Options of terror

Posted on August 29, 2011 by SynCaine

Regardless of the game, if I don’t have a sense of where I should go next, I get anxious. I need to think about why this is. It’s not that I don’t enjoy an open world or freedom. I think I’m just scared of getting stuck. I get the same anxiety in dungeons. I don’t want to get lost.

Comment by Daniel Silva over at Tobold’s blog about Sandbox MMOs and their lack of direction (as compared to a themepark).

What’s somewhat ironic about this statement, and I believe the above could be echoed by thousands if not millions of MMO players, is the above is exactly what a good sandbox is all about; options. And not just options on how to ultimately reach ‘the end-game’, but options in terms of how you spend your time in-game on that particular day. Whether you decide to work on your skills, go out to gather wealth, explore to learn a new area, or just tag along and help out a guildmate, the decision is based on what you want to do, rather than on a “path to success” that has been documented somewhere online.

One example that comes to mind is new Darkfall players asking what they should do. Too often you will see a ‘vet’ list a bunch of skills and tell the player to grind until X so they can compete. The problem here is that unless the new player is only concerned with reaching ‘viable’ as soon as possible, just listing skills and telling someone to grind is the best way to get them burned out before they even start. Sure, character stats and skills are important, and eventually you will want a powerful character to fully contribute to PvP encounters, but between that point and a new character is a huge range of options, and rushing through them is, for most, not the correct approach.

Games like WoW however do a great job of conditioning players that the “path to success” is the ONLY path, and if you are not on it you are doing it wrong. Hell, most of the time WoW puts bumper rails to keep you on that path, and it takes a massive effort to jump off and play differently. This is where the ‘easy’ part of the design discussion comes in. If Blizzard knows what 99% of their players are doing between levels 1 and 85, then they can easily focus content and balance around that one path. In a linear sRPG, you don’t have to take into consideration what might happen if a new player stumbles into the final dungeon, right?

In a sandbox, stumbling into the final dungeon as a new player, or even better, accompanying your guild, could be an enjoyable experience. It should, at the very least, be an option, even if the end result is you going splat as soon as you enter. Going splat is ok though. The only way you can ‘fail’ is when you stop playing. Even in Darkfall, losing all your gear is a setback, but also motivation to get it back. So long as you log in and keep playing, you keep advancing, and the pace of advancement is only as important as you make it.

The more sandbox titles you play, the easier it becomes to adjust and not always focus on “the path”. It’s tough at first, and as seen above, sometimes even scary, but learning to accept the journey rather than just focusing on the end goal is how you ultimately get the most out of a sandbox title. And as someone with a wealth of experience in both styles, I can very safely say that the highs from a sandbox goal are far more rewarding than those from a themepark. You just have to learn to get there first.

(Business note: Most players refuse or are unable to learn not to focus on the shiny at the end. If you are aiming for the mass-market, themepark is the way to go. That said, if you plan your finances around 100k players, and end up with 200k, that’s pretty damn successful too, and a lot less risky than hoping for 1m plus and ending up with WAR)

Posted in Darkfall Online, MMO design, World of Warcraft | 20 Comments

Darkfall: The only option

Posted on August 26, 2011 by SynCaine

To continue the blog merger, I’ll pick up where I left off on the reset topic and how it applies to Darkfall.

It’s true that a character reset would cut millions of players from WoW, or thousands off games like LotRO or Rift. In solo-hero themeparks your character is the only ‘impact’ you make, and if that gets reset all you have ever done does indeed go *poof*.

Darkfall is different in a number of ways however. First you have the world itself, where player cities can change hands and village housing plays a part. Additionally you don’t ‘progress’ through the world like you would in a themepark. Players living on Yssam are not there because they happen to be level 40, and once they hit 50 it’s on to Cairn. If you reset, Yssam players can start in Cairn and get a different experience, while WoW players are forced to go from zone X to Y to Z all over again. Rinse repeat for ‘end-game’ content.

Another factor is player skill; in WoW a great player might level to the cap a bit faster, or take down an instance without as many wipes, but realistically the in-game character is far more important in terms of power than the player. In Darkfall player-skill matters, and once you ‘get good’, you remain better than others whether you have a fresh character or one who is maxed out. Additionally, reputations matter. Power players and clans are known by name, and those names will still mean something after a reset.

Another very important factor with Darkfall is that it’s pretty unique in the MMO space, especially when comparing games like WoW to Rift. Sure, differences exist (for now anyway), but at the end of the day one experience is very similar to the other. What game plays similar to Darkfall? Mortal Online might be the closest game, and that thing is an absolute mess. In other words, whether a wipe is something you support or don’t want, short of not playing a FFA PvP MMO anymore, you are still going to be playing Darkfall. Hell, every week is “the straw the broke the camel’s back” according to the forums, yet at the same time it’s business as usual on the clan forum and with in-game activity.

I’ve covered my I believe Darkfall needs a wipe come DF2.0, and today’s crafting update just reinforces that. You can’t rebalance the economy and how materials work when various players, through various means, have stockpiles of resources and gained skills outside of the (pretty much) completely new skill-up system. And while I do think the wipe will be interesting to watch (and more importantly, experience first-hand), it’s almost a guarantee that at the end of the day, Darkfall will be a better game for it, both in terms of population and player experience.

Now if we could only get an ETA on when it’s going to happen, and have that ETA actually stick.

Posted in Combat Systems, crafting, Darkfall Online, Housing, MMO design | 8 Comments

Global Agenda: Looking ahead to the next update

Posted on August 25, 2011 by SynCaine

While I have not been posting much about Global Agenda, I and a few others have been playing it somewhat frequently of late, and having a good time (InqClan if you want to join us).

GA is one of those “fun in doses” games, which makes it perfect for the F2P model. I’m pretty sure it also sells power (not at the cap yet, so I’ve not seen end-game stuff or how cash effects it), but given that the game falls under the “I don’t care that much” category, I’m not bothered. I’m consistent like that…

One should not confuse “don’t care that much” with GA not being a good game. I think it is. It has a nice combat system, good graphics, makes some nice design decisions, etc. I’d say currently its biggest shortfall is that its PvE goes into total grind-mode after level 18.

“But SynCaine, I thought GA was a PvP game?”

It is. But it’s not Halo or CounterStrike. It’s an MMO (in the new, more general sense of the term), and even a PvP MMO needs good PvE to provide a PvP break. And GA has some pretty decent PvE pre-18. The open-zone desert stuff is fun. It’s not gods-gift to MMO PvE content, but given how combat works and all that, it’s not bad. There’s something oddly enjoyable about just zipping around with a jetpack blasting random trash in a desert.

So I’m happy to see that the next update is mostly PvE focused, and looks to add more of the open zone stuff. As I mentioned, the PvP they currently have is good, and while more maps and such are nice, you don’t really need to shake that part up. Rather, you need to give people something to do to take a break, because currently that break is to log off. The more stuff you can do while waiting for others to log on, the higher the odds of actually getting a group together become.

Posted in Global Agenda, Patch Notes, PvP | 6 Comments

League of Legends lets you see how much cash you have spent

Posted on August 25, 2011 by SynCaine

The latest League of Legends update lets you see your purchase history, both real cash and IP spending. From a quick survey on the Inquisition forum, it’s pretty clear Riot going F2P has earned them a whole hell of a lot more money than if they had sold LoL for $50 a box. I’ll have to check my personal total when I get home, but I’m pretty sure I’m sitting at $150+, and Aria has bought RP as well.

Now if LoL had a box price of $150, I would call that crazy. Which is funny, because if LoL was boxed for $150, I would expect it to come with all of the content, yet my $150 has not even gotten me close to owning all of the skins or champs out.

Nor do I feel that $150 was poorly spent. If anything, that $150 is a bargain considering how long and how often I’ve played LoL. Even by MMO sub terms (already a steal in terms of spending/entertainment), this works out to just over $10 a month for me, and I’ve spent sub money on games far, far below LoL.

I’d like to hope that LoL shows you don’t need to sell power to make it in the F2P market. Something tells me though that the item shop/gold ammo stuff will continue.

 

Posted in League of Legends, RMT | 22 Comments

Lore and Gameplay

Posted on August 24, 2011 by SynCaine

Lore should justify gameplay, rather than gameplay justifying lore.

In other words, if my MMO setting does not use magic, but a level designer creates something pretty awesome that requires a hint of magic (floating platforms), you don’t scrap the level because the lore says no magic. You add lore explaining why the new place is special and has floating platforms.

At the same time, consistent lore can help you keep things in check and continue with a good thing. WoW started off as high fantasy, but the definition of high fantasy is seriously stretched when you include space goats and Paris Hilton. Which is not to say such things are outright bad (ok Paris Hilton has pretty much zero redeeming qualities), but we have seen plenty of people annoyed with the direction WoW lore has taken. I get that the Alliance needed an ‘ugly’ race, but there are plenty of high fantasy choices that would have fit better than space goats.

Another good example is the Prophecy of Pendor mod I’m (always) playing. The setting in Mount and Blade is great because it does not use magic, giving combat a very real feel. With that said, PoP adds demonic legions and other fantasy-ish characters. Still no magic in combat, but not just a pure medieval setting. You still use a sword to hack down the bad guy, but in PoP the bad guy might have an unrealistic amount of hit points, along with looking a little inhuman.

It’s a fine line, and every game needs to find it and learn to balance on it rather than falling over, yet when push comes to shove, gameplay should always win, even if it is immersion-breaking.

Posted in MMO design, Mount and Blade: Warband, World of Warcraft | 8 Comments

Videogames, coming to a bar near you

Posted on August 23, 2011 by SynCaine

Interesting article from the Wall Street Journal about watching SC2 matches in a sports bar.

As gamers age, and as gaming continues to eat into music, movies, and TV, I think mainstream acceptance of gaming as an eSport is inevitable. How soon it gets there is debatable, but the ultimate result is not (IMO of course). Whether eSports get as big as professional sports in the USA is also debatable, but considering how popular they are in South Korea, it’s certainly not impossible to imagine.

While I’m not a SC2 fan, I would not mind watching some LoL at a bar once in a while.

(Link to the WSJ snagged from RoG)

Posted in League of Legends, Mass Media | 10 Comments

Just another post gushing about FFT

Posted on August 23, 2011 by SynCaine

I’ve been playing Final Fantasy Tactics like a madman since picking it up (Aria loves the super-loud sound effects, just ask her), and I just don’t get how a game from 1997 can STILL be the greatest TBS title of its kind. How, in 14 years, has no one been able to make anything as good as this game? How is it that a game from 1997 has more captivating and expressive animations than most games released today? How is it that the music and sound effects, ON AN IPHONE!, are more memorable and fitting than just about anything I’ve played recently?

It really is absurd on so many levels that not only has FFT aged like a fine wine, but that no game that I am aware of has been able to recreate what makes it so good. I mean I get that the TBS genre is not exactly booming or getting AAA-sized money thrown at it, but 14 years? Really?

And it’s not like FFT is perfect. The dialog, in its odd shakespear-but-not-really style, would not be my first choice. The game does have a stupid slowdown issue whenever you go to attack. You can save at the wrong time and screw yourself if the next fight is too hard and you can’t level up. Some of the mechanics are a little arcane (zodiac/brave system), the classes have some serious balance issues, and one could argue the difficulty of the game is annoyingly uneven (although I think that makes it interesting, but I can see how WoW-kiddies might get upset).

Yet even with all of the above, it’s still the best TBS game I’ve played. Each map is brilliant, the pace of the story is spot-on, the characters are memorable, ‘impact’ events actually carry some weight, you can min/max the HELL out of the game (or not), it’s packed with little details, hints, and side-stories, combat has that perfect mix of strategy and luck, and… well I could go on.

WTB FFT-clone.

Posted in iPhone | 10 Comments

Sad mummy = happy results

Posted on August 22, 2011 by SynCaine

1498. Silver. Winning.

As previously reported, my quest for Silver ranking for Season One hit a little snag after getting to 1494, just one ELO point below the cutoff. After dropping to 1440ish, last night I finally won the game that put me above 1495 and into the Silver ranking category. Pretty happy about it too, thanks for asking.

The funny thing about LoL is how drastically different I play ranked games and normal games. In ranked I’m focused, play smart (usually), and overall do well. In normal games I’m all over the place. Sometimes I carry like you read about, and others I feed like I’m the Red Cross in Africa.

Part of the reason is that I play a ton of different champs in Normal, most which don’t fit my style or are just weaker (but fun to play) champs like Master Yi. My history shows that in ranked games I basically play three champs (Teemo, Amumu, Shen), and Shen is now on the shelf due to how weak he is. I have specific rune/mastery pages for Teemo and Amumu, while for most champs I play in Normal I use ‘generic’ pages. And of course I’m better with a champ I have 100+ games with than someone I’m playing for the 4th time.

With all that said, it still does not fully explain the difference. I mean, when Aria (1000ish ELO) tells me she is sick of playing games where I feed, you know we have an issue. One thing I have noticed jumping between ranked and normal games is the quality of opponents and, more importantly, the quality of teammates. In ranked most of the time everyone is on the same page because we are all similarly skilled players. This means that my team generally has the same level of map awareness as I do, and ‘get’ the same stuff that I get. Things like smart team comp also factor in.

In normal games that’s all hit or miss. You might be playing with someone way above you, at your level, or way below. Expecting a lesser player to ‘get’ how to pull off a gank or initiate a team fight can lead to disaster. This is especially true given that lesser players tend to play more conservative, which leads to their K/D ratio being decent while the fact remains they continue to miss opportunities or lead to team deaths.

Playing Nocturne of late amplifies this situation to a very visible level. Coming in to attack with his ult puts you right in the mix of things, and with a good team that usually means kills and winning a team fight. On a bad team, this means getting slaughtered as your ‘allies’ dance around watching you die (usually to then be picked off one by one as they stutter/run away). The big issue for me is that in order to get better results in Normal games, I’d have to adapt and play a more conservative style, which would then hurt my ranked play.

ELO matters. The Normal feeding will continue!

Posted in League of Legends | 12 Comments

The more-of-the-same train just keeps on rolling

Posted on August 19, 2011 by SynCaine

Watching this video of the upcoming MMO Wildstar told me all I needed to know about the game (pass), but I find it interesting that what I see as “yet another WoW-clone” others see it as, well, here is one quote:

Bioware had best start paying attention to what the competition is doing.

While the washed up Austin MMO has been’s try to revive crappy design ideas that from Tabula Rasa and UO and bank on their IP – the competition is moving forward.

Swtor plays like a game that should have been released 5 years ago. However, while WildStar is not my style, its exciting to see some companies trying to do something different. I look forward to seeing more of what WildStar has to offer.

Now maybe it’s just me, but if you removed the graphic style from Wildstart and SW:TOR, and played videos of both side to side, I’m not sure I could tell the two apart.  Now maybe at the end of the day, the two games won’t be anything alike, but just based off video I’d say they are basically identical solo RPGs you play on a server.

It begs the question, if enough people actually see things like this, that dodging an avalanche is some huge leap forward in the genre, maybe what people want is just slight twists on the 2004 formula? If you look at what’s happening right now, with WoW players moving to Rift, it suggests exactly that. My follow-up would then be; is it because these people are new overall to MMOs, or are people really that happy playing the same game year in, year out, so long as the graphics get switched up?

Posted in Combat Systems, MMO design, Rant, Rift, SW:TOR, World of Warcraft | 14 Comments

Fantasy Football: Need a few players

Posted on August 18, 2011 by SynCaine

We currently have 6 teams signed up for our 12 team league. Some quick math tells me I need 6 more people. Comment here (with a valid email) or shoot me an email if you are interested.

Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments