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.

WoW: Blizzard is Evil™ Edition

I am so glad for sites like WoW Insider and MMO Champion. They make data gathering for ranty sites like mine so easy.

With that aside out of the way, Blizzard is just totally evil. Not in the megalomaniac villain sort of evil, but the "business evil". The kind of evil where you know it is nothing but a cash grab, but you can't resist it because of one or more compelling reasons. One cannot fault them for it though because, well, they are a business after all. For every company, despite all the repeated "for the players" speech or PR quote they do, they all have to watch their bottom line.

So why is Blizzard "evil" this time? Behold the Annual Pass! You sign up and you get a bunch of free stuff. A new mount for World of Warcraft, a free digital copy of Diablo III, and guaranteed access to the next WoW expansion beta. All the other stuff is great, but that last one really caught my eye. 

I am still on the fence with regards to purchasing the next expansion, even if I have already accepted the pandas invading WoW. My hope was that I would be lucky enough to get a beta invite to try it out before I decide. And this is where the annual pass comes in. If I want to make sure I get beta access, I should get locked into a subscription for a year and there is already speculation that Mists of Pandaria™ can go live sometime Summer 2012. If this is true, then I'm basically paying for the game whether or not I buy the expansion. If this is the case, I would not be able to play any of my max level characters except for fiddling around the new systems. And I certainly would not be able to make a Monk or Pandaren character.

So basically, getting the annual pass makes getting Mists of Pandaria™ pretty much a sure thing. Unless it gets released late Fall or Winter 2012.

How evil. But also incredibly smart.

Will I get the annual pass though even after seeing all this mindbending evil? The magic 8-ball says "most likely". Man, that toy is kinda creepy.

WoW: Death Knight T13 - Huh.

So MMO Champion has datamined the death knight's T13 set from the latest PTR update and I have to say I am underwhelmed. It's not a bad looking set, and, if it was released/available when the others were, it would have been more acceptable. However, Blizzard has indicated that the original T13 was not up to snuff when it was rendered so they started from scratch. They went on to say they wanted to make a really great set that fit the death knight theme and I have to give them that this set does that. However, a lot of expectations were raised when the Q&A panel was asked:

Where is the Death Knight tier 13?

Its really awesome and you will see it soon

It's hard not to anticipate from that that the death knight tier 13 would be on par or better than what they did for warriors or hunters. Like I mentioned earlier, this isn't the worst set for death knights, but the first impressions from it was that it was rather bland. So what is really wrong with it?

It's really all about the helm. The rest of the set seems right and I do like how the shoulders look, but the helm is what everyone looks at first. The helm is where the first impression is from and where one would like people to stop and look at the fearsome death knight standing there. As it is, the first thing I saw was a bearded man. After some adjustments in MMO Champion's model viewer, it looked better, but I cannot unsee the beard. The female example looks like a bearded lady.

Now I know what they are going for with the spiked front of the helmet. It's supposed to be a ribcage for the skull theme of the helm. But it also makes the horns look a bit out of place. Granted, it looks fine in the front view, but the forward angle and length seems a bit much.

The biggest problem with the set is that it was released almost a month after the others were available. Even at the Blizzcon art panel, they had an image that shows every class except the death knights. This raised expectations even more. Surely something that takes this long would be an epic set that would blow away the rest. It became almost certain that Blizzard would put something that would "wow" their death knight players. It would immediately be known that death knights will have an awesome set.

Then we have the MMO Champion datamine. Huh.

I have to say, once again, that it is, in no way, a terrible set. It simply did not have the impact that was expected, certainly not in the way when the warrior or hunter sets were introduced. The general reaction was closer to when the paladin set was found. I remember the round of mocking laughter at the "bird boy" set, but, after a while, it did grow on people and I personally find it a set I would like to kit my paladin with. The same is likely going to happen with the death knight set. As understated as it is, it does fit the death knight theme and will likely look a whole lot better in the game than through model viewer pictures.

Even if it doesn't get accepted widely as a good set down the road, death knights do have to be glad that Blizzard didn't try to make a counterpart for the warducks.

WoW: The Pandas are Coming

I have dreaded this moment. It is probably a good thing I didn't attend Blizzcon as I probably would have just left after the expansion announcement. But is it really that bad? Are having pandas ... er ... pandaren really that devastating to the World of Warcraft? Is it really worth ragequitting the game because of this rather dubious addition to WoW lore? 


Actually, after the initial shock wore off and I managed to think about it,  the answer is no. 


Yes, the addition of the pandaren is a bit hard to swallow, and the lore behind their appearance in the game may seem forced, but it is definitely better than the draenei. A mist-ical (get it? wow, tough crowd) land shrouded in magic is definitely more acceptable than goat people crash landing their spaceship on Azeroth. But in the years since their introduction, they've become an accepted, and even a preferred, race for players. 

Panda or not, this is an awesome picture

Pandaren also serve another purpose; the World of Warcraft needs to stand on it's own. WoW has relied heavily on lore from the Warcraft RTS games and the story can stretch so far. As of 2011, Illidan has been killed, Kil'Jaeden locked from Azeroth, Arthas is dead and Deathwing is soon to follow. The list of threats stemming from the RTS lore is running low. 


That's not to say World of Warcraft was only keeping to lore born from the RTS games. The game has introduced a lot of lore it can claim as it's own and has been very successful (mostly) in making all that very immersive. Beloved and hated characters like Highlord Bolvar, Garrosh Hellscream are WoW inventions. The increasing insanity of Sylvannas, while not a WoW-born character, brings further depth and the promise of interesting events to come that will affect Azeroth. 

Pictured: Freshness

The lore additions of World of Warcraft has been weaved into, and expanded, the RTS lore and has been, for all intents and purposes, gradual. Mists of Pandaria takes a huge leap into lore of it's own making. An entirely new continent, new races, new stories not stemming from anything found in Warcraft of the past. The pandaren and Pandaria are a shot of freshness and are there to show there indeed are more stories to tell in Azeroth. It's Blizzard's way of showing that the World of Warcraft is more than just what we have already seen in previous games. 


Yes, they could have done an Emerald Dream expansion, and maybe it would have made more sense. Yes, they could have maybe sent us to bring the fight to the Burning Legion. But with the reveal of Pandaria, now we have to think "what else does Azeroth have to offer?". The last line in the reveal trailer said it quite nicely: "Azeroth's limits have yet to be revealed".  There is now confidence that there can be more after Pandaria. 


So I have accepted the pandaren as a good race for the World of Warcraft. The models look great and the environments shown look like they can be quite immersive. But why am I not convinced that I will play this expansion? 


Maybe I am not sure I will like this story arc. The promise of returning the focus to the horde/alliance war is nice, but I would have preferred fighting for lands already taken and lands to be conquered. Pandaria seems like a detour kind of like how Outland was. Perhaps it's because I don't know too much about it. After so many years, the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor do feel like a second home. I still feel badly for the loss of Southshore and I take my time to look over it during my archaeology runs. After Deathwing falls, it just makes sense to me to kick some Horde ass and take back some of what we've lost. Or, if Horde, press the offensive. 

Do I look like I snuggle?

Maybe there will be all that in Mists of Pandaria and maybe it will be awesome. With the information now though, I just don't know. With luck, maybe I can get into the beta and see for myself if I will purchase this expansion and snuggle with the fuzzy bear men. 

WoW: Hollow's End Returns!

Another holloween season and another Hollow's End event in World of Warcraft. Naturally, the Headless Horseman's loot has been updated to ilvl 365 but great news to those who need those last few masks for the achievement: you can get them from the vendor.

There is also a new pet (pic from MMO-Champion) - leave it up to Blizzard to make something cute and creepy at the same time. 



The cat costs 150 tricky treats. Now these are relatively easy to come by, my paladin has around 30-odd of those in the bags now. In an eeeeeeevil Blizzard way, these treats can also be obtained in the handful of candy bags from the inns. So in their eeeeevil Blizzard way, they've found how to get people who have already done the achievement to do it again.

A few other things of note:

• Masks no longer take the helmet slot. They instead put a buff with no duration on the character to put the mask on. It doesn't persist through death and is still really, really ugly.
• The new quests are pretty fun to do and the Wickerman dousing WILL get you flagged for PvP. Some horde chased down my paladin after getting the dousing done. no one bothered my Death Knight. Sheesh, not even ganking love.
• The sword from the loot bag has some use even for non-agility users. The pumpkins are now level 85 and they can do some damage. Having my army of ghouls and pumpkins attack a boss was pretty funny to see.
• Setting fire to your own faction's Wickerman gives a reputation and xp boost.
• All those rare items that caused frustration for completionists that could not get their title for years? Those can now be bought by using tricky treats. Not cheap, but now a better means to complete the achievement instead of just pure luck.

SWTOR: Inquisitor/Consular Main Tanks

So the forums were abuzz with chatter from a Q&A session with community manager Stephen Reid where he indicated that the game would have 4 classes as a main tank (Sith Juggernaut, Jedi Guardian, Bounty Hunter Powertech, and Trooper Vanguard) and 2 as off-tanks (Sith Assassin and Jedi Shadow). This, of course made potential Inquisitors/Consulars quite irrate and people hoping that Mr. Reid misspoke or was simply mistaken.

As it turns out he was (see the related quotes below) mistaken and all 6 advanced classes are designed to main tank. This leads to an interesting situation where we have a total of 16 advanced classes (8 per faction) where 6 can tank, 4 can heal, and everyone can dps. Also interesting to note that none of the classes can do all three, so there are no jack-of-all-trades classes.

Now will this make me want to play an assassin rather than a juggernaut. At this time, not really. At least, not until I get get my hands on to test them out.

Quotes start here:

StephenReid General Discussion -> [VIDEO] Interview with Stephen Reid @ NY Comic Con 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by Calimwulf

Yep, this also contradicts what Zoeller was saying on class philosophy design. I wonder who was wrong, or if something has changed or was misinterpreted.

 I was wrong in this instance, sorry folks! I was

As I said in another thread on the topic, I got myself mixed up - a combination of my limited experience as a tank (generally) and my time spent playing a Sith Assassin specc'ed to be an off-tank.

Again, apologies for the confusion... don't blame Ed for the question, blame my lack of sleep. And lack of tanking.

I guess I should level a tank to 50 in live now to make up for it. 10.17.2011 05:29 PM


StephenReid Jedi Consular -> I *Really* Hope SR Misspoke Here :(

Quote:

Originally Posted by torsjn

In this interview, SR calls the Shadow/Assassin an "offtank".. wth??

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6gtNCQPDmk tank part starts at 2:00.. he clearly says Shadow/Assassin are "offtanks".. Taugrim sums up and says something like "so there's 4 main tanks and 2 offtanks?".. and SR again says, "yes, that's right".. and then he also specifically calls the Shadow/Assassin "evasion tanks"

SERIOUSLY disappointing if this is not just SR misspeaking

As you'll see from Georg's latest posts, I did mis-speak. My tanking experience is limited (in MMOs generally; as I said in the interview, I'm a DPS lad) and I did point that out in the interview.

I think my confusion came from playing a Sith Assassin in our Eternity Vault demo many, many times, who was specced to be an off-tank, not main tank. However, as Georg has now corrected me on, that's not a limitation of the AC, it's a choice on the part of the player.

Sorry if I confused everyone for a minute. This is what happens when you ask questions of the Community Manager that are better suited to the development team. It's not their fault that they can't make it to every show, we want to keep them hard at work on the game. 10.17.2011 05:25 PM


GeorgZoeller Jedi Consular -> I *Really* Hope SR Misspoke Here :(

Quote:

Originally Posted by CriticalMass

Things change, apparently this has too. With MMO developers you can only go on the last thing that was said.

So apparently they've changed their thinking on the matter and now we are off-tanks. Which blows and goes against what they've been saying for a very long time, but whatever.

Nope.


By design, all tank capable ACs can spec to be fully capable main tanks.


There are no 'off tanks' unless you intentionally spend your skill points into different trees. 10.17.2011 04:19 PM

GeorgZoeller Jedi Consular -> I *Really* Hope SR Misspoke Here :(

All tank specs in the game are designed to function as a main tank. There are no 'off tanks' by design in the game, that would involve players intentionally choosing such a role by speccing hybrid.

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.