious cycle, and it won't stop until people just wake up and realize they need something that is sadly lacking with the human race in general:
Personal Responsibility.
So my little gaming article now has become a social commentary piece? Online gaming has always been a social hub, whether one likes it or not. There is no doubt the worst of people can show up in an online game, but also can the best of people. You can tout all you want on how good or terrible an MMO is; terrible graphics, great game mechanics, balanced classes, etc, but the social aspect are online gaming's true heart.
The lack of personal resposibility means that the dislike of the "holy trinity" boils down to a social problem rather than a game design issue. In the past few years, games like World of Warcraft and RIFT have been putting more emphasis on personal resposibility. Concepts such as avoidable damage in encounters puts part of the resposibility of staying alive on each individual. The encounter Ultraxion in World of Warcraft is a good example as it becomes very obvious who failed to activate the ability to avoid the instant death attack. Encounters such as these are always the hardest in the game, not because the fight is designed to be hard, but because individual failures can cause the whole group to fail.
And that, in my most humble opinion, is exactly how it should always be.
Removing the "holy trinity", such as in Guild Wars 2, does the exact same thing other MMOs have been working towards for a while now. Granted, not having a dedicated tank or healer, it becomes even more important for individuals in GW2 to make sure they do their part in controlling the encounter and staying alive. It has to be clear though, that repeated failure to do so is not about being stuck in the "holy trinity" mindset, but about not able to, or not willing to, go the extra steps to ensure the group is a success.
I suppose the question is whether I dislike the "holy trinity" myself. No. Neither will it's absence bother me. No matter how a game is designed, it will always be the player that makes a group a success of failure. Always.
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Guild Wars 2 Novel: Ghosts of Ascalon
TLDR Version: A fairly entertaining by-the-numbers fantasy that is very effective in introducing the world of Guild Wars 2.
As a firm believer of "exposition through experience" when it comes to video games, I have been largly avoiding reading any video game novels. I would rather have that important lore is in the game rather than needing to go out and find the information elsewhere. Granted, it gives writers, publishers, and artists work, I still find it less than ideal.
Ghosts of Ascalon was recommended to me by a friend and seeing that I am jumping into Guild Wars 2 without having any knowledge whatsoever of the franchise, I decided to give it a go. At the very least, it will help me understand the world I will be playing in, and hopefully a better understanding of the different races.
I am happy to say that the book did meet my expectations and provided me with good entertainment for most of it.
I like how the authors didn't take a particular racial trait of one character and beat the reader's head with it. Characters are nicely defined and, more importantly, relatable. Sylvari are probably the race that is most different than what humans are, but Forbeck and Grubb bring's out the character of Killeen nicely and comes out as alien in a way we can understand and appreciate. In fact, all the characters in the book behave in ways that real people in our world can relate to. The band of characters do bond and grow as they march toward impossible odds. In the end, we get to care about the characters and what happens to them and that is what makes a novel good.
Lore exposition has been also nicely handled in the book. From the timeline provided at the beginning to the fireside conversations, the flow of the narrative is very natural and it is very effective in understanding the characters, what they are after, and what their world is like. And everything stays on track with no diverging tales of other heroes. Yes, Logan Thackaray's legend and importance were mentioned, but his character never overshadowed the book's protagonist.
The tone of the book was also mostly excellent. Despite the grim quest the characters are taking, as well as what the main character has gone through, the book never bludgeons the reader with it. The grim tones are nicely balanced with light hearted moments by characters that move forward rather than dwelling in their angst.
My biggest problem with the book is actually in the last few. Everything near the end feels rather rushed. It's actually a good thing to want to book to go on for several more chapters, but the ending just felt too abrupt. Perhaps it was meant to be that way, but it was certainly out of place with the even pacing found in the rest of the book.
All in all, Ghosts of Ascalon is a remarkable book, even if it doesn't compare to the likes of the original Dragonlance series (though it probably wasn't meant to be). I would recommend it to those who like good fantasy tales. For those who play Guild Wars 2 and have yet to buy it, it is a nice way to ease into the game. I have no idea when the story happens in relation to the game though, but it would be cool to encounter these characters while questing in Tyria.
As a firm believer of "exposition through experience" when it comes to video games, I have been largly avoiding reading any video game novels. I would rather have that important lore is in the game rather than needing to go out and find the information elsewhere. Granted, it gives writers, publishers, and artists work, I still find it less than ideal.
Ghosts of Ascalon was recommended to me by a friend and seeing that I am jumping into Guild Wars 2 without having any knowledge whatsoever of the franchise, I decided to give it a go. At the very least, it will help me understand the world I will be playing in, and hopefully a better understanding of the different races.
I am happy to say that the book did meet my expectations and provided me with good entertainment for most of it.
I like how the authors didn't take a particular racial trait of one character and beat the reader's head with it. Characters are nicely defined and, more importantly, relatable. Sylvari are probably the race that is most different than what humans are, but Forbeck and Grubb bring's out the character of Killeen nicely and comes out as alien in a way we can understand and appreciate. In fact, all the characters in the book behave in ways that real people in our world can relate to. The band of characters do bond and grow as they march toward impossible odds. In the end, we get to care about the characters and what happens to them and that is what makes a novel good.
Lore exposition has been also nicely handled in the book. From the timeline provided at the beginning to the fireside conversations, the flow of the narrative is very natural and it is very effective in understanding the characters, what they are after, and what their world is like. And everything stays on track with no diverging tales of other heroes. Yes, Logan Thackaray's legend and importance were mentioned, but his character never overshadowed the book's protagonist.
The tone of the book was also mostly excellent. Despite the grim quest the characters are taking, as well as what the main character has gone through, the book never bludgeons the reader with it. The grim tones are nicely balanced with light hearted moments by characters that move forward rather than dwelling in their angst.
My biggest problem with the book is actually in the last few. Everything near the end feels rather rushed. It's actually a good thing to want to book to go on for several more chapters, but the ending just felt too abrupt. Perhaps it was meant to be that way, but it was certainly out of place with the even pacing found in the rest of the book.
All in all, Ghosts of Ascalon is a remarkable book, even if it doesn't compare to the likes of the original Dragonlance series (though it probably wasn't meant to be). I would recommend it to those who like good fantasy tales. For those who play Guild Wars 2 and have yet to buy it, it is a nice way to ease into the game. I have no idea when the story happens in relation to the game though, but it would be cool to encounter these characters while questing in Tyria.
Saturday, July 7, 2012
SWTOR: Patch 1.3 and the Week After
There are days when I am glad I don't play games at any relatively hardcore level anymore, and the release of patch 1.3 for Star Wars: The Old Republic is one of them.
Why do I say that? Well, there is no new content in this patch, so if I'm already tired with the current operations, that feeling would not be alleviated. Even if I were just farming the same hardmode flashpoints over and over again, I would have gotten quite disgruntled a long time ago, and stay that way even with this patch release.
No, this patch is not about making the game fresh again with new content, its about making it fresh again by enhancing current content. A week after the patch, I am actually having a lot of fun again.
I can't go too far without mentioning the recent server mer...I mean....transfers and how the effect of a larger population in-game just makes the game world/galaxy feel alive again. With over 300 people in the respective fleets at peak hours, and many more on other planets or flashpoints/operations, there is just a sense that the game has gotten it's second wind, even if it was at the expense other servers. Even trolls in general chat was a welcome relief to almost nothing happening just a month ago. The server transfers were, in a way, an early extention of Patch 1.3 itself, especially when you consider the Looking For Group tool.
Bioware did get some flak by not making the LFG cross-server, but really, it doesn't really need to be. At least, not yet. It's current incarnation does what it needs to do, and that is all that matters in the end. I get into flashpoints when I normally would not be able to, such as when on other planets. That, in itself, is already a huge benefit for someone like me who doesn't like staying on the fleet and it gets better when I level an alt. Queue times as DPS becomes tolerable when you decide to do other things while waiting.
Rewards for random hardmode flashpoints and normal operations are quite interesting. Daily commendations can drop in the instance and completing it yields 5 black hole commendations. And it appears to be repeatable. It is clear that Bioware wants people to gear up faster, so it is possible that new content is just around the corner. Or maybe they just want more people to get into Denova. Whatever the case, it is a welcome change for those unable to commit to a regular operations group.
Rated warzones have also been implemented with patch 1.3. Unfortunately, having just moved to the server and having a weird schedule for my day job, I was unable to participate in this yet. Hopefully I would be able to get a group for this pretty soon.
Character legacy perks were also opened up with the patch and there are finally things I would be willing to spend credits on. I immediately bought the respec perk and so far, it has served me well. As good as it is, I really wish they would just go full out and give dual specs. Some of the perks are relatively trivial, but thankfully are not costly. Although, since the perks are character-specific, the costs will add up if you want them on all characters.
Patch 1.3 does not have anything completely groundbreaking, but at least it had fewer disappointments than patch 1.2 and that in itself is a huge plus. Still, Bioware has quite a ways to recover from half a year of .... unflattering press, but their latest update is a good start to a positive trend.
HIGHLIGHTS:
Why do I say that? Well, there is no new content in this patch, so if I'm already tired with the current operations, that feeling would not be alleviated. Even if I were just farming the same hardmode flashpoints over and over again, I would have gotten quite disgruntled a long time ago, and stay that way even with this patch release.
No, this patch is not about making the game fresh again with new content, its about making it fresh again by enhancing current content. A week after the patch, I am actually having a lot of fun again.
I can't go too far without mentioning the recent server mer...I mean....transfers and how the effect of a larger population in-game just makes the game world/galaxy feel alive again. With over 300 people in the respective fleets at peak hours, and many more on other planets or flashpoints/operations, there is just a sense that the game has gotten it's second wind, even if it was at the expense other servers. Even trolls in general chat was a welcome relief to almost nothing happening just a month ago. The server transfers were, in a way, an early extention of Patch 1.3 itself, especially when you consider the Looking For Group tool.
Bioware did get some flak by not making the LFG cross-server, but really, it doesn't really need to be. At least, not yet. It's current incarnation does what it needs to do, and that is all that matters in the end. I get into flashpoints when I normally would not be able to, such as when on other planets. That, in itself, is already a huge benefit for someone like me who doesn't like staying on the fleet and it gets better when I level an alt. Queue times as DPS becomes tolerable when you decide to do other things while waiting.
Rewards for random hardmode flashpoints and normal operations are quite interesting. Daily commendations can drop in the instance and completing it yields 5 black hole commendations. And it appears to be repeatable. It is clear that Bioware wants people to gear up faster, so it is possible that new content is just around the corner. Or maybe they just want more people to get into Denova. Whatever the case, it is a welcome change for those unable to commit to a regular operations group.
Rated warzones have also been implemented with patch 1.3. Unfortunately, having just moved to the server and having a weird schedule for my day job, I was unable to participate in this yet. Hopefully I would be able to get a group for this pretty soon.
Character legacy perks were also opened up with the patch and there are finally things I would be willing to spend credits on. I immediately bought the respec perk and so far, it has served me well. As good as it is, I really wish they would just go full out and give dual specs. Some of the perks are relatively trivial, but thankfully are not costly. Although, since the perks are character-specific, the costs will add up if you want them on all characters.
Patch 1.3 does not have anything completely groundbreaking, but at least it had fewer disappointments than patch 1.2 and that in itself is a huge plus. Still, Bioware has quite a ways to recover from half a year of .... unflattering press, but their latest update is a good start to a positive trend.
HIGHLIGHTS:
- Selling junk items in only 5s. Really, really worth the credits if you got them.
- Leveling has always been amazing in SWTOR and that hasn't changed. Having a LOT of fun with my Jedi Shadow right now.
- Adaptive gear is only good if end game set bonuses can be transferred with armouring. Until that happens, adaptive gear is not appealing unless you don't care about the bonuses.
- Augment kits. Totally love them. Saves me the frustration of getting 40 non-crit crafted items in a row.
- Remembering how much fun this game is. Even with relatively archaic mechanics, it is a good game.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
SWTOR: Farewell Keller's Void
Today Star Wars: The Old Republic starts handing out free server transfers to and from selected servers. It is not an unexpected move and, frankly, it's taken far too long in coming.
Keller's Void has sadly slowly been going downhill when it comes to population. Most nights, it's hard enough to find same faction PvP. There are some guilds that strive to keep going, but things get harder when newer games start releasing *cough*DIABLO*cough*.
While transfers aren't necessarily a bad thing, the service coming at the heels of complaints about low population, or "dead" servers just helps underscore the fact that the game isn't retaining as many players as they thought they would. Is SWTOR still doing well? I personally think they are, but they have made way too many rookie mistakes that gave totally bad impressions of the game and the company. And then there's EA being EA, they figured no one would unsubscribe to their Star Wars game.
Targetted servers were also a good idea. Given a choice, everyone would just flock to whatever server appears to be the most populated i.e. The Fatman. And then there will be complaints about queues. There are more people than one server can hold, and really, only Bioware has any idea about the number of active players so they can strategically funnel people into selected servers in order to help even out the population.
I have to say, I look forward to the prospect of playing on a server that has a healthy population again. If nothing else, the resulting infusion of trolls in general chat will be amusing.
Ready or not, here we come Jedi Covenant!
 |
| Can't say 'It's been nice knowing you' KV. Didn't really know you |
Keller's Void has sadly slowly been going downhill when it comes to population. Most nights, it's hard enough to find same faction PvP. There are some guilds that strive to keep going, but things get harder when newer games start releasing *cough*DIABLO*cough*.
While transfers aren't necessarily a bad thing, the service coming at the heels of complaints about low population, or "dead" servers just helps underscore the fact that the game isn't retaining as many players as they thought they would. Is SWTOR still doing well? I personally think they are, but they have made way too many rookie mistakes that gave totally bad impressions of the game and the company. And then there's EA being EA, they figured no one would unsubscribe to their Star Wars game.
Targetted servers were also a good idea. Given a choice, everyone would just flock to whatever server appears to be the most populated i.e. The Fatman. And then there will be complaints about queues. There are more people than one server can hold, and really, only Bioware has any idea about the number of active players so they can strategically funnel people into selected servers in order to help even out the population.
I have to say, I look forward to the prospect of playing on a server that has a healthy population again. If nothing else, the resulting infusion of trolls in general chat will be amusing.
Ready or not, here we come Jedi Covenant!
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Guild Wars 2 : Second Beta Weekend
I have the unfortunate situation of needing to be at work during the second Guild Wars 2 beta weekend event. Granted, the first event didn't quite get me anxious to play again, I did want to try as hard as I can to really like the game. I wanted to see what all those who are hyping up the game are seeing.
But for the hour or so I was playing, only one thing came to mind: I wanted to go back and do something else. Specifically, I wanted to play more Diablo 3.
Guild Wars 2 has yet to show itself as THE game to play. While I do not have any buyers remorse for pre-purchasing the game, I do want to try to find out why I am not raving about the game. ArenaNet seems to just have everything done right. Graphics and visuals are just amazing. The cities feel alive and vibrant and are large enough to actually be cities. Motion and combat is fluid and the ability system is pretty interesting.
But something just feels....generic....about the whole thing. Not a whole lot of the game feels new and refreshing. Certainly not how RIFT was at launch. SWTOR's game universe also had a freshness to it despite relatively archaic game design. The world of Guild Wars 2 feels like the run of the mill medieval fantasy world that I've seen many times over.
I guess a huge part of the letdown is the story. Particularly the dialogue cutscenes. If they just removed those and replaced it all with quest text, it may actually feel more immersive than it is now. The awkward animations really, really detract from any attempt to lose myself in the story. There is also something creepy about how characters barely move and stare in just that one way in all those cutscenes. It has been rather painful to watch.
There are also some disconnects with the story. In the human lands, there does not seem to be much connection between the prologue and the story after it. An invasion of centaurs leads to some huge bone hands....and they are never mentioned again. At least the centaurs re-appear, but the bone hands and elementals; their involvement is not touched upon. Perhaps it will later in the game, but by then, the event would probably have been forgotten. You would think that something able to summon such a montrosity would be looked into by authorities and would require a hero to help figure deal with a larger, overarching threat.
Dynamic events have been a huge part of driving the hype of the game, but it too is not quite as good as I was led to believe. The problem is that the dynamic event feels less dynamic if you can wait for it to happen. Granted, there does not appear to be set times for events to happen, but they do happen fairly often. Unlike RIFT's titular rifts, GW2's events are strictly local to just a small area and so they are far more predictable. Some of the events are also very boring.
As alive and as dynamic as ArenaNet wants the world to feel, ironically there isn't really all that much to do. Yes, exploration is supposed to be a major activity, but exploration can only go so far. I go into a new area and see wheat fields. Yay. But also nothing happening at the time so it's several minutes of nothing really happening except for me walking across large farmland. After dealing with an area's quest, you don't really get an option to do it again.
All this said, everything is in beta. Even if some complaints are about things that will likely not change, there's still time for ArenaNet to put some more meat into the game. As it is, I don't look forward to the game as I normally do for big releases. Its come to the point where I won't mind only being able to play a week after release if timing does not line up right with my schedule.
Highlights:
But for the hour or so I was playing, only one thing came to mind: I wanted to go back and do something else. Specifically, I wanted to play more Diablo 3.
Guild Wars 2 has yet to show itself as THE game to play. While I do not have any buyers remorse for pre-purchasing the game, I do want to try to find out why I am not raving about the game. ArenaNet seems to just have everything done right. Graphics and visuals are just amazing. The cities feel alive and vibrant and are large enough to actually be cities. Motion and combat is fluid and the ability system is pretty interesting.
But something just feels....generic....about the whole thing. Not a whole lot of the game feels new and refreshing. Certainly not how RIFT was at launch. SWTOR's game universe also had a freshness to it despite relatively archaic game design. The world of Guild Wars 2 feels like the run of the mill medieval fantasy world that I've seen many times over.
I guess a huge part of the letdown is the story. Particularly the dialogue cutscenes. If they just removed those and replaced it all with quest text, it may actually feel more immersive than it is now. The awkward animations really, really detract from any attempt to lose myself in the story. There is also something creepy about how characters barely move and stare in just that one way in all those cutscenes. It has been rather painful to watch.
There are also some disconnects with the story. In the human lands, there does not seem to be much connection between the prologue and the story after it. An invasion of centaurs leads to some huge bone hands....and they are never mentioned again. At least the centaurs re-appear, but the bone hands and elementals; their involvement is not touched upon. Perhaps it will later in the game, but by then, the event would probably have been forgotten. You would think that something able to summon such a montrosity would be looked into by authorities and would require a hero to help figure deal with a larger, overarching threat.
Dynamic events have been a huge part of driving the hype of the game, but it too is not quite as good as I was led to believe. The problem is that the dynamic event feels less dynamic if you can wait for it to happen. Granted, there does not appear to be set times for events to happen, but they do happen fairly often. Unlike RIFT's titular rifts, GW2's events are strictly local to just a small area and so they are far more predictable. Some of the events are also very boring.
As alive and as dynamic as ArenaNet wants the world to feel, ironically there isn't really all that much to do. Yes, exploration is supposed to be a major activity, but exploration can only go so far. I go into a new area and see wheat fields. Yay. But also nothing happening at the time so it's several minutes of nothing really happening except for me walking across large farmland. After dealing with an area's quest, you don't really get an option to do it again.
All this said, everything is in beta. Even if some complaints are about things that will likely not change, there's still time for ArenaNet to put some more meat into the game. As it is, I don't look forward to the game as I normally do for big releases. Its come to the point where I won't mind only being able to play a week after release if timing does not line up right with my schedule.
Highlights:
- Yes, even after an entire article saying how I dislike the game, there are still highlights. Lets not say I'm not an impartial reviewer
- They have Asura models in the world now and one gives an activated event. I haven't tried repeating it though. The novelty of herding little Moas into a pen really wears out quickly.
- Yes, the Asura are really cute. I am now 100% sure I won't be playing one.
- Abilities seem to have been buffed. I don't remember dealing quite as much damage as I do now with some guardian abilities.
- Speaking of which, purchasable abilities have been streamlined to weed out the weird or weak ones. Skill point costs are also lower.
- Skills are now tiered. No more getting some more advanced skills until you get enough of the lower tier skills.
- Some UI enhancements. Mostly minor, but definitely makes sense.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
SWTOR: Patch 1.2 Test Impressions
TLDR: Patch 1.2 felt like the second release date of Star Wars The Old Republic. While the core mechanics of the game haven't changed, it's the many small things that did makes the game feel new again.
While 1.7 million subscribers would indicate the game is far from a failure, Star Wars The Old Republic has not been without it's major problems. A good chunk of these problems were in the end game and Bioware seemed surprised that so many people would hit 50 in such a short time, much less be finished with end game content. While the debate can go on that it's the player's fault for rushing through the game, it doesn't excuse released content that really isn't all there.
The complete changes for patch 1.2 is just very massive. Without a level 50 on the test server, I could not reliably say anything about the end game changes and really, there is just too much content to cover. But with pretty much every change, you cannot shake the thinking that they should have been available at launch.
Interface Editor
Probably one of the biggest criticisms about the game is the lack of movable user interface elements. Or even more interface options for that matter. At launch, the game only has 4 action bars, only 2 of which are on the center and easily seen. With all the abilities that I have keybindings for, I had to use the side bars and looking over at them is just not ideal in a PvP situation.
Patch 1.2 makes up for it by not giving you more action bars, but by making almost every UI element modifiable. Each individual item can be re-sized, enabled, and have it's opacity changed. Settings are also saved into an XML file so they can be easily shared. A bit of a crafty method of not needing any third party mods.
Bioware also moved the raid frame editor to the interface editor, which is a good move. This allows some better control for the window without cluttering the already cluttered preferences screen.
I easily spent almost an hour just messing around with the UI and I am not even at the point of being really content with my choices. I found something usable for now and will see how it all works later on.
Somewhat Improved Galactic Trade Network
No, it doesn't quite look like much has changed, but it does have one very important tweak. You can search by name without selecting a category. Yes, they finally made the trade network work as it should have, and it only took 4 months. No, I'm not bitter. Well, maybe a little. Modable gear now has its own category too so it will make it much easier to find them. Sadly, there was nothing for me to find at the time I was typing this up.
New Gear...Which Still Looks Like Crap
Behold the new tier of Sith Assassin PvE gear!
Now I'm not the most artistic person in the world. Heck, I have trouble drawing a box, let alone designing my own clothes, but I've never been happy with how most gear looks in this game. I mean, yes, the skirt is gone, but what is the deal with those....hook....thingies?
Luckily, all mods can be removed from the gear pieces and added on to other modable gear. This includes the armoring, which transfers the set bonus. Unfortunately, I was not able to get a level 50 transferred so I could not test it out and get more details.
Still, the additional tier of gear will help out end game raiders by keeping progression in the game. Having all three end game tiers in 2 really easy operations allowed the upper echelon to get their gear too quickly. Its like having the carrot on so short a stick that the horse was able to reach it by sticking out it's tongue.
These were just a couple of major changes to the game and this made me decide to play on the test server to find everything else.
Highlights and Small Changes
While 1.7 million subscribers would indicate the game is far from a failure, Star Wars The Old Republic has not been without it's major problems. A good chunk of these problems were in the end game and Bioware seemed surprised that so many people would hit 50 in such a short time, much less be finished with end game content. While the debate can go on that it's the player's fault for rushing through the game, it doesn't excuse released content that really isn't all there.
The complete changes for patch 1.2 is just very massive. Without a level 50 on the test server, I could not reliably say anything about the end game changes and really, there is just too much content to cover. But with pretty much every change, you cannot shake the thinking that they should have been available at launch.
Interface Editor
 |
| So many boxes..... |
Patch 1.2 makes up for it by not giving you more action bars, but by making almost every UI element modifiable. Each individual item can be re-sized, enabled, and have it's opacity changed. Settings are also saved into an XML file so they can be easily shared. A bit of a crafty method of not needing any third party mods.
Bioware also moved the raid frame editor to the interface editor, which is a good move. This allows some better control for the window without cluttering the already cluttered preferences screen.
I easily spent almost an hour just messing around with the UI and I am not even at the point of being really content with my choices. I found something usable for now and will see how it all works later on.
Somewhat Improved Galactic Trade Network
No, it doesn't quite look like much has changed, but it does have one very important tweak. You can search by name without selecting a category. Yes, they finally made the trade network work as it should have, and it only took 4 months. No, I'm not bitter. Well, maybe a little. Modable gear now has its own category too so it will make it much easier to find them. Sadly, there was nothing for me to find at the time I was typing this up.
New Gear...Which Still Looks Like Crap
Behold the new tier of Sith Assassin PvE gear!
 |
| Well, at least the skirt is gone... |
Luckily, all mods can be removed from the gear pieces and added on to other modable gear. This includes the armoring, which transfers the set bonus. Unfortunately, I was not able to get a level 50 transferred so I could not test it out and get more details.
Still, the additional tier of gear will help out end game raiders by keeping progression in the game. Having all three end game tiers in 2 really easy operations allowed the upper echelon to get their gear too quickly. Its like having the carrot on so short a stick that the horse was able to reach it by sticking out it's tongue.
These were just a couple of major changes to the game and this made me decide to play on the test server to find everything else.
Highlights and Small Changes
- Sprint at level 1! Some may wonder why bother having Sprint at all. There are some puzzles/datacrons that are not possible to reach when Sprint is on, so this makes sense as an ability for now.
- When I started playing, there were 149 people on Korriban, and that number did not go down appreciably as I left for the fleet. At the time of typing this up, there are over a hundred people on Drommund Kaas. It's like beta all over again.
- Winning PvP is more important now and the disparity of rewards between winning and losing is much larger. Winning a match gives additional medals so you can get 80-100 commendations winning a game vs just 20-40 by losing.
- Pre-50 PvP weapons cost 900 warzone commendations. Ouch.
- 40 Minute Hutbball match! No, that wasn't pleasant. It seemed that the game would not end until one side got 6 points. Was crazy though.
- The new Warzone was nice and intuitive. A more involving version of the Alderaan map.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
SWTOR: Space Combat Preview
Space Combat is probably one of the more underrated features of Star Wars The Old Republic. Yes, it certainly is not innovative gameplay by any stretch of the imagination, but it really is quite fun.
Of course, fun is relative and many will probably not look past the fact that it is a rail shooter. Admittedly, i did have trouble when I first tried to play, not really knowing what to expect. Controls were simple, but tend to be sluggish so that took a while to get used to.
Gearing the ship is very expensive so you should not expect to buy all the upgrades at the same time. Since missions can be repeated even if you fail, you can decide which upgrade will be the most beneficial if you cannot afford them all. Mission ends with you alive but targets not getting destroyed in time? Just get the cannon upgrades and perhaps one for the missiles too.
It certainly is a very pleasant diversion from the normal MMO game. You can certainly play the game without ever doing a space combat mission, but i think this gives players a better feel of being part of a larger game world...or galaxy.
Of course, fun is relative and many will probably not look past the fact that it is a rail shooter. Admittedly, i did have trouble when I first tried to play, not really knowing what to expect. Controls were simple, but tend to be sluggish so that took a while to get used to.
Gearing the ship is very expensive so you should not expect to buy all the upgrades at the same time. Since missions can be repeated even if you fail, you can decide which upgrade will be the most beneficial if you cannot afford them all. Mission ends with you alive but targets not getting destroyed in time? Just get the cannon upgrades and perhaps one for the missiles too.
It certainly is a very pleasant diversion from the normal MMO game. You can certainly play the game without ever doing a space combat mission, but i think this gives players a better feel of being part of a larger game world...or galaxy.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
SWTOR: Tanking Alderaan PvP
I have to say I am definitely having more fun doing PvP in Star Wars: The Old Republic than any other game I've played. Heck, even League of Legends did not keep me for very long, as great a game as it is. I suppose a huge part in SWTOR's favour is the fact that PvP is very accessible. The bolstering mechanic allows even a level 10 to go toe to toe with a level 50 and potentially win. However, it does not give any talents or skills so that is already a huge disadvantage. Bolster also does not scale down, so those with top pvp gear will still overpower those just jumping in as soon as they can queue for warzones.
Mind you, I've never been one-shot. Or 2-shot for that matter. I went up against a level 40 Jedi Guardian a few times and it was apparent we were both in tank spec. However, the gearing and ability differences were very obvious and I was clearly outmatched. But even then, the fight did take a while before I ran away like the coward I am.
Alderaan is not exactly perfect for a tanking class. With the lower damage, you can't expect to go solo and kill someone. However, because of high survivability, you are suited to being able to protect the objectives for a long time. Sure, it can be boring, but SWTOR actually makes it clear that it rewards people more for objective play than how many people you killed. In this Alderaan vid, I cut out several minutes because nothing happened while defending the center node but I ended up 3rd on the leaderboard, particularly with the medal count and objective points.
The match shown was really really close - pretty much down the wire, but we were able to pull it off in the end. Pretty good for a PUG group actually.
Highlights of the match:
Mind you, I've never been one-shot. Or 2-shot for that matter. I went up against a level 40 Jedi Guardian a few times and it was apparent we were both in tank spec. However, the gearing and ability differences were very obvious and I was clearly outmatched. But even then, the fight did take a while before I ran away like the coward I am.
Alderaan is not exactly perfect for a tanking class. With the lower damage, you can't expect to go solo and kill someone. However, because of high survivability, you are suited to being able to protect the objectives for a long time. Sure, it can be boring, but SWTOR actually makes it clear that it rewards people more for objective play than how many people you killed. In this Alderaan vid, I cut out several minutes because nothing happened while defending the center node but I ended up 3rd on the leaderboard, particularly with the medal count and objective points.
The match shown was really really close - pretty much down the wire, but we were able to pull it off in the end. Pretty good for a PUG group actually.
Highlights of the match:
- Some really terrible goofs from yours truly. Learn from my mistake and NEVER leave the objective for a long time.
- The nodes interfere with line of sight and smaller characters can effectively hide themselves. You may never know that they are there until it is too late.
- Line of sight also makes stopping a node capper from range a bit harder. If you are range, make sure to move around the node to take shots at them.
- Keeping a friendly shielded and his opponent taunted ensures his victory. After the taunt, I go back to guard my node.
- 11k Objective points! I honestly have no idea how and which points factor in to your rewards. Unfortunately, the leaderboard does not show the rewards given to even your teammates.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
SWTOR: More Tank Hutball
Over the weekend I focused on getting my Sith Juggernaut to a level where I get more tools to play with. I stopped at level 26 and this gave me access to Force Choke and Force Push. The former is a nice crowd control ability limited only to the fact that it is channeled. It lasts for 3s but that is usually enough to keep someone away from an objective.
Force Push is just a fantastic ability. All day I have denied goals and killed opponents with this ability and made PvP even more fun. The knockback distance is actually quite long, perhaps 15 meters and it can stun opponents unlike other class' knockbacks. The one minute cooldown is very limiting however and knowing when to use or save it for later can make a difference.
Some highlights of the video:
Force Push is just a fantastic ability. All day I have denied goals and killed opponents with this ability and made PvP even more fun. The knockback distance is actually quite long, perhaps 15 meters and it can stun opponents unlike other class' knockbacks. The one minute cooldown is very limiting however and knowing when to use or save it for later can make a difference.
Some highlights of the video:
- Good use of ball passing for both sides.
- Using Force Push to knock people off ledges and into hazards. In one case, I pushed the enemy ball carrier into the poison hazard and rooted him with a charge to make sure he dies. I died too, but that was fun.
- Using Taunt when I can to make sure the ball carrier takes less damage. A Powertech was also doing very well shielding the ball carriers.
- A lot of good group play in protecting the ball carrier. The opposing group were a little disorganized, but they didn't lack in effort and had been trying to score.
- A teammate going the wrong way! It was a little confusing at first before we realized what was happening. We were ahead 3-0 though so everyone had a laugh. That same ball carrier also seemed inexperienced with ball passing.
Monday, November 21, 2011
SWTOR: The Last Beta
So this is it, the (very likely) last of the weekend beta tests for Star Wars: The Old Republic. And boy this is going to be a whopper. There's no official estimate as to how many people have been invited or have accepted the beta test, but we can probably give a good guess at it. Bioware did indicate that there are around 1.4 million registered accounts on their site, but that number is inflated due to those with multiple accounts, including yours truly. Still, given that there are over 800k retail box pre-orders in the US alone, plus the fact that around 200k+ codes were given away through media partners, that number may indeed be reached. However, given the test is on a US holiday weekend, there is a huge chunk of people who won't be able to play so the number may be closer to 700k, which is still a lot.
Will the game experience problems on day 1? It certainly would not be a stress test if it didn't. However, Stephen Reid did mention that they intended to use this test to determine how they deal with Early Game Access. I would not be surprised if people would be given a set time they are allowed to log on during the day that the beta starts. Doing this gives me high confidence that they are really committed in a smooth release. Not high confidence that release will be smooth? Of course not. You can't plan enough for events like this, especially with the numbers they will be expecting. Can they pull it off? I belive so. But, at the same time, I will not be surprised if things do go wrong.
As long as "things do go wrong" does not include deleting the whole game. *cough*
One thing I did find interesting is how excited I ended up being for the game. Earlier this year, I was lamenting on how long Bioware was taking to even give a release date and that my interest in the game was waning. It was to the point that I was almost ready to give up waiting. But then the large scale betas happened. Getting my hands on the game did so much to alleviate a lot of my concerns about the game and brought back to life that little dying spark of excitement I had. I was happy to send in bugs I found and provided my feedback. Now, I just can't wait to test it again or play it when it goes live.
See ya'll in beta!
Will the game experience problems on day 1? It certainly would not be a stress test if it didn't. However, Stephen Reid did mention that they intended to use this test to determine how they deal with Early Game Access. I would not be surprised if people would be given a set time they are allowed to log on during the day that the beta starts. Doing this gives me high confidence that they are really committed in a smooth release. Not high confidence that release will be smooth? Of course not. You can't plan enough for events like this, especially with the numbers they will be expecting. Can they pull it off? I belive so. But, at the same time, I will not be surprised if things do go wrong.
As long as "things do go wrong" does not include deleting the whole game. *cough*
One thing I did find interesting is how excited I ended up being for the game. Earlier this year, I was lamenting on how long Bioware was taking to even give a release date and that my interest in the game was waning. It was to the point that I was almost ready to give up waiting. But then the large scale betas happened. Getting my hands on the game did so much to alleviate a lot of my concerns about the game and brought back to life that little dying spark of excitement I had. I was happy to send in bugs I found and provided my feedback. Now, I just can't wait to test it again or play it when it goes live.
See ya'll in beta!
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
DING! Leveling Up and Pacing
With Star Wars: The Old Republic releasing very soon (hopefully I get in on Dec. 15, but I don't mind waiting for release), I have thought quite a bit about how this game, or future games, can keep me playing past that first month. So many aspects of SWTOR is still unknown thanks to the Non-Disclosure Agreement for most people and one of them is the leveling curve. After quite a bit of thought, it is that leveling curve that played a major part of why I still play World of Warcraft.
Now why would the leveling curve be important? Surely one would like to get to max level as soon as possible to be able to "fully enjoy the game". It was certainly a train of thought I had years ago. I remember when The Burning Crusade expansion went live, I hadn't slept much over the course of 4 days to be one of the first to 70. After which I promised myself never to do that ever again and, so far, I've kept to that promise.
World of Warcraft's current pace of leveling is certainly not a good point of reference. With so many expansions since it's release, the game pretty much just wants you to blow through the low levels to get the the relevant content. Even without heirloom gear (+xp) or guild leveling perks (more +xp), you can easily skip several zones you've never seen because you can outlevel them by just completing the current zone you are in.
No, if WoW is going to be a point of reference, we will have to go back to the 1-60 game almost 7 years ago. I had started playing March of 2005 and it took me around 5 months to get my first 60. Granted, I've spent time to try a few classes and server types (the RP servers back then were waaaay out of my league and they still are), but during all that time, I have always enjoyed the game and the pace allowed me to get immersed with the world and my chosen character at the time. It felt that my character was growing and learning and that the world (of warcraft) was alive even without dynamic content.
Azeroth just feels to me now like it is a virtual home.
In contrast, leveling in RIFT was just way too fast. I hit level 50 in just 3 weeks and I wasn't even trying that hard. I had split my time between 2 games and still made it to max level in less time than it took for me to find a character I want to level in WoW. I loved the rich environments, but the pace just would not allow me to stay still long enough to be immersed in it. Heck, even now I don't know what the deal is between the rivalry between the Defiants and Guardians. Their emnity always seemed rather petty and arbitrary to me. The titular rifts did spice things up a bit, but a lot of them made them feel grindy, and the randomness of some events made me miss out on the more interesting invasions when they were relevant (eg: I never saw a werewolf invasion while I was questing in Gloamwood).
In the end, while RIFT may be the better game in many respects, I went back to World of Warcraft. It's not even about the time invested in the game, but RIFT simply did not give me the sense of really knowing my character. A lot of the questing is generic and there is nothing that helps define your niche in the world. It's just "get to 50 and grind for your gear". While that pretty much sums up ALL MMOs, having gone through 1-49 so quickly just made it the whole lot more obvious. Grinds just don't feel like grinds when there is an actual objective to reach that is more than an in-game item.
Perhaps SWTOR's "story driven" gameplay can drive things up several notches when it comes to pace. Without really knowing how fast levelling is, I can only guess that focusing on the story would slow things down significantly. I can certainly tell from the released videos that a lot of time will be spent just watching what goes on during conversations. If the quality of story is similar to Bioware's single player games like Mass Effect or Dragon Age (or even older games like Baldur's Gate for that matter), and if the game paces itself where I get to care about my character and the game world around him, then WoW will have some serious competetion for my time. Perhaps my new home will be in a galaxy far, far away.
Or maybe I'll be running around as an Asura in Guild Wars 2. Or sharing the skies with panda people on dragons. Only time will tell.
Now why would the leveling curve be important? Surely one would like to get to max level as soon as possible to be able to "fully enjoy the game". It was certainly a train of thought I had years ago. I remember when The Burning Crusade expansion went live, I hadn't slept much over the course of 4 days to be one of the first to 70. After which I promised myself never to do that ever again and, so far, I've kept to that promise.
World of Warcraft's current pace of leveling is certainly not a good point of reference. With so many expansions since it's release, the game pretty much just wants you to blow through the low levels to get the the relevant content. Even without heirloom gear (+xp) or guild leveling perks (more +xp), you can easily skip several zones you've never seen because you can outlevel them by just completing the current zone you are in.
No, if WoW is going to be a point of reference, we will have to go back to the 1-60 game almost 7 years ago. I had started playing March of 2005 and it took me around 5 months to get my first 60. Granted, I've spent time to try a few classes and server types (the RP servers back then were waaaay out of my league and they still are), but during all that time, I have always enjoyed the game and the pace allowed me to get immersed with the world and my chosen character at the time. It felt that my character was growing and learning and that the world (of warcraft) was alive even without dynamic content.
Azeroth just feels to me now like it is a virtual home.
In contrast, leveling in RIFT was just way too fast. I hit level 50 in just 3 weeks and I wasn't even trying that hard. I had split my time between 2 games and still made it to max level in less time than it took for me to find a character I want to level in WoW. I loved the rich environments, but the pace just would not allow me to stay still long enough to be immersed in it. Heck, even now I don't know what the deal is between the rivalry between the Defiants and Guardians. Their emnity always seemed rather petty and arbitrary to me. The titular rifts did spice things up a bit, but a lot of them made them feel grindy, and the randomness of some events made me miss out on the more interesting invasions when they were relevant (eg: I never saw a werewolf invasion while I was questing in Gloamwood).
In the end, while RIFT may be the better game in many respects, I went back to World of Warcraft. It's not even about the time invested in the game, but RIFT simply did not give me the sense of really knowing my character. A lot of the questing is generic and there is nothing that helps define your niche in the world. It's just "get to 50 and grind for your gear". While that pretty much sums up ALL MMOs, having gone through 1-49 so quickly just made it the whole lot more obvious. Grinds just don't feel like grinds when there is an actual objective to reach that is more than an in-game item.
Perhaps SWTOR's "story driven" gameplay can drive things up several notches when it comes to pace. Without really knowing how fast levelling is, I can only guess that focusing on the story would slow things down significantly. I can certainly tell from the released videos that a lot of time will be spent just watching what goes on during conversations. If the quality of story is similar to Bioware's single player games like Mass Effect or Dragon Age (or even older games like Baldur's Gate for that matter), and if the game paces itself where I get to care about my character and the game world around him, then WoW will have some serious competetion for my time. Perhaps my new home will be in a galaxy far, far away.
Or maybe I'll be running around as an Asura in Guild Wars 2. Or sharing the skies with panda people on dragons. Only time will tell.
Friday, November 4, 2011
Mechwarrior Online: Joy oh Joy!
There is now do doubt that this site is not about breaking news. I only learned about Mechwarrior Online from Massively and even that is a link to the GamebreakerTV webcast. I have heard some mention of it here and there, but I didn't really give it mind...probably because I think it's too good to be true.
But there it is. It's true.
Now this is where the bigger nerds get to beat me up - I did not read a lot of the BattleTech/Mechwarrior novels. Much of my exposure to the BattleTech universe has been through the tabletop RPG, boardgame, technical readouts, and Mechwarrior video games. But the stuff I did do, I had a LOT of fun with. I remember one boardgame skirmish where a player was laughing at a situation where his 100-ton Atlas was being fired upon by a 20-ton Locust's machine gun. Then the Locust scored a critical hit. Which hit the Atlas' reactor. The Locust did die, but the Atlas was crippled for the rest of the skirmish, being unable to move more than 1 hex per turn, and was effectively useless.
These were the kind of situations that made BattleTech so engaging even though luck played a huge factor (much less in the later games). This translated well with the BattleTech computer RPG (The Crescent Hawk's Inception) and the added roleplaying elements of finding a good team just made it more immersive. Many times I ended up shelving a favourite mech until I had the resources or expertise to repair it.
Then there was the concept of customizing mechs. This was always part of the game world, but implemented early on as mech variants (i.e. different weapon configurations). This was kept as set configurations (limited on the availability of the weapons) until the later Mechwarrior games when you can put any type of weapon limited only by weight or allotted space.
But what made the BattleTech world really immersive was the fact that it was easy to relate to. Technology in BattleTech/Mechwarrior was not completely otherworldly. Mechs were lumbering behemoths that was in constant danger of killing it's own pilot through overheating. Projectile weapons like machine guns or missile launchers were the norm and the more powerful laser weapons just exacerbates the heat issue. There were also no alien races. Humans are split into feudal factions that have some cultural resemblance to our own.
In the Mechwarrior games, piloting a mech was anything but graceful. The mechs simply felt huge. There were no instant turns, run/walk toggle, or even automatic targetting. The things can't even jump without jets firing and landing was another matter. Got your leg shot out? Then you can see the mech limping and barely able to move. Heat sinks damaged? Gotta find some water and stay there if you want to use your laser weapons. I remember blowing up my own mech when my ammo exploded due to overheating. Also, nothing can really make you swear in despair more than having your mech shut down and seeing 15 missiles headed right to your cockpit. I can probably go on and on about what I loved about the franchise (and what I hated), but that would just take too much time to do.
Mechwarrior Online will have really high standards to reach. While there hasn't been a Battletech/Mechwarrior game in years, nor has there been anything that matches the experience since then, the developers will need to build up on what's already been made.
I guess we'll just have to wait and see if Piranha and Infinity Game Publishing can pull it off. In the meantime, all this hype has led me to MekTek and their Mechwarrior 4 distribution. I'm just kicking myself right now for not even knowing they existed until today. So much for resting on the weekend.
But there it is. It's true.
Now this is where the bigger nerds get to beat me up - I did not read a lot of the BattleTech/Mechwarrior novels. Much of my exposure to the BattleTech universe has been through the tabletop RPG, boardgame, technical readouts, and Mechwarrior video games. But the stuff I did do, I had a LOT of fun with. I remember one boardgame skirmish where a player was laughing at a situation where his 100-ton Atlas was being fired upon by a 20-ton Locust's machine gun. Then the Locust scored a critical hit. Which hit the Atlas' reactor. The Locust did die, but the Atlas was crippled for the rest of the skirmish, being unable to move more than 1 hex per turn, and was effectively useless.
These were the kind of situations that made BattleTech so engaging even though luck played a huge factor (much less in the later games). This translated well with the BattleTech computer RPG (The Crescent Hawk's Inception) and the added roleplaying elements of finding a good team just made it more immersive. Many times I ended up shelving a favourite mech until I had the resources or expertise to repair it.
Then there was the concept of customizing mechs. This was always part of the game world, but implemented early on as mech variants (i.e. different weapon configurations). This was kept as set configurations (limited on the availability of the weapons) until the later Mechwarrior games when you can put any type of weapon limited only by weight or allotted space.
But what made the BattleTech world really immersive was the fact that it was easy to relate to. Technology in BattleTech/Mechwarrior was not completely otherworldly. Mechs were lumbering behemoths that was in constant danger of killing it's own pilot through overheating. Projectile weapons like machine guns or missile launchers were the norm and the more powerful laser weapons just exacerbates the heat issue. There were also no alien races. Humans are split into feudal factions that have some cultural resemblance to our own.
In the Mechwarrior games, piloting a mech was anything but graceful. The mechs simply felt huge. There were no instant turns, run/walk toggle, or even automatic targetting. The things can't even jump without jets firing and landing was another matter. Got your leg shot out? Then you can see the mech limping and barely able to move. Heat sinks damaged? Gotta find some water and stay there if you want to use your laser weapons. I remember blowing up my own mech when my ammo exploded due to overheating. Also, nothing can really make you swear in despair more than having your mech shut down and seeing 15 missiles headed right to your cockpit. I can probably go on and on about what I loved about the franchise (and what I hated), but that would just take too much time to do.
Mechwarrior Online will have really high standards to reach. While there hasn't been a Battletech/Mechwarrior game in years, nor has there been anything that matches the experience since then, the developers will need to build up on what's already been made.
I guess we'll just have to wait and see if Piranha and Infinity Game Publishing can pull it off. In the meantime, all this hype has led me to MekTek and their Mechwarrior 4 distribution. I'm just kicking myself right now for not even knowing they existed until today. So much for resting on the weekend.
Friday, October 14, 2011
SWTOR: A Never-End Game Story?
Ok, that was a terrible title, but I like it somehow so I'll stick with it.
The developers of Star Wars: The Old Republic have repeatedly touted that it's MMOs "story driven" gameplay will set it apart from all others. Story has indeed been a huge part in many games. World of Warcraft decided to focus on the story of the game with Wrath of the Lich King and had implemented technologies (e.g. phasing) to make the game more immersive. RIFT's dynamic environment does something similar and they have been releasing stories relating to the game's lore - something I wish they had done before the game was released. There is no doubt that the more attached the player is their character(s), the more they would want to spend time playing.
But then, in RIFT and WoW, the story is little more than a diversion from the daily routine. Once the story has 'ended', i.e. finished all the plot quests, it's back to the grind. I barely do any daily quests anymore and queue up for random dungeons only with great hesitation. Then again, it did take me a few years to get to this point in WoW so that's saying something about how the game keeps me engaged. Sadly, I got to this rut in RIFT after only 4 months.
SWTOR, on the other hand, supposedly brings the story at the forefront and is supposed to take a good chunk of time to do. Now this intrigues me in good and bad ways.
First off, I have played Bioware RPGs and the story elements are mostly top-notch. I have rarely played a Bioware RPG where I did not end up immersed as a result of the story. My favourite was Dragon Age: Origins. The story of the game did feel epic and it made up for a number of shortcomings. In the end, it gave my character great depth and I felt proud for his great achievements in the game world (also, he died). I played through a few more times, but none of the other characters felt as epic. If SWTOR has a story element as good as this, I would be extremely happy.
But that brings me to the other side of the coin: stories have an ending. In my Dragon Age: Origins example, the game ended leaving me in awe and amazement at how good a game it was. Even all other playthroughs ended at some point. MMOs in general are not designed to end. When a player reaches max level, the game does make a change, and not always for the better. How will the character's story cope with the grindiness of the end game? If the story is about my Sith Warrior's rise in power and becomes a Darth at level 50, what now? Will the story be to go from system to system to kill x number of Jedi Knights on a daily basis? If there is more to it, how much more can there be until more can be added through patches or an expansion?
As excited as I am with getting my hands on SWTOR (subtle hint to get a beta invite), I have to wonder how the story element can hold up in the long run. MMOs are games to be played over a lengthly amount of time and there has to be something to do when logging on. Will the story provide sufficient longevity so players will keep playing this game over others? Or will the story elements while leveling (which is said to be quite substantial) be enough for players to have such an attachment to their character(s) that they would invest more time in the game even if there is no longer a story to do?
Unfortunately, it is very difficult to answer that question. With the current NDA, there is no more info than what Bioware/EA has released or allowed to be seen. We need to have faith in the force (i.e. Bioware) that they can pull it all off.
The developers of Star Wars: The Old Republic have repeatedly touted that it's MMOs "story driven" gameplay will set it apart from all others. Story has indeed been a huge part in many games. World of Warcraft decided to focus on the story of the game with Wrath of the Lich King and had implemented technologies (e.g. phasing) to make the game more immersive. RIFT's dynamic environment does something similar and they have been releasing stories relating to the game's lore - something I wish they had done before the game was released. There is no doubt that the more attached the player is their character(s), the more they would want to spend time playing.
But then, in RIFT and WoW, the story is little more than a diversion from the daily routine. Once the story has 'ended', i.e. finished all the plot quests, it's back to the grind. I barely do any daily quests anymore and queue up for random dungeons only with great hesitation. Then again, it did take me a few years to get to this point in WoW so that's saying something about how the game keeps me engaged. Sadly, I got to this rut in RIFT after only 4 months.
SWTOR, on the other hand, supposedly brings the story at the forefront and is supposed to take a good chunk of time to do. Now this intrigues me in good and bad ways.
First off, I have played Bioware RPGs and the story elements are mostly top-notch. I have rarely played a Bioware RPG where I did not end up immersed as a result of the story. My favourite was Dragon Age: Origins. The story of the game did feel epic and it made up for a number of shortcomings. In the end, it gave my character great depth and I felt proud for his great achievements in the game world (also, he died). I played through a few more times, but none of the other characters felt as epic. If SWTOR has a story element as good as this, I would be extremely happy.
But that brings me to the other side of the coin: stories have an ending. In my Dragon Age: Origins example, the game ended leaving me in awe and amazement at how good a game it was. Even all other playthroughs ended at some point. MMOs in general are not designed to end. When a player reaches max level, the game does make a change, and not always for the better. How will the character's story cope with the grindiness of the end game? If the story is about my Sith Warrior's rise in power and becomes a Darth at level 50, what now? Will the story be to go from system to system to kill x number of Jedi Knights on a daily basis? If there is more to it, how much more can there be until more can be added through patches or an expansion?
As excited as I am with getting my hands on SWTOR (subtle hint to get a beta invite), I have to wonder how the story element can hold up in the long run. MMOs are games to be played over a lengthly amount of time and there has to be something to do when logging on. Will the story provide sufficient longevity so players will keep playing this game over others? Or will the story elements while leveling (which is said to be quite substantial) be enough for players to have such an attachment to their character(s) that they would invest more time in the game even if there is no longer a story to do?
Unfortunately, it is very difficult to answer that question. With the current NDA, there is no more info than what Bioware/EA has released or allowed to be seen. We need to have faith in the force (i.e. Bioware) that they can pull it all off.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
SWTOR: How Long is too Long?
Star Wars: The Old Republic (or SWTOR) is arguably the most anticipted MMO right now, with Guild Wars 2 being the other game out there making the MMO fans wait excitedly. But news for SWTOR has been relatively light considering the potential release date window closing in. I say "potential" because EA/Bioware has so far refused to give out their target release date. The best they have offered is "holiday 2011".
Considering that, as of September 2011, the game is still in closed beta, that likely means a December release, but that is only speculation at best. Now there is news that the game might be pushed to 2012. Naturally, online comments about this haven't been too kind.
But it hasn't really been so long since the game was announced, only a mere 3 years. World of Warcraft took that long from announcement to live and it grew to be the biggest game of it's time. Wouldn't it follow that SWTOR would go down this same path? Is it wrong to say that this waiting has gone for too long?
The biggest problem I have with SWTOR and the wait is that the hype machine is not exactly doing it for me. Somehow, I feel it is simply lacking. Anticipation for the game was high when it was announced but there has not been any increase in activity since then. Videos and announcements seem to have been released in small doses. If one is not lucky enough to have attended PAX, E3, or similar expos, there is no chance to even get a feel for the game other than short glimpses.
Beta weekends were the biggest thing to happen to get anticipation high about the game and probably the biggest news since it's annoucement. Not only did it get the fans all excited about getting an invite, but it provided a sense that the game is just around the corner. Finally, we had thought, the waiting is coming to an end. Then, after what EA/Bioware indicated was a successful beta weekend, they announced the next weekend would be cancelled. While I know they probably have a good reason for it, it certainly does not bode well for the fans and slows anticipation to a crawl, if not stop it in it's tracks altogether.
Coupled with the news article linked above, one has to wonder what is really going on. If release is slated in 3 months, getting more people into beta would make perfect sense. There should be an increase in anticipation for the game, not more of the same small stream of videos and art previews. Whatever happened to things like the timeline videos or webcomics? Anticipation built up just from the IP is strong, but it will not just be the IP that will keep it strong for the game.
Maybe I'm just impatient. Maybe I'm just reading too little in between the lines. But right now, Guild Wars 2 is becoming more and more interesting with all the info they are putting out and, if EA/Bioware don't do anything soon, may eclipse SWTOR even before either game is released.
Considering that, as of September 2011, the game is still in closed beta, that likely means a December release, but that is only speculation at best. Now there is news that the game might be pushed to 2012. Naturally, online comments about this haven't been too kind.
But it hasn't really been so long since the game was announced, only a mere 3 years. World of Warcraft took that long from announcement to live and it grew to be the biggest game of it's time. Wouldn't it follow that SWTOR would go down this same path? Is it wrong to say that this waiting has gone for too long?
The biggest problem I have with SWTOR and the wait is that the hype machine is not exactly doing it for me. Somehow, I feel it is simply lacking. Anticipation for the game was high when it was announced but there has not been any increase in activity since then. Videos and announcements seem to have been released in small doses. If one is not lucky enough to have attended PAX, E3, or similar expos, there is no chance to even get a feel for the game other than short glimpses.
Beta weekends were the biggest thing to happen to get anticipation high about the game and probably the biggest news since it's annoucement. Not only did it get the fans all excited about getting an invite, but it provided a sense that the game is just around the corner. Finally, we had thought, the waiting is coming to an end. Then, after what EA/Bioware indicated was a successful beta weekend, they announced the next weekend would be cancelled. While I know they probably have a good reason for it, it certainly does not bode well for the fans and slows anticipation to a crawl, if not stop it in it's tracks altogether.
Coupled with the news article linked above, one has to wonder what is really going on. If release is slated in 3 months, getting more people into beta would make perfect sense. There should be an increase in anticipation for the game, not more of the same small stream of videos and art previews. Whatever happened to things like the timeline videos or webcomics? Anticipation built up just from the IP is strong, but it will not just be the IP that will keep it strong for the game.
Maybe I'm just impatient. Maybe I'm just reading too little in between the lines. But right now, Guild Wars 2 is becoming more and more interesting with all the info they are putting out and, if EA/Bioware don't do anything soon, may eclipse SWTOR even before either game is released.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Rift: Beta 5 Experience
I've seen ads about RIFT for a while now, but have always chalked it up as an AION clone or one of those cheap free-to-play (f2p) MMORPGs. But a few weeks ago, my curiousity was piqued enough to sign up for the beta. I was quite surprised, when I got a beta invite, that the beta event I was invited to was only 3 days long...and on weekdays. I had to look the email over a few times to be sure I read it right.
I suppose they were running server load tests for different times and days to monitor peak use or something like that, but it certainly did limit how much time I had for the game. Still, I was able to get a few hours of game time to have a really good look at some of what the game had to offer. UPDATE: They extended the beta for one more day, giving extra time for more testing.
Getting some stuff out of the way
First off, just to put everything in context, I am an avid World of Warcraft player. I raid at least 3 nights a week and spend a good amount of time in the game. WoW is still fun for me and there is a lot to keep me entertained while online. I am not looking for a replacement for WoW nor am I trying to "go against the flow" by choosing a new, lesser known game, nor am I trying to find that "wow-killer" game. I went into RIFT out of plain curiousity and with an open mind. Is RIFT really a good game or will I just be wasting my time?
RIFT is like WoW - and that's not meant to be a bad thing. There is no need to be completely revolutionary to be successful. To say that RIFT is like WoW is like saying a Honda sedan is like a Toyota. Sure, there are differences, but also many similarities. In the end, the game has to stand on it's own merits and drawing on already established aspects of popular MMORPGs only helps that. Debates of RIFT vs. WoW are ultimately pointless so I will avoid comparisons unless necessary.
Starting the Game and Game Performance
The first thing I noticed was that the loading times was really long. The RIFT logo screen was up for about half a minute after the intro cinematics. Speaking of which, I don't really like the main cinematic of the game which consists of stills, a voice over, and a LOT of on-screen text. The last part is what made me cringe. It's a pity that it totally distracts from the images, which are quite well done.
The game is also very graphics intensive. I run an i5 with 6GB RAM and a GT 220 video card. Not top of the line by any means, but no slouch either. I can barely get 9 fps on ultra graphics mode. Even on medium setting, I still can't get past 20 fps. I settled for the low settings, plus a few customizations to play at a smooth 45 fps. The game still looks very good on low graphics settings so I was more than happy to continue with that setup.
Factions/Races
With two factions and 3 races each, there aren't too many choices in this regard. They both have some kind of human and elf on their sides. The Guardians have dwarves while the Defilers have giants called Bahmi. Naturally, each class have their own racial abilities so those can also influence your decision on what to play.
The factions, to me, seem rather arbitrary really, with the conflict between them fueled only by fanatacism (Guardians are religious fanatics while Defilers swear by their machines). So far in my gaming, I haven't seen any reason why they simply cannot work together especially given how bad and powerful the common enemy is - no one is willing to see the middle ground. But hey, factions are required for PvP to happen so fantatic hatred it is.
The Class/Soul System
One of the biggest selling points in the RIFT ads was how much you can customize your character based on how you want to play. You get a choice of 4 base classes and each one allows you to pick 3 out of 7 'souls'. These souls provide abilities based on how many points are spent in them. The base mechanics of the class tends to be the same, but the souls give plenty of depth to augment the class itself.
All points spent on souls can be refunded for free by the class trainer and redestributed. Points cannot be all spent on one soul however, and you will be forced to put points in a secondary soul. Naturally, secondary souls have lower limits on points that can be spent on it compared to the primary.
Unfortunately, I had only enough time to play 2 characters. The first one was to get the feel of the game in general and the second was to actually try to level. I had a thing for tanks so my first character was a warrior with paladin(primary)/warlord/void knight souls. I followed that up with at justicar/shaman/druid cleric which I enjoyed playing.
As good as the customization is, I can see there being some limits to it. Not all souls have synergy with each other and there are only so many points to actually spend. Chances are, there will be optimum soul/talent combinations for various situations near the end game, which will put some limits on customization.
New roles can also be learned and it gives another set of 3 souls to set up. Having multiple roles are rather nice as it is like being able to switch to another class without creating a new character. My cleric tank has a secondary role of a DPS with good damage over time and area of effect spells.
Learning those other souls required quests where you close a rift and defeat the summoned spirit from the quest item you loot. Unfortunately, at the time of the beta, souls can only be learned one at a time. This makes trying to learn all souls for your selected class quite tedious. Then again, time sinks are what makes MMORPGs function so it is likely intended.
And since I mentioned rifts....
Rift Events
Another selling point of the game are the rift events. Various rifts open up periodically around the world. These rifts spawn monsters that need to be killed to get to the next stage in closing that rift. The rift closes when the boss of that rift is defeated. There are also invasion events where towns and cities get attacked.
Defeating invasion groups and rifts give various rewards that are used as currency for purchasable items. Because of this, rifts and invasions become part of the grind for better gear and, after some time, it really feels like a grind. It's one thing to go and fight an invasion or rift nearby; and another thing completely when trying to hunt for them.
While I still had some fun fighting these rifts, there is just little variety in them. The only thing that changes are the kinds of monsters that spawn out of the rift. It already started getting old and tedious after 8 hours of playtime, so I can't imagine how it will be later in the game. I suppose Trion will balance the rifts. Too few, and there will be quests that cannot be completed in a decent amount of time, while too many will make the rifts old news very quickly.
So What Do I Think?
While it feels like a quality product, there is still much that is still missing. I only managed to hit level 21, mostly due to spending my time exploring, but the level cap of the last beta was 30 out of the 50 in live. End game class balance and content are still things that haven't yet been addressed and the release date is almost a month away.
The fact that I lost track of time while playing says a lot - it is that engaging. But being great entertainment for a few days does not mean it will be entertaining months down the road; and that is what any MMORPG needs to focus on. In this respect, I cannot even begin to guess how good RIFT will be in the long run - there just isn't enough information.
I have to say it again, my first impression is that RIFT is a good game. It just isn't a "must have" game for me. I will be in the "wait and see" mode and, while I may not play RIFT at all, I do hope that it becomes successful.
I suppose they were running server load tests for different times and days to monitor peak use or something like that, but it certainly did limit how much time I had for the game. Still, I was able to get a few hours of game time to have a really good look at some of what the game had to offer. UPDATE: They extended the beta for one more day, giving extra time for more testing.
Getting some stuff out of the way
First off, just to put everything in context, I am an avid World of Warcraft player. I raid at least 3 nights a week and spend a good amount of time in the game. WoW is still fun for me and there is a lot to keep me entertained while online. I am not looking for a replacement for WoW nor am I trying to "go against the flow" by choosing a new, lesser known game, nor am I trying to find that "wow-killer" game. I went into RIFT out of plain curiousity and with an open mind. Is RIFT really a good game or will I just be wasting my time?
RIFT is like WoW - and that's not meant to be a bad thing. There is no need to be completely revolutionary to be successful. To say that RIFT is like WoW is like saying a Honda sedan is like a Toyota. Sure, there are differences, but also many similarities. In the end, the game has to stand on it's own merits and drawing on already established aspects of popular MMORPGs only helps that. Debates of RIFT vs. WoW are ultimately pointless so I will avoid comparisons unless necessary.
Starting the Game and Game Performance
The first thing I noticed was that the loading times was really long. The RIFT logo screen was up for about half a minute after the intro cinematics. Speaking of which, I don't really like the main cinematic of the game which consists of stills, a voice over, and a LOT of on-screen text. The last part is what made me cringe. It's a pity that it totally distracts from the images, which are quite well done.
The game is also very graphics intensive. I run an i5 with 6GB RAM and a GT 220 video card. Not top of the line by any means, but no slouch either. I can barely get 9 fps on ultra graphics mode. Even on medium setting, I still can't get past 20 fps. I settled for the low settings, plus a few customizations to play at a smooth 45 fps. The game still looks very good on low graphics settings so I was more than happy to continue with that setup.
Factions/Races
With two factions and 3 races each, there aren't too many choices in this regard. They both have some kind of human and elf on their sides. The Guardians have dwarves while the Defilers have giants called Bahmi. Naturally, each class have their own racial abilities so those can also influence your decision on what to play.
The factions, to me, seem rather arbitrary really, with the conflict between them fueled only by fanatacism (Guardians are religious fanatics while Defilers swear by their machines). So far in my gaming, I haven't seen any reason why they simply cannot work together especially given how bad and powerful the common enemy is - no one is willing to see the middle ground. But hey, factions are required for PvP to happen so fantatic hatred it is.
The Class/Soul System
One of the biggest selling points in the RIFT ads was how much you can customize your character based on how you want to play. You get a choice of 4 base classes and each one allows you to pick 3 out of 7 'souls'. These souls provide abilities based on how many points are spent in them. The base mechanics of the class tends to be the same, but the souls give plenty of depth to augment the class itself.
All points spent on souls can be refunded for free by the class trainer and redestributed. Points cannot be all spent on one soul however, and you will be forced to put points in a secondary soul. Naturally, secondary souls have lower limits on points that can be spent on it compared to the primary.
Unfortunately, I had only enough time to play 2 characters. The first one was to get the feel of the game in general and the second was to actually try to level. I had a thing for tanks so my first character was a warrior with paladin(primary)/warlord/void knight souls. I followed that up with at justicar/shaman/druid cleric which I enjoyed playing.
As good as the customization is, I can see there being some limits to it. Not all souls have synergy with each other and there are only so many points to actually spend. Chances are, there will be optimum soul/talent combinations for various situations near the end game, which will put some limits on customization.
New roles can also be learned and it gives another set of 3 souls to set up. Having multiple roles are rather nice as it is like being able to switch to another class without creating a new character. My cleric tank has a secondary role of a DPS with good damage over time and area of effect spells.
Learning those other souls required quests where you close a rift and defeat the summoned spirit from the quest item you loot. Unfortunately, at the time of the beta, souls can only be learned one at a time. This makes trying to learn all souls for your selected class quite tedious. Then again, time sinks are what makes MMORPGs function so it is likely intended.
And since I mentioned rifts....
Rift Events
Another selling point of the game are the rift events. Various rifts open up periodically around the world. These rifts spawn monsters that need to be killed to get to the next stage in closing that rift. The rift closes when the boss of that rift is defeated. There are also invasion events where towns and cities get attacked.
Defeating invasion groups and rifts give various rewards that are used as currency for purchasable items. Because of this, rifts and invasions become part of the grind for better gear and, after some time, it really feels like a grind. It's one thing to go and fight an invasion or rift nearby; and another thing completely when trying to hunt for them.
While I still had some fun fighting these rifts, there is just little variety in them. The only thing that changes are the kinds of monsters that spawn out of the rift. It already started getting old and tedious after 8 hours of playtime, so I can't imagine how it will be later in the game. I suppose Trion will balance the rifts. Too few, and there will be quests that cannot be completed in a decent amount of time, while too many will make the rifts old news very quickly.
So What Do I Think?
While it feels like a quality product, there is still much that is still missing. I only managed to hit level 21, mostly due to spending my time exploring, but the level cap of the last beta was 30 out of the 50 in live. End game class balance and content are still things that haven't yet been addressed and the release date is almost a month away.
The fact that I lost track of time while playing says a lot - it is that engaging. But being great entertainment for a few days does not mean it will be entertaining months down the road; and that is what any MMORPG needs to focus on. In this respect, I cannot even begin to guess how good RIFT will be in the long run - there just isn't enough information.
I have to say it again, my first impression is that RIFT is a good game. It just isn't a "must have" game for me. I will be in the "wait and see" mode and, while I may not play RIFT at all, I do hope that it becomes successful.
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