Dragons, scarabs, and how to get the most out of DF PvE

Posted on May 19, 2010 by SynCaine

Two DarkFall PvE comments for today, the first about the Fire Dragon and the second about solo vs group farming.

Blood, living out of Ghana, has easy access to the Ruby Fire Dragon and downs him often. So often in fact, that we have affectionately named him Player Auctions, in part as a tribute to our large ForumFall fanbase. Blood is able to down PA so often because instead of clan-whoring all of his loot, the leadership has set up a simple but effective system to reward people for participating, and the whole gather/kill/loot process is done as quickly and efficiently as possible.

The loot system is MMO 101 loot distribution: a leader picks a number between 1-100, everyone involved picks a number and enters it into chat at the same time, and loot is distributed based on the order of who is closest to the picked number. Prizes include crafted rank 60 and 50 weapons, as well as the items from the chest being distributed. The actual gold (which can get as high as 100k or so) goes to the clan.

PA takes a good 10+ people to down him in a reasonable (15min?) amount of time, so getting people motivated and excited to participate is key to farming such a huge source of clan income. In addition to the loot distribution system, Blood also provides crafted elemental bows, in part to help lower the cost of downing him, but also because an ice transmute bow speeds the whole process up immensely. It sounds simple, yet surprisingly few clans take these steps to not only provide entertainment for their members, but help themselves out as well.

On a related “good to farm” note, last night a buddy and I went out to farm some Tomb Scarabs that also spawn right outside of Ghana, and we were both blown away at how profitable the spawn can be if done correctly. For starters, Tomb Scarabs are somewhat unique in that they are practically immune to both magic and arrows, meaning they must be melee’ed down, but since they have 1000hp and hit deceptively hard, it would take a single character a few attempts just to down one, and that process might be dicey due to the nasty DoT they have a tendency to place on you.

If you bring two players however, one ready to melee in heavy armor and a decent weapon and the other ready to buff and heal, the Tomb Scarabs go down nice and easy, and at 300-1000 gold a pop, a spawn of three, and a quick respawn timer, the gold quickly adds up. Just last night we made a total of 10k in less than an hour just in gold alone, along with a sizable amount of gems, skinning materials, and black powder to go along with it. As a nice side bonus, since the Tomb Scarabs don’t have a ranged attack and stay in melee range once engaged, you don’t end up spending a lot of time chasing them down or getting into unfavorable situations. This is important for two reasons: one being that you are able to watch out for enemies much easier, and the other bonus being that you are able to take breaks and actually socialize while farming, making the whole thing far more enjoyable.

Our initial reaction as the gold was piling up was that Tomb Scrabs are a bit overpowered in terms of effort/gain, but on second thought they might not be. When you factor in how difficult they are to solo, that they only really drop gold and a few semi-useful enchanting mats, and that in order to down them effectively you have to not only bring out decent gear but also work well as a duo, the effort/gain ratio seems fine.

If anything, these two examples are exactly the PvE variety DF offers at times if you stop for a moment and analyze a spawn. Mobs that reward a well planned, well executed strategy by a set number of players. A third person at the scarabs would have been overkill, just like bringing 20+ to the Fire Dragon means a lower chance for loot at only a marginal increase in kill time, and since the dragon is on a long, long respawn timer, you really don’t gain much from the extra manpower. There should be optimal solo mobs (there are some), optimal duo spawns, and optimal larger group stuff. Combined with bringing the right gear, using the right utilities (buffs, debuffs), and having the player skill to pull it off (certainly not the high level you need for PvP, but not the faceroll that is typical MMO PvE), it all makes for a much more enjoyable and rewarding PvE experience, which then makes losing that gear in PvP a lot more bearable.

(DarkFall-related post disclaimer/reminder. If you click the image link near the top-right of this page and buy a DarkFall account, I get paid 20% of the client cost. If you believe this taints my views and reporting on DarkFall, your opinion is wrong.)

Posted in Combat Systems, Darkfall Online, MMO design, Uncategorized | 17 Comments

Bringing EVE’s Empire space to DarkFall

Posted on May 18, 2010 by SynCaine

The phrase “Play to Crush” from ShadowBane has an ironic history behind it. Before SB’s release, it was a rallying cry for the PvP ‘hardcore’, a declaration that all of those ‘soft’ features from other MMOs need not apply here. During SB’s lifetime, “Play to Crush” was a style of play, where one side would literally crush the other until nothing was left. Once SB finally shut down (after being on F2P life support for a bit), “Play to Crush” stands as an example of why catering ONLY to the PvP ‘hardcore’ is not sound business strategy. Or to put it another way, the ‘best’ players of SB were so good, they literally crushed the game itself. Congrats on your overwhelming victory.

Yesterday I asked EVE players why they believe alliances last so long, and how in a brutal environment like 0.0, EVE is able to both retain and attract enough players to continue growing well into its sixth year. The overwhelming answer was Empire space, that lovely section in the middle of the universe that’s safer (but not 100% safe) than any other. So what exactly makes Empire space in EVE tick, and how could that concept be applied to DarkFall?

Empire space is certainly not Trammel, the no-PvP side of Ultima Online that is the bane of all PvP-minded players. The differences are many, but the two key points are that Empire is not 100% safe, and that areas outside of Empire space provide significant advantages to those who venture out and lay claim to them. As many noted, what Empire does, among other things, is provide a place for defeated alliances and corporations to regain their footing, to resupply, refocus, and most importantly, to prevent being crushed out of the game entirely. In DarkFall’s early history we certainly saw plenty of “Play to Crush” examples, and not a single one of them is a positive for the game.

But beyond aiding PvPers, Empire is also a breeding ground for future PvP players. EVE statistics show that a large group of EVE players only play in Empire space, never heading out into 0.0 to actively engage in combat PvP (econ PvP is a totally different topic). What those statistics don’t show is how many current PvP players started out as Empire-only pilots only to later be lured to 0.0 for one reason or another. Without Empire, they might never have gotten their feet under them, or never got themselves invested enough into EVE to finally make that jump. And even if a pilot never heads out to 0.0 during his entire career, he is still paying a monthly subscription to fund future development, so even in that roundabout way he too is ‘contributing’ to the progression and improvement of EVE PvP. Point being, the more players you have, whether they PvP or not, the better off the PvP will be in the long run (assuming the devs don’t give up on their original focus and shift direction, which is a different and legitimate fear PvP players have).

So what can Aventurine do to ‘Empire-up’ Agon? For one, living under a certain level of protection (NPC zap tower functionality) should be more viable. Currently once you leave the immediate surrounds of a starter town, you are playing under the same FFA PvP rules as the most die-hard PvPers. That might sound ‘hardcore’, but it’s not going to impress, and more importantly, retain, a newer player just trying to get started. Nor does it really lead to any worthwhile PvP anyway, as anyone going to a starter area to gank goblin-hunting noobs is really not there to find true PvP. The recently added newbie protection was a good first step, but it does not do nearly enough as it only covers truly new players and only for a limited amount of time.

My suggestion would be to slightly revamp the areas right around the starter towns to include only lower-yield mob spawns and resource nodes, but offer up zap tower protection to not just the towns themselves, but the whole local area. Image each races starter region under single zap tower protection (the lore explanation could be that the zap comes from that races patron god protecting his kind), with the border identified by an easily crossed but highly visible wall (each race could have its own unique ‘skull and crossbones’ style warning barrier). The same rules for zap towers still apply, so clans at war can still fight it out and breaking the law under zap tower protection still does not mean instant death. If you see a rich-looking player target, you can still try to kill him before the zap tower kills you and have your buddy loot him (aka Empire suicide ganking). Obviously no player cities/hamlets could be within this area, nor would you want it to include any real ‘worthwhile’ mobs. Plus the resource nodes should have a higher rate of gathering failure and a lower overall capacity. Again think EVE empire mining vs 0.0 mining.

The intent is to give both new and newly defeated players somewhere to go to stock up and get ready to return to the FFA PvP lands. Perhaps with further changes and additions, these areas could also serve a Jita-like role as centralized areas for economic activity. One major difference, and if done right, benefit DarkFall has over EVE is the tight ability to control access to a region. In EVE a corp/alliance can gatecamp and keep everyone out, while this is much more difficult in DF. The benefit to this is that PvE-minded players would have an easier time venturing out of Agon-empire to gather resources or hunt tougher and more profitable mobs. This would give them short, controlled bursts of life on the ‘hardcore’ side, with the hope that eventually they would learn how to deal with the tough breaks and enjoy what that style of MMO gaming brings.

A silly carebear today might turn into a deadly PvPer tomorrow, but if you crush him out of the game before he has time to establish himself, in the end the only one crushed is the ‘winner’, left to go play yet another WoW clone.

Posted in crafting, Darkfall Online, EVE Online, MMO design, PvP, Ultima Online, Uncategorized | 22 Comments

Community differences and evolution in a PvP world

Posted on May 17, 2010 by SynCaine

One major contrast I see between the player base in EVE and the one in DarkFall is permanence, alliance loyalty, and the ability to recover and continue the fight. As I was reading the 0.0 activity report in EON, I was surprised and amazed at how many of the alliance names I recognized despite the fact that I have not been following the game for a few years now. In addition to this, I was also surprised to read the different approach to each conflict, and that even in major battles the conflict was between a set group of enemies rather than everyone showing up like in DarkFall. Now some of these changes can easily be explained by differences in game design, but I certainly don’t believe this is the only contributing factor, and this leaves me wondering why the territory conquest game is so different in the two games.

The first set of questions I have is whether EVE has always been like this, or was it closer to what DF is today in its early years? Did clans/corps and alliances raise and fall as quickly? Did key figures come and go as they do in DF? Was CCP still figuring out exactly how they want 0.0 to play out like Aventurine has in their first year of patching? And overall, is the stability and longevity of EVE’s major players more a tribute to the game design itself, or due to an environment where worthy foes are always around, always trying to one-up each other?

I ask this because I believe such stability and permanence is key to keeping a negative-sum PvP game going, and while DF has exceeded the expectations of many, it’s certainly still very much a niche game even when compared to subscription-based MMOs not called WoW. Tough defeats happen in both games, but I think what EVE has going for it right now that DF lacks in many ways is a solid community to retain those who end up defeated. In DF right now, when your clan or alliance gets crushed, there is not much to fall back on to regroup, and many times those defeats are both absolute (in terms of holdings) and swift, which I think leads many to quit. Obviously for the long-term health of any MMO, finding a way to retain those players is key, and in EVE I believe the community itself, rather than some CCP-lead development, is that difference.

What I’m left wondering is if Aventurine needs to do something major to help grow such a solid community, or if this is something that naturally happens in this style of MMO?

Posted in Darkfall Online, EVE Online, MMO design, PvP, Uncategorized | 21 Comments

Seeing red

Posted on May 17, 2010 by SynCaine

In a move that took a little longer than we initially planned, myself and two close friends left the VAMP alliance and joined Blood, following in the footsteps of three others who about a month ago made a similar move. The decision was solidified for us when the initial three spoke so highly of Blood and how the clan/alliance was run, not to mention our general discontent with VAMP and how the alliance functioned. It’s telling however when all three of us, after just one night in Blood, independently came to the conclusion that this change is going to make DarkFall a lot more enjoyable for us, and motivate us to really get involved and into the mix of things.

The differences are many, but can be summed up that Blood is there for the benefit of its members, while VAMP uses its members to further the name. Differences in how city resources are handled, how organized PvE trips work, and the approach to PvP trips is all evidence of this. And it’s not as simple as “Well Blood is more casual/relaxed”, because it’s not. The PvP is tightly run, people are responsible for their roles, and the goals are, if anything, even bigger. But it’s how those goals get accomplished, and how Blood prepares its members that is the key difference, evident even on the first day.

Which brings up a larger point overall about MMOs, and especially ones of the sandbox variety: without a single line of code changing, our enjoyment of DF increased significantly because we took action and made a change. We very well could have remained in VAMP and, most likely, eventually gotten so worn down and bored that we would have quit, or been left waiting for Aventurine to add something to ‘fix the game’. I think many players fall into similar traps, unwilling to act on their own to fix a situation. Even for us, without the initial three making the move, we might never have left. Leaving something established, even if it’s not exactly working out, is never an easy move to make.

But I’m glad we made it, and I’m more excited about the game now than I have been for quite some time. With this move, and what looks like a rather on-point June expansion, things should get very interesting shortly.

Posted in Darkfall Online, MMO design, PvP, Site update, Uncategorized | 6 Comments

Why all but 330k people should hate EVE

Posted on May 14, 2010 by SynCaine

I’m starting to really hate EVE Online.

I’m starting to hate it because it makes all other MMOs look like crude kids toys, like silly side activities you dabble in before getting back to the ‘real’ game. It makes events that happen in other MMOs look like droplets in the ocean that is EVE’s history. And it does all this before you even start to really compare designs, before you start to realize how well so many things in EVE work despite the fact that it’s been out almost seven years now. Think about that; seven years and pilots are still advancing in basically the same skill system, still living and thriving in basically the same set of ‘zones’, and even after seven years the economy, by far the deepest in any MMO, is as strong as ever. There have been no ‘Cataclysms” to shake things up, there have been no total revamps to systems to make them work, no “re-roll an alt and play it all again” pitches. Just the constant, inevitable progression of both the pilots and New Eden itself.

All MMOs have a set timeframe that they are expected to thrive in, to either be replaced by something else or put into maintenance mode, a relic for new players to explore. There are no major changes coming to UO or EQ1 or AC1. If you never played them, go check them out. If you have, you know what to expect, and if you’ve ‘finished’ them, you move on. All MMOs but EVE. A pilot with close to 7 years of experience is not about to ‘finish’ the games content, he is not about to ‘max out’ or finally acquire the ‘best in slot’ in everything. He is not waiting for the next content patch to have something to do. He is not taking a break until more ‘stuff’ is added. He is, in the purest sense, going about his business in EVE, with more options available to him today than he likely had the year before. Dwell on that long enough and it really is amazing, and yet seemingly so simple. It’s a virtual world after all, of course you continue living in it until you, not the content, decide to move on. Yet it’s the only game in the genre that can legitimately make that claim, and it has the growing sub numbers to back that up.

And I hate EVE because as much as I love DarkFall, and as much as I agree with what Aventurine is going for and what they have delivered, placing DF next to EVE is just sad. I mean sure, the actual combat in DF is tops in the genre, and while very different, the graphics in both games do some amazing things. But the economy, the territory conquest, the political game, and the size and impact of certain events? Or the balance issues, the long-term prospects of character development, the size of the world, the technology to handle epic battles? Not even close is an understatement, and DF is better in many of those areas than most MMOs. How well does your MMO handle 200 players all fighting each other? How often does that happen? Does the outcome affect 300k others? How much real character progression can you make after playing consistently for over a year? How solid, viable, and balanced is your crafting after three years? Are items that were useful five years ago still useful and in-demand today? Hell, will ANYTHING you are doing today matter in five years in the MMO you are playing?

All of this comes about because I was recently asked to contribute to EON magazine; they had some space for a WoW-bashing article about how anyone playing that game is a racist bully, and who understands those MMO parasites better than I do, right? (That’s not the actual topic, sadly, it’s about PLEX and RMT). During my previous times in EVE, I had never seen a copy of EON, and so when I got my copy just a few days ago, I was literally floored, and it took reading the first ten pages to get me to re-subscribe. I’m not joking about that either, literally after reading ten pages I put the magazine down, went to the computer, and re-subscribed. One can only ignore the call of something so great for so long, and with EON’s passion as evidence in front of me, it was not a hard choice.

I have an overall goal for my return, along with several smaller ones, but that’s a post for next week. For now, I’m going to finish reading EON, get the rust off from being away from EVE for so long, and attempt to figure out a way to split my time between DarkFall (not giving that game up by any means), EVE, and Guild Wars (with Aria).

And I owe it all to the magic of the sparkle pony, as without your overpriced, less-than-pointless, zerg-inducing addition, the original blog post here that started all of this would have never been written. So thanks Blizzard, I owe ya one.

Posted in Asheron's Call, Combat Systems, crafting, Darkfall Online, EVE Online, Guild Wars, MMO design, Rant, RMT, Site update, Ultima Online, Uncategorized, World of Warcraft | 36 Comments

The “I have a dream” of DarkFall

Posted on May 14, 2010 by SynCaine

Day to day representation? Not really.

Idealized? Of course.

But a great watch? Oh hell yes.

Enjoy, and great job as always Valroth.

Posted in Darkfall Online, Mass Media, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Snicker indeed.

Posted on May 13, 2010 by SynCaine

Our good friends at EuroGamer strike again.

Read the comments over at Lum’s site for a link to the original review that was pulled down, along with some good points, like complaining about the lack of a level cap increase while also complaining that the AA system (that uses XP to increase) adds too much complexity to playing a character.

I also like how EG again tries to save face by claiming that while the review was actually fine, they pulled it because they want to buff it up to that oh-so-high EG standard. To quote the site:

We believe the review provided an accurate and reasonable account of the game in its present state, but on further investigation we are still not completely satisfied that it meets the standards expected of MMO reviews.

I guess it must be in the water over there. The review was accurate and a reasonable account of the game, but somehow that is not the expected standard for an MMO review? Well, we certainly know it’s not the standard over at EG.

Posted in Age of Conan, Darkfall Online, Mass Media, Rant, Uncategorized | 11 Comments

Sinking some ships in DarkFall

Posted on May 13, 2010 by SynCaine

The repeat of a recent ship-themed event happened last night in DarkFall, and luckily I was able to get online and check it out. Overall I had a good time, although zerging people down and then smashing everything in our path was a little much. Reading the forums, it seems the overall enjoyment of the event depended highly on which location you went to and who showed up. Some ships had a great time, others not so much. Such is life in the sandbox, although hopefully Aventurine learned a few things from this event and the next one will be a bit smoother overall.

To begin things, our group of about 50 waited on a mountain near the elf city that was to be the starting point for their Ship of the Line (SotL), and once the GM spawned it and picked up the players waiting on the dock, it sailed down the narrow channel near our mountain. As it passed, we all jumped off in an attempt to board the ship, but many, myself including, did not time the jump correctly and did not make it on board. As the ship continued to sail, those who did make it on made quick work of the players who had boarded the ship earlier. After chasing the ship for a bit in the water, and realizing it was not going to stop, we got back on shore, spawned our mounts, and rode along the coast to a chokepoint we knew the ship had to pass. Thankfully we got there ahead of the ship, and as it passed we grabbed the ropes and got ourselves aboard.

As we sailed north towards Maharim lands, we noticed an abandoned Schooner sitting in the water, and a few players jumped off the SotL to grab it and have it trail the main boat. The trip was uneventful until we got about halfway to Maharim lands and saw their GM-controlled SotL sailing towards us. A ship vs ship battle ensued, but due to our higher numbers we were able to man more of the cannons and deal more damage to the enemy SotL, slowing it down enough to get close and send in our boarding party. After some quick fighting on the enemy decks, the ship was cleared and the water was filled with tombstones.

As the other SotL was still under the enemy GM’s control, we had little choice but to sink it, and so down to the ocean bottom it went. Shortly after wrapping up that fight, we spotted an enemy-controlled Brigantine to our north, and our little SotL and Schooner fleet sped towards the enemy. The SotL, lacking forward cannons, was powerless to slow the Brig, but the Schooner has three forward-facing cannons and with their aid we were able to deal enough damage to the Brig to slow it down and eventually overtake it. Another brief battle broke out, this time in the water since the enemies jumped ship, and soon our little fleet was one Brig richer.

Unfortunately the GM then informed us that the event was over, and that he was going to sail the SotL out to sea to despawn it. Not being very happy with his choice, VAMP decided instead to sink the SotL with the Schooner. As the ship sank, the GM flew away, and the event was over.

On the plus side it was fun to see two big ships exchange cannon fire before getting close enough for a melee to break out. It was also interesting to watch a GM run such an event, even though at times he sailed the ship in some rather odd directions. Based on forum reaction it seems the skill and personality of each GM varied, with some being much better than others. I’ll also give credit to AV for not only repeating the event (since the first one went poorly on the EU server), but repeating it on both servers and avoiding the drama only repeating it on EU would have brought.

On the downside, due to both our numbers and overall character power, we never really had a good fight during the event. Had our SotL meet up with another powerhouse alliance, things would have been far more interesting. It sounded like the Human SotL had a great battle with the Alfar ship. But that’s one of the problems with a game like DarkFall, if certain things don’t line up, even a well run event might not provide a lot of excitement if the needed factors don’t line up. In our case, we brought too many players to our ship to get a good fight, while the reverse could be said for those we killed.

Still, if this event or one like it was to happen again, I would certainly attend, and even with the unbalanced fighting we got, it was a fun and different night in Agon.

(DarkFall-related post disclaimer/reminder. If you click the image link near the top-right of this page and buy a DarkFall account, I get paid 20% of the client cost. If you believe this taints my views and reporting on DarkFall, your opinion is wrong.)

Posted in Darkfall Online, PvP, Uncategorized | 5 Comments

Send me free stuff, get praised.

Posted on May 12, 2010 by SynCaine

As I mentioned before, I received a copy of the Guild Leader’s Handbook to read and review, but Ravious over at Kill Ten Rats beat me to posting about it and says more or less what I would have said. The book is very well written, contains a lot of good information that obviously comes from years of experience, and it sells for the low price of just one sparkle pony.

But this being the home of “the glass is half empty because the players broke it” thinking, I do have a few suggestions. As Ravious points out in his post, the book overall is aimed at a PvE Raiding guild, with the occasional mention of PvP or RP. As someone how has played most major PvP MMOs, I can safely say that a PvP guild has some major differences compared to a PvE guild. The best solution here IMO would be to split the book into two versions or sections, and get someone with more PvP guild experience to cover that aspect. I can’t speak for RP guilds, but my guess is they too would benefit from a more experienced author. This would not require a complete overhaul, as some of the sections do apply to all guilds, but certainly not everything, and the book feels a little incomplete if viewed from the perspective of a PvP guild leader.

The other suggestion I would make is to include some sort of quick reference section for established leaders and officers to go back to. While reading the book I spotted lots of good information and suggestions that would be useful to any existing guild, but without a quick reference you would have to re-read a whole section or even the book itself to really get a good refresher. With this addition the book could be very useful not only for new leaders and officers, but also for any established guild which has an issue pop up or needs a quick check to make sure they have all their bases covered. One of the traps an established guild falls into is complacency, and a monthly rundown of such a checklist would be a very valuable tool.

That said, I’d still recommend the book to anyone who is looking to start up a guild or wants to get better at running/supporting their current one. Thanks to the great writing, reading the entire book front to back is very enjoyable, and even the most experienced leaders are sure to find at least a few things they can use to make improvements.

Thanks to No Starch Press for sending me a copy, and job well done by the author, Scott F. Andrews!

Edit: And yes, the title is troll feed, enjoy!

Posted in Mass Media, Random, Site update, Uncategorized | 4 Comments

You say polish, I say rehash

Posted on May 11, 2010 by SynCaine

The Blizzard model has generally been to take a successful product, apply a Games Workshop IP to it, and release basically the same game with a new coat of paint and a high level of polish, one that will run on anything including your household toaster (although in fairness to toasters, the newer models are beastly machines). It worked for the Warcraft RTS series (Warhammer Fantasy Battle + Dune), worked for StarCraft (Warhammer 40k + C&C), and it works for WoW (Mr. T + My Little $25 Pony Online).

But what happens when you apply the Blizzard business model to a Blizzard game and play it really, really safe? You get StarCraft 2, a highly polished port of SC1 that leaves you feeling bored and burned out halfway through your first game. When you can build a base and pull off a rush with your eyes closed using the same strategy and hotkeys you used in 1998, you’re game just MIGHT be a little too similar to its predecessor. Which is not to say that SC2 is a bad game on its own, its not, and if you never played SC1 you will have a blast here. But there is a wide gap between advancing a product slowly (WC1 to WC2 or WC3 for instance) and simply straight rehashing it, and SC2 is very much a rehash.

Perhaps most jarring is the fact that even with new units and new tweaks to the maps, it all still plays out exactly the same. Not just high level “pump out workers, build a base/units, zerg to win” stuff that can be said about most RTS games, but also right down to how to configure your base, what units to mix, and when to upgrade to what. It’s all the same, and as you follow the same pattern you literally get the same results with basically zero variation. Nothing feels new here, nothing jumps out and screams “game-changer”. There are no flying/navy units like in WC2, or hero units like in WC3, or the advantages of destructible terrain and advanced line-of-sight like in Company of Heroes. It’s just 1998 all over again, only with better (but nothing special) graphics.

And the disappointment with SC2 leaves me a little worried for Diablo 3, because even in the preview videos we have seen it truly does look like D2 with again slightly better graphics. Now what could save D3 is that ‘more of the same’ often works in a single-player game. Right now on the Wii I’m playing Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, which might as well be a collection of missing levels from Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn on the GameCube, but it’s still very enjoyable because when FE:RD ended, I was still looking for more. No matter how much you liked D2, the content was limited and eventually you reached the end and the game was over. You could play it again, but not in the same way you could play another match of SC, and this alone might be the saving difference for D3 compared to SC2.

This also makes you wonder about the next Blizzard MMO. Rumor has it it’s going to be a new (GamesWorkshop) IP, but will it follow SC2 and (presumably) D3 in terms of gameplay rehashing? Let’s hope not, otherwise that’s a lot of wasted polish.

Posted in Combat Systems, Console Gaming, Diablo 3, MMO design, Random, Rant, Uncategorized, World of Warcraft | 36 Comments