Caught the Steam Bug

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d. Everything Else

December 27, 2010

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Wow, talk about an effective sale. If you haven’t noticed — and if you play anything other than MMOs, you probably have — Steam is running a huge holiday sale. All of the price cuts are big but some go beyond that into the realm of “crazy cheap.” We’re talking $30 games for six bucks.

I’ve been on the internet for a while, so I’ve heard about these sales before but never really took the bait. Honestly, I didn’t understand it. People would talk about how “insane” their price cuts were, but anytime I looked it was like 20% off a game I had no interest in anyways. This time is different. They’re offering price cuts on almost everything — to the point where I’m buying things I never would have before. That’s effective marketing.

This last week I picked up three games. I grabbed Wings of Prey, a game I’d played the demo of a while back and enjoyed; Battlefield: Bad  Company 2, a game so frustratingly “realistic” that I traded in my console version — it was six dollars, how could I not get it again?; and The Witcher, which I’d heard good things about, but never really gave much thought. Out of those, I’ve played Bad Company 2. And yes, it’s just as frustrating as it ever was, compounded by the fact that I’m totally new to PC shooters. The Witcher was a massive 15GB install, so that’s just finishing up downloading. Wings of Prey I honestly don’t feel much compulsion to load up, but someday I will and that’s the point.

If you haven’t checked it out yet, go over and have a look. You can get Mass Effect 2 for $10. That alone makes the sale worthwhile.

*Note – They update their sales every day at noon (EST) so keep checking back.

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Rift NDA Dropped – Here Are The Goods

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a. MMORPG

December 22, 2010

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As you know, I’ve been taking part in the Rift beta events. The long and short of it is this: Rift is a good game, not  immediatelyground breaking, but a fun MMO that will be instantly familiar to anyone who’s played anything post-Everquest.

In my opinion, this is the first PvE game that’s actually viable to the wider MMO audience. LotRO came close, but the slow combat and low-fantasy setting hold it back, making it a bit more niche than a lot of players like. Rift doesn’t suffer from this in the slightest and is a lot of fun to play if you’re not looking for GW2 or TOR level reinvention of the genre.

The specifics:

*Note: Apologies for the lack of screenshots, it was disabled during beta.

Character Creation

Rift offers a lot of options for character creation, but it is more limited than, say, Aion. You choose your race, archetype, and then can select a variety of attributes for your head (eyes, mouth, nose; width, plumpness, etc.). You can also select from ten or so facial tattoos and customizations. I was a little disappointed that you couldn’t customize your body at all, but, honestly, it’s a passable oversight.

Introductions and Cinematics

The cinematics are good and do a nice job of pulling you into the setting. They give you just enough background to understand your place, but really only scratch the surface of the deep lore written into the game. I personally prefer the Guardian cinematic. In Beta 2, I had a laugh at the voice actor they chose to do the narration. He sounded like a bad Mr. T impersonator. Or, as one staffer put our in a system message, “The Guardian narrator also reminds you to snap into a Slim Jim.”

The actual newbie experiences are awesome. The Defiant start off in a war torn valley. Buildings are burning and being overrun. Angry spirits, invading guardians, cultists, and various undead are there waiting for you to kill them. There is a decent variety of kill, collect, and “activate this item(s) in the field” quests. Both factions get their first two souls almost right away (within an hour). I was a little torn at the high-technology slant the Defiant seem to embrace.

I found myself quite surprised at how much I like the Guardian experience more, though. I’m not exaggerating when I say it’s probably my favorite of any MMO. The way the action blends into the cinematic, and the way everything seems to be compounded for your immersion, adds into a remarkable experience. You start off as a resurrected dead – literally, there are piles of bodies lying around – and go into the usual “defend our town” kind of stuff. Just like the Defiant, there is a decent variety of quests. I liked it so much more, however, because it was MUCH more immersive. The music was spot on. Your screen would shake with explosions. Pillars of smoke rise in the horizon and battle horns sound in your ears. The questing was also much more action-y, I thought, though this is probably because I chose to play a mage (pyromancer) instead of a cleric (paladin).

Each faction ends with an epic stand off before throwing you into the “real world.” I thought these were very well done and built up to a culmination no other MMO can stand up against in the first 5 levels. This is how MMOs should start.

Setting

I’m a little torn. The setting is a strange blend of high-fantasy wilderness/warzones with sci-fi cybertech. The Defiant have hologram machines all over the place and the main impetus of your existence is to be sent back in time. I get it, and I’m sure some people will love it, but it doesn’t really fit with a traditional fantasy setting. That’s just my feeling, though, as some people really like it; it does make the Defiant zones unique.

Art is a good blend of stylized art and realistic models. Characters are highly detailed (you can see every ring on a piece of chainmail). Colors are over saturated, which makes for some really great skyscapes.

It should be said that I was immersed pretty much non-stop until other players would come into the scene and break it somehow (not meant in a negative way). The balance between sounds and visuals is very well done.

Graphics/Performance

The game is very scalable and can go from looking very nice to butt-ugly. As I mentioned above, character models are highly detailed even on the lowest settings. Anything medium or above will probably rival most other MMOs. On high or ultra, it’s competing with LotRO and AoC.

They’ve made good strides in performance, but it still has a ways to go. During the first beta event, lots of players had trouble getting over 20FPS regardless of graphics setting; I was one of them. We had a good thread in the forums and Beta 2 was much better. I was running at about 25-35 on high. I expect it to be better on release.

I would say that if you have a machine running their recommended spec, you’ll probably get 25FPS on medium right now. For comparison, here are my stats: E8600 3.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB DDR2 800MHz RAM, nVidia 260GTX 896MB GPU.

Gameplay

It’s standard MMO stuff. If you don’t want a game in the same vein as what’s out there now, or are tired of the “same old questing,” do everyone a favor and don’t bother. The beta forums were flooded with people complaining that Rift didn’t do enough different. Frankly, I don’t fault Trion for that, I fault the testers for not reading about what they signed up to test.

In a world when GW2 and TOR are out to challenge out concepts and tell us how everything we know is wrong, Rift is there to remind us why we found this stuff fun in the first place. Well, that’s the goal. Whether it works will depend on how much you enjoy questing.

There is a noticeable wall in the leveling curve around level 10 or so but this will probably change.

Quests are well written and fun to read.

Gathering/Crafting/Dungeons

I can’t comment much here because I didn’t get a chance to do much with them. The only one of the three I did to any detail was gathering and I’m happy to say we’re not sucking the essence out of any ore nodes here *cough* Aion *cough*. You find a node, you click it, you swing a pick axe.

Crafting is pretty standard. No chance to fail, as far as I’m aware, and you’ll probably have to work with other players to advance any large degree. You can choose three professions, which includes gathering. So, if I wanted to armorsmith, I’d probably take up mining and maybe skinning for some extra money. No secondaries, outside of gathering as far as I’m aware. See here for a list of all tradeskills.

I did notice that the entry level crafting stuff was much better than anything I’d seen from questing.

Rifts

I had to check out of Beta 2 early, so I didn’t see what improvements may have been made. In Beta 1, however, I got far enough to see a few from Water and Death spawn.

The graphics are incredible. It’s really neat seeing the ground change under your feet and water start pouring from the sky.

But you don’t care about that. How do they function?

Usually, just like PQs minus a lot of the problems WAR’s version had. A rift opens and players in the zone have a set of objectives open on the right side of their screen. When they’re met, you move into the next, more difficult, phase, and the next, until you get to an end boss. Kill it and you’re ranked on contribution (no idea how) and given a reward which seems to be some kind of crafting mat. They really don’t explain what the heck it is you’re getting, so I’m pretty clueless on whether or not the drops were worth anything. I vendored them.

I sincerely hope they change the starter rifts, though. Here’s the thing: those first few rifts, though an introduction, spawn over and over again, with no difference at all between them (if they’re on the same plane). Death rifts have the same phases every time.

Again, this is just in the starter zones, but I can’t help but feel like players’ first introduction to the much lauded dynamic content should be more, well, dynamic. This wasn’t. At all.

I hear it got much better in later zones, though, so bear that in mind.

Souls

The soul system is pretty neat. I liked it. They’re pretty much skill trees and as you advance up, you get new skills. In Beta 3, they’re planning on giving you more points, which is a good thing, because I felt like I was being told to choose a salad at the buffet table. It really lets you customize your archetype and isn’t hype. No, you can’t make anything you want – no warrior-mages – but you can make most blends of usual classes in it. Healing-DPS-buffer? You can do it.

Combat

Standard stuff. If you’ve played WoW, you’ve played this. I played a wide array of classes and can say that each has a different feel. I preferred a pyromancer because it felt like a fire mage. It was quick and deadly.

Combat is snappy and action-oriented. Somewhere between WoW and Aion, you’ll find Rift’s system.

It is GCD based.

Final Thoughts

As I watched the forums, I saw a pretty clear definition rise amongst players. People that wanted something familiar and polished loved it. People that were tired of quests and action bar combat hated it. Deciding which camp you fall into will pretty much decide whether this is the game for you.

Detractors did raise a good question, though: why play Rift when you can play other games that do the same thing? Honestly, I think it’s worth playing because it’s a different take on an old favorite. It’s the same gameplay we all know in a Telaran wrapping. It’s a starting point for new and fun stuff. The rift system is neat and, taken all by itself, offers a lot of possibilities for cool gameplay; Trion has it built so they can run events and more with the rifts than, well, open rifts. A lot of the potential for the game is under the surface, in the tech of what makes it.

After playing these two weekends, I’m planning on buying the game. It’s a PvE fan’s game. It’s the MMO player’s game. It’s polished and on the right track. More than anything, this beta has given me more faith in Trion than I’ve ever had in an MMO company. Seeing the product in the state it’s in now, and seeing how far it’s come from even the first beta event, leaves me enthused. This is a game that will probably go under a lot of people’s radar, but it’s good, and I firmly believe it will find its own dedicated audience.

In a few words: this is like Everquest 2 in style, WoW in gameplay, and way beyond WAR in innovation. If that sounds good to you, check it out.

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Rift: Looking to the Future After Beta 2

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a. MMORPG

December 22, 2010

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The second beta event for Rift is finished and lots was learned from it. I was lucky enough to take part and, well, I’m excited for the NDA to drop. By the way, I checked and since Trion was asking people to status-update their being in-game, I think it’s okay to say that much (I haven’t actually seen anything to the contrary, source me if you have it).

Surprisingly, I missed out on one of the big events that Scott Hartsman details in his wrap-up post. The event is a story chunk from Prince Hylas Aelfwar, and the Battle for Silverwood. In effect, lots of rifts and invasions occurred, and over 500 people crammed into one small region to fight them back. As Scott mentions, all this in a modern day, graphically intense, MMORPG and the servers didn’t crash. And Blizzard said it was “impossible.” Mmm-hmm.

An outline of the rifts/invasions from the Beta 2 event

I find this most interesting because it presents new opportunities for the rift system I’d never even thought of before. I knew they could spawn them on cue and had plans for bigger and better things, but aiding narration wasn’t something I’d thought of. Now, I’ll be interested to see how this plays out in practice – I don’t see GMs randomly running these events all that often – but it could certainly mean neat, unexpected, and unquestionably epic encounters in our future.

Another point I thought was worth mentioning is that, even though the event was made for levels 8-20, it featured full-on raid rifts. That all but confirms that there will possibilities for raid content below the level cap. As someone who doesn’t like the “the real game begins at level cap” philosophy, that prospect is very alluring. What’s more satisfying that leveling up in a raid?

Overall, I’m very happy with everything in Scott’s note. This sounds like another bang-up job by Trion and it leaves me all the more excited for the final game.

On a couple unrelated notes from the last couple episodes of The Rift podcast, I’d just like to point out a couple of lines that stood out to me:

  • Scott mentioning that the patch notes from Beta 1 to Beta 2 are over 8000 words. Tell me again how this is “just a promotional beta?”
  • Adam mentioning that “in a few months when we’re released or on Beta 7.” Speculate as you will but it perked my ears up.

Can we also give it up to the ladies who run that podcast? They do a wonderful job of supporting the community and giving us the information we want to hear. As a podcaster myself, I know doing a weekly show requires a lot of planning and – gah! – editing. So, keep it up, Ari and Desi!

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2011 – Will It Solidify WoW’s Decline?

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a. MMORPG

December 17, 2010

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Here we go: a predictions post. I usually avoid doing these because I don’t like being proven wrong. This time I feel confident enough to make the statement unless Blizzard changes how they roll out content. Going by their previous development history, I simply don’t how this expansion will keep people satisfied for the next two years.  

I have a few reasons for saying this, but first let me preface this post with a simple explanation: this is not a doom and gloom, not a “the Cataclysm honeymoon is over,” not a final missive from a jaded lover. I’ve been wondering about the longevity of this expansion for a long time. Now that it’s out there and we’ve had some hands on time with it, I think we can make an educated guess about the future of WoW. In answer to myself nine months ago: no, Cataclysm will not last long enough.  

So, back in March, I was pretty skeptical about the 5 levels and fewer dungeons this iteration of WoW would offer. We, of course, saw people hit 85 within a day of the expansion releasing. That’s to be expected. What’s a little more troubling is how quickly everybody else seems to be hitting it. Green Armadillo echoes my own experiences having been halfway to 83 before ever leaving the first zone. He also rightly notes that doing anything outside of questing breaks the leveling curve. This isn’t surprising given a lot of the side-ways you can go about leveling now. High end archeology gives upwards of 45k experience per successful dig. Each gathered node awards a mob kill at minimum. Questing itself is so streamlined that you can completed two dozen without every leaving small circle of territory and walk away 100k XP higher. Scott and Randy agree with GA on the last episode of The Instance, noting how much quicker the cap can be reached. Tobold also points out how Blizzard exchanged length for breadth – breadth taking the form of much needed revisions. 

This is all good for Cataclysm. Playing through it now is something I would recommend to any and all MMO players. As you’re leveling up, it’s an incredibly satisfying feeling to see that XP rise so often. All those quest turn-ins get the dopamine a-flowing. In the long run, though, I honestly believe that this will bite Blizzard in the behind. 

Here’s the thing: we just got out of two years of badge grinding and trudging through the same raid encounters at six-month stretches at a pop. Within a week, all of the raid content has been beaten and the average player is back to dungeon farming.  

How long will this sustain people? There’s a reason people took breaks towards the end of Wrath and within a week we’re back to the routine that burnt them out in the first place.  

Now, I realize that we’ll have all new dungeons and raids to run, a new world to explore. That’s true and great. For now. Blizzard’s development cycle is somewhere around two content patches a year (content meaning a new region, 5-mans, or raid). In six months, will the shiny still be there? In six months, will you still look at the world with such awe, or will you be done questing, grinding heroic Deadmines for the 40th time and plugging away at the same OS-10 style instance you were three weeks before? 

Less dungeons, less levels, means less variety and quicker burn-out. Similar difficulty and identical loot tables means the raiding game has been halved for players who partook in both. I don’t think the average player has it in them to stay with the same thing they were tired off last month… at least in the long-term.  

So, the way out, as I see it is to do one or more of these things: 

  • Increase the content schedule
    • Keep to the 90 day rule many other MMOs consider standard. Blizzard polish or not, six months between updates is too long.
  • Stick to the expansion a year rule
    • According to that leaked product schedule, they won’t do this. They’re planning 18 months before expansion four, which is 2 years in Blizzard time.
  • Wait three months and release a Looking For Raid tool
    • PuGs will fail more often than guild groups, sure, but this tool would be heralded as a success just like the LFD tool. It would empower players to raid on their own time. There’s really no reason this shouldn’t happen -or-….
  • Use phasing to let players for cross-server groups
    • This would be an alternative to the above. The technology seems like it’s there or close to it. If Blizzard is opposed to random raid finding, give players the power to find others who play on their schedule… and don’t charge them for the chance at it.

While it’s entirely likely that Blizzard will still be millions and millions of players higher than it’s best competitor, unless the above happens I think we’ll see those activity graphs begin to take a noted down-tick, continuing on from where we saw them last expansion. 

In no way claiming this chart is 100% accurate; I had another one in mind, actually, but I couldn't find it. Funny.

 

To be clear, I think Cataclysm is the best expansion WoW has had to date. Not only is the questing and storytelling FAR better than anything before it, the variation and gameplay are just amazing. While Larisa says she feels like a marionette, I feel like I’m experiencing the story more than I ever have in the past. This is how storytelling in MMOs should work. At least directed storytelling, like what they’re trying to do here.  

Simply put, and forgive me for sounding crass, this isn’t enough for two years. It’ll be interesting to see how they try to compensate for that.

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Culture Clash

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a. MMORPG

December 16, 2010

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It’s happening again. A “kind of a big deal” game is prepping for release and the forums are alive with excitement. And bickering. Lots of bickering. Take this 200+ page long thread, for example. The author doesn’t want any kind of threat or DPS meters in his game and lashes out at anyone who uses them. Some people are with him while others are starkly opposed. It’s really brought to light how the cultures created by different games can begin to clash when thrown in a melting pot environment.

I’m talking about Rift, by the way.

The way I see it, the players coming to the game usually hail from one of three camps. You have the WoW crowd, the pre-WoW crowd, and the EQ2 “anything not WoW” crowd. It’s not surprising when you consider who diverse the team is making the game. You have people from across the spectrum working behind the scenes on Telara, and that’s enough reason to make lots of different people excited.

But, as they’ve come together, the WoW and non-WoW audiences have really started to stand at odds. I used the thread above as an example because I think it highlights the different expectations we come to the game with. The poster is against DPS meters because he thinks they make the game to easy. The WoW players tend to disagree and see them as a way to determine how well their party is doing. It’s almost an argument of “new and easy” versus “classic and challenging.” Accessibility: most people want it, but only so far as they can keep the game in their perfect definition of what truly makes an MMO.

Then there are posts like this. There’s nothing bad or discriminatory in the original post, but you can quickly see the “WoW is the devil” theme come to the surface.

As someone who plays WoW – and LOTS of other games – I find the sniping a little disingenuous. Anytime someone comes out and rails against WoW, I have to wonder how many hundreds or thousands of hours they spent in the game before then. If a game can keep you occupied for so incredibly long – a normal RPG is, what, 30 hours nowadays? – how bad could the game possibly have been.

And to come into a game like Rift, like WoW in all the best ways, unlike WoW in the same, I have to wonder if these players even know what they’re getting into. This is a post-WoW MMO. It’s soloable. It has incorporated all the lessons of questing, character progression, storytelling, and more – many lessons I’m sure taken from Blizzard. Like every successful game before it, it will take what works and make it their own, then add to it with exciting systems like rifts.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that Rift will be just like WoW or that player’s issues with the game aren’t valid. I’m just saying that no game exists in a vacuum and it’s a little silly nip at each other’s heels because of where they leveled their first character. It’s entirely possible to like both games. Hell, my current stock of active MMOs is three and I don’t begrudge one for being different, or similar, to any other.

So, this is my thought: disagreements are fine. Discussion is how the best features get worked over and ideas for new ones are born. But, leave the culture clash out of it. The community will be stronger when we recognize that we’re all – and I mean all of us – MMO fans. This is our community. A single community. Let’s talk and disagree and have heated debates. But, recognize that our differing experiences are part of what makes us as a whole great. We’re the many colored beast of a thousand feathers and every single one of us has something of value to add to the display.

On the point raised in the first forum thread: the OP is wrong. I can see his point, but he’s forgetting the two main purpose DPS meters serve for players: knowledge and satisfaction. Tanks know they did well when they hold the boss. Healers know they did well when everyone lives. These two roles are also unique in that there’s no need to compare to other group members; when you’re the only one doing the job in group, there’s no question of who’s the best: you are.

DPS don’t have that. They get big numbers. They’re fun to see, sure, but without some way to add it all up, they’re arbitrary; the DPS’s job becomes about feeling over fact. The competition with other damage dealers also adds another little mini-game to the encounter. It’s fun to be the best. Damage meters only quantify that and remove the need for “I’m the best” “No, I’M the best” arguments.

Happy Thursday, all.

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Gearscore Becomes Playerscore… Oh Crap.

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a. MMORPG

December 15, 2010

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Note: This post is about the addon Gearscore, recently bought by Ten Ton Hammer, and its evolution into “Playerscore.” PS rates the person behind the keyboard instead of just their gear. It’s like an e-peen meter mixed with a popularity contest.

My days of douchebaggery are done people! Done. No longer can I /strut or /flex in an instance and get away with it. No more can I  boot people because they “suxxors.” And, holy crap, no longer will you find me AFKing at the start of a dungeon, oh no.

You know what? I think I might even have to re-assess what it means to be a “good player” in modern day WoW.  Now that people can give me a thumbs up or thumbs down and proclaim to the world my caliber as a person, it’s time to look again at where exactly my priorities are. Bios will be the first to go. People don’t like to wait. And when my sister comes over, if she, like, falls or something, that kid is on her own. The mage needs his badges! But, so help me, if he doesn’t come packing a Fish Feast he is SO done. I wonder how I can get full a set of full epics at level 82? This will require some thought!

Maybe there’s an upside to this. If I have to think about them, they have to think about me too! I’m the tank, healer, and that means the DPS die before I hit 50% health. And, hunter? Pull another group and I will so down-vote you. And, hey, DPS? My groups have a 6k minimum… and that’s if you don’t want a vote at all. 5999? No good-thumb for you! 5998? L2P and GTFO. You have officially made the black list.

Needless to say, I find this utterly retarded. Do we really need another way to rank each other? Theoretically, having a d-bag rating is a good idea. In practice, the average WoW PuG is too self-centered to ever make this work. Real life happens but try to tell that to Legollas. The baby can wait, amirite? The only thing this does is give the mouth-breathers more power than they’ve ever had. This addon is based on altruism that the Internet Meanie Theory (NSFW) says probably won’t exist.

My question: where’s the recourse once everyone realizes they can downvote people whenever they choose?

Maybe it won’t pick up. It’s not like anyone uses gearscore anyways. Link.

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Rift: Social Observation or Close to Home?

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a. MMORPG

December 14, 2010

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Note: This is a cross-post from our new Rift blog, Rift Watchers. Find the original here.

As I’ve followed the game, one of the most compelling aspects I’ve found actually has nothing to do with gameplay: it’s the factions. At first glance, it seems like your standard two-sided battle. You have the good guys in the Guardians and the bad guys in the Defiant. I mean, their names really categorize them before you’ve read a word of background. The Guardians. Images of plate-clad paladins come to mind, calling on the Light, smiting down their foes with big, square hammers, and reciting from gilded books. The Defiant. There’s a name for a Dark Elf if I’ve ever heard one. Who are they defying… does it matter? They’re the Defiant! They defy everything! Even their parents! On Sunday!

But the comely names belie a deeper connection to the modern day. In many ways, these two factions are more like you and I, the division between the East and West, conservative and progressive. Looking beyond the fantasy trappings, you begin to see a relationship much more resonant with adult gamers: there is grey area here and certainly a question of who is really good and evil.

Factions, as we’ve known them

Though the names are appropriate — more appropriate than even the Horde and Alliance, an example we’re ALL familiar with – the first impression is polarizing. When there’s so much more behind it, I have to wonder, why hide those shades of grey?

The answer, I think, is that Trion is trying to touch on our comfort zones. Nearly every major battle throughout history is recalled in terms of right and wrong, winners and losers. In gaming, we can trace back modern day factioning to the alignment systems of early Dungeons and Dragons. In those days, characters would choose a guardian deity and take on the alignment to match, anywhere from lawful good to chaotic evil. As the genre has progressed, those decisions have been simplified and re-envisioned as faction warfare.

The truth for Rift is that most of their playerbase will have come from World of Warcraft as their first MMO. To these players, entering character creation with distinct factions is an expectation. Many are also of the “forget the story, hit the objective” playstyle wherein the above is simply all they need. A system of “Us vs. Them,” “name red, soon dead” more than justifies their role in the game world.

Yet, for those interested in extra depth within their game worlds, Trion has provided in kind.

Compelling Through Grey

I find it very compelling just how different the factions are from other modern day MMOs. Put succinctly, there is something distinctly human about them. One need look no further than the evening news to see parallels to each in our own world.

Take, for example, the Guardians. They are, by all rights, the conservatives of Telara. They are firm believers in the Vigil (the council of gods) and believe that the path to salvation is through faith. Echoes of the Inquisition ring out in their core philosophies.

“Telara must first by saved – by deed, by example, or by the sword. Its people must be redeemed, its corrupters cleansed. Only then will the Guardians be imbued with the divine and ascend to a higher level.”

“Their inquisitions purge the secretive cults of Akylios, and their agents search for sinister signs.” – Taken from the Guardian Section of the Official Site

That’s not only a more serious tone than commonly found in MMORPGs, but it’s also so close to our own history that one might be forgiven for attributing to them other characteristics of the zealot.

That may be too specific, however. It also echoes of the current Middle East conflict and the clash of cultures between Islam and the West. It can even be applied to the political landscape of most all democratic nations. At its core, it is conservatism rooted in religious belief.

On the other hand, the Defiant play the role of the progressives; they are the self-sufficient, “save ourselves or don’t be saved at all” pragmatists.

“The Defiant do not care whether the gods abandoned the world or not”

“So while the Guardians run around Telara building temples, sticking their noses in everyone’s business, and desperately praying for a miracle, the Defiant plan on actually delivering one”

Through their love of Eth technology, we can see the great religion vs. science debate resurface again.

“Mixing technology with magic offers amazing opportunities for innovation, personal power and cultural progress” – All Quotes Taken From the Defiant Section of the Official Site

The Guardians are opposed to the advanced, sacrilegious technologies the Defiant would choose to embrace. It’s reminiscent of evolution versus intelligent design. The Defiant cast faith to the side for practical technology; the Guardians see it as a fool’s path, Regulos’s path, and one that will ultimately lead the world to doom.

…

Yet, they both fight for the same noble goal: to save the innocent of Telara. Each has their own way of approaching the task, which divides and fills each side with loathing, but as outside observers we can see that unity is their easiest path to salvation. They hate and mistrust each other for how they seek to achieve peace. So, who is right: the Guardians who fight for what they cannot see, or the Defiant who fight with the tools in front of them? It’s completely and utterly grey, open to your interpretation. That, my friends, is one of the defining characteristics of much great fiction. Just ask George R.R. Martin.

Returning to the point, this divide between the factions is so distinctly human that it should come as no surprise we’ve seen them echoed in other post-apocalyptic media for the last twenty years or more. Two factions, survival on the line, death on the horizon. People, under the duress of war, polarize to their ultimate safety. They cling to what it is that can save them and grow to what cannot. The Defiant are blasphemers and heretics to the Guardians; yet, the Defiant label them zealots and fools, To their followers, they are the bravest of heroes.

It’s so interesting, this “enemies of fellow man” theme the game has embraced. It’s a setting flush with drama and intrigue. With the knowledge of the outside observer, we can watch, rapt, for new developments, twists, and turns in the saga of the Telaran people.

Final Thoughts

This inaugural editorial is perhaps a bit long but I find this topic too interesting to gloss over. It’s subtle enough where many people may not even notice it. Yet, when you approach the game for the social commentary the writers are so evidently attempting to make, it takes on a whole different flavor from any other MMO on the market.

This setup excites me on more than just a conceptual level, though, let me be clear. On some level, I feel like I can identify more with these characters. There’s a piece of us in them. If you read quests, like me, this is a situation rife with possibility for exciting storylines. Identification and resonance, coupled with good, old fashioned fun, is the recipe for a game that keeps you coming back for more.

That’s a good thing to have in an MMO.

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The Multiverse – Episode #33: “Rift VIP Beta Key Giveaway!”

Categories:

a. MMORPG, d. Everything Else

December 13, 2010

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Hi Guys,

This is a special episode of The Multiverse in a few ways. First and foremost, as of this show, we are officially unveiling the new Vagary sub-site, Rift Watchers. As you can tell by the name, we’ll be watching all the developments with Rift and bringing them to you in fansite-blog format. Our goal is to bring you the most important news breakdowns, guides, and blogs that we can up to and following the release of the game. This will be a blog as you’ve always known it, with a one-game emphasis and extra material to support fans of the game. That being said, we won’t be holding back any punches. If something needs to be said, we’ll say it. This is a project we’re taking on because we like what we’ve seen and want to contribute to the community. Blind support is not something we’re interested in.

To herald in the new site, my two partners-in-crime, Jeremy and Gavin of the MMO Voices podcast (and Gavin now of PC Gamer!!!), join me to break down why it is we’re so excited for the game. I think it’s pretty telling that up until a few weeks ago, Rift was pretty well under the radar for all three of us. Since then, we’ve all dug in, read up, and gotten ourselves excited. Given all of the big happenings in the last few weeks, you can take from that what you will 😉

The second reason for this special edition is foretold in the name. To kick off our new site, we have 5 VIP beta keys to give away. These keys will guarantee you a spot in every Rift beta event before release. We’re going to be giving these out Thursday, so you’ll have plenty of time to apply the code, get an invite, and download the client. To enter, all you need to do is leave a comment on the giveaway page at Rift Watchers. That’s all. One lucky winner will also receive a free month to the sci-fi MMO Perpetuum. If you’d prefer one key over another, please say so in the comment and we’ll hook you up.

We’d like to give a big thank you to Vagary for hosting the site and Tina at Trion Worlds for making this giveaway possible.

Topics:

  • News – FFXIV restructures management, extends free period until it meets their expectations; what does this mean for the game?
  • Main Discussion – RIFT!
    • Story, Setting, and Lore – Who are the Guardians and Defiant, and what makes their situation so compelling?
    • The Open Class System Explained – Can you really be anything you want, how does it compare to other MMOs?
    • Dynamic Content: Rifts, Layers, and Content, oh my!
    • Gameplay: Beyond Kill Ten Rats
    • Endgame: Raiding: good, bad, or otherwise?
    • PvP: Let’s just say, “thank god there are no arenas”
    • And more!

Enjoy the show, folks. If you’re interested in Rift at all, we’d certainly appreciate you adding our humble project to your feed readers and blogrolls. We’ll do our best to keep you entertained and coming back for more. Until next week!

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[audio: http://www.gamebynight.com/files/multiverse33.mp3]

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8 comments

The End of (Character) Privacy

Categories:

a. MMORPG

December 9, 2010

by

I have a question for you all: how differently would you act if everyone suddenly knew your whole list of characters; if every forum post, every item loot, every auction listing could suddenly be tracked  back to you? If you’re like me, in that you are you no matter WHAT skin you wear, the answer would probably be not very. Some people, though, as evidenced in this 2009 thread have major problems with the idea. When the WoW Armory first came out and the idea first proposed, this was a big deal. Many threads were started, though lost to the recent site change, and the overwhelming consensus was that: “WE BE PIS$ED!!11!” Have we progressed? Are we still in in this place where our alts are our business and our business alone?

I got to thinking about this today and, honestly, I don’t understand why it needs to be kept so private. Here are the areas I see the most opposition coming from.

Case #1: Roleplay: “Having everyone know my characters takes away my ability to roleplay! How can I be someone else when everyone knows who I am anyways?!”

This reason may sound valid up front, but the underlying logic is so full of holes you could drive a mac truck through it. The whole point of MMO roleplay is to extend disbelief. Your goal is to forget that there’s a person behind the keyboard and that the orc in front of you is really an Orc. Still, nobody actually believes the orc is an orc. It’s a person pretending to be an orc. If you’re extending disbelief to roleplay in the first place, one person playing a different role makes no difference in the world. If you’re that bothered by knowing Joe is actually an orc AND a troll, you probably weren’t cut out for roleplay in the first place. Face it, the days of Character Separation meaning anything died in the early days of MUDs. CS is absolutely a relic of a forgotten age.

Case #2: I don’t want to be seen

There’s some legitimacy to this one. Sometimes you just want to be alone. Playing a character that no one else knows about allows you to slip away and disappear. Here’s the thing though, it really doesn’t matter if people know your characters or not. The chat system in almost every game gives you all the tools you need to avoid human contact. /DND – AFK. Sure, maybe it’s a little dishonest, but pretending to be online when you’re really not is a little dishonest too. Either way, you’re avoiding people. If that doesn’t work, or maybe in addition to it, you can set up a new chat tab that filters out tells. The biggest case against this is that it can make you feel a little guilty, if you’re that kind of person. We all need time alone, so I don’t think there’s anything to feel guilty about. And if you’re in a new tab then you’d never know someone messaged you in the first place. Even better: a ‘invisible’ option, like some games offer.

Case #3: E-Stalkers

I’ve heard this said before a few times too. If people know all your characters, there’s no way to get away from the people who annoy you. Here’s the example Corinthianne in the thread above gives, “My alts are my business, thank you. I don’t need meatheads whispering my alts going “HEAL MY !#%@TY NAXX PUG OMG I FOUND U IN ARMORY LOL.” First of all, how long would it take some random person to armory out every potential person in a zone? Second, what’s so hard about saying no? People do it all the time. I did it just today. My grandmother did it last time she was asked out on a date, and she’s over seventy. More importantly, this kind of thing happening is unlikely and no different than Joe Shmoe asking you right now.

Granted, there are a few among us who are big in the community — big enough where they might have fans seeking them out. But, that’s probably not you, and it’s not me. You can count those people up on your fingers, without going to your toes. And for them, there are the options in case #2. It’s not a perfect world for these folks and I can empathize with that. But like any celebrity, there’s a price to even e-fame.

My Theory

The reason for this post is pretty simple: the greater internet fuckwad theory. Pretty much, if you give some people anonymity, and give them an audience, and they turn into grade-A douche bags. Taking away some of that anonymity means making a better community for us all.

Think of it:

  • Less level 1 forum trolls
  • Less ninja looting
  • Less venom in virtually every aspect of MMORPGs

I have a belief that most of the idiots and asshats you find in MMOs probably are pretty decent people. Maybe they’re letting steam off. Maybe they had a bad day. Maybe this is just a character they don’t care about, they know they’ll never see you again, and want to see what it feels like to push someone’s buttons. Most of them probably have stand-up characters whose reputations they care about. Make them own up to their behavior, add some accountability into the equation, and I think we’d see a dramatic decrease in the kind of stuff that pisses us all off.

In the end, I think it’s the need for ownership that keeps this kind of thing from happening. People want parts of every aspect of their lives, at home, work, with their friends, to be theirs and theirs alone. It lets us feel in control, like we have a grip on ourselves. It lets us feel whole and non-dependent on anyone else. And I’m talking about more than just games here. The need for ownership of oneself is the need for privacy itself. Losing privacy means sharing. Even in such a small place as MMO gaming, sharing even so much as character names is scary — and there’s no real risk to yourself there.

I empathize with people who are against this, I really do. To me, this is all a matter of balance. Do the pros outweigh the cons? In my opinion, yes. Drastically so. If you have skeletons in your closet, though, or maybe trolled with that bank alt one too many times, maybe not. Accountability can be scary. We have to ask, though: how much are we willing to sacrifice for the greater good? If you’re giving and not receiving that web venom, I bet not much. For the rest of us…

Where do you fall, would you reveal your alts or is the privacy invasion simply too much?

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Mount Hyjal: Like Stepping Into The Past (and Other Day One Cata Impressions)

Categories:

a. MMORPG

December 7, 2010

by

As you all know, Cataclysm released yesterday and let the masses finally get a taste of the new 80-85 game. I didn’t try logging in last night, even WITH the digital download, since it would have been 3AM here and probably queued to boot. I took the day off and logged in at noon, queue-free, to see what the new world had to offer.

Aside: isn’t it funny how the “old world” has become the “new world” again, changing places with Outland and Northrend? In the matter of a couple weeks, our parlance has officially pushed the exploits of Arthas Menethil and into the broom closet, right alongside Illidan. It’s Ragnaros’s time to shine, baby!

Anyways, even without a queue, the server was absolutely packed. It was nice to see so many of the HFGs in game at one time, excitedly talking about the new stuff they were seeing and doing. A couple of us even decided to push through server transfers last night, so we could fill whatever roles our groups needed and avoid the zerg happening now.

The first thing I did was pick up a quest in Undercity to visit the Moonglade. Once there, you pick up another quest to ride a golden dragon into Mount Hyjal. I didn’t see any of this in beta, so needless to say I was a little bit floored at the destruction that had been wrought; there’s nothing green in that first pass through. And after that, when you meet Deathwing for the first time, I don’t think it’s an understatement to say he’s one of the most intimidating bosses to ever line Azeroth up in his sights. Seriously, this guy could easily swallow Arthas and half the Scourge in one mouthful.

I won’t spoil anything for you, but those first steps into Azeroth from the Frozen Wastes are exciting. If you’ve been bored with Wrath, get out there as quick as you can and breathe a big gulp of fresh air.

Stepping into the actual zone was pretty sweet, too. The questing is fairly rote. Streamlined, varied, kill/collect, all the stuff we’re used to and expect from WoW. The atmosphere is what really makes it stand out, however. Mount Hyjal retains more of that old-school-WoW feeling than anything in TBC or WotLK. The lush yet war-torn landscapes remind me of some blend of Ashenvale and Feralas. There’s a lot of little touches, like sap and water dripping from tree branches, that make it feel vibrant and alive.

As you’d expect, though, it’s often the other players that drag it down. On Emerald Dream, players felt the need to crowd the quest givers so much that they were, literally, unclickable. It’s no fun to have to zoom all the way in just to see a 1/4” of Malfurion’s backside to click on.

Chat was alive, however, and it was overflowing with positivity. Talk about a change! When you’re used to listening to people complain about “achievements this” and “n00b that” in trade chat, seeing players excited and, dare I say, happy was a very nice change.

PvP was, well, less than honorable, if we’re being nice. One level 84 paladin discovered he could cast Exorcism while flying and decided to hover just out of sight and pick off any 80s questing below him. All told, I think he killed me three times, but he picked off lots of other players too. I’m normally not bothered by open world PvP, at all, really, but killing people who have no way to retaliate or defend themselves is the baseline of cheap gameplay.

Before I left, I also got the chance to try tanking my first dungeon, Black Rock Caverns. I failed. Hard. Now, back in the days of Wrath, tanking was what I did. Death Knights were straight forward, easy to understand, and fun to play. I had a good handle on them. Emphasis on the ‘had’. They’ve changed things around so much (blood is the ONLY tanking tree now… say whaaaaat?) that I felt totally unfamiliar with my class. Even after reading guides, that first boss made me look like a noob. We died, twice, in pretty rapid succession. I don’t doubt that most players will have these instances on farm before the week is out, but the learning curve is definitely a bit steeper than it was for Utgarde Keep. Atmosphere was top notch, however.

Overall, I had a good day. I definitely have a lot to re-learn on the tanking end of things but it will come. Tanking is a trial by fire sport and everybody has to burn before they get good at it. If you haven’t picked up the expansion yet, I’ll be reporting throughout the week on my play.

Happy Monday, Folks!

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