EVE: Inquisition FiS Division is born

Posted on December 8, 2011 by SynCaine

Last night I made the decision to leave DiS and begin working on my own corporation, Inquisition FiS Division. A lot of things factored into this decision, and I want to go into those here and also talk a bit about what I hope to do with INQ-E (the corps ticker).

My main issue with DiS was its lack of direction. Initially when I joined the plan was to have the corp be a training ground for new pilots, who would eventually move into the ‘main’ corp in a 0.0 alliance. Because of changes within the alliance, the role DiS was set to play was also affected. These things happen. The lack of direction was also impacted by the corp’s leadership being busy with things outside of the game (totally understandable), plus the additional burden of dealing with their alliance’s new direction.

Another factor was the corp’s growth. While a few new pilots had joined, they were all from this blog. If DiS was an already established corp, this would not have been an issue, but of late, and especially during the last war, it was not uncommon for no one to be online, and playing EVE solo is the fastest path to unsubbing. Issues like a lack of voice chat and message boards did not help.

As these things were happening within DiS, I got an offer from another reader to join his high/low –sec alliance. This would give me access to a large group of players, while still keeping things fairly casual. Having the OPTION to do roaming PvP or low-sec activities, while still being able to just sit in empire and mine/mission/chat if I wanted, was very appealing.

And then there is running a corp itself. I like running things in a sandbox. I like seeing something I’m attached to grow and prosper. I like being responsible for providing content to others (because in turn that’s content for me), and for setting a plan and seeing that it succeeds. Combine this with the fact that EVE gives a corp so many different paths, and so many different ways to succeed, and the lure is pretty huge. And while my gaming time is down from its peak back in my hardcore WoW days, it’s still pretty decent, and so I fully believe I can be online and around enough to make things happen.

My first goal is to just get whoever is interested into the corp in-game, and into Inq’s vent/message board, be they the existing players that have already come into the game or anyone reading right now thinking about giving the game a shot. One goal for INQ-E is to have it be a corp new pilots can join and learn the game in, while also hanging out with like-minded people and having something other than “more ISK, more SP” to look forward to. At the same time, I’d welcome any and all vets as well, to hopefully not only assist the new guys, but also to help mold the corp and get us where we need to be.

Inq application link (ignore that EVE is not listed as a game we play). Be sure to post an application as soon as you create an account, as our forums get a lot of spam accounts and they get deleted if no legit post is made.

Once that is accepted, grab the vent info, and be sure to bookmark the message board. It’s a fun/funny place, and will help you get to know the rest of Inquisition as a whole. We play a lot of different games, and all games are better when played with others, so this is a pretty big win/win for joining up.

Finally, apply to the corp in-game. Be sure to indicate the name you used on the boards/vent as related to your EVE pilot if they are different, as this will help keep that connection straight.

For those without an EVE account right now, my 21 day trial invites have refreshed, and I have 18 remaining. If you are interested, please drop a comment here, and I’ll hook you up.

Posted in EVE Online, Inquisition Clan | 7 Comments

It’s only a problem if you can’t afford it

Posted on December 7, 2011 by SynCaine

I find the discussion around gold ammo/tanks/accounts in WoT fascinating for a number of reasons, and the subject reveals a lot about gamers and their tolerance for different things, especially in a PvP game.

First let’s start with some facts.

It’s a fact that you can buy power in WoT. Shooting with gold ammo is better than shooting without it. It’s also a fact that you can buy accelerated progression in WoT in the form of gold tanks or account services. Finally, it’s a fact that the higher up in tiers you go, the higher the ‘recommendation’ that you spend money to continue playing gets due to how the repair cost system is set up.

I’ve seen fans of WoT argue against the buying-power aspect by suggesting gold ammo is rare, ineffective, or does not influence the outcome of a battle. All of this is interesting.

Rarity: So because, for example, only one in ten battles involves gold ammo, gold ammo is not really a problem? To me this suggests a few things. First, the care-factor for any one battle is very limited. Winning or losing a single battle is marginally important, to the extent that using gold ammo is ‘silly’ because why pay extra for something so trivial (winning)? This is further reinforced by the fact that gold ammo is most often seen in clan matches, which ‘matter’ more. The flip side of this is, of course, non-clan matches don’t ‘matter’ as much.

This then brings up the question: how rare is ‘rare enough’? If gold ammo prices were slashed, and gold ammo was used in 50% of battles, is it now a “buying power” problem? If the price is increased, and it’s used in 1/1000th of battles, is the problem ‘solved’?

Ineffective: If gold ammo is so similar to regular ammo, who buys it? Why do they buy it? Just for the lulz? And if gold ammo is as underpowered as some claim, why do clan’s use it? Furthermore, if level-of-effect is the issue, when does gold ammo really become a problem? There is a lot of space between “no effect” and “one-shotting tanks”, so where do you fall on the scale? 5% power increase is too much? 50% power? Anything above 1%?

No influence on the outcome: This is somewhat similar to the above, but not quite. If player skill, pure luck, pre-game random tank matching, the map, or anything BUT who has gold ammo is the factor in determining the winner, why again do clan’s spend money on gold ammo? Why is it even noticeable? If gold ammo has “never effected the outcome of a battle”, are all those gold ammo purchasers just idiots throwing money down a hole? And if they are, why are the ‘smart’ people who are not buying gold ammo talking about it beyond thanking them for the charitable donation? Plus if gold ammo has truly never influenced the outcome of a battle, shouldn’t gold ammo be buffed? Its crazy underpowered!

Would CoD or Battlefield players also consider gold ammo a non-issue in their games? If Riot allowed you to buy a few extra mastery points in League of Legends, would anyone even notice? I mean hell I’ve won LoL games with the completely WRONG masteries set, that’s how “worthless” they are! Surely, given how much of a non-factor such a minor purchase of power would be, we would see most tourney players in LoL not spend the cash for those extra mastery points, right? After all, LoL is more of a skill-based (twitch) game than WoT, so if anything the effect would be even LESS noticeable, right? Hello…?

As for gold tanks/accounts and their impact on repair costs, this is NOT an issue of buying power, but buying a way out of ‘bad’ game design. Repair costs that ‘force’ you to play lesser-tiered tanks to grind up cash unless you pay for a gold tank/account is, IMO, bad design (not letting you play how you want to play) driven by the payment model. I highly doubt Wargaming.net is not smart enough to ‘fix’ this ‘problem’, after all.

This part I have less of an issue with since in-battle it has no impact (gold tank power aside), and at the end of the day it’s just the cost of your “free to play” game. Some titles state up front they cost $15 a month, others don’t. Gamers should be smart enough at this point to not be fooled into believe the whole ‘free’ scam from 99% of what’s out there.

That said, LoL is a hell of a lot more ‘free’ than WoT in this regard. LoL does not have weak/bad design like repair costs, because of the fact that they don’t sell “stop walking over glass” stuff like premium accounts or gold tanks. Riot is able to collect enough money off reskinned sparkle ponies to not have to ‘force’ their players to pay up or suffer. Good deal if you can get it, sucks when you can’t. Most can’t, but then again most F2P titles are garbage.

The biggest gray area, and the least interesting part of all of this IMO, is the power level of gold tanks. It’s a fact they are stronger than similar base tanks, and it’s also a fact they are not as strong as a fully kitted tank. They lay somewhere in the middle (although closer to the top end than the bottom). They are far more noticeable than gold ammo because, well, GOLD TANK IN YOUR FACE. Hard to miss them, especially compared to how hidden gold ammo is.

The real reason, IMO, that gold tanks are brought up so often is because not only are they fairly powerful, they give you a huge advantage in terms of earning cash. The straw man is the power, the cash earning/savings is the real issue, because those without gold tanks are ‘forced’ to farm more cash to play at the higher tiers. This, I believe, is what breeds the contempt for them. It’s somewhat valid, if you ignore the whole “you knew what you were getting yourself into from day one” aspect. It’s not like gold tanks, repair costs, or gold ammo were patched in later, once everyone was hooked on a version of WoT where the wallet was not a weapon.

At the end of the day, what all of this reveals to me is that plenty of people are willing to pay for power, but only at a cost they are personally comfortable with, and buying power is only a problem when the cost gets too high for them. $7000 gem set in Allods = bad. $1 gold ammo in WoT = good. Unless that gold ammo is used against you in a noticeable manner and the results matter to you, at which point gold ammo = bad even if it’s just one penny above a cost you are okay with.

Furthermore, and far more disturbing, is that people are quick to ignore bad game design (repair costs) driven by the payment model if again the cost is ‘reasonable’ (reasonable of course being different for everyone). One-time gold tank for $35 = good. Per-month $20 character slots = bad. Unless of course the character slot is not that important, or you can get it on sale for $5. Oh and the gold tank IS a problem if its power level is too high. Too high of course being a personal opinion. Unless it’s the most powerful tank, then it’s just pure buying power, but again that only becomes an issue if you think $35 is too high a cost to buy wins.

Personally, I’ll just stick to games limited to selling pony skins, or charging everyone $15 a month and favoring those with more time. Way more ‘fair’. :)

 

Posted in Allods Online, Atlantica Online, Combat Systems, League of Legends, PvP, Rant, RMT | 25 Comments

Silly WoWbies make up your minds already

Posted on December 7, 2011 by SynCaine

Wasn’t someone always arguing with me that 2004 WoW difficulty was not better than WotLK+ for leveling/instances, yet now claims SW:TOR is ‘just right’ because it feels like 2004 WoW difficulty? Where are all those ‘rose tinted glasses’ comments now? And how long until SW:TOR gets Rift 1.2-ed so it’s more ‘accessible’?

On another hypocrisy note, how is it that people who play Pay-for-Power games like WoT have such a hard time admitting the game they play, with its gold ammo, is Pay-for-Power? So you prefer to wallet-bash people instead of skill/time-bash them, what’s the big deal? Also humorous that people defend the selling of power because “F2P games have to sell power or they can’t make money”, when LoL sits at the top of the gaming mountain with a shop full of fluff.

Posted in League of Legends, MMO design, PvP, Rant, Rift, RMT, SW:TOR, World of Warcraft | 33 Comments

Skyrim mods through Steam

Posted on December 6, 2011 by SynCaine

Link.

Can not even begin to express how great it’s going to be to pull mods and have them auto-install through Steam. I absolutely HATE doing that stuff manually in other games, especially when so many mods are little fixes that take digging through .Ini files to get right, and you never know which mods actually work and which ones send the game straight to crashing hell.

Posted in Patch Notes, Random | 2 Comments

EVE: My enemies are my friends

Posted on December 6, 2011 by SynCaine

DiS’s second war is coming to an end today. To call it a war is somewhat misleading, because in reality it was a week of DiS ships going boom. Early in the week we gave it our all, and had some good, small-scale fights, but as each result was the same (DiS boom, enemy shields full). Moral naturally dropped and activity became light. For me personally I was just running low on ISK to keep tossing ships into the grinder, and towards the end of the week it was pretty common to see no one online from our Corp (more on this later).

Until last night I was pretty down on the whole thing. Not because we had lost ships, but because our enemies seemed invincible, with a very creepy ability to be online just at the right time, with the right numbers, in the right location, and in the right ships. If we had 2, they had 2, if we had 4, they had 3, if we flew frigs, they had frigs, if we went BS, they went BS, etc. Multiple times I put this to the test, and as soon as I undocked in anything worth shooting, sure enough an enemy would log in. Dock back up, enemy logs out. Rinse repeat for as long as I had the patience to continue.

So when I logged in last night, and got an email that the war was in its final 24 hours, I messaged the most active enemy to say good fight. He accepted the convo invite, and actually thanked us for putting up a fight and expressed a little bit of regret for war-deccing us. As he explained, his group had just gotten back into EVE, and before fighting a bigger enemy (they usually war-dec large empire corps), they randomly picked our corp as a tune-up. Our corp is perhaps a little misleading, as many of us have old characters, but most of us are in fact noobs, especially when it comes to PvP.

As we talked, he asked if one of our members was in fact very new (Kobea), and when I confirmed this, he sent him 75m ISK to offset a recent loss. He also broke down a lot of the tactics they used, especially around some of their fits and how they went about picking fights and knowing what to bring. In 30 minutes or so I learned more about EVE PvP than I have in all previous encounters.

He went on to ask what our goals are, and when I expressed an interest in low-sec PI, he gave some tips about that and wormhole space. I also jokingly said I might hire them if we need some help defending a CO, and he replied that they would gladly help, without the need for pay.

As is almost always the case in EVE, the lows of being blown up ended in a huge high, this time not because of a single massive encounter, or some ‘epic’ loot, but from a great conversation, an understanding of how the other side plays the game, and in gaining a potential ally and friend should we require the help.

I always laugh when I see outsiders comment that they won’t play a game like EVE because of all the horrible people who only play to ruin the game for others. While there are certainly those types in EVE (and in every other MMO), I’ve found that with just a little bit of effort, it’s very easy to find great people in the game, be they corp mates, random pilots in local, or even your enemies. And I am fully convinced that the mechanics of the game, including the FFA PvP and full-loot aspects, go a long way in shaping the community.

As for the effect on our Corp activity that I mentioned earlier; the biggest issue here was our overall corp size and general activity. As we are not a big corp, the difference between two people being online and four is huge in terms of our total numbers, and because we are mostly a PvE/Industry corp, not being able to do those activities resulted in people logging in, seeing no one but our enemies online, and logging off. Had our enemies been less active, or our corp a little bigger, I don’t think the effect would have been as dramatic. I also think the lack of voice chat and a message board fed into this, as we had no way other than in-game to communicate or to coordinate. Certainly things to keep in mind going forward.

 

Posted in EVE Online, MMO design, PvP | 25 Comments

The greatest voice acting ever

Posted on December 5, 2011 by SynCaine

Warning: Super-minor Skyrim spoiler included. It’s one isolated event unrelated to anything else in the game, and will spoil only this one location/encounter for you, but it’s still technically a spoiler.

I was on a quest for the mages guild, when on my compass I saw a lighthouse icon and wanted to discover it for later exploration. I wandered up the mountain to said lighthouse, and when I finally arrived I saw a dead horse near the front door. This got me curious, and so I entered the lighthouse to check things out.

As soon as I entered, I saw a skeleton in the middle of the main room, an axe in its back, and a trail of blood leading from said main room to a door. A quest notification popped up, something about investigating the murder. The mages guild quest was put on hold, and it was time to play detective.

Searching around the main floor, I found a few journals, describing how a family of four had purchased and moved to this lighthouse, the parents looking to retire and the (guessing) late-teen kids coming to help before they leave to live their own lives. As the days went by, the different members of the family each recounted hearing noises in the basement. The different takes on this one event were very interesting, and in only a few pages really defined each character for me.

Little notes also made things interesting. The son had noted in his journal that he made a copy of the basement key, and hid it in the urn on the mantle. I went looking for the urn, and sure enough, the key was inside. I could have picked the lock and still progressed, but this detail did a good job of not just letting me pass a tough lock, but also drawing me into the story and rewarding me for actually reading.

Down in the basement, a hole had been made in a wall, and two alien-ish critters were crawling around. The hole lead to an underground lair of sorts, with the remaining family members dead inside. The daughter was in a holding cell, with a note near her that her father tried to save her, failed, and snuck a dagger to her at the last minute before being dragged away. While not expressly stated, the implication was clear, and the location of the dagger near the corpse was a nice visual cue as well.

The son’s corpse was a bit further inside, with a battle scene around him. No text this time, but again the visual cues made it pretty clear what he had attempted, and ultimately failed to do.

Finally, at the end, the father’s remains were inside the critter breeder (a bigger bug), who was at the center of a massive room with dozens and dozens of eggs, along with the family chest key. That chest, found at the very top of the lighthouse, contained some nice loot. This wrapped up the quest, and this little bit of Skyrim content.

I bring this up for a few reasons. The first being just to point out the excellent storytelling contained within Skyrim. This was not a major location, or even a spot you get directed to. It was just one random location out of the hundreds in Skyrim, and the whole thing took maybe 30 minutes to complete. Yet in that 30 minutes I got a complete story, and one that I was honestly interested in. Each journal was well written, not too long, and those along with the visual cues really pulled me into the encounter. At one point I was actually hoping to find someone alive, and actually felt bad for this family, who just wanted to retire and ended up picking the wrong spot.

The other reason I bring this up is because I believe it highlights a key difference between written quest text (the journals) and voiced content. Voiced content, while also great, leaves little room for imagination or your own take on things. Voiced content is paced how it’s paced, sounds like it sounds, and you either “believe it” or you don’t. Text is ‘voiced’ in your head, and so sounds as believable as you make it. The ‘voice acting’ in those journals was Emmy-award winning stuff, IMO, because I’m just that great at it in my own head :)

Finally, this bit of content, loot aside, was most definitely a one-off thing. If I roll another character in Skyrim, I won’t experience this content the same way. At most, I’ll speed-run through it to get that final chest, but the journals, the mystery, and slow searching of the lair will be skipped.

I believe this is how most will approach SW:TOR. The first time you experience the content, most will (hopefully) take it at the intended pace and really enjoy the story pieces. But on an alt, the focus is going to shift to that chest at the end, and most likely more-so because SW is an MMO, while Skyrim is an sRPG where loot is nice but not the point. I’m seeing reports of this already, as beta players roll alts and ‘skip’ the story parts that they have already experienced, or at most are picking the other options just to see the differences. While the 200 hours may indeed be true for your first character, I imagine most will play alts in “fast forward” mode. That’s OK in a story-light themepark like WoW, where the real ‘meat’ of the content is grinding dailies/raids/BG or some other form of repeatable content, but considering how emphasized the “4th pillar” is in SW, what will that do for its retention rate?

One more thought: Remember how many considered it a mistake by Blizzard to hold such a long Cata beta, given how linear that expansion was in terms of leveling, and how this likely contributed to the accelerated boredom of that expansion? Considering how many people beta-tested SW, and how linear that game is, can’t we expect the same result, only again increased due to SW linear-story focus? How many of you how have pre-ordered will speed-run the 1-20 content now? What about those who hit the level cap, or have been in multiple beta rounds and tried out multiple characters?

Posted in MMO design, Random, SW:TOR, World of Warcraft | 11 Comments

EA is already trying to compete with me in the social ‘gaming’ space

Posted on December 2, 2011 by SynCaine

Not long after my announcement to purchase Zynga, EA jumps into the “if you blink you’ll miss the end” social ‘gaming’ space. Damn them! Picking up such a hot commodity too. That company just went from 400k to 1.3m players. I can’t keep up with that kind of growth rate!

Oh wait.

The chart was upside down.

They just went from 1.3m to 400k.

So EA is moving into WoW territory eh?

Man, close call.

Solid use of the BioWare name though. Now when I think of Farmville-level quality, my mind will directly go to BioWare. Brilliant move EA, brilliant!

Posted in Random, World of Warcraft | Comments Off on EA is already trying to compete with me in the social ‘gaming’ space

EVE: Dodging the tax man

Posted on December 2, 2011 by SynCaine

Via Jester’s Trek, Letrange does some of the Excel work on the new Planetary Interaction (PI) taxes, what impact they have, and what the risk/reward ratios might look like if a Corp moves to low/null sec space to setup their own Customs Offices (CO) and PI. As someone who just recently dipped their toes into the PI space, I found both posts informative and helpful, and Letrange also got me thinking: How difficult would it be to live out of some random low-sec system?

Right now DiS is a high-sec corp. We mission for the most part, while learning other aspects of the game. While the first war-dec was over after that one (costly) battle, the current war is ongoing, and more than anything has cost us a pile of Noctis ships and a bit of time chasing solo ships around a few systems. This is all still educational for me (especially as I setup more PvP-oriented ships), but not exactly high-end thrills. Honestly the biggest impact for me has been the fact that we mission slower and occasionally don’t fully clean up some wrecks.

Would low-sec really be THAT different? I’m guessing yes, but why/how?

At a higher level, CCP’s decision to change how PI taxes work has created new ‘content’ for me, even if the end-result of that new content is me coming to the conclusion that moving to low-sec would be a bad idea. Prior to the change, I wasn’t even considering it (at least not for PI-related reasons). But what if DiS moving to some random low-sec system does happen? What if the Corp’s direction changes and we become a little PI factory Corp that also gets better (trial by fire) at PvP and low-sec tactics? Not bad for a tax rate change and player-owned CO eh?

Posted in EVE Online, MMO design | 10 Comments

I’m thinking of buying Zynga

Posted on December 2, 2011 by SynCaine

If I get one more person to buy Darkfall through the image on the right, by next week I’ll be able to afford Zynga. Any theme requests for the next clicker ‘game’?

Posted in Random, RMT | 13 Comments

The more things change…

Posted on December 1, 2011 by SynCaine

Timing is everything.

Today Raph has a post showing a 3-part “History of MMOs” video. (well worth watching btw, especially for those who started playing post-2004)

Also today Tobold has a post about how bots could easily play certain MMOs better than players.

In the video, the narrator credits WoW being more linear and accessible as a major source of its success.

The more linear/accessible your game, the easier it is to create a better-than-the-player bot for it.

The… oh, mild connection between ‘dumb as bots’ gameplay and ‘mass market’ is hopefully not lost here.

This of course is not entirely negative. WoW is/was, after all, a great ‘intro to MMOs’ game for many. Whether that same crowd takes the next step into ‘real’ MMOs is up for debate. Certainly a title like SW:TOR is not helping people take that next step, but on the other hand SW tanking BECAUSE it’s an entry-level title in a market of vets (I use that term very loosely) will do some good. If we take one step further, buy into the hype, and assuming GW2 is indeed an MMO that fixes all previous MMO woes while not being a ‘dumb as bots’ title, and it’s successful, then we (MMO players) all win going forward.

Or you continue to laugh/cry at the genre while FiS.

Hopefully both.

Posted in Asheron's Call, Console Gaming, Dark Age of Camelot, EQ2, EVE Online, Guild Wars, MMO design, Random, Rant, SW:TOR, Ultima Online, World of Warcraft | 13 Comments