P2W changes coming to GW2

Posted on November 15, 2013 by SynCaine

Simply because I like nothing more than tooting my own horn, we have this steller NCSoft earnings report.

Shocking that the 3 week wonder that was manifested to change the face of the MMO genre is not the home run that was promised. Who could have seen that one coming. It’s as if having a cash shop based on simply fluff isn’t sustainable in an MMO that is entirely forgettable. Someone should post something about that…

Anyway, just bookmark this so when the inevitable F2P-driven trash changes hit GW2 like they hit LotRO/DDO, you can come back here and admit defeat. It’s the right thing to do.

Posted in Guild Wars, RMT | 15 Comments

More Massively EVE commenting entertainment

Posted on November 15, 2013 by SynCaine

I’ve posted this stuff before, but so long as the idiot train is running full steam in the Massively comments section, I’ll keep linking to it.

My favorite out of this batch:

It’s not just the gameplay though it’s the people, you can’t play EVE without joining a corp and being on TS or Vent, it just doesn’t work, and the problem is that usually these people are so SO far ahead in whatever they’re doing or they’re already balls deep in some espionage thing you can’t make heads nor tails of that after a couple of weeks it just fades into irritating background noise, then I mute them, then I just don’t log in any more.

Totally agree with this guy. The problem with EVE is the people.

People that mute their Corporation and then find they have little reason to login once they are done ship spinning or derping around in high-sec.

Edit: Bonus quote:

and that is the sort of attitude that could ultimately spell Eve’s downfall.

Wrong for ten years. Odds of this guy being wrong another ten? I’d say high, very high.

Posted in EVE Online, Mass Media | 31 Comments

Payday 2 DLC

Posted on November 14, 2013 by SynCaine

The new DLC for Payday 2 is (on paper) exactly what I was expecting. Some new missions, new guns, new masks, all for $7.

Much like the recent Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes DLC (Undead), I’m all for this kind of DLC. It doesn’t feel like contend previously ripped from the game (release day DLC is, usually, pretty bad about this), it’s not stuff you MUST buy or the game breaks down, and its in the spirit of the game and just gives you ‘more’.

If only life had DLC to add a 25th hour to the day so I’d have some time for this.

Posted in Random | Comments Off on Payday 2 DLC

Pay-2-Win is fine

Posted on November 13, 2013 by SynCaine

I’ll post more about SOE being SOE with EQN once I’m not fiending on XCOM, but I just wanted to throw something out real quick; P2W is fine. Lots of games across history have had the P2W model and been very successful/entertaining.

Magic the Gathering for example is a super-expensive P2W game. Oh you didn’t think it was because you and your buddy never looked at it that way? Sweet, ignorance is bliss. Take a look at the game when its online and get back to me on that.

So yes, P2W is fine, sometimes it can even be fun. The key is to just be honest about it. Don’t pretend not to be P2W SOE.

Posted in EQNext, Rant, RMT | 41 Comments

Dear XCOM

Posted on November 12, 2013 by SynCaine

Hi,

I’ve missed you. Glad you are back.

Love,

Syn

 

PS: Thanks for dropping those aliens unexpectedly behind my squad and getting them all killed.

Posted in Random | 10 Comments

I actually don’t hate the new WoW expansion

Posted on November 9, 2013 by SynCaine

One of two things is happening:

1) The Blizzard interns that were running WoW have finally figured it out

or

2) The genre is such crap that WoW is starting to look appealing

In all seriousness the newly announced expansion, on paper, doesn’t sound terrible. Upgrading the character models is about 5 years overdue, but still something to cheer. The housing thing could be interesting. It’s WoW and the lore hasn’t mattered since the space goats crash, so going back in time is just fine. Instant 90 character? Meh, whatever. The rest is just more of the same, which is what expansions do.

What I’m finding most interesting however is how negative the general response has been to the announcement. I must be losing it…

Posted in World of Warcraft | 15 Comments

One last bonus of playing DDO for 15min

Posted on November 8, 2013 by SynCaine

Now Turbine emails me all the amazing deals they have going in the cash shop! Awesome!

It took longer to download your trashheap than I spent playing it, but yea, totally email me about buying more garbage, please.

F2P… ALL THE WAY!

Edit: Because I’m a masochist, wtf is a “Companion Mystery Basket”? Its only around for a ‘limited time’ so I need to know soon or I might miss out on something really awesome that I could only get thanks to the wonders of F2P.

Also anyone think 4200 turbine points for some XP Elixers is a good buy? Seems like it right, 4200 turbine points is like what, $5? I mean given how awful DDO is, I think paying Turbine just a little bit of money to play their game less is what the F2P industry calls a win/win?

Posted in DDO, Rant, RMT | 5 Comments

This is why its hard to take Massively serious

Posted on November 5, 2013 by SynCaine

From this article:

“But let’s say that things do work the way the developers estimate. The average gamer, age 33 with children barking in the background of Mumble, will run out of content after about two months on average MMO, by my estimation. During the third month, the developer will announce new content, but that new content rarely takes the player a month to complete. What does the developer do then? Unfortunately, I don’t have a good answer other than to say that I hope after the third month the devs are on a four- to six-week content cadence.”

A bit further into the article…

“Although I’m not a big EVE Online player, I do give credit to CCP for maintaining a subscription game for such a long time. I believe the game’s success can be boiled down to two factors: a three-month development cycle and PLEX. Every three months, the developers promise new content that usually takes a month or two to complete. And the Pilot’s Licence Extension (PLEX) can be purchased for a reasonable chunk of in-game credits, allowing hardcore players to cover a month’s subscription by just playing the game.”

Yes, EVE has been one of the most successful MMOs because CCP is able to deliver new content every three months that takes EVE players about a month or two to complete. That’s what it takes to keep growing after ten years everyone!

Sandboxes can convince players to maintain a subscription by giving them the feeling that they’re going to miss something if they don’t log in.

Bingo Massively, bingo. Finger on the pulse reporting right there.

Posted in EVE Online, Mass Media | 15 Comments

Another day, another F2P dev digging a way out of his grave

Posted on November 5, 2013 by SynCaine

My notes while watching the video. It’s 45min and about Age of Empires Online, but worthwhile if you have some time to kill and enjoy watching another hotbar salesmen stumble around. (Credit where credit is due, his presentation style was solid, as where his slides. It’s just the base material that he is working with that’s the problem).

Game sucks, but the biggest problem for the F2P dev? Can’t feed the whales.

Delusion; “built a good game” when 90% of your players left in the first month (and more likely, the first week or day). But F2P isn’t about making a great game, it’s about making a great delivery model to catch whales.

Changes made that got positive reviews; basically undoing the F2P influence of P2W, grind-or-buy, etc.

New items; P2W consumables. (Which all sounds incredibly lame and not at all in the spirit of the game, but whatever, whales!).

Same player base, triple revenue: “I feel good about this”.

“Generous with the in-game currency to win players back” – IE, screw them later or when we can afford it.

“Today you can play the game completely free, you have to have a lot of patience, but you can”. Ringing endorsement…

“You can’t sustain a game on vanity” – Wrong. You just need a good game to do it in, like LoL.

Finally, the major lesson learned is something that anyone who has spent a day in an MMO has known since 1997; expensive one-off content doesn’t work, regardless of the quality. Good job SW:TOR, 4th pillar ALL THE WAY! (To the F2P hotbar trash bin).

Posted in Mass Media, Random, RMT | 13 Comments

Path of Exile – Finally the game it had the potential to become

Posted on November 4, 2013 by SynCaine

I’ve been a Path of Exile (PoE) fan for a while now, dating back to whenever they asked for $10 to get access to the beta. I always thought it had some good ideas, but it never clicked with me to the point of really, really enjoying it. I think I last played it a year or so ago, with two buddies, and collectively we didn’t really enjoy it due to it simply being faceroll easy.

Time has been kind to PoE.

I grabbed the game when it was officially released on Steam, and I can’t quite put my finger on why, but I’m very, very happy with the game now. I think a huge swarm of small fixes and upgrades have all added up to a much improved game.

Oh, and has it been zoomed out a little? I swear it feels like it. That was one of my main issues with the game before; it felt like it was one zoom level too close and what you really wanted to see was JUST outside the field of view. That feels totally fixed now, and I’m loving it.

Another former grip that seems to be fixed now; you no longer look like a hobo at level 20. In the past, gear in PoE always retained that tattered look, so while you got new and more powerful gear, you never LOOKED cooler, and in a game all about getting loot, that’s a big deal. Now even at level 10 or 15, my character (Shadow) looked better, and at lvl 25, he looks geared and ready to throw down.

The same can be said for the ability gems (awesome system); the skills associated with them play better, look cooler, and seem to be more diverse. Along with getting loot, a major part of the game is building a character, and here PoE shines not only with its ability tree, but its gem skill system. I also feel like supporting gems are more common and are pushing me to come up with new and cooler combos.

So yea, PoE right now is a really good game in the action RPG genre (or whatever we are calling the Diablo-like genre now).

It’s also free with a fluff shop done right.

It doesn’t assault you at character creation, or at loading screens, or with NPCs. The game doesn’t limit your UI until you buy in crippling ways, or deny you the best gear in locked chests. It doesn’t sell power.

It does sell a giant pile of fluff, from non-combat pets to weapon effects to dance emotes. I think you can also buy character slots (you start with 6, which I think is plenty), bank tabs (you start with 4, again plenty IMO), and maybe something else? I’m honestly not sure because again, PoE doesn’t spam or gimp you due to it being F2P.

And thanks to that, I’m sure I’ll drop some cash on it soon, much like I continue to do with LoL, because the most important vote we have is our wallet, and I like supporting devs who do things ‘right’.

Highly recommended.

Posted in Random, RMT | 13 Comments