Developer Appreciation: To the Moon / Fear not this Night

This elegant RPG Maker game is fantastically crafted and is my answer to last weeks prompts from Belghast of "a game that made you cry" and End Game Viables "favourite or most engrossing story delivered through a game". It helps that the music for it is also amazing, and I've actually semi-learned "Everything's Alright" by Laura Shigihara on piano with voice. Can't replicate her talent or tone though.

On the topic of pieces from games, "Fear not this Night" from Guildwars 2 is also amazing, especially since you get to listen to the whole thing in game after beating Zhaitan. It's another one I've semi-learned though there's no way I can reach the key change near the end (after already octaving it down), so I just skip it. As a friend once said, you know I really like something when I start learning the music for it!

It plays soon after this part. :P

Blaugust About Me: My Favourite Things

I'm continuing with a few more of Belghast's writing prompts today, namely - write about three favorite items from any video game ever, and about any goal I achieved in the past and what it was like to work towards it and eventually get it.

My first favorite item are consumables: Health Potions or Medkits (things that keep you alive) - specifically the type you can carry and use at will rather than the auto-use on pick up. I guess this habit goes back to my Ultima Online days where there was no delay or limit on potion use and has carried on since, despite the Potion Poison mechanic in Mabinogi (debuff from overuse) and cool downs in Neverwinter.

Second favourite item is the Berserk Sphere in Doom. I am a fan of unarmed combat, and while I was ok with the regular brass knuckles in this game getting the power up that let you smash demons into pieces with your fist was amazing, especially when coupled with an Invulnerability Sphere. :P

Last item for this list also contains a previously achieved goal. This is the decorative trophy pet: Mini-Liadri from Guildwars 2, which you can only get by succeeding in the fight against full-sized Liadri, the original final enemy of the Queen's Gauntlet. It took me many, many attempts over 6 days and learning from others both through exterior sources (like Jeromai's guide) and through watching other players attempt the fight.

Because it was so difficult for me, that victory tastes all the sweeter.

MMO Design: Enemies should be like Plants

If we're farming we may as well be gardening.

I hate weeds. If left alone they grow and expand and become a lot tougher to remove. It does feel better removing a huge cluster than a single tiny sprig though. Now imagine if we translate that into MMOs. Lots of spawn points on the map but they all start out as weak critters with little loot. Much like there are different types of weed, these don't need to all be the same type though.

Areas that are frequently farmed or tended will spawn more of those weak critters again. Those less frequented will have mobs "grow" into stronger versions. Maybe a lizard becomes a small dinosaur or a spider becomes a bigger spider, and the loot becomes better. Maybe you can't get dragon scales until a lizard evolves that far.

Obviously the map design and available travel modes will play a big part in this setup. On a flat plain with teleporters equally spaced out among the spawns it's likely the player population will simply murder everything fast enough so that nothing will ever "grow" (though the "growth" stages only need to be a matter of minutes in between). In maps like in Guildwars 2 that has secret zones, jumping puzzles, bridges and gates that are only open when set conditions are met, this system might be better as it will force people to venture out and/or to return to zones already done in search of "big game".

Do you think such a system would be good in your (or any) MMO?

[Added to the Design Folder.]

Gallery: How to beat Zhaitan

[Part of the Gallery.]

It's been a while since I did this in game so it might have changed by now, but my general recollection of it went as follows...

The lesser dragons are more of a challenge.

MMOs: TESO Level Scaling

[Added to my MMO Design folder.]

Years ago I did a post about the problem with levels in an MMO. Having now experienced the Elder Scrolls Online, I now get to see the other / another side to it and that is level scaling.

Much like in Skyrim, the bad guys always match your level - irrespective of map zone. This is a truer scaling than what Guild Wars 2 tried to do, where a level 70 who is "down leveled" in a lower level zone can still steamroll everything. Here's a quick Pro/Con tongue in cheek list for what TESO does:

Pros: You can now go in any direction immediately and not his "Foe Walls" to your quest progression. Wandering into a level 60 zone while level 5? No problem! Those enemies will hold their punches for you. Also, this means your friend who just joined the game can come into that uber, end of game quest with you. Nice!

Cons: Missed the tutorial happy cake dungeon (that doesn't exist - just my example) and are going back as a max level character? Expect those tutorial monsters to have a lot of new DPS heavy moves and hundreds more HP - enough to actually challenge you! Also, congrats - you just finished the game after 3 months? The guy next to you finished it in 1 day... while level 5.

I can understand why people both like and dislike the system, and while I don't mind it since I do prefer people to be able to immediately play together in games, I still think having no "over all" levels is the best approach.

By that I mean, don't attach Life or HP to levels, or if you must make it by the smallest of fractions. A new player gets 100hp. And end of game character might have 110 at most. Getting hit by a bus, or more likely stabbed with a sword, should still one shot either.

And don't even get me started about level based gear either. Blargh.

NWO: The Cryptic Method

With the release of the latest module "Grindfest" "Strongholds", Cryptic certainly designed a great way to encourage people to grind in all the end game campaigns to acquire various doohickeys to help construct their stronghold. In addition to this (or I only realized recently) that they also placed some item level "barriers to entry" on some content which I am not a big fan of - mainly epic level dungeons.

Needs a lot of work!

Not that I have a burning desire to do that content, but just so I have the choice for if ever I want to participate - I can. Thus began my quest to improve my gear, and I quickly found there were two paths: farming a PvE instance or farming PvP matches. The fastest method to my goal was simply to do both. It probably also helped keep me sane, giving some variety in game style.

Anywho, as a non PvPer, you can imagine how that went for me in the various PvP Domination matches (fancy name for "Hold this Location" which is standard in many other games). Fortunately you still gain currency to buy those higher level items even if you lose, though at a much slower rate than the victors obviously. What it did make me see though is how people use their various characters, and what combos were most effective since I was usually at the receiving end of them.

Using my ultra-narutard Kakashi skills I obviously then respecced my guys to be more inline with what I would encounter there and wow, taking those builds back out into the PvE environment I'm now showing much better performance than before. My alt ranger character in particular, who was pretty rotten compared to my main rogue, I now slightly favor more because of the combat techniques learned from fighting other rangers: I had no idea he could perma root and stun enemy groups with fast enough rotations.

So now, not only do I have the bare minimum to pass all the gear wall levels but I also have the player skill for my two characters to play better. I think that is pretty awesome. Still doesn't mean I like PvP though, and that's a bad thing since it feels like Cryptic is trying to push it to the forefront with the recently released Stronghold Siege patch, which also happened to remove a major source of Astral Diamonds from the game.

See with Cryptic, "fix" is the same as "hack it off with an axe". Usually as MMO's progress there are more and more patches that release ever increasing content. Neverwinter Online is one of the few where future patches actually take away things from the game like dungeons, profession rewards, the foundry, and who knows what else is to come, and unlike the Living Story in Guildwars 2 there's absolutely no lore reason for it happening here.

NBI Talkback #4: Seven Gaming Sins

I suppose as the silly person who thought up this questionnaire I should be one of the first bloggers to answer it, though it looks like Knifesedge has already got the ball rolling! :)

Lust - Do you enjoy games more if they have scantily clad and "interestingly proportioned" avatars? Do you like playing as one of these avatars?

While I always prefer to play as my main male character (the same guy in every game), I certainly enjoy the worlds more when they give players the option to run around as under dressed hookers. Key word there is option. If the onus is on the player on how to dress then you can't really blame the designer. The reason I enjoy it is simple: it lets people be however they want to be. I quite dislike the notion that mandates that x type of people can only wear x type of gear. It's all about individuality.

Gluttony - Do you have a game backlog of unfinished games but still buy new games regardless?

Nope. Since I very rarely (closer to never) purchase digital games for myself my backlog is quite under control. I simply get gifted enough games and know that there's a large multitude of free to play titles out there that can keep me entertained for a long time. I do still buy games for other people, but their backlogs aren't my problem. :P

Greed - Do you enjoy hand outs in game? Have you ever opted to NOT do an action in game activity because the rewards to yourself were lacking?

Oooh I'm definitely one greedy player. I like getting hand outs sure, who doesn't but the question should be Do I give hand outs? Maybe to friends, or allies or people I decide are "good natured". I don't consider those handouts though - that's more just sharing resources. I absolutely hate in-game beggars.

Real life beggars I can support on occasion, but people asking for pixel gold or pixel gear are simply lazy. Have I ever opted to NOT do an in game activity that isn't rewarding to me? YES. Especially when I'm playing solo! Like most gamers, I look for the path of least resistance, that is the shortest path with the most profit. Why? Because time is valuable, and must be managed efficiently to achieve a balance of fun and progression.

In a party, I don't mind doing non-rewarding activities as usually the party makes the experience more fun. :)

Sloth - Do you ever leech or AFK in a party? Do you discourage others from attempting things that you feel are difficult? Have you ever seen someone that needed help, but decided not to?

I never leech or AFK in a party, unless it really is a "down time" moment where everyone is resting. Leechers kinda fall into the lazy pixel beggar category above for me, so I definitely don't want to be one of them. Do I discourage others from attempting things that might be difficult? Hmm. Not really. I'm usually always up for certain death missions "just for the lulz", though I do mention that fact ("we'll probably be caned :D") before undertaking it.

As for helping people that need help it really depends: as I mentioned above I always decide not to help pixel-beggars. People that are getting slammed by monsters though (who I see are actually losing) often prompt me to jump into the fray - even if it just means I get killed too. I'm supposed to be a hero damnit, so of course I should be heroic (though slightly insane)! :P

Wrath - Ever get angry at other players and yell (or TYPE IN CAPS) at them? Have you ever been so angry to stalk a person around in game and / or in the forums?

Yelling at things: YES! I try not to yell at people though. Not directly. I do quite like to talk & threaten & sing to monsters, NPCs, and myself. This is quite funny when I do it on voice chat as people think I'm crazy.

I've not gone player stalking for many years. Really, the only time I stalked someone out of anger was on a free shard of UO after some PKs ambushed our guild. I suspected that one of the PKs was actually using a game master account to spy on our movements and equipment to know when to hit us, so having a game master account myself I tailed the bastard and sure enough matched his IP to one of the newly recruited GMs.

I also caught him doing it again to another group and got screenshot evidence of the whole matter. Turns out the "mortal" guy also had a hacked ring which made it very hard for him to die. It felt good bringing all of this to the higher ups who then came with me to confront said "corrupt" GM face to face, stripped him of his powers, killed him in a public spot, and banned his account (it's why I quite like that ban hammer GW2 video). Alas the "mortal" only got his cheating ring taken away as punishment. I still took it as a win.

Ohhh yeah, then on another free shard there was another "bad" GM who liked killing players by popping tough monsters on top of their head. I didn't have a game master account there but I simply used all the tricks I had learned from before, figured out who his mortal was and then found proof of him being a scum (setting up his own tournament so that he would win and rewarding "himself" with a legendary weapon). I also found proof that on the previous shard he played on before he was kicked out for cheating. Bad example for one of the eight seats of virtue huh? Got him banned and then one of our guild mates took his place on the council.

Good times, good times. Haven't needed to go through those lengths to cane someone for a long time now though. Maybe I'm just mellowing out in my old age

Envy - Ever felt jealous of players who seem to be able to complete content you can't? Do you ever suspect they are hacked or are simply unfair?

Yes and Yes. I am both thrilled and envious when I see those videos of one dude soloing a five man dungeon, but because of all those bad experiences (see Wrath, above) I always, ALWAYS think they are cheating in some way. Maybe not even in an "illegal" way. Perhaps they just pay to win or use out of game voice chat or use more people to their own ends or use ANY form of mod outside of the BASE GAME (for me any who use those ARE cheating - even if its just UI organization, no question about it). Even if it just is a matter of skill I always think they are hacked first. It's just been ingrained in my nature.

Pride - Are you one of those people that demands to party with other "elite" players? Do you kick players out of your team who you feel are under performing?

Nope and Nope. Hell, "elite" players probably wouldn't want to party with me anyway. I'd be on the receiving end of those "kick" votes. As I mentioned before, yes, I like being efficient -when I'm playing solo-. When others are around that's just a bonus for me (as long as they ain't leechers). I don't really care how well or how poorly they do, as long as we are all having fun. I try to remind myself that regardless of the team, the only one I can truly rely on is me so if everyone else dies it's not really their fault. -I- should be better!

Now this changes somewhat if the team actually starts caring about winning. Then I start getting annoyed when they do badly, because they aren't having fun. Which means I am not having fun. What's the point in doing an activity that you do not find fun? Hope it's rewarding? Pixel-rewards kinda suck in the grand scheme of things. Just saying.

Other on-going NBI activities:
Please join the NBI 2015: Poetry Slam!
Murf's Screenshot Safari

Today I Smiled: Live Action!

Been awhile since my last "Today I Smiled" entry and there sure are a lot of things for me to smile about. My Neverwinter Online: Vigilance Guide got featured as a "Bag of Tricks" entry on NWO-uncensored. I also quite like that the Wizards of the Coast release content on all mediums simultaneously which means that Elemental Evil is also hitting DDO and the table top game, meaning there are write ups for each of the evil cults.

The Newbie Blogger Initiative is also going full swing and this year I'm in charge of the Poetry Slam - looking forward to more entries coming in before the end of the month. Also happy to report I'm now up to 100 links from 59 when the event began. As a fan of the TV series Arrow and the Flash I'm also looking forward to Legends of Tomorrow, and am hoping the live action version of Shingeki no Kyoujin (Attack on Titan) does well. Kinda surprised to see a live action Parasyte there too!

If none of those interest you then perhaps this clip of Guildwars 2 killing, deleting and then banning a cheater will be enough to brighten your day, or if you want a more hands-on experience, try out the first two browser bragging games for this years NBI: the PvP blob consuming game called Agar and the colorful pixel gore of Critical Annihilation. :)

NBI: Screenshot Safari! #NBI2015 #NBI2015Safari #EpicAchievement

It's time for another entry into Murf's NBI Screenshot Safari and this one falls under the Epic Achievement category. While it certainly looks like nothing is going on apart from me sitting there with a miniature woman at my side, those who play Guildwars 2 might recognize her to be Liadri - and the only way to get that mini was to defeat her normal sized self in the final, one on one, round of the Queen's Gauntlet. It took me a 140 attempts (hence why I look so tired) but it just made the victory all the sweeter. ^_^

Other on-going NBI activities:

Contains Moderate Peril still looking for NBI guest posts!
Gaming Discussion
Talkback Topic #2: Early Access and Kickstarter
NBI 2015: Poetry Slam!
Murf's Screenshot Safari

Bad Support Attitude

Have you ever stopped playing a game because of bad support? I have!

I used to play Guildwars 2, even beat Zhaitan and Liadri. That is until the verification email no longer was being sent through to Yahoo. Their forum response was something like: "It's a Yahoo problem. You really shouldn't use Yahoo." Uh huh. Three guesses how I'm supposed to change that password too, since it also has to be verified through Yahoo.

I tried to see what Wildstar was all about, winning a key ages back. Apparently though this key wasn't for my region and the email they sent back was along the lines of "there is no way we can change the region of the key, or even replace it." Riiiiiight. Because you know, it would take a whole ten minutes to kill one key and generate another for the correct region. Just saying, since I used to generate keys for my previous company.

I'm sorry, the minute I hear a "not our problem" or a "passing the buck" method I get slightly pissed.

You said it Starlord.

Even Mabinogi, which is supposed to have the -worst- support ever actually gives you updates on whatever issue you logged. Yes, most of the time it was a "We're getting to it and apologize for the delay" automated response which only gets sorted out two months later but you know what? They f*ing sorted it out, and they were apologetic and polite about it. Much more polite than I'm being now.

What happens next? I look at who makes these games where I've had bad support experience then I make a neat little list of other multiplayer titles they have... and avoid them.

Have there been any games that you have dropped because of bad support?

Vindictus: King of the Trolls

[This is part of my Vindictus tutorials.]

I started getting into real trouble when I reached the troll inhabited Hilder Forest Ruins. It's like an exam of every boss you have fought, just that they move faster, hit harder, and are way uglier. I quite disliked the very first boss, Meperdu who has a unique(?) ability of pinning you against the wall and forcing the whole rest of the fight to take place in judo range (ie. zero distance). I could still beat him, but the one that really sucked was the king of the Shady Forest - Klaus.

Ho ho ho!

I think next to GW2s Liadri he currently holds the most number of kills on me in any MMO. The difference is that while Liadri was a duel, Klaus is a raid boss, and given that I only beat him on my ninth attempt means he destroyed the first eight different parties I went in with! Even the Neverwinter's mighty Tiamat only won four times before I broke her winning streak. Unlike Tiamat though there is no strategy to Klaus. It's pure skill and luck and if you have enough of both, he can be soloed.

This did let me study him quite a bit, and as a ranged character, I found out why he is so damned tough - because he is a crafty bastard and all his hits take out a ton of HP.

Two moves in particular are what would always get me:

First is his charge. Yup, he runs in a straight line from point A to point B. Sounds easy to evade right? Wrong. Point B is JUST BEFORE his target. He then shifts direction (if the target moved) and continues charging to point C - through said target, and anyone else in the way.  I would always dodge too early. It really has to be at the last split second that you move aside or he hits you with that giant horned helm.

Second is that he waves his magic mace/staff in the air. This actually sends out hard to see, translucent orbs at all players (+1) that SEEK. Again, you have to dodge at the last second, too early and it will track and hit you. Getting hit by any of these drain all your stamina, meaning you cannot run or dodge and making you pretty vulnerable to his charge which he likes to use right after. He also shoots an extra one, meaning someone has to dodge two translucent spheres. That final one not only drains your stamina but actually roots you to the spot.

Keys and Treasure Chests

I find it interesting to see how each game delivers rewards to players, especially after killing tough bosses in dungeons. More and more it seems that these rewards come from treasure chests of some kind.

Guildwars 2 used to (I assume they still do) just have it as a pop up, treasure chest "button" on each participating player's HUD rather than an object in game. Neverwinter Online has a box at the end of each dungeon, often next to the handy exit portal, that can only be opened if you entered during "dungeon hour" (occurs every 6 hours) or if you brought a dungeon key with you.

You can get one free key a day provided you don't already have one in your inventory. As a typical F2P opportunity you can also buy said keys with the pseudo-real currency of Astral Diamonds (which you gain through real money expense or through doing in-game tasks). Some dungeons and skirmishes even have two chests with the bonus one requiring a different key made from other grindable currencies.

Ultima Online laughs at treasure chests when bosses can just explode into gold.

Then there's Warframe and its Orokin Vaults. Found on not so accessible Orokin Derelicts that consume a crafted key just to ENTER, there is always ONE vault hidden somewhere in the decaying space craft and if there's something Warframe is good at, it is hiding things in hard to reach spots that require good eyes and good parkour skills.

The vault itself needs a key to open but the type needed is random out of four. Since each player can only carry one key at a time this usually means to have a 100% chance of opening the room each member in a full squad needs to be carrying one. Of course holding a key negatively affects your Warframe, depending on the type you carry.

The effects to choose from are:
-75% health
-75% shield
-75% damage
-50% speed

Upon opening the door whoever used up the key is back to normal, for a short time at least because picking up the always single "mysterious artifact" (which you will only identify at the end of the mission) will again inflict one of those four effects on you at random.

Oh, and it also triggers an alarm that changes your enemies into the Corrupted faction, so if you came in geared up to fight things with fangs, claws and tentacles you will suddenly find them joined by heavily armored folks with lasers, heavy machine guns and rocket launchers. I suppose I should mention that while not as creepy as the Eris Hive ships these derelicts are far more dangerous, boasting some of the toughest foes and traps in the game.

Vault looting is completely optional though, which means to -earn- whatever it is you looted you MUST complete whatever your actual mission is on that space ship AND make it to the extraction point afterwards. Alive. Specifically the guy carrying the artifact.

So far I've done two of these and they were awesome as it felt we really "earned" that extra reward. I've run many more where I was the sole key carrier and the vault lock didn't match what I carried though. Those were slightly annoying! :P

What's your favourite method of loot delivery in game? Do you like having an easy exit at the end or would you prefer that people had to "get to extraction" on their own?

Captain Phillips

[Post #30 of the Blaugust Challenge!]

A movie based on the real life hijacking of the Maersk Alabama, Tom Hanks stars as the clever captain of that ship which begins the morning before it set sails from port. It is quite interesting to see the countermeasures used by the unarmed container ship when a handful of pirates decide to try capture it for ransom, and the shifting of focus between the pirates and their prey makes for a pretty tense and exciting film. Can't really give away more than that as it might take away from the experience for you. While Tom Hanks does his "captaining" very well, everyone else does a decent job in the acting department (pirates included). Also funny to learn that pirates get their crew via ye old school yard pick.

Tom Hanks wishes he had one of those guns right about now.

That said there are some changes I'd like to see which I think would make the movie better. The first part at the beginning before Tom Hanks reaches the docks could have been chopped. Some other people in the later part of the movie traveling from point A to point B footage could also be removed and replaced with "they arrived". Lastly I would have liked to see the part where the US NAVY goes in and brutally kills every single pirate, their families, friends and pets at the "pirate base". 

Unfortunately that doesn't happen in real life either so I guess it's too much of a stretch. At least it looks like the Maersk Line learned their lesson and began employing security personnel on their ships. There are so many parts in the movie where I was saying out loud about the difference one or two armed dudes would make.

Anyway, before I get carried away further into real life vs movie life I'd better score this, and since I believe it is one that many people would enjoy I give it three and a half bullets out of five.

Blaugust Bonus: Writing Prompt time! "Do you collect in game pets? Various games have turned this into a mini game but are you a pet collector? If so why? If not why as well?" Yes and no, depending on the game. More on the no side though. There are three main barriers to pet collection for me. First, are they useful? If it's just a display item that you can get easily or by paying money then that holds no interest to me. An example for exception to this would be mini-Liadri in Guildwars 2, who while only being a "trophy" is one that I felt to be earned.

The second barrier is longetivity. If I need to take care of pets by any means other than occasionally healing it then it is too much of a hassle. Having to learn veterinary skills in UO for example (I think that combo was healing, taming, animal lore and anatomy) to maintain a viable ally was just not in my character. So, yes I had my mount and a random pack of critters for a short time, but it became too annoying to replace the pack as they died so I eventually dropped them altogether.

The last barrier is cost. If it costs real money then I don't buy it. Mabinogi is a huge exception for me here though as the pets are cheap, some freely earned, very useful (you can play AS the pet) and perhaps most importantly CUTE OVERLOAD. I don't classify as a collector though, as there are many I skip. My initial plan was just to get something to help me fight, followed by transportation. I sort of earned quite a few more in the process... cough. My current barn consists of: a mini bear, a thunderbird, a black unicorn, a giant eagle, a thoroughbred horse, a cobra, a thunder dragon, three flamemares, an armored pegasus and four bulls. Don't mock the bovines, I used them to help me defeat one of the goddesses in the game!

Highlander: Endgame

[Post #18 of the Blaugust Challenge!]

One problem the Highlander franchise has is with continuity on a few (but important) aspects of the overall story so for the benefit of this review I'm going to pretend none of the earlier films, series or cartoons exist and just base it on what I saw here. The story focuses on a bunch of immortals, aka people who have "a hard time dying" if they don't get beheaded, one of whom has a huge grudge to another that he has held for centuries, literally. Unfortunately the grudge bearer and main villain happens to also be stronger, so the two heroes of clan MacLeod have to combine their powers to stop him.

Throughout the movie there are various flashbacks to whatever time eras are called for. This is both cool and annoying. Cool in that the sets and costumes department did their job well. Annoying in that the characters speak with different accents (often humorous) within them, and that there are SO MANY of them sometimes strung one after another. Oh, did I mention that they have multiple flashbacks of things that happened earlier in the SAME movie? Well they do! It's like the director thought you would have forgotten at that point. Gahhh.

There's also a redundancy in characters. The entire bad guy group could have been reduced to main bad guy and main female. More importantly Donnie Yen's character could have easily replaced Bruce Payne's slightly overacted and much less skilled martial arts (actor wise) main villain. Well, the grudge would have been slightly shorter but it would have still worked. In truth the best part are the fights, especially with Donnie versus Duncan (Adrian Paul). I wasn't surprised to see Donnie acting as the combat choreographer in the credits.

Best yet most pointless fight in the movie.

In short, this is quite a flawed movie (I'm skipping a LOT of flaws such as obvious stunt doubles and reusing the same fight footage twice) - one that would probably only appeal to regulars of the franchise like myself. I give it one and a half katanas out of five.

Blaugust Bonus: I think I'm going to use another of Belghast's writing prompts today - "What is your favorite boss encounter in any game and why? What makes that encounter stand out in your mind and what can be learned from it?"

Like any gamer I have a pretty big list to choose from here, but I think I'll stick with the final Queen's Gauntlet match of Guild Wars 2 - a petite necromancer named Liadri. It took 140 attempts before I finally won the match against her, which is almost as bad as some of those Super Meatboy levels. Why is it my favourite? Because it was challenging (for me anyway, I'm not like Wethospu), solo only, and forced me to adapt. Don't know how many trait lines I switched between in all those attempts before I got one that worked.

Most importantly you could watch and cheer on others while doing so. I remember throughout that week meeting new people as we took turns laughing and advicing each other in between getting our asses handed to us in the various matches. Maybe that's why it sticks out most for me - it was the ideal social soloists setup. It was awesome.

MMO Design: Activities need more Player Interaction

[Part of my MMO Design Folder]

In MMO's everyone gets into fights all the time. Is it simply because there's nothing better to do?

Most MMOs focus on one thing and one thing only: combat. Regardless of the setting, narrative, or game play most of your time in an MMO will be spent fighting either foes either controlled by other people or the AI. There are numerous combat system types which may or may not be similar to each other across the games but generally there is quite a fair bit of thought that comes into the design. Most of your character's gear often affects combat in some way too. Comparatively, there aren't many other in-game interactions that in depth.

My question is, why not?

If you needed as many hot keys for crafting or conversation with NPCs as you did in combat then that would give them more weight. Suddenly you might find that you can talk your way out of fighting in that game, maybe even forming alliances with otherwise hostile NPCs. Maybe people will be happy to craft items and or housing all day if the construction game was good. Maybe character X makes better medicine than character Y not just because of some arbitrary number on that skill, but because the player behind it was actually more competent while making it.

There are MMOs that have tried somewhat to go there, like Mabinogi where you can harvest wheat, grind it into flour, get some yeast and bake bread or harvest chicken eggs, setup a camp fire then get your frying pan out and make breakfast. All those actions needed more player interaction than the Ultima Online version which was basically double click on something, target oven.

A sword crafted in Mabinogi actually took someone the effort and time of hammering correct spots in a mini-game. For me that is more valuable than the mass produced ones in Guildwars 2 where you simply need the material then press the "Craft x number" button which spits out the finished items in less than five seconds. If you translated that into combat basically you have one "fight" button that you just press to fight, cutting out all technique and short handing extra abilities. You'd consider that lazy right?

If people can keep thinking up of unique attack moves for six+ different classes per game I'm sure that if they put their heads to it they can come up with equally just as good systems for the rest of the interactive activities - and that is something I would like to see. What do you think? Is that something you agree with or do you think it would be too annoying if making a single shield or trying to convince a merchant to give you a discount was akin to having a solo boss fight?

MMOs: Fairer RNG Drops

[Part of my MMO Design Folder]

RNG = the Random Number Generator. It's an old staple of MMOs and one that is often hated when it comes to the chances of getting the item you want from the rare slain monster or hard to reach reward chest. Usually that chance is fixed at a miniscule percentage, encouraging people to try and try and try until they finally burn out or get what they are looking for. I think it can be improved.

One way is what Guildwars 2 and Neverwinter Online do to a certain extent, which is handing out currency items over the course of the adventure or from the target monster/chest itself which can then be used to purchase whatever reward the player was after. On paper this is the best fix, but even on those games they still insist on having some rewards that require pure RNG luck to acquire, which is exponentially made worse when said items can only be "won" within a short period of time. I suppose the argument there is that they don't want "the sword of killing everything in one hit" available to a guy who just killed a gazillion mice underneath the starter tavern for two years. My counter argument is to reward people who stick to your game, regardless of how they want to play!

Anyway, for rewards that remain pure RNG, I propose that developers just whack another variable for each character (and visible to the player), the "reward percentage modifier" or "perseverance" or whatever name suits. Every time they complete a dungeon run, or slay a boss, or complete x number of quests or do -something- in game the modifier grants a bonus to the loot table RNG. Then it will check what level loot the character got. If they got lucky and the loot was of high levels, the modifier is reset to zero. If they got anything below that threshold the modifier increases, which gives them progressively better chances until finally they get a high level drop.

This way the lucky ones will still get their drops early, but those that persevere will also definitely be rewarded instead of "might be rewarded, but usually not". What are your thoughts? Is this a good idea or will it break loot as we know it?

Neverwinter Online: Curse of Icewind Dale

The new content is big, beautiful, and awesomely dangerous.

Indeed, prior to Module 3's release last week I maybe only died a couple of dozen times through the whole game (only a few epic dungeons included). I've since died just as many times out in the new zones thanks to the common veteran and elite level Black Ice corrupted beasties and "Heroic Encounters" (which work a lot like GW2 open world events) that can really put you in your place if you drop the ball (or are silly enough to try solo something that suggests 4+ players). A number of people have been complaining about the required 10k+ Gearscore and three boons from one of the previous campaigns which serve as a barrier to entry - well my main is on 11K+ GS and has all the boons and I'm still getting thrown around like a ragdoll sometimes.

The other thing some are complaining about is the 20 silver fee for injury kits when they die in to the not-so-open PvP present there. Basically there are large red zones on the map and stepping one foot into them flags you as a PvP participant. Stepping out doesn't turn it off - you have to reach distant campfires (or die) to do that. The black ice nodes present in the said PvP zones act as a lure for many who then often find either vastly being outnumbered or vastly curb stomping the opposite team. I have to laugh at that since the 20 silver is a pittance - I wonder how these folk would fare in games you could lose all your gear (UO) or potentially get perma killed (WO). Doesn't bother me though as the PvP areas are easy to avoid and the PvE quests never take you into them. There is a PvP quest line and campaign too, but obviously I don't bother picking it up.

He can get you some artifacts, if you have two IWD-ready characters.

The PvE campaign which sees you gaining influence and investing in Caer-Konig's businesses comes with a 35+ day grind (of completing 1 HE and collecting 300 Black ICe) which puts it in the middle I think in terms of length between the pretty speedy Dread Ring arc (especially if you only do the daily lair quest) and the grindingly slow Sharandar one (where at points you'll need to do up to 10 quests a day). The black ice you harvest can also be turned into a new tier of equipment - potentially the strongest for addicts. Why? Because the base black ice gear won't beat the already available highest tiered stuff. You have to keep plugging in more black ice to power up your suit and weapons for it to surpass them, and I mean indefinitely. That "charge" drains constantly but I suppose won't be a problem for those who can forever keep powered up.

Anywho I am certainly enjoying the exciting times in Icewind Dale - why don't you come and join me? If you start now, you'll probably be fully geared up for the next module, Tyranny of Dragons, planned for release in August. ;)

MMOs: Ammunition

[Part of my MMO Design Folder]

A minor detail that is often overlooked.

During the early days of MMO's (at least the first few I played), ammunition was always something tracked by the game. These days it seems ammunition is in such abundance that MMO's no longer track them. You have a gun? You can fire it. You have a bow? You can shoot it. Foreeeever.

I can see why they might have done it though. If ammo is an item then there are probably different versions of it, like fire, exploding, poison, etc. Then people will want to be able to craft it AND the various versions which will probably eventually lead to the "why does 1 plank of wood = 10 arrows or one chair" argument. Then players that focus on ammo dependent weapons will ask for ammo pouches, because it's unfair that their inventory slots (or weight restrictions) are taken up by bullets.

Instead, they change it into weapon skills - like in Guildwars 2 a thief can use a bouncy arrow or an arrow that poisons the area. Those options are available as long as he holds a bow and has unlocked those skills. If games really don't want to track ammo usage then perhaps they should make use of the Gamma World method more. For those who don't know what it is, it goes like this:

Ammunition: Bullets are a limited resource that you must use sparingly. In the D&D Gamma World game, ammunition is abstract: You either have ammo, or you don’t. If you do, you can use ammunition to fire any weapon you have that requires ammunition. If you don’t, you can’t.

If you use ammunition only once in an encounter: You are managing your ammo reserves carefully. At the end of the encounter, you still have ammunition.

If you use ammunition more than once in an encounter: You’re going whole hog—you might as well rock ‘n’ roll, because at the end of the encounter, you are out of ammo. You must acquire more before you can use a weapon that requires ammunition again (if you borrow some from an ally, then that ally is out of ammo.) Your Game Master determines when you find more ammo.


That design is more built around the scarcity of supplies in that game world and helping the players from doing much book keeping, but slightly modified I think it would suit any MMO and ammo would still be "a thing" players would need to care about. How I would translate it into a game is as follows:

Generic "Ammo" items need to be carried in your pack to use ranged weapons. It takes up one slot if we're using the slot mechanic for inventory, and should be reasonably expensive.

Each "ammo" box has a cool-down timer. Every time you fire it fills x% of the gauge (depending on the weapon). As long as you don't fire then the timer cools down back to 0. Stay calm and collected and in the green, and you can fire forever - but if your gauge gets over 100% then the timer turns red.

If you are on the red cool-down timer, that means you're not being careful with your ammo. You can go nuts and fire as much as you want for the next minute or two as the timer cools down. After which the ammo items are depleted and destroyed from your inventory.

What do you think? Is this a good idea or too much hassle? Should ammo instead go back to being tracked individually or do you feel that having an unlimited supply makes for a more enjoyable gaming experience?

MMOs: Voice Actors

[Part of my MMO Design Folder]

I think most voice acting should be removed from MMOs.

"NO! You're Crazy!" I hear you say. Well let's think about it first. There have been so many MMO's that have managed to do without a single bit of voice acting in game. You can probably think of a few if you put your mind to it. Sure a few battle grunts and yells are ok, and maybe a generic welcoming "hello" or two but fully scripted dialogue? How often do you actually sit and listen to everything a voiced NPC has to say, without skipping because you've read the text faster than the voice actor? Do you also listen to it in its entirety if you have to see it again, or maybe with an alternate character?

Voice acting can be one of the big money drains on an MMO. This is even more pronounced if the player character has a voice since you then need one of each gender or each race, with additional lines for all each expansion. Ask Guildwars 2, they're feeling that design flaw now with their Living Story which is why there are no more cut scenes outside the base main story where your protagonist speaks audibly. And that's just in one language.

What about cut scenes? Those need voices right? Maybe. Firstly, you can tell a story without voice. Secondly, do you watch every cut scene fully each time one plays, even if you have seen it before? Just something to think about. I know I for one often skip repetition - and on days where I want to "play" instead of "watch", I skip right past most of the talky bits too because I simply read the text faster than it is voiced for me. 

Buffy's Hush episode was awesome.

Other than having a smaller download size for the game (as audio files can get pretty huge) having less voice would hopefully encourage people to read more, and increase their literacy level at the same time! What do you think? Would knowing there is or is no voice acting affect your choice in playing an MMO?

MMOs: Where Equipment is more Heroic than You

[Part of my MMO Design Folder]
 
In MMO's usually what you wear is more important than who you are.

One of my main gripes in most MMOs is that regardless of who your character is, in the end you are defined by the gear you use - and often that gear despite having some level of rarity will never be unique. It's kind of like saying, to make the knights of the round table better you should equip each of them with an Excalibur and a Holy Grail. Suddenly such artefacts become cheapened simply by having duplicates. Why this is the case I'm not sure, as it surely isn't that hard to simply code that a particular item is unique, there is only ONE of them in the game. Maybe its magic properties expires after a week, regardless of the owners log in time, upon which it vanishes or reverts to a more common item resetting the flag for someone else to be able to get the magic shishkebob or whatever.

That is of course beside the point. If everyone can have all the gear then basically you are a storm trooper. Yeah you might think you are unique, with all those hard earned skills and levels behind you but guess what - everyone else can attain those too. In the end if you come across your counterpart of equivalent ability it will come down to the +1 underwear one of you is wearing to have an edge on the other. At least the way you play can still define you right?

Some games try to combat this by either going crazy with their available skill tree (Path of Exile) or simply adding an element of player skill (GW2, NWO) much like how flight and combat sims do it, yet even there exist tiers upon tiers of items locked behind abstract level requirements. Why? To take your time and money mainly. I just wish there were more games where a sword is just a sword and what makes your character better is his (and your) skill with it, instead of one sword being slightly more magical than the other. Yeah ok, that's plausible too but not when -every- person in the game (barring newbies) has a variation of magic sword.

What's really funny is when "gear score" comes into play. Basically your arms and armor become the hero, the only thing of importance, instead of the person underneath it.

We'll take the one with the +10 belt?