Asshat or PvPer: Which will Warhammer Online have?

Posted on July 9, 2008 by SynCaine

I read a recent post from MMOG Nation via MMOWTF today that got me thinking, or rather re-visiting an idea. The post pointed out the differences in PvP mentality going from a PvP server to a PvE one in WoW, with the perhaps surprising result that ganking and asshats were far more common on the PvE server than the PvP one. I say ‘perhaps’ because for longtime PvP fans, this is not that surprising.

Like the rest of the internet, the more anonymous and unaccountable you can be, the further some people are driven into asshat mode. The reason people played nice for the most part in EQ1 was because reputation got around quick, and if you acted like an ass, soon the server would know and you would be blackballed. In Asheron’s Call (Darktide at least) reputation was everything, since at any point anyone could gank you. Instead of outright chaos however, the players on DT generally followed guild rules and limited ganking to marked targets. In Dark Age of Camelot, at the highest RvR level, being respected by your realm meant being a team player, someone who could be relied on. Those who refused to follow orders or play as a team soon found themselves being rejected from group runs and the best parts of RvR.

On a much smaller scale, being a total dick on a PvP server in WoW might make you enough enemies to hamper your gameplay. Perhaps players will remember your name, and go out of their way to kill you whenever you are spotted. It’s not a huge penalty, certainly not anything close to what older games had, but perhaps enough to deter some of the otherwise would-be asshats. On a PvE server, you can be a dick all you want, and with one magic /pvp command, you gain total immunity. It’s not surprising then that those who aim to be dicks, rather than actually enjoying a PvP fight, pick a PvE server.

Moving away from WoW, this raises an interesting question for Warhammer Online. Will we see more of the WoW PvE-server style players, or more of the AC/DAoC style of name recognition and respect? Clearly WAR is a PvP focused game, with the high-end being very group/guild focused. That would lead me to believe players will be less likely to enter asshat mode, with the risk of being shunned by their realm during PQs, RvR skirmishes, and most importantly city raids. On the other hand, EVE aside, most MMO games today do little to limit or punish the bad apples, and who is to say WAR’s PvP focus will be enough to weed them out?

Posted in Asheron's Call, EVE Online, MMO design, PvP, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 11 Comments

Civ Revolution = Civ for dummies.

Posted on July 8, 2008 by SynCaine

Reason why Civilization: Revolution does absolutely nothing for me.

“…its injection of pace makes for a more exciting – if marginally less cerebral – strategy game.” – X360 Magazine UK

As I wrote a while ago, it’s basically a kid’s gloves version for the console crowd, which is both insulting and self-defeating. Insulting because it assumes all console fans want ADD-fueled gameplay requiring minimal thought, and self-defeating because Civ is all about the cerebral. The more automated you make it, the more it becomes a slideshow rather than a challenging game.

Yes Civ games have a steep learning curve, at least in terms of understanding all the game mechanics. Almost anyone can actually win a game on the lower difficulty levels, even if you don’t know half of what is going on behind the scenes. The beauty of the game is that as you learn more, you up the difficulty level, which in turn forces you to dig deeper and deeper into the behind the scenes strategy aspects. By removing the underlying mechanics and making them all automated, you gain a slight reduction in the initial shock, and completely discard the entire ‘end game’ of the higher difficulty levels.

All that said, it might work for the ‘pick up and space out’ console crowd, but then if that is your target, why market a turn based strategy game in the first place?

Posted in Civilization Series, Console Gaming | 13 Comments

Mass media gets an MMO story right, no joke.

Posted on July 7, 2008 by SynCaine

In a clear case sign of the apocalypse, NYTimes.com has posted a positive article about an online game, one which was for the most part fairly accurate, informative, and a good read. Very impressive Seth Schiesel!

It’s funny timing too, as just last week I had a rather nasty post all set and ready to go ripping a NYTimes article about the recent “EA is exploring the idea of making a Sims Online game, something that has never been done” article, which was clearly done without a single use of Google. It was too negative though, and a cheap shot, so was never put up.

As for this article itself, it is indeed a great read, not only for fans of EVE, but for MMO followers in general. While we will have to wait and see what changes the CSM council will bring to EVE, the fact that they are taking the role as serious as it seems, and that CCP is going to such lengths to accommodate them (flights, lodging, hiring a mediator) is all very positive stuff. It’s also yet another clear reminder that while games like WoW and EVE are both considered MMOs, the scope and complexity of the two are miles apart. 1-70 then pick a grind sums up WoW, while EVE is very much a case of ‘do what you want, and watch your back’. Both are fun in their own way, but one is a ride you jump on and enjoy for its duration, while the other is truly a world you get engulfed by.

Posted in EVE Online, Mass Media, MMO design, World of Warcraft | Comments Off on Mass media gets an MMO story right, no joke.

EVE mission running report: A good night followed by some bad luck.

Posted on July 7, 2008 by SynCaine

More EVE reporting for today, as I had quite an eventful weekend in New Eden. It started off on a high note, as I was joined by two members of Black Lion Legion to assist me with a level 4 mission in Aband. I forget the name of the mission now (I should write this stuff down…) but it was tough and featured Blood Raiders. While we finished up the mission, we were joking about tough missions, and they both stated Blockade was the only one that really gave them trouble. They were both flying Ravens, one a standard Raven the other a Caldari Navy Raven, both fitted with tech II fittings. As luck would have it, my next mission was indeed Blockade, and since the two of them were already in the area, we all figured why not. The mission went nice and quick, as our three battleships had little trouble taking everything down. That night I made a nice chunk of ISK between the bounties and mission pay, plus earned a respectable amount of loyalty points, which I am saving up to buy a +5 implant, as I currently have a mix of +3 and +4’s.

Last night did not go so well, as I drew Recon, then Angels Extravaganza, then Pirate Invasion, all missions I knew I could not solo. I was hoping to log on and do one quick mission, and bring out my new salvager ship (destroyer with 4x salvagers and 4x tractor beams) to test out. All that ended up happening was me losing about 1.2 standing with my level 4 agent, and not being able to do much of anything else. I did not have enough time to make asking for help worthwhile, and the normal hangout area for Black Lion Legion is about 10 jumps away. So far I’m impressed with them though just based off that one night of missions, and chatting with them in their general channel, enough so that I might pack up and fly my stuff over closer to their HQ. If nothing else, I can tag along when they mission and build my standings with the local agents.

As for my Rohk, I made a few improvements to the setup, with some noticeable results. First I changed up the guns, going with 5x 350mm rails and 3x 425mm rails (still not tech II, got a bit of training before I can use those) all shooting antimatter ammo. With my current skills, that gives me an optimal of around 60k with the 425mm, and a bit less with the 350mm, more than enough to pick off cruisers and battleships. I have 5 Vespa II drones to deal with frigates and any cruisers that get too close. For the mid slots, I am currently running a T2 Large Shield Expander, T2 X-L Shield Booster, T2 Cap Recharger, T2 Shield Boost Amplifier, and two T1 Shield Hardeners (mission specific). A day or so of training will allow me to use T2 hardeners. The bottom slots feature two T2 Power Diagnostics Systems, two T2 Magnetic Field Stabilizers, and a T2 Targeting Enhancer. I currently do not have any rigs, but I’m planning to buy 3x CCC rigs shortly, which hopefully will help a great deal with cap energy. Currently with all 8 rails going, it’s very tough to run the X-L booster for more than just quick bursts. Anyone see any glaring errors with the setup?

I’m still hurting for ISK, as I need to buy a Hulk and fittings for my mining pilot, the three CCC rigs for the Rohk, and eventually the T2 large rails. Currently my combat pilot sits at around 70 million ISK, and my miner at 35 million. Hopefully a few more nights of successful level 4 mission running will get me in a comfortable spot.

Posted in EVE Online | 12 Comments

Level 4 missions in EVE, and my silly Rohk battleship.

Posted on July 2, 2008 by SynCaine

As I wrote a few days ago, I hopped in my Rohk battleship and did a few level 3 missions to get myself back into EVE, but those proved far too easy, and I was itching to try a level 4 mission solo. I have seen a fair share of level 4 missions when my old Corp run them together, but had never actually done one solo.

So last night I was feeling brave (a dangerous thing in EVE) and decided to pick a level 4 up in Aband and see how it goes. I got Pirate Invasion (Sansha), which with a little research did not seem terrible difficult. Now my Rohk is not exactly expertly fitted (going to work on that tonight), featuring four 350mm tech I rails of various quality, two dual 250mm rails, and finally two 150mm tech II rails. An active shield tank of no doubt dubious quality, and some other fittings round out the mess that is my Rohk. Before my long hiatus I was seriously skill limited in what I could fit, but now since that is no longer the case, I really need to redo my setup.

That said, I had the above last night, and warped into the first mission. Pirate Invasion starts you off with agro right off the bat, with some frigates, cruisers and a few battleships. I managed to down the frigates and dent a battleship before my cap ran out and I had to warp out. On my second warp in, I downed a cruiser before again having to bail. At that rate, it was going to be a long, long night, so I figured I might as well try local and see if I could get some help. Previous to the last patch, Kador had always been rather empty, but last night I found 8 other pilots in local, and managed to get the help of two in my mission. They were also running a level 4 and needed help, so the situation worked out well. Clearly knowing what they were doing, the two pilots, both in a dominix, warped in and had little trouble holding agro while we blasted the remaining Sansha ships to finish the mission. After a break, we warped over to their mission (I forget the name now) which was far more difficult. Even with the three of us, we could not do more than take out a battleship or two before having to warp. They called in more help, two more pilots showed up, and the five of us managed to clean the mess up.

Still feeling good, and quickly swapping out the two 150mm rails for a 425mm and another dual 250mm (that was all Aband had for sale, and I was impatient), I picked up my second level 4 mission, and drew Gone Berserk, a reportedly very easy mission. Well flying a noob Rohk means anything ‘very easy’ is possibly doable, so I warped in. The mission starts with a few ships, and as you kill a ‘trigger’ ship, more spawn. Being a noob of course I mixed up who the trigger was, and always killed that one before I finished the previous group, no doubt making the mission harder than it needed to be. That said, after countless warp in/outs, I did indeed manage to solo my first level 4 mission, and collect a very nice bounty for it. Each battleship ranged from 500k to 1 million ISK, a huge sum when you have 11 million or so ISK in your bank account. In addition I looted a good amount of fittings, and hopefully a few will sell for a good amount. (just getting back into EVE, I have completely forgotten what is highly valued and what is trash)

All in all it was a very successful night in EVE, one that left me wanting more. Hopefully I’ll be able to re-fit my Rohk to something more acceptable; I’m thinking all 350mm rails, a beefed up active tank (should I try passive?), and who knows what for the bottom slots. Some time will have to be spent searching the EVE forum’s for a good solution, but feel free to toss out any ideas here. At 15 million skill points, I can basically use almost anything short of tech II large rails (working on that), so I should have some good options.

Posted in EVE Online | 12 Comments

/yawn and DIAF you grumpy fun hating bastards.

Posted on July 1, 2008 by SynCaine

Having been away from blogs for oh… 3 days, I missed most of the initial reaction to the Diablo 3 announcement. I also just kind of assumed everyone would be excited for it, as the previous two Diablo games are classics and are without a doubt the pinnacle of their genre, and D3 looks like it’s more of the same, with extra sauce.

So I was shocked, shocked to see /yawn from some people about the announcement. I can only assume a /yawn means you just don’t like fun. I mean that’s exactly what Diablo represents, pure gaming fun, and when you /yawn, you /yawn fun. I guess some people have grown out of having fun with gaming. They play for a higher purpose, where fun is this silly thing the kids do, and you are far beyond that.

I would love to have someone who has played both D1 and D2 explain to me how you did NOT have fun with those games. Did you play them blind and deaf? Are you allergic to fun? Maybe you programmed your calculator watch to run Diablo, and it just did not emulate well? Sure I guess if you hate RPGs, action games, collecting loot, killing monsters, a dark fantasy setting, good character development, endless content through random generation, free online play, or countless other aspects, then yea ok, you can /yawn Diablo 3.

What is wrong with people…?

PS: I’m not saying D3 will be the best thing since sliced bread (it might, who knows), but do you really think it won’t, at worst, be a quality way to spend 30-40 hours of gaming time? Hate Blizzard all you want, but to doubt that they can deliver a quality product in a franchise/genre they know well, come on…

PPS: The overly aggressive/fanboi nature this was written in is for effect only, and not to be actually taken serious. Sometimes you just got to mix it up, relax.

Posted in Uncategorized | 17 Comments

Graphics don’t age like wine.

Posted on July 1, 2008 by SynCaine

Plenty of people have already broken down every single frame and image of Diablo3, so I won’t go into it here save for two concerns:

1)      It looks good (but not Crysis amazing) now, but given that it won’t be released for a good bit, will it still look good at release?

2)      Is it not a bit too early to start hyping a game so far from release, especially when you have StarCraft2 and a WoW expansion still unreleased?

Now that said, I’m still very much looking forward to 2010 and D3. I’m glad they kept the camera angle the same, and the basic gameplay (mass murder) similar as well. No need to reinvent the wheel, a fresh coat of Blizzard paint will do.

It’s been a slow week in LoTRO land for Aria and I, just not much time to play. We are approaching level 30, and currently questing in the North Downs, a zone I overall like. We still need to finish the final part of book 2, as well as getting into a GA group at some point. Overall though, our second time in LoTRO is another very enjoyable ride.

As for EVE, I actually put in some time and got stuff in order. I picked up about 20 or so new skill books from the Dresi academy for my combat pilot, and started training them up. Knowing I will need good drone support if I intend to solo level 4 missions in my Rohk, that’s become a new training goal. I still need to finish up a few skills in order to use tech II large hybrid guns, but that goal is not far off. Not wanting to rush in too fast, I took on a few level 3 missions using the Rohk, but it was more overkill than I remembered it being. Guess an extra 8-9 million skill points help. Wanting to focus on the combat pilot, my miner is going to be reduced to mission junk recycler, as well as mass producer of ammo. I figure once I start knocking out level 4 missions, the ISK fill flow and I’ll finally be able to afford that Hulk the miner still needs. Perhaps once he has that, I might go on an asteroid murder spree and get back into the production game.

Oh, and I am currently looking for a Corp for my combat pilot. 15 million skills, looking to run level 4 missions and also do some Faction Warfare. I play casually, so won’t be able to make any required fleet ops or anything, but could work my schedule to make an event or two. I would prefer a Corp near the Kador region, but if someone has transportation, I would be willing to relocate. Anyone got anything?

Posted in Diablo 3, EVE Online, Lord of the Rings Online, PvP, StarCraft Online, World of Warcraft | 6 Comments

Breaking down MMO burnout, and ways to avoid it.

Posted on June 26, 2008 by SynCaine

Rick over at /random expressed concern that his longtime guild may not be as hyped for WAR as he is, and that their time together in the game may be rather limited due to general MMO veteran burnout, a legitimate concern for anyone hoping to find the next ‘it’ game to play with friends.

As someone with a great deal of MMO experience, having played Ultima Online heavily at release and MMO gaming ever since, Rick’s post got me thinking about the general idea of MMO burnout. On a somewhat recent podcast, Michael Zenke expressed his jealousy for anyone able to enjoy one MMO for great lengths of time, as he himself was unable to focus on any one game for long. This brings up the question, does the appeal of MMO gaming have a limited shelf life? Do we all reach a point where we are no longer entertained by ‘kill x’ quests, grinding another level, or killing a mob in the hopes it drops the item we desire? How many times can you hit max level in an MMO before all you see is the same formula with a few twists, instead of the rush to explore a new world and see what is around the next corner ?

I think part of what contributes to the burnout is that initially, an MMO is a very different beast than all other games, especially during the initial ‘big three’ era, before Xbox live and all computer games having an online component made multiplayer fairly common. Just the fact that you logged into a world populated by thousands of other real players was new and exciting. Seeing another real player, and not an NPC, run by you for the first time was special, as was the first time you got together with other players to tackle some common task. The very basics of MMO gaming are what hook us initially, but those same hooks exist in all MMOs, and are nothing new the 3rd or 4th time around. Your first group experience in MMO 4 is much different than it was in MMO 1. In MMO 4, you know what to expect, you know exactly why you are in the group, and worst still, you know that joining a PUG could result in disaster; disaster you no longer have patience for. What you and everyone else could once laugh about now generally results in people leaving the group at best and a massive flame fest at worst.

UO was able to get away with a LOT of issue in part because for 99% of the players, just being online was a source of newness and entertainment. When Warhammer Online goes live, what percentage of the players will view just connecting to a server and being in a virtual world as entertainment? It certainly won’t be 99%, or 50%, but will it even be 10%? Regardless of the actual number, it won’t be many, and as a result, WAR and all other future MMOs need to deliver compelling gameplay right out of the gate to satisfy the needs of a far more demanding MMO crowd. In addition, not only does that content need to be compelling day one, it also has to continue at a much more furious pace than in days past. We all want new surprises around every corner, and those corners better come at a far more rapid pace than before. MMO gamers today won’t be logging on to hit a practice dummy for hours in order to work up their sword skill high enough to kill field rats. They want awesome day one, day two, and expect that awesome to continue to deliver for months on end. In many ways, it’s an almost impossible task for today’s developers to satisfy the needs of veteran MMO gamers.

With all that said, is there any hope for all the old whiny bastards like Rick and I? Can any MMO today or in the future rekindle those types of feelings we had for our first MMO? Glass half full guy says yes, glass half empty guy is not so sure. On the one hand, playing with a great group of people in a solid environment will always be entertaining. Playing on a beer league softball team is just as fun today as playing baseball was in high school, even though the feeling of hitting your first homerun will never be eclipsed by another homerun in the future. The actual activity, while still fun, is greatly supplemented by the people you play with. In that regard, any solid MMO with good gameplay should be able to entertain us, as we hope WAR will. It won’t, however, bring the same rush you had during your first relic raid in DAoC, or the first time you tried to run away from a PK in UO. And perhaps our tolerance for the general MMO grind, something all MMO games feature in varying degrees, is a bit lower. To me, that just places an even greater importance on playing with quality people early and often, as without them, that burnout sets in hard and fast regardless of what MMO you are playing.

Posted in Age of Conan, Console Gaming, Dark Age of Camelot, MMO design, PvP, Ultima Online, Warhammer Online | 19 Comments

One year of blogging done, and what a year it has been!

Posted on June 25, 2008 by SynCaine

It’s been a year already?

I initially started blogging for what I believe is the most common reason: to have a place to keep all my thoughts and ideas about gaming in one place. What originally started as just ‘something to do’ has slowly grown into a very enjoyable hobby and craft. Over the course of the last year, I’ve been rather heavily involved in the MMO blogosphere, be it commenting, linking, or podcasting. Through it all, I’ve had a great time and gained a huge amount of insight into not only MMO games, but my own approach to them as well. Not to mention all the great bloggers and podcasters I’ve gone back and forth with, something that would likely not have happened without the blog.

I figured the best (easiest?) way to break down my first year as a blogger was just to go over the great statistics that WordPress provides, and comment on anything I found interesting or surprising.

First up, the very top-level stuff.

Blog Stats

Total views: 104,123

Busiest day: 11,852 – Thursday, September 6, 2007

Posts: 253

Comments: 1,658

As I recently posted here, the blog hit 100k views not too long ago, a nice round number. I never gave traffic much thought when I started, but I must say I’m very happy hitting 100k in my first year.

The busiest day, way back in September, is the result of getting linked by the BBC tech page, a quote from a somewhat random post I made about WoW and the future expansion. That was an exciting day, especially since it came so early in this blog’s life. Sadly the retention rate from all that traffic was rather low, although it certainly helped. As the stats below will show, no other day/post has really come close to that huge, single hit boost from the BBC, although if the current traffic trend continues, it will happen eventually.

The total posts number, 253, is overall rather decent considering I generally don’t post on Saturday or Sunday. If my math is correct (odds are low), that means out of the remaining 261 days, I posted on average almost every single day. Clearly days with multiple posts help offset days I posted nothing, but even so, a near post-a-day average not counting the weekend is fine by me. Now to keep it up in year two!

The 1658 comments stat is what I think I’m most proud of, as to me it means people actually cared enough about what was posted here to say something about it. Comments are what really drive a blogger to continue and to stay active, and they are a great source of motivation, so thank you to everyone who has taken the time to write something. (yes, even you random troll)

Top Posts for all days ending 2008-06-25

The love and hate game, WoW style. – 16,875

Screen shot comparison. – 2,636

Looking in the mirror; the sickness that was WoW raiding – 1,918

EQ2, trial of the never-ending download. – 1,632

Throwing down the gauntlet, the great MMO challenge – 1,414

Ebolt anyone? – 1,230

Funcom to AoC players, GTFO! – 1,176

Can my toaster run AoC? – Concerned Walmart Shopper -1,143

Stuck in easy mode. – 1,059

Ghost town, population you. – 704

As mentioned above, the first post is the one linked by the BBC, and as you can see, it’s far and away the top post. The next post is somewhat interesting, in that the concept was rather simple, and it was also one of the few posts with pictures. Also of interest is that the post was about EQ2, a game that I overall spent a limited amount of time with. This trend continues in a few more examples, showing that the EQ2 community is very active, and that EQ2 itself drives a lot of MMO traffic. Top post three is one of my favorites, as it was a very personal retrospective look of my time in WoW, and in particular the endgame raiding grind. In addition to the post itself, a lot of really great comments have been left by others sharing their own experiences and methods of escaping that trap. I won’t go into detail about the rest, other than to say a few more recent posts have snuck into the top ten, and that my original post, ‘Ebolt anyone?’, is holding on strong despite originally getting very little traffic due to the blog being new. UO reminiscing still gets peoples attention, a clear sign that you never really forget your first MMO, as UO was for so many.

Referrers for all days ending 2008-06-25

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/default – 11,015

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/default – 3,159

wowinsider.com – 2,922

virginworlds.com/home.php – 1,831

google.com/reader/view – 1,288

tobolds.blogspot.com – 1,055

eq2-daily.com – 838

keenandgraev.com – 650

killtenrats.com – 499

crazykinux.com – 398

Again the BBC dominates the top spot, and even spot number two, despite that link being on the back page. WoWInsider, being the huge a site that it is, is not a very surprising number three, followed by the ever awesome VirginWorlds news feed. Tobold, the blog overlord himself, is not surprisingly the first blog on the list, along with Keen and Graev, KTR and the link-happy man himself, Crazy Kinux. Thank you to everyone who has linked me, it drives traffic, which leads to comments, which leads to happy blogging!

Search Terms for all days ending 2008-06-25

Syncaine – 334

vanguard trial – 312

hardcore casual – 267

eq2 – 259

wow progress – 219

hardcore – 195

warhammer podcast – 132

eq2 trial – 119

sotnw – 92

switch mmo – 77

shadowbane reset – 70

This list is a little surprising. Spots one and three are all about me, and you know, I’m kind of a big deal on Google (clearly kidding). The big surprise is spot number two, people looking for a Vanguard trial. How does that game NOT have a trial? Seriously, I’ve been looking to try Vanguard for a long time now, if just to see what all the fuss is about, and yet without a trial it’s never going to happen. It’s silly that SOE has not gotten around to this yet. Another random surprise is the amount of searches that lead people here about Sword of the New World (sotnw). I only briefly posted about the game, and generally concluded that while pretty, the game was an afk-grind with little point. Maybe that’s what people are looking for though, who knows…

Finally here are two charts (remember, people like pictures) showing overall traffic flow. On the monthly chart, you can clearly see the spike from the BBC link, followed by a return to the more normal, steady growth. Hopefully the trend continues, and one day that BBC spike won’t look quite as dominant.

The weekly chart shows that while monthly traffic might be fairly steady, week to week traffic is very sporadic. This is due no doubt to a combination of who linked me, what exactly I posted that week, and how active I was commenting on other blogs and generating hits from that. The one thing I have learned after a year of blogging is you can never really predict what will drive traffic. A well-crafted post (imo of course) may get little attention, while a quick post about something random will start a firestorm. The important thing to remember is to post about what YOU want to talk about, and not worry about posting the next ‘major hit’ blog post. If you write honestly and with passion, people will pick up on it and drop by.

To sum it all up, it’s been a crazy first year for me in regards to this blog. It’s been a huge learning experience, and hopefully I continue to improve and provide interesting reading for everyone. I’m very much looking forward to year two, especially since the ‘next big think’ in Warhammer will hit, and no doubt spur some good debate in our corner of the Internet. I can’t wait!

Thanks again to all the reader!

Posted in Blogroll, EQ2, EVE Online, Lord of the Rings Online, Podcast, PvP, Site update, SotNW, Ultima Online, Vanguard, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 8 Comments

MMO history, that Bartle guy, and why WoW2 won’t blow your mind.

Posted on June 23, 2008 by SynCaine

It seems we had a busy weekend in the MMO blog world, fueled by an interview with Richard Bartle done by Michael Zenke over at Massively. As with anything remotely interesting posted on the internet these days, the responses to the interview, and the multitude of blog posts related to it, range from the ‘you’re an idiot stfu’ to ‘exactly what I was thinking’.

The real headline grabbing line of the interview is the comment “I’ve already played Warhammer. It was called World of Warcraft“, which when taken out of context or misinterpreted is all the internet needs to jump on the nerd rage bandwagon. When clarified (Bartle was talking about the setting itself), he is actually only 50% correct. Originally WoW was indeed the Warhammer setting without the official license (they lost that at some point in development), but only until Blizzard started putting their unique spin on the world. The Warhammer IP is lacking such gems as pretty evil elves, noble aliens that are descendents of the super evil alien guys, and a world where everyone (aside from said super evil aliens) is a good guy, just misunderstood. Even the undead are good guy freedom fighters, yay! It might be a world, but outside of a magic arena, there is very little war being crafted.

Bastardized lore bitching aside, Bartle does bring up an interesting point to someone who has been in the MMO scene since Neverwinter Nights; MMOs really are fairly similar now. Think about it, when Ultima Online came out, it was totally new. So new that the term MMO was a few years off, and everyone was a damn noob just logging on and wandering around (and getting PK’ed). Then came EverQuest, and how many people looked at EQ and said ‘eh, it’s UO with elves, who cares’? Right, no one. What you did hear was ‘EQ is carebear land, gtfo newbie’. Which was accurate, EQ was carebear land compared to UO, but more importantly, EQ was radically different than UO in almost every single way. While UO catered to the explorer and the killer, EQ was designed for the achiever and socializer. The final piece of the original ‘big three’ was Asheron’s Call. When AC came out, was it considered ‘EQ in a random setting’? Again, no. And AC had its own charm and gameplay that was again different than UO or EQ. The original ‘big three’ where all successful in their own way, and offered gamers at the time three unique choices in setting, gameplay, and overall game design philosophy.

Fast forward to 2004 and World of Warcraft, and you start hearing talk of ‘a more polished EQ’. Sure the setting was different, WoW brought a huge host of design changes that later became MMO standards, and above all it was a damn fun game, but it was not the radical change that UO/EQ/AC were when compared to each other. WoW followed the EQ formula, gave it a bigger budget, and polished it until it was done.

Finally, we have Age of Conan and soon Warhammer Online, two major games that from day one were being billed as ‘WoW but with feature x’. Which is not exactly a bad thing in terms of good MMO gaming from a pure fan perspective (readers know I’m dying to play WAR), but it does say something about the current trend in MMO gaming, and what the future might hold. With budgets as big as they are today, and with so much at stake financially, perhaps the days of great innovation are gone, and the best we can hope for in a triple A title going forward is the EQ formula + twist x. Look at any major trend that blew up, be it shooter games (Doom), sports games (Madden), or racing games (Need for Speed, Grand Turismo), and what do we see? Madden (insert current year), the same game as last year but with one new gimmick. Is it really that shocking that MMO gaming, which officially became ‘kind of a big deal’, has followed the same pattern of success?

Innovation is still alive and well, but you won’t find it in games with millions of subscribers. You will find it in games like EVE, A Tale in the Desert, Shadowbane, and countless other ‘niche’ games. And has history has shown us time and time again, the niche will be culled; the best features harvested out, and ‘polished’ for the release of WoW2. And like you, I’ll be there day one, like a good little fanboi, dying to get into beta.

Posted in Age of Conan, Console Gaming, EVE Online, MMO design, Perma-death, PvP, Ultima Online, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft | 5 Comments