Quick F2P commentary

Posted on March 7, 2011 by SynCaine

An update post on Rift is on its way, but I found this post over at Terra Nova very interesting, especially considering Rift is a sub-based MMO in what seems like a sea of F2P games.

I’m not holding my breath that games like Farmville will pass, since plenty of people go to a casino just to put pennies in a slot machine, and have been doing so for years. I think the more realistic scenario is that those type of games are no longer the ‘in’ thing, and their popularity fades but does not completely stop. Going back to the casino example, poker became the ‘it’ thing for a bit, and more people played that, but the ‘lifers’ still showed up to hook into a slot machine, happily pressing their one button and watching the wheels spin. When the poker fad passes, the average player will move on to the next fad, while the poker players will keep playing, just like the lifers will still be hooked into their machine.

I’m just hoping the Farmville fad passes sooner rather than later. At least the previous fad in the space was more traditional MMO games, and while we got lots of crap, we did get a few gems. Has the Farmville fad produced anything remotely close to a gem yet?

Posted in MMO design, RMT | 1 Comment

Wheel of Time: Finally up to speed

Posted on March 4, 2011 by SynCaine

For the first time ever, I’ve actually caught up with the Wheel of Time series, a series I first started reading way back in highschool. It took three restarts, but finally I’ve read all 13 books that have been released so far. It’s a little bittersweet too, since I no longer have the option to grab the next book if I want, but I can go to message boards and read all of the theories people have without running into spoilers.

 

The last few books have been nothing short of amazing, while the notable 7-11-ish books are indeed a slog. The thing that really kills me about those books is they still contain some great moments, but they are wrapped in so much needless text. I can’t imagine what the last book is going to be like, given how well ToM sets things up and yet how many plot arcs are still up in the air. Not that I’m a huge reader, but the Wheel of Time has been by far my favorite series, even with those slower books. If you have somehow managed not to give them a shot, I highly recommend it.

Posted in Random, Site update | 16 Comments

The cult of MMO; Why it’s good to be a fanboi.

Posted on March 3, 2011 by SynCaine

MMO success has been the topic of a few blogs, mostly inspired by Rift’s successful launch and predictions of what will happen next. Will it WAR or will it WoW? Readers here will know I’m leaning more toward WoW than WAR, but really that question will answer itself in the coming months, so we might as well just wait and see.

What I do want to talk about is the more general topic of MMO success, what it means for different parties, and why you should care. I’ve seen many state that success to them is as simple as “am I having fun?”, which works on an individual level but also fails when talking about MMOs. No matter how much fun I might have had with Tabula Rasa, that game did fail for everyone since you can no longer play it. This is very different from any other genre. If I think “random single player game X” is the worlds greatest game, and I’m the only one who bought it, the game is still a success for me, while it’s a total failure for everyone else. At worst, I won’t see patches or a sequel, but I can still play what I originally bought as often as I please.

And while an MMO shutting down is the worst case scenario, even a game not being ‘popular enough’ can hurt your enjoyment of it if server populations are low or the general in-game opinion is overly negative. What if WoW topped out at 200k subs? That would still be enough to keep the servers up and the Bliz devs recycling content, but would the current UI look anything like it does today? Without that massive audience, would all of those top-tier modders have flocked to WoW to create the game’s UI? Would raid encounters play out like they do today had decursive or other raiding mods never been created? Perhaps most importantly, would the ‘mass market’ model for an MMO be what we today refer to as WoW-clone? Or, assuming everything else stays the same, would we be seeing EVE-clones from devs trying to match the 300k+ subs that CCP has as the leading sub-based MMO?

The definition of success for a gaming company is also very different. If they turn a nice profit on a title, it’s a footnote that 99% of the players hate the game and it shuts down three months later. Sure, everyone would love to have an MMO with the sub base of WoW, the longevity of UO, or the continued growth of EVE, but if you turn a $100m investment into a $150m profit, you have succeeded on the corporate level. It might suck for the dev team that just got laid off, but as a corporate entity the title was still judged a success, and considered a “would do again” experience.

What about success for a company like Aventurine (Darkfall) or eGenesis (A Tale in the Desert)? From day one they both knew they would not reach the mass market and attain 12m+ subs. They knew most players, even MMO gamers, would not be attracted to what they offer. Yet they still produce what they produce, stick to their core ideas rather than make massive changes to become more ‘accessible’, and if the devs get paid and the servers stay up, they consider what they do a success, especially because they genuinely love what they do.

In other words, it’s perfectly rational that fans of an MMO hope for the games success, and evaluate more than just “am I having fun?” when considering whether to stick with a title or not. There are extremes of course, with people who simply hate a game to hate it (hi haters), or people who will claim MMO X is gods gift up to and beyond the day the servers shut down, but overall players SHOULD care about the health of an MMO or how the devs/company are doing. When things go well for the game/company, things generally get better for the player as well. And when a game struggles, it either gets Auto Assaulted, trammel’ed, or NGE’ed. Hard to just have fun when that happens to your MMO of choice.

Posted in Darkfall Online, EVE Online, MMO design, Rant, Rift, Ultima Online, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 4 Comments

Insider story of Darkfall’s development

Posted on March 3, 2011 by SynCaine

Pretty interesting read.

While I’m at another lull in my activity with Darkfall, it’s still the MMO I keep my eye on more than anything else, I still log in once a week or so to catch up on activity, and it’s still the game I know I’ll be playing going forward. While what is there now is pretty fantastic (especially given how many people made it), the design is such that each year, it only gets better, which is rather exciting from a players perspective.

Posted in beta, Darkfall Online, MMO design | 4 Comments

Fact not Opinion

Posted on March 2, 2011 by SynCaine

Right now choosing between LOTRO and Rift is like choosing to get a root canal or bang a supermodel.

And LOTRO is free even.

–Julian from KTR.

(Bonus points to anyone who can identify the title reference)

Posted in Lord of the Rings Online, Rift | 6 Comments

Rift Launch + Realm of the Fae

Posted on March 1, 2011 by SynCaine

To echo what TAGN said today (and to cross-link for maximum blog traffic whoring), Rift does officially launch today, even though it might as well have launched last week. It would also be sadly humorous if Trion overestimates the demand today, and those 30 new servers end up not being needed, since they somewhat botched the head-start server count. I mean, the pre-order price was identical to the standard price, so if you were going to buy the game, why not last week vs this week? That said, I expect today to be a rather silly/busy day, and if I’m able to log in and actually play tonight, that will be a surprise. Sucks that today is also LoL patch day. Good timing gaming industry, thanks.

Anyway.

Aria and I were able to run the first Guardian instance this past weekend, Realm of the Fae, and it’s not bad. It’s no Deadmines (the original), but it’s not The Stockades either. The pulls are somewhat simple, with only a few patrolling mobs and some spots where you could get 2+ groups (though to be fair, I was the tank, and well, I’m kinda good, so maybe the average WoW kiddie running the place has a tough time. We will see when my apprentice tanks it later this week). The bosses are nothing overly complex, but each one has his ‘thing’, and they all fit the instance well. The ‘ending’ of the instance after the final boss has a nice twist, I will say that.

The standout of the instance though is the final area, which is a giant snowstorm that blinds you with its intensity. The low visibility effect from the snow is spectacular, and really sets you on edge thanks to the patrolling mobs. Living in the North East, and having a few white-out storms this season, I can guarantee you that the effect is quite genuine. The overall ‘changing of the seasons’ theme of the instance is well done as well.

The instance was also the first real opportunity to switch my souls from questing/dps to tank, and yet again highlights how well refined and polished Rift is. The switch is simple and gets all the little things like hotbar mapping right. If implemented halfasses, switching souls would be viewed as a pain, but in Rift it’s quick and enjoyable, reducing the usual “I can only dps, LF tank/healer!” themepark problem.

Tanking itself is slightly different in Rift than it was in WoW or WAR when I played them. The overall goal is still to grab agro and not die of course, but at least for the Paladin soul you are also working hard to keep the mobs debuffed and your party buffed, all while keeping your dps as high as possible. Even at level 18 you already have a good selection of skills. Some open up others (the base warrior combo system), some are reactive (after a block, when you get crit, etc), and some are situational (AoE damage/taunt that has a decent cooldown). I’ve seen some complaints that the global cooldown (1.5sec?) is too slow in Rift, and that it makes combat feel sluggish, and while that was perhaps the case in the 1-10 level range (I personally did not notice it), tanking at 18 was never a question of waiting for a cooldown, but deciding which skill to fire off next.

The decisions you are presented are somewhat interesting. You have a few standard attacks that either buff or debuff while also building combo points (3 max). One of the ‘finisher’ moves for the Pali is a pretty strong debuff, but it only lasts for 6 seconds. Some quick math reveals that you could fire that off and be back at 3 combo points in 4.5 seconds (the finisher itself does not trip the GCD), leaving you 1.5 seconds for ‘other stuff’ and still keeping the mob debuffed continuously. Yet even at 18 I already have four different ‘standard’ attacks, and those buffs/debuffs are all on different timers, and each one helps, be it increased block %, increased armor, decreased mob power, or increasing the damage a mob takes from other sources. On top of all this you have reactive skills that more often than not are ‘better’ than standard attacks (more damage, better buff/debuff) that don’t build combo points, and longer cooldown abilities that also bring something unique or powerful to the table (stuns, big damage, etc).

Point being, you not only have something to always use, you have a lot of somethings, and this opens the door for player skill and more tactical gameplay. In the beginner instance this might not make a huge impact since you can out-gear or out-level it anyway (our group was basically ‘at level’, with a good group mix of tank/healer/healer/dps/dps, and the instance felt decent if slightly on the easier side), but certainly for end-game instances and raiding, and the major rift events, this will all hopefully reward those who play their class well.

As with almost everything else in Rift, the quick-glance view seems very familiar, but the details stand out and feel better than what came before.

Posted in Combat Systems, MMO design, Rift | 9 Comments

Rift: MMO 3.0

Posted on February 28, 2011 by SynCaine

Let’s call UO/EQ/AC the first generation of MMOs (sorry MUDs), where both the devs and the players were total noobs, and the ‘hey this is new’ factor was off the charts. If you dialed in during the late 90s, you got to experience something unique, and for many that uniqueness overshadowed poor or shallow gameplay, massive technical issues, and a somewhat ‘constant beta’ feel.

The 2nd generation covers WoW in 2004 and other MMO games during that time. These were games which were created based off the feedback from UO/EQ/AC, seeking to fix the issues and progress the genre. Some succeeded more than others, and not all of the ‘fixes’ were actually better than the original ‘problems’. A large push was made to remove that ‘constant beta’ feel, along with expanding the genre beyond just those hardcore enough to survive the first-gen MMOs.

We are now in the 3rd generation of MMOs, the ‘post-WoW’ era. We have seen countless titles try to emulate WoW, others try the ‘something different’ route, and still some who wish to return to that first gen feel. As with the second generation, some titles accomplish their goals better than others, and some are indeed evolutions rather then rehashes or steps back.

So far (lvl 20), Rift feels very much like a 3.0 MMO. An evolution of WoW in much the same way that WoW was an evolution of EQ1. Yes, you have seen most of this before, but not in this exact mix, and it’s the sum of all the parts that is ultimately what determines whether you are having fun or not, and whether overall things ‘work’. Rift works.

Souls are similar to talent trees, but the differences between the two systems make souls better. It’s not a giant leap for the genre, but it IS an improvement. More flexible, more interesting, more integrated to everything else. Same deal with the initial zone. The layout is just better than the starter areas of WoW, it feels more worldly while still feeling themepark enough to facilitate that kind of gameplay. I’ve heard the zones beyond are of similar quality. Rift events are similar to WARs PQs, yes, but once again simply better overall. More noticeable, better at getting people to participate, more ‘worldly’ in nature, more tightly written into the lore, etc.

Alone each piece is a nice but subtle improvement to the genre. Together they create something that is both very enjoyable and noticeable better as a whole. Rift’s first week feels very much like WoW did in 2004 (including the queues!), where what you are doing really does not leap out and shock you like early UO or the first week of something like Darkfall did, but you keep logging in and watching the hours go by, entertained the entire time, always looking ahead. Rift has that very familiar, comfortable ‘slow drip’ feel of a quality themepark MMO.

Posted in Darkfall Online, EQ2, MMO design, Rift, Ultima Online, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 26 Comments

Already over the EG threshhold with Rift

Posted on February 25, 2011 by SynCaine

Thanks to my VIP account, I was able to skip the queues all the peasants were in today, and I’m currently just under level 29. Population is a bit low in my area, but I guess that’s to be expected. Raiding the starter area was a hoot though, and I got some great rage tells from all the people I was one-shotting while they tried to turn in quests. Good times. Hoping to hit the level cap tomorrow and really cause some damage.

At least, I think that’s how EG would do a review based on random rumors and forum speculation…

In “how things actually play” land, I had a good time with Rift once I got in. Actually reading the quest text makes the questing more fun (who knew!?), and I’m liking the story so far. It seems more driven, as even though you are doing random collect this, kill that stuff, it’s all for one singular purpose (currently lvl 7). Performance seems to be better as well. On the new comp I’m getting 50ish FPS on Ultra with 4x AA at 1900×1200, while the old Alienware is pushing 45ish FPS on High at 1400×900. More than acceptable in both cases, and that was in some rather crowded areas. Game is very, very pretty on the new comp, with details all over the place and lighting effects going off left and right, all while not giving off that “neon themepark hell” vibe.

Hopefully tomorrow I get the 1 plat I need to officially start Inquisition, and we will see how far Aria and I get level-wise. Good start so far though.

Posted in Inquisition Clan, Mass Media, Rift | 8 Comments

If you’re surprised by the Rift queues…

Posted on February 24, 2011 by SynCaine

Go back to WoW.

Edit: But first make sure to go to the Rift forums and complain about it. Your tears sustain me at work, and the stuff being posted is 100% pure gold.

Posted in Rant, Rift | 16 Comments

Not all themeparks are created equally

Posted on February 24, 2011 by SynCaine

Going to comment on something Tobold wrote today, related to Rift launching and how themeparks are similar. Here is the piece I want to focus on:

But I do know that Rift is not completely unlike World of Warcraft. It has the same basic “theme park” guidance by quests structure, it has classes, levels, talents, spells, and a combat that works very similar, and even the user interface is somewhat similar to that of World of Warcraft. I also know that Star Wars: The Old Republic will also fall into the same basic scheme.

Of course Tobold is right that the very basics are similar. The Rift interface is similar enough to the one fans created for WoW that you know how most of it works before you even load up. It does have levels, souls/classes/talents, its high fantasy, etc. But a UI does not define a game, and just one difference can completely separate one game from another.

Imagine, for instance, if someone released a game that was 99% just like Darkfall (we will call it Lightfall), but turned off the FFA PvP. Same UI, same combat, same world, same crafting, all of that, just instead of being able to bash whoever whenever, you could only fight other players in designated areas. Would anyone playing Darkfall view Lightfall as another MMO option? Of course not.

Or if you want an example from the past, how did Darktide play compared to every other Asheron’s Call server? Same game exact game, just one little rules tweak, yet the end result was black/white in terms of in-game activity and overall flow.

I’m signed up for Rift, but I don’t view WoW as another MMO option, newly rehashed instance coming ‘soon’ or not. When I recently watched my father play his 121k hp Pali, solo’ing a pull in a lvl 83 instance before heading to the portal area of Stormwind to show me some of the ‘changes’, I was not looking at something that was kinda like Rift. When he jumped on an alt and ran Mara with four of the absolute worst players I’ve ever seen, most under-leveled for the instance, and no one even came close to dying despite stuff like running repeatedly into the Princess’ poison, I was not looking at something kinda like Rift. And like he himself said, WoW is a great solo RPG now, and that’s cool, but I’m looking for an MMO to play.

It does raise an interesting question though; what will those that ARE looking for more WoW do? Will they tourist back to Azeroth after a month, or stick around once they see what an MMO actually plays like? My guess is that many jumped on the WoW bandwagon after the removal of the MMO parts, so perhaps for millions, they have never seen what a virtual world actually looks like, even one as relatively ‘tame’ as Rift.

Considering the MMO genre is a niche market (hi Mark), I expect a lot of bags to be packed 30-60 days from now.

Posted in Asheron's Call, beta, Darkfall Online, MMO design, PvP, Rift, World of Warcraft | 8 Comments