An AFK PUG Solution

[Part of the Design Folder]

Roger once asked if in MMORPGs, you should have expectations of other players - especially when it comes to PUG (randomly grouping player) instances. In his example, the event in Star Trek Online required a minimal effort from everyone to cover all the objectives but since the rewards were based on repeated attendance and not actual participation this encourages a lot of people to just AFK / let the others do the work for them. This is a rampant problem that exists in pretty much every MMO.

Since it boils down to being a social problem, I think the easiest way to handle this is simply via vote system which already exists in many games. The only difference is that this one will only show up if you fail or don't complete all the objectives in a random queue, and it simply asks "in your opinion, which of your team mates performed the worst?". An option to select no one will always be present.

Then, these votes are simply tallied per character/account. Otherwise, if the average of their votes/fails exceeds a particular threshold, they earn some sort of "shit" badge. People with a "shit" badge will only be paired with other "shit" badge holders. There is a way to get rid of that hindrance though - every time they fail a instance/event in a random queue and are NOT voted worst by anyone, the vote count drops by one and eventually the average will sway them back into the good books. 

Note: This is only for failed random queues/instances. If your team wins or you group up with others intentionally (not a random grouping), nothing happens vote wise positive or negative.

That's my idea anyway. Let me know what you think!

Neverwinter Online: Goodbye Foundry

Life support: Off.

Cryptic has decided to pull the plug on the Foundry, which is a real shame since that was the one feature that got me playing it in the first place. It doesn't really come as a surprise though as the Foundry has pretty much been "dying" for years due to lack of official support.

This move also affects Cryptic's other MMO - Star Trek Online and much of what Contains Moderate Peril mentions on his post about this rings true for the NWO side as well, with players abusing the system and Cryptic not doing a good enough job to make the program more robust.

Players have until April 11 to enjoy player made foundry adventures for the last time before they are lost to the void. I'll be visiting my ones and DL's for sure, just for one last goodbye.

Neverwinter Online: Beyond Elemental Evil

Neverwinter Online: Module 6 (aka "Elemental Evil") is out and it increases the level cap to 70. While there isn't a "campaign" (that I can see anyway), there are new adventure zones to level up in featuring enemies of the four planes (earth, water, fire, and air). Talk Sergeant Knox at Protector's Enclave to get that quest line started. If you have a free character slot or are new to the game, you may also want to try out the new paladin class.

What it doesn't make clear is that the new level cap also has changed ALL the old campaigns. Sharandar, the Dread Ring, Icewind Dale and the Well of Dragons now have level 70+ enemies. Expect a very difficult time if you decide to continue doing quests there as a level 60!

I also have a feeling we might be seeing a Spelljammer module sometime in the future. Why?

Because of this bald guy behind me.

That's Minsc, who some players may have encountered in Baldur's Gate. He has a pet named Boo.

• Boo is a minature giant space hamster. Giant versions power vessels in Spelljammer.
• Cryptic's other game is Star Trek Online. A space game where players own star ships.
• The air ship in pirates skyhold has gotten a lot of upgrades since I last saw it.
• Owning / Upgrading a vessel would cause a lot of people to invest in more Zen / Astrals / Time. Cryptic likes money.
• Spelljammer is not in the faerun universe? Neither was the base elemental evil (World of Greyhawk).
• Being able to Spelljam might open doors to other D&D realms such as Greyhawk or Krynnspace!

For now though, there are lots of crazy elemental forces that need killing rebalancing which will keep everyone busy. When the foundry comes back up, you can try scratch the Spelljammer fix with this player made quest (not one of mine):

'To Infinity, and BEYOND!'
NW-DSQ39N5SJ

I haven't tried it myself yet, but at least I'm not the only one with Spelljamming in mind! Let's kill some Neogi! :D

Star Trek Online: Where Everyone has Gone Before

Since I already have a Cryptic account I figured I'd give this, the predecessor to Neverwinter Online, a try.

Set zipper to stun!

After creating your character, which I think actually has more customizability than in NWO, you soon end up with your own "starter" spaceship which just like you and your officers (party / away team) can be upgraded with various gear and "injured" if you lose combat. Yep. Spaceships get injuries. Poor spaceship! Terminology aside, the overall feeling I got was that space, especially near planets, is messy! Given that each player is a captain of his or her own ship, you can see why this would be the case. This is not a bad thing though, as without all that clutter the universe would be a pretty lonely place.

The space travel and space combat are actually pretty well done, and are the highlights of my experience in the game. In the end you are still basically a boat, and trying to cross the "T" in combat for efficiency. That is, you want to broadside your full payload at enemy vessels who are either directly facing or running away from you. Sure there's shields (which you can adjust the facing of) and photon torpedoes and lasers, but switch that out for old fashioned cannons and it's the same principle. The little artefact mini game that you'll often encounter is also a nice enough diversion for a small amount of loot. I also really like the "random space" sector that doesn't seem to have main quests but instead randomized missions that pop up as you approach points of interest.

Ground wise movement and environments are quite nice too, but the combat is... clunky at best. You don't get the phasers with only 2 settings of stun and kill like on the show. Nope, this time they act like the same math driven weapons you find everywhere else and the formula of "If old weapon dmg < new weapon dmg = switch to new weapon" certainly applies. Once you have a full away team though you might not even have to worry about the ground fighting so much as they will basically handle everything for you (at least in the little I played they did). I actually tested this on a Gorn planet. Didn't fire a shot, yet my away team slaughtered all those lizard men with no problems. Some of the randomized missions though are... lacking in decor to say the least. I did one where basically all I did was run through an empty cave. Exciting stuff that.

Still I can see cool potential in this game, and if I wasn't stuck into Neverwinter Online (D&D is more my thing) then I'd probably give it a more expansive look. For now though I think I'll give it 3 tricorders out of 5. Not the best MMO out there for my tastes but certainly not one of the worst.

The Fury and the Drama/Saga

Wanting to take a break from the zerg overload at the Guildwars 2 invasion events of Clockwork Chaos I decided to try patch up Mabinogi to see what Generation 18, aka as the Drama or the Saga depending on what region you ask, has to offer. For me, not a lot since the downloader wouldn't even begin downloading files. Bummer. Not really in the mood for a full reinstall of the game at the moment, which is what was needed to fix it previously, so that's going back on the shelf for now.

Meanwhile Neverwinter Online has released The Fury of the Feywild with an all new campaign system. This isn't as nice as they make it out to be as it basically forces you to grind longer through a zone to quite literally unlock each new area with keys. Don't expect to do it in one sitting either, the quests that give you the materials needed to get closer to each key can only be done once every 24 hours. These keys also need astral diamonds. Yerp, pay (or grind more) to progress.

The update also made my Foundry created module vanish! No searches seem to bring it back, and when I try to get into the Foundry itself it says "Foundry editing not allowed." What the heck. A quick check on the forums confirmed I'm not alone, and visitors from Star Trek Online (another Cryptic game) advised that each patch usually breaks their module stuff too - it's normal. The only thing you can do is constantly fix it to comply with the new stuff. Sorry, but that's not a system I care to use after all.

To top it off I can't log in now at all - it just does nothing after loading up the zone. As you might be able to tell I'm a little... upset with this turn of events. Just a tiny, tiny bit.

Like Adam Chaplin.

The Forge of Winter

Current Foundry Rank: Artifex (Level 6)
Current Scribes' Enclave Rank: Member-Scribe

Decided to post this little tracker to let people know how I'm going with my quests being constructed in the Neverwinter Online Foundry, along with any notes I've found while using it and mistakes I make. Hopefully it proves useful to some others.

All the below are stand-alone and solo friendly.

One Step to Darkness [NW-DNJC9SK7A]  (1 hr story focus)
Rebel Incursion [NW-DFHLFGNQY] (15-20 min combat focus)
Dirty Rats [NW-DGLB37WLW] (15-25 min combat focus)
Spiders of the Glade [NW-DUWK7BEE7] (15-25 min combat focus)
Arroway Manor [NW-DP3GLWRDP] (8-15 min stealth focus)
Coeden [NW-DM719BCQ5] (15-20 min combat focus)
A Measure of Character [NW-DKJKPQKH8] (15-45 min story focus)

Notes:

1. Given that people can still find/play individual quests out of order I'm not really fussed on releasing each one as they complete.
2. So far, it's taken awhile to even complete one quest mainly due to the (not so bad, but still there) learning curve.
3. Also spent sometime just writing in a notebook about how things will play out for the whole campaign.
4. CTRL+S will save you if the editor hangs when you are dragging an item to the playing area.
5. Don't duplicate maps after you put dialogue. Do it before.
6. Don't add things to a map after putting dialogue or you'll need to add it in copied maps manually (argh).
7. You can rig a timer by making guards fight monsters in a separate room.
8. The Foundry Forums are a good source of info.
9. People don't like running around. Tried to cut this down (Q1) but still ended up on the heavy side. I'm guessing especially the final part. Them tomb halls are huge. :P
10. Dungeon prefabs don't always gel well together and cause odd graphic issues. To combat this I've put walls to try hide those missing textures.
11. Knock backs can break a module if a monster falls to an unreachable zone and doesn't die. The players will then forever be in combat and cannot interact with stuff. With this in mind I paved over all the big holes I had (Q1) so it wouldn't happen.
12. Getting reviews and plays is actually the hardest part it seems. Hopefully I can count on my guildies to get my content through the review phase (must get 5 reviews and 20 plays).
13. Apparently it's common for new patch releases to break modules, according to Star Trek Online (another Cryptic game) foundry users. The only way to beat it is eternal vigilance. 
14. After raging a bit I decided to have another crack at this, modifying my planned quests to be even simpler to better cater for the audience and more importantly, to work around the weaknesses of the editor.
15. Having decided to switch to quick 15-20 minute quests I've realized it will be too cumbersome to try tell the story I had originally planned. Because of this I've scrapped my original campaign plan and have decided just to make a bunch of stand alone things that may or may not link together.
16. Just as a note as of Febuary 2014 my quest and campaign limit has been bumped up from 10 to 15. Not sure if that was a global thing.
17. Put up my current foundry rank. Totally aiming for level 10! Or.. 9... or 8... :P
18. Joined the Scribes' Enclave to see what they are all about. They are bloody amazing. I strongly others to join too. Non-authors will be able to find some really fantastic hidden works in here as well. Unfortunately the Enclave has closed due to lack of activity.
19. When posting for reviews on the Foundry Forums, always offer to trade. People are more likely to play your maps if they get some much needed plays and reviews themselves. 
20. Join competitions. Especially silly ones since it will up your skill in things like decor and costume design! :P