11/20/12

Why You Should Try Darkfall: Unholy Wars

Darkfall is the kind of game that scares new players away, but with the upcoming launch of Unholy Wars, I want to encourage you all to give it a shot. Now I know, I haven’t always been kind to the game, but Darkfall is something I truly feel all players – PvE and PvP alike – can have fun with and, with a good clan, is one of the best MMO experiences available today.

The fact is, a lot of what you’ve heard is probably half-truth or based on assumption and fear of how “hardcore” the game is. Yes, the game is full loot. Travel takes a while and means something. Anyone can attack anyone and griefing happens. What doesn’t get the coverage in those criticisms is that they come together to make a game that feels more like a true MMO — you know, when we aspired to virtual worlds rather than quest rides — than any other game out there than maybe, I hear, EVE. But believe it or not, Darkfall is a far more accessible and much more action-driven game than EVE ever was. Get yourself used to the idea of playing with other people again and it can provide some of the most memorable, fun, and MMO-like experiences you’ve had since EQ or Ultima.

And to be clear, I’m not a hardcore PvPer, I’m not a big grouper, and I don’t like games that punish the crap out of me. I’m probably like a lot of players — and yet I sit here saying, “play Darkfall.” Here’s why:

Full Loot is Nowhere Near as Bad as You Think It Is

This is my biggest gripe with naysayers. If someone has told you that losing your gear when you die is a big deal, let me be clear, they weren’t actually playing the game. First off, it’s based on skills. You can die, get a basic weapon from a vendor, and still be strong enough to go back out and get on your feet. That’s number one. Number two, you’ll collect enough basic gear just playing that you’ll be re-outfitted within minutes, even if you never play with another person. Number three, there is no epic gear to be lost here (though there is some good stuff), so it’s not like you’re losing weeks of investment. Here’s a rule: Bank the gear you find. Do that and you’ll never have to worry about FFA PvP in the same way again.

This is also where clans come in. Any clan worth its salt — even most clans that aren’t — will have a bank full of basic gear for you. If they don’t it’s because they’re inactive and you should probably leave.

Full loot isn’t something to be scared of because the impact is minimal. Bank your stuff. Be happy. Once you get in that habit, it becomes second nature. Dying is disappointing, especially if you were carrying a lot, but it also makes your choices meaningful. If you stay out in the world with a treasure trove of stuff and you die, it’s because you pushed it. This is the kind of tension that makes things exciting. If it becomes stressful, change up how you do things. Carry less you’re unwilling to lose. Learning how to survive in Darkfall is in experience unlike most MMOs out there.

No Levels:

If you want to get better at something, use it. This is something MMO players have been clamoring for since Ultima fell out and Darkfall still has one of the best implementations out there. In vanilla DF, there were issues of players macroing and cheating to build up certain skills, and there was a wall that built up over time where new players felt disadvantaged. That’s said to be fixed in Unholy Wars. If that’s the case, this will be the single best skill system in any modern MMO out there.

From DF1.0, this will likely be different in UW

Non-Linear Gameplay:

There are quests in the game but don’t expect a quest hub tour of Agon. Your gameplay is determined by your own goals and those of your guild. Some people look at this and scoff but those people either a) didn’t give it enough time, b) tried to be solo cowboys, or c) never tried it at all. In this game, you have personal goals and social goals, from your clan or your friends, and they intermingle. What you do depends on where you want to go — even if that’s just a direction on the map. Some of the best experiences I’ve had have been based on grabbing a buddy and heading out to see what we can find.

Here’s the thing, other games push you through quest hubs because the world can’t hold up on its own. Darkfall’s does. Just finding a new spawn area or, even better, a new dungeon is an adventure that tends to top most dev-content. Honestly. Combat is truly action based and not simply dodge-distance-directional. And the possibility that at any point another player could come along and totally change the dynamic — for better or worse — adds a layer or dynamicism other games don’t touch.

Exploration is Fun, Rewarding, and Pretty Much the Best Out There:

Like I said, mobs drop things you need. You might come across a den of skeletons that stock you up on basic armor to re-gear with if you die. Or maybe you’ll find a cave where the monsters drop “epic” gear (there is no epic) that makes you look and defend like a king. To get good gear in this game, it’s not about grinding a dungeon 50 times. It’s about finding the right spot in the world and figuring out a way to take down your enemies.

Other things support exploration, too. Chaos chests spawn all over the world and can drop great and valuable things. Maybe you find a new, fast mount. Maybe a deed to a home. Maybe you find a player village to pillage. Maybe you come across an unsuspecting player and make a new friend… or kill him outright just to make sure he doesn’t move on you first. Maybe you find a dungeon or a dragon’s lair. How about a floating island with excellent spawns for all your magic ingredients. I’ll say it again, this is as close to a virtual world as modern MMOs get. Darkfall does it well. If you are into the idea of a lush, breathing, deep, and engrossing game world, you should try this game.

Combat is Active, Action-Based, and Better Than Hotbar Games

I like Guild Wars 2, I do, but Darkfall just beats it. It’s not dodge based but that’s pretty much a gimmick anyway. Darkfall combat is about positioning, and reach, attacking and defending, aiming and choosing the right ability for the situation. It is deeper and much more impactful than Guild Wars or TERA even hint at. When you get with a clan, large scale warfare akin to WvWvW takes place but carries much more weight. You are literally fighting for control of the game world, literally making your own history to be posted on YouTube and debated on the forums.

Cooperation is Key and a Ton of Fun:

If there is one thing that keeps Darkfall from attracting new players apart from the PvP, it’s that it’s at its best when people play together. This really isn’t so bad, honestly, and neither is scheduling. I am an extremely busy guy these days. I don’t raid for just that reason. But in DFO, this is answered simply by joining a large clan. Because cooperation is intrinsic to the best game experience, if there is another person online, the chances are they’ll be open to teaming up with you.

So much of the game is built to be experienced with other players that when you do get the chance to do something with a full group, it is an absolute blast. Even if you walk away having been summarily defeated, the experience of waging your own mini war on player or NPC is memorable. If you want dynamic content, look no further. It doesn’t get better than simply stepping outside yourself and joining up with another player in Darkfall Online.

Naval Combat:

This one is worth ending on because it’s just plain cool. You can sail the seas on your own ship and wage naval warfare. You can be a pirate, pillaging the shoreline. You can also be eaten by a kraken. True story, check it out:

Overall, Darkfall isn’t for everybody in the same way that WoW isn’t. It is for a lot of people who simply won’t give it a chance. That’s a crying shame because in a lot of ways DF is the exact game players have been asking for for a long time. Give it a try. What have you got to lose?

10/3/12

PvPing to PvE and the Backbone of Bigotry

Over the years there has been a persistent issue in MMOs when players have to play one way to get gear for another. This issue has come up again in Mists of Pandaria as players are (once again) running battlegrounds to get gear to for endgame PvE. Whether or not Blizzard should have foreseen this aside, I really have to wonder about the outrage this issue always causes. Okay raiders we get it, you don’t think PvPers should get raid gear for battlegrounds. Got it. Now would you kindly get over yourselves? Same to you, PvPers.

Aren’t we a little beyond getting bent out of shape because of someone else’s reward? Is it so terrible that there could be more raiders and more PvPers to fill out your teams? Give me one good reason why. And please make sure it’s not related to your ego. Thanks.

If you do have a reason, I’ll hear it. I’m open to opinions. But the problem is this: Someone else’s reward doesn’t effect you. Your stats, your skills, and your strats are all exactly the same as they were yesterday. What’s the worst thing that could happen if a player could choose a PvP item as a raid drop? Noobs invade your BG? Well guess what, they do that anyway, Caps Lock Strategist. That’s kind of how these “open access” games work. And if you could buy a PvE weapon for valor/whateverotherPvPstat? The random PuG does better. And your feelings are hurt.

“I PvP’ed for 10000 hours to get that weapon, he shouldn’t get it for raiding!” “I ran that dungeon 40 times while he sat in PvP queue, how is that fair?!” We’re human. I think we can all empathize with those arguments, as far as they go. But here’s the thing, they only go as far as Lindsay Lohan with a dime bag of crank. The only thing the current reward paradigm gets you is the ability to look down your nose at other people for not playing exactly the same for exactly as long as you have. Great accomplishment, I guess.

And if we changed things and allowed a little more choice? Pick-up groups would have an easier time in both raids and 5-mans. Battlegrounds would be invaded by players with actual PvP gear and skill might actually mean something again. And players whose sole skill set involves “get gear win” will run to the forums and rage. But you know what, while they cry on less people will be slamming their faces against a wall because some random e-peen needs validation. I side with the small-peened.

I’m not advocating people get epics for doing nothing, and I’m certainly not saying you should get to be top of the food chain without ever stepping foot in the playstyle. I’m saying that if Joe finds it fun to raid but is curious about arenas, let the guy gear up doing what he knows he likes. He’s paying his fee and, again, what does it really matter to any single person other than him? It doesn’t and the entire game stands to benefit. He’s done his work, so get him some gear to be competitive. Not top of the line, competitive, because if he likes it, he can keep playing to hone in his skill set. Vice versa for PvP to PvE.

I’m also not saying that you should have to PvP to PvE and opposite. Play how you want, that’s the whole point. I used to be one of these guys that believed the exact opposite of what I’m writing here. But times have changed and we’d all better smell the coffee or risk being left behind. Make no mistake, you can leet yourself right out of this genre. Are you really an MMO fan or are just a fan of relative power? There is a big, big difference in today’s market.

At the end of the day, if you’re relying on gear to be your skillset, you’re doing it wrong. Skill will trump gear unless gear is allowed to bury the newcomer. Then you have sheep v. wolves. And who would want that but an egotist, someone who doesn’t want to play to win, but win to play and make you lose in the process. Non-sensical maybe but I’m thinking you understand. Again, big difference.

Hat tip: PvD for pointing this out.

08/20/12

Conquest in RIFT Needs Revision

I’ve been playing a lot of Conquest (CQ) now that I’ve hit 50 in RIFT. Three faction PvP is a good idea and I’m happy to see Trion taking on the design challenges that come with it. That said, the way that CQ is currently implemented is functional at best. That’s a problem considering that it’s been incentivized as “the way” to progress at level 50. With Guild Wars 2 coming next week, these are the biggest problems I see with the system as-is:

1. It’s Confusing

“What does it all mean?!”

When you first enter Conquest, the game offers you nothing in the way of direction. You simply are, in the middle of a keep, with possibly a portal or two in front of you; what they mean or what they’re for meaning nothing. You open your map to dozens of multi-colored points that also mean nothing. So naturally, you follow the raid — assuming some of them are in the keep for you to follow — and hope to learn the game that way. And you probably will after a half-hour of trying to piece together a strategy that doesn’t exist. There needs to be better direction here.

Also, despite there being multiple raid groups on the map at any given time, you can only see the one you’re in. Players need to have a way to see where everyone else is so they can make informed decisions on where they should go.

2. There’s only one strategy… and it doesn’t work

Right now, the only strategy that exists is “follow the zerg.” If you don’t follow the zerg, you die. CQ makes that painfully apparent the first, second, and third times you try it. After that you’ve probably given up. Following a large group is a good way to stay safe, earn favor, prestige, XP, and shards when you cap control points. Sounds like a great way to progress! In practice, however, each team is doing the same thing. In one big circle, three teams roam capping extractors and losing the ones they’ve captured before. It keeps things balanced. Too balanced. Ask anybody who’s spent time there and they’ll tell you, matches almost always hover at with two-to-three teams in a 1-3% tie.

Other strategies come out in play. People shout them like in all battlegrounds. Unfortunately, the game-mode trains players to follow the zerg for their own good. Players trying to move in small groups quickly find that extractors have far too much HP (~400k or 50x that of an average player) to “whittle down” before their defender-zerg runs to their defense. No amount of /1 shouting will change that. Rebalancing will.

Four of us tried to cap an undefended extractor. We didn’t even get it halfway down before being thoroughly trounced.

3. Matches last WAY too long

CQ has two win conditions: One team must capture and hold 60% of the map for ten minutes or a kill-counter of 5,000 must reach zero. I’ve played quite a few matches now and I have only once seen a team hold the map for those ten minutes. Most times they never even reach 60%. In those majority cases, the kill-counter must hit zero before the final, PvEvP phase begins. 5,000 kills doesn’t sound like a lot in a three-faction battle but it is — oh, how it is. To put it in perspective, after an hour and twenty minutes today, 3,400 kills remained. At that rate, the match would last over four hours. More often, it’s in the three hour range. Regardless, that is WAY too long when CQ is very obviously intended to be a primary progression mechanism for players at the level cap.

Idea: Cut the kill-count in half. You still get the large scale PvP without the “my eyes are bleeding” strain of three hours spent running in circles.

4. It’s too heavily incentivized

Conquest is by far the quickest way to earn XP, favor, and prestige. By-frickin’-far. To put it in perspective, one warfront is likely to give you 600-1300 favor and a pittance of prestige. One round of CQ can net you 15-30k favor and 5-15k prestige. Really. Most of my planar attunement levels have been earned in there as well, but I haven’t paid enough attention to give you a number on that one. All I can say is that it’s not unusual to level up twice in a single match.

That’s great progression but players are feeling forced to play even when they don’t want to — and I don’t blame them. Want to be competitive in PvP? Conquest. Want to get the perks of planar attunement? Conquest. Want to get some of the best enchants in the game? Conquest.

Overall, I think the game mode has a lot of merit and a lot of potential, but there are serious design issues at the moment. Given how much of a selling point CQ was for this patch, Trion needs to be on their game and responding to players’ concerns. How about you, what do you think of all this?

08/16/12

My Thoughts on RIFT 1.10: Unified Factions and PvP Normalization

Via Syp (Justin) at Massively, word came out this week that Trion is planning some big changes with the 1.10 patch. Presumably, this will be the last big patch we get before Storm Legion launches this fall, so we can see this somewhat as paving the way for what’s to come. I think that in terms of design philosophy, “equality” might be an appropriate theme.

Unified Factions

Beginning with 1.10 players will be able chat, group, and guild across factions. This is a good thing and Trion deserves kudos for giving up on a system that just doesn’t make sense. When WoW launched, they had precedent in their franchise for the split into Horde and Alliance. RIFT didn’t have that; instead, they had a history of games that came before and the expectations of their players. In theory and lore, splitting factions made sense. Taking the theory into practice, however, seems to have showed that the drawbacks outweigh the positives.

This is why I love Trion. They’re quick on their toes and not afraid to try new things. (And they update like hell). Some players may be upset at losing the unique snowflake that is faction pride but, at least in RIFT, most of us don’t care. We just want to play together. With this change, we will finally be one player base instead of Guardians and Defiant. (And plus, let’s be honest here, the reasons behind the split were pretty thin in the first place).

This should also do a lot for making the game seem as active as it really is. Since I’ve come back, I’ve heard time and again from ex-players that the game is dead. On Greybriar at least, that is so far from the truth it makes those players look bad. Just playing the Guardian faction, I am always around other players. Dungeon queues are quick, pick-up raids are being run constantly during prime time, zone events are continuous and being completed during even the lowest of hours, and it’s almost impossible not to run into another player if you’re moving around a zone at all. This is at least on par with the last time I played World of Warcraft. It is above and beyond Landroval in LotRO, at least where I’m at. Now take that activity and double it. Then you have 1.10

I would love to see a shared capital city to herald in this change. We need something big. I’ve always felt Sanctum and Meridian were lacking compared to cities in other games. While it may mean our heritage cities see less activity, Guardians and Defiant need some place to congregate together to really make this change feel real. It’s fine to leave things as is in terms of game mechanics but Trion separated us for lore and we should be brought back together for the same. It only seems fitting.

PvP Normalization

This has been tried in a number of games with mixed implementations and even more mixed results. In RIFT it will mean removing the infamous PvP stats, valor and vengeance (RIFT’s version of resilience), as well as any other stat boosts attained from gear in instanced PvP. In short, skills and abilities will decide winners not gear sets. Contrary to how it may seem, this is actually in testing and may never make it to live servers. Like I said, others have tried and failed — but if anyone can pull it off, Trion can.

Even if it passes the testing phase, there are still questions to be answered. They’ve built a whole system around PvP item progression, what will they replace the gear ladder with? What about all of the gear people have now? Raiders won’t be happy if it’s converted to tier gear. How will they answer players upset that dozens and hundreds of hours spent climbing that ladder will be wiped away? In their statement, Trion says that PvP progression is important and that this is about balancing fairness with fun. Hardcore PvPers are a very vocal minority, so do they design for them or the silent minority, us?

EDIT: After this was written, I came across this post on the normalization feedback thread. From CM Elrar:

PvP PROGRESSION IS IMPORTANT. We’re not just going to expect you to PvP for the hell of it and fully intend to have a rewarding and meaningful experience for those who spend their time in PvP. But DO NOT talk about how this is unfair to current Prestige Rank 50′s – that is completely irrelevant to this discussion about THE FUTURE. We know you spent a lot of time and energy and have no intention of permanently changing the system on live for this reason.

I support these changes. When I leveled up to 50 this time on my rogue, I did it mainly through PvP. I was able to get most of my first PvP set the minute I dinged and hit Prestige level 5 within a week. Nothing spectacular but enough to say that I enjoy the current system. That said, I didn’t care for it when I capped out my cleric through PvE and tried jumping into warfronts then. I got destroyed, didn’t have a chance, and it was solely because of gear. I also know that leveling to 50 in PvP was a lot of fun because valor and vengeance weren’t a factor on leveling gear. If they can pull this off well, I totally support them in it. PvP is fun and shouldn’t be behind a gigantic gear wall.

Here’s a final question, though: If Valor and Vengeance get removed, are they ready to rebalance the skills those very stats evened out? Ask any leveling PvPer in RIFT and they will tell you that certain classes have IWIN buttons. I’d go so far as to say that those IWIN buttons are worse than any other MMO I’ve played, to the point where it’s almost shocking they haven’t been addressed. Rift Storm and Cornered Beast are two but there are others. As it stands, normalizing PvP without also adjusting abilities specifically for it — abilities that are also important in PvE — will almost instantaneously imbalance the game.

I will be very interested to see how this plays out.

03/22/11

Questing in RIFT: Not As Bad As You’ve Heard

RIFT’s questing sucks.

I’ve heard this said over and over again. Every time it’s by someone who has played MMOs for the last 3+ years and has completed no less than 50,000 of them. Let’s please keep our objectivity here, because, I’ve got to tell you, RIFT is no worse than any other game out there. It is Kill Ten Rats, Collect Ten Foozles, Zap 10 Badwots with the Magical Badwot Zapper, but you know what? It does it with style. It’s flashy. It’s fast paced. It’s dangerous. Those are three things quests should be. Quests don’t overstay their welcome (most of the time). For the most part, you hit a hub, do some quests, do some follow-up quests, and move on. If you’re lucky, you’ll get a good Epic Story thrown in there.

Sounds familiar, probably.

See, this is what I don’t get. We can rail against RIFT for having “crap quests” and yet cheer it on for being “familiar.” This and a few other double standards somewhat amaze me. Quests are what we’ve seen before. Yes. They are. Does that make the game less fun? Does it make LotRO, or Age of Conan, or Aion less fun? Let’s just do ourselves a solid, right now: Everything pre-Cataclysm sucks. Cataclysm was the tipping point, it seems, because from that point onward big chunks of the MMO blogosphere got done with the questing system.

And that’s really what it is: players are just done with the questing system. To say that RIFT’s quests are so bad completely lacks context. RIFT’s quests would have fit in very well last year. For what they are, they’re fun. They’re not breaking the mold with soul-like innovations, no, but they are standard MMO fare. The people saying questing sucks so bad are the same people who have already played this system in LotRO, and Age of Conan, and Aion. They’re also the same people most excited about SW:TOR, and Guild Wars 2, and Dynamic Content. They have sampled the sweetest fruits and most varied fruits and found RIFT lacking. Let’s be clear here: RIFT is no worse than those other games and in some ways is better. The ways it’s better are the little details where Trion’s flair comes out. And yeah, I agree, I wish there was more of that.To say that there is some grand difference, that RIFT is “unfun” is a damnation that would better read “I’m SO tired of the questing system.”

Yet, to simply say “this, the biggest part of the game, the one you’ll be stuck in for the next 49 levels, is unfun,” is tantamount to saying “don’t bother.” That’s what bothers me. RIFT is one of the best PvE MMOs to come out since 2004 WoW. It doesn’t break the mold in the most practical areas. It’s a lot more subversive than that. After you get used to the class-freedom, the constantly changing environments, and perpetual sense of danger, how do you go back to the static worlds of yesterday? How does WoW not look like the sleepy-eyed giant with the safe and secure playground? That’s it, right there. That’s why players should bother and take notice, because, make no mistake, whether you say RIFT is dynamic or not, it changes things. It’s the first shot in the war against staticism (yeah, I made that up). Fans of the genre need to perk up and listen, because this is the first real movement towards next generation’s MMOs.

I’m not saying RIFT’s questing is perfect. It is a weak point in the game. It’s grindy, like all questing systems, repetitive, and, most importantly, un-innovative. Where they’ve subtly but meaningfully evolved other aspects of RIFT, their questing system remains firmly in The Burning Crusade era of MMOs. It’s easy to see why people would be let down. But what it does, it does well. Quests are interesting and varied; quest text is worth reading for this reason alone. Spell effects are intricate, colorful, and flashy. Quest hubs are designed for the 2011 player: objectives are clearly marked and close together. There’s very little “take this package to Timbuktu via horse and buggy.” That makes quests quick and easy to complete.

What we need to address is the root of Character Power Progression — or CPP as Nils puts it. Whether experience comes from scripted quests, scripted rifts, or scripted events, it all comes down to the same thing: kill the guy, get the stuff, complete the quest. Every way we know it can get old. That’s human nature and one of the top few areas that MMOs are growing stagnant in.

The industry NEEDS innovation, but let’s not lay all the blame at Trion’s feet. They simply had the misfortune of releasing in a time when most of us were ready to move on from 10 Foozles and Badwot Zapping.

03/9/11

Only in RIFT

This post is also featured on Rift Watchers. Since it will fit in both places, and there’s not necessarily a ton of overlap in readers, I think it’s worth sharing both places. I may keep doing this so neither place gets neglected.

My journey in RIFT has been going excellently. I don’t think I’ve felt this comfortable in a new MMO since I played WoW for the first time. I’ve been leveling up a Cleric of the Cabalist variety (Druid and Purifier off-specs) and recently hit level 26. That officially makes it the most invested I’ve been in an MMO since LotRO where my main is level 46… after two years. I haven’t checked my /played but I feel confident saying that it’s at least 30 hours and probably more. The game has a lot going for it but something really cool happened the other night that I had to share, and it’s something that could only happen in RIFT.

I was questing in Stonefield, talking to guildies in vent, when all of the sudden our resident 50 exploded, “Guardian invasion in Granite Falls! Come quick! Guardian invasion right now!” I’m nothing if not a sucker for un-planned adventure, so off I ran, a lowly level 21. When I crested the nearby hill, I was met with a sea of red. At least 30 Guardians had stormed the bridge and were taking over the town. As I sat on the atop, ready to run down, a full on invasion spawned shaking my screen and destroying the ground as an earth rift opened over my head. I checked my map and nearly a dozen footholds had spawned. Not just rifts but real footholds with rifts interspersed.

When the Guardians swarmed the zone, the game recognized the huge influx of players and reacted with a major event – on a scale bigger than I’d ever seen in Freemarch or, well, anywhere to date. In an instant, the zone had gone from a mostly tranquil questing area to an incredibly dangerous, solo-at-your-own-risk, death trap. What’s worse, the other people in the zone were having trouble getting to us because of all the new footholds and roaming patrols. Still, what were we going to do? The ten or so of us went forward and defended our town.

What’s more, we did a pretty good job of it, too. PvP in RIFT is actually fairly balanced, group-on-group, so our strategy was to take out their healers. Teams are made or lost based on how good their healing team is, so we focus fired them. Their plan was to zerg us back into the footholds while they took out our wardstones and nabbed their objective (invading forces get a quest to take these out). Their plan backfired. Attacking the wardstones instantly aggroed the NPCs in the area and through careless use of AoEs, pulled the rift invaders too. We carefully avoided hitting the rift creatures and used their forces to bolster our own. Before long, they were on the run and we easily took out the stragglers.

Imagine every single one of these locations has a foothold and more, then add rifts in between.

It was epic. It honestly felt like we had our backs to a wall as we got pushed towards the rifts. There was nowhere to go, nothing to do except fight. Then to use those same rifts against them was incredibly cool. We felt triumphant.

After that, the members of Immortal Council got together and cleaned out the footholds in the area so players could quest again. All told, we got lots of favor, lots of planarite, and a crapton of experience.

This is the kind of thing that I love about RIFT. The unexpected can really happen. While cynical players might nab on rifts for “not really being dynamic,” no one can argue that it’s reactive. The guardians invaded and the game saw it as an opportunity for takeover. It challenged us and lead to one of the most exciting times in an MMO many of us have had in ages. And it wasn’t questing, raiding, or organized in the least. What it was, was a lot of fun.

If you’re looking for a cool guild to run with, consider joining us on Sunrest RP-PVP. It’s a great server community and the guild is a ton of fun to play with. We’re still doing open applications until more of us hit level cap and have members from every demographic. See you in-game!

03/7/11

On the Freedom of Roles – and Why People Don’t Use It

As we move further and further from launch day, we’re really starting to see how things are shaking out with the community. This is happening in a lot of ways, but probably the biggest is with the soul system. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there are a lot of clerics about. Not many people want to tank (but lots want to heal). And rogues are pretty much your defacto standard PvP class. It’s all quite interesting really, because this is only the first of many cycles sure to come. Rogues dominate in PvP because players know that they’re powerful. When people figure out that clerics or mages can dominate in the same way, they’ll be the flavor of the month. Or instead of calling, it will be a new soul, or new soul combo. Welcome theorycrafters, we’re happy to have you.

On this weekend’s episode of Rift Watchers (coming Wednesday), we talked a little bit about all this and the fear people still have about stepping outside of their comfort zone. RIFT gives you the buffet and players still stick to the one or two dishes they had at that other restaurant. I don’t begrudge them, or you, this. You can, and should, play what is the most fun to you. With that being said, I’d like to talk about that transference of fear.

Players have always shied away from tanking and healing. I’ve heard it said that tanking is a job, healing is a hobby, and DPS is a game. That’s probably pretty close to the mark for how people see it. Tanking and healing put the run squarely in your hands. You have responsibility, and if the group fails, it’s an honest concern that you may be called out. DPS don’t have that to worry about. It’s pew, pew, pew, see the big numbers fly. And that’s okay. It’s fun, and probably the easiest bit of fun to tap into. More importantly, the fun you can have as a DPS is pretty obvious. When you start a game, you want to be a powerful wizard. DPS lets your flex that power and burn through mobs with little else to worry about. What gets ignored in the shining light of all that pew-pew is just how much fun the other two roles can be, too.

As a tank, you don’t demonstrate your leetness with big numbers, you control the run. If you die, everybody dies. You are the proverbial protector of the weak and enemies are right to quake when you come near – because they’ll probably be dying soon. If you want to go fast, you go fast. Slow, take it down. You set the pace. Here’s the best part, threat is easy to get and easy to hold in RIFT. Unlike many other games, Trion didn’t want tanking to be a job, they wanted it to be an option. It is fun and has the lowest barrier to entry than in any game I’ve tried – and I tank in all of them. The challenge is unique and more rewarding than any DPS player could possibly imagine. You’re the single most powerful person in that group, big numbers or not, because you are the leader.

Healing, on the other hand, relies on numbers. As you throw out heals, you want a constant stream to flow by, the bigger the numbers, the better. Many people think this is hard, too, but in RIFT mana is rarely an issue if your class is played right. In this way, it’s probably more important to spec your character with care than any other role. Even still, like the tank, you are second in command. You’re tied to your paladin like white on rice. If they want to go fast, they’d better check with you first. If you group wants to aggro a whole room of mobs, they’d better pray you’re alright with that. You are powerful because without you everyone is rendered weak. Healing is fun and rewarding because your skill is reinforced with every single pull.

But see, here’s the clincher: Most people will never realize that because they’re afraid of things that will probably never happen. Let me explain how RIFT is different from other games you may have played:

You can practice, without pressure. In other games, the only way to learn how to tank/heal was to hop in an instance and hope it worked out. RIFT gives you, well, rifts. This is a no-pressure environment where not doing your best is OK. Honestly, most people will be happy to see someone doing something other than DPS, so you may even get gratitude. No one will berate your, yell at you, or tell you you suck. This is your testing ground and – here’s the best part – you’ll be put to the test more than you will in your first dungeon. The gauntlet style nature of rifts will be more trying on new tanks and healers than either of the newbie dungeons. This gives you the perfect place to prepare and have a ton of fun doing it.
People want to keep you. When you play a lesser taken role, you’re fulfilling a need on the server the game is not prepared to fix. There is no LFD tool to quickly replace you. That means, if you leave the group, the chances are that run is done. It is in everyone’s best interest to keep you and help you, rather than yell at you and drop you. As someone who’s tanked for PUGs for 3+ years, even in WoW, let me just say that a-hole groups are one of the biggest myths you’ll ever hear in MMO gaming. I’ve tanked for hundreds and hundreds of players by now and I can count the number of times someone has called me out on one hand. Honestly. What you’ll encounter are people who are just plain jerks, and they’ll out themselves as that soon enough. It’s universally apparent the issue isn’t with you. Don’t worry.
Easy to get into, hard to master. One of the things I love about RIFT is that playing in groups, even for DPS, is easy to get into but hard to perfect. Tanking and healing in themselves are not hard. They are, however, challenging and will keep you on your toes. The best part is, tanking and healing will give you a brand new challenge unlike anything you’ve done in the game to date. If you’re bored with what you’re doing, there’s no better way to spice up your life than to take on a new role.

I write this post because playing the game has made it very obvious that many players are carrying in the same old fears that have plagued them through the other games of their past. There is no reason not to try tanking or healing, and it disappoints me to know so many people may never experience the unique joys they provide.

Here’s a challenge: no matter what kind of player you are, take an evening and switch out your soles. Step outside of your comfort zone and try something new – even if you’re a PvPer. Nay, ESPECIALLY if you’re a PvPer because, as the warfront aficionados will tell you, battlegrounds are won or lost based on healing. If you do this, let me know how it goes. Post here or send a comment in to the show. I’d be willing to bet some of you might just love it.

10/20/10

TOR Might Wind Up a “Clone”– Why Is That Bad, Again?

It’s been interesting to watch how the public interpretation of The Old Republic has changed since it was announced. It went from godsend, to F2P (oh noes!), to godsend, to the current point of “It’s a WoW clone” disappointment. On one hand, I empathize with people that want something new and are tired of the same, rehashed diku tropes that have dragged the industry into the Great Stagnation of 2010. Then again, I have to wonder if people really know what they want at all. The cattle call is “different.” As in, “give us something different” and “I already played WoW, I want something different!”

Yet, the majority of MMO players began their MMO careers with WoW and have only fleeting tried other games, if at all. These players, bitter as some may be, expect new MMOs to be like WoW, if not in form than in function. I hate to generalize like that but it’s human nature, isn’t it? We compare to what we know. If we like one MP3 player, we expect our next to be pretty much the same with a little extra shine.

But, that expectation isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I mean, WoW is a little basic, but can we really argue that it’s a “bad” game? What’s not worth copying there? Alright, a carbon copy wouldn’t be a good idea – there’s always room for improvement, after all – but there is a core of a very good, addictive experience there. Copying the WoW formula would be the smartest decision Bioware could make if they want a successful game.

Say what you want about the endgame, but how many hours does the average player spend chasing that eternal carrot through instance and raid dungeon? 100? 1000? You don’t get to be the market lead – and stay there for five years – by making a bad game. I understand that people get bored and sometimes feel burnt when it’s time to move on, but most of us can admit to having enjoyed WoW at some point. Could it be deeper, look better, stand a change of pace or a few more options at the level cap? Of course, but that doesn’t negate the hundreds of hours and millions of XP we’ve earned over the years.

So, when people knock on TOR for coming off as a WoW clone with an added fourth pillar, I can’t quite say I agree or would be upset if that turned out to be the case. If TOR turns out to be half the game WoW is, it will be doing alright. That means quality PvE, fun dungeons, and a long life past the level cap. That’s exactly what a PvE game needs to be.

Let’s not forget that even if it takes its cues from WoW, it’s only a starting point. Add in story, add in depth, add in all of the originality and polish that’s given Bioware its name, and you can see the Blizzard Approach in practice: take what works and make it great; make it your own, and add to it. The playstyle of WoW may not be what every MMO player wants, but it seems to be what the mainstreamer enjoys, and that’s what Bioware is after.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t need SW:TOR to reinvent the wheel. I need it to be a fun game with a great story. I think they’re on track with that. Maybe you don’t like WoW. If the millions of hours we’ve spent there, and the millions more others will spend there, say anything, it’s that most people do. It’s easy to forget that the playerbase of WoW more than likely outnumbers those of every other major MMO combined. Building from there, targeting the highest density of players, and expanding on the familiar, how is that a bad thing?

Maybe you can enlighten me, though, as to why I’m wrong. The rocky reception of FFXIV can be attribute to a clunky interface, but I think another part of it is just that’s is so starkly different from what we’re used to. Is that the direction we’d want TOR to go? Action bars and well thought out dungeons are no reason to disregard a potentially fun game, IMO.

08/5/10

Is Rift’s Emergent Gameplay Just Reskinned PQs?

Forgive my ignorance here, because I haven’t been following Rift too closely. I just found this developer diary on YouTube where they talk about some of their neat plans for the game. One of the bigguns is the rift system. Actually, considering they’ve named the game after it, I’d say it’s probably how they’re trying to define themselves in the MMO industry.

From what I understand (Ferrel, I’m looking at you), these rifts are supposed to represent the game’s take on emergent gameplay. It works something like this, throughout the world, at random times and places, portals to different planes of existence will open and allow the evil forces within to come forward. From what Ferrel’s researched, the system for these was built up before the game itself, so it should be pretty good.

This dev. diary makes me wonder just how new it is, though. Here are some choice quotes they’ve used to describe the system:

“Once you encounter a tear and cause it to open into a rift…”

“One type, for example, you might be fighting creatures from the plane of death. And so, over time the waves that you’re fighting are getting stronger and stronger… As you’re doing this, you’re increasing the value of your rewards over time.”

“We are currently implementing a system that rewards anybody that participates in a rift. You can even turn up at the eleventh hour and you’ll get something. People that actually are involved in opening the rift will get better stuff…”

While these all sound cool, here are the key facts I take away: 1) rifts will be optional since they have to be initiated; 2) rifts will be ranked events in which players compete for participation based rewards; and, 3) rifts will proceed in stages.

If you played WAR, you’re probably nodding your head right now. Those are the three defining stages of Public Quests, as well. The first two points also proved to be problems for Mythic. Problems that, over a year since launch, they’re still working to fix.

A tear before it opens to a full rift

That’s not to say the concept isn’t good. Frankly, if done right, I think public quests are a great system and a wonderful gateway to quick co-op fun. But, even so, PQs in WAR are largely ignored. Players want to min/max their way to “end game” content. Unless this kind of activity is incentivized out the wazoo, it will be ignored quicker XP elsewhere. Determining player contribution is another can of worms entirely, and one they’ll likely hear complaining about until the servers shut down years down the line.

The bigger issue this video raises for me, though, is how exactly Rift is different than any other game out there. The art is good and eye catching, and the customizable class system is interesting, but I like to see something new in the games I get excited about. Refining ideas and making them your own might be the key to long-term success, but at this stage, I haven’t bit yet. I’m a fish in a big lake and Trion’s hook doesn’t look any different than a dozen others.

But, like I said, I’m pretty ignorant about this game. Hopefully, I’m missing something. It has Scott Hartsman, which is good. Ferrel is excited about it and it’s infectious. I want to be on board.

What do you guys think, is there anything really new in Rift: Planes of Telara?

03/26/10

Has Evil Left the Building?

Evil

Or: Ever Just Want to be Bad?

A good friend of mine and writer here, Ryan, just got a promotion in a game he’s been playing for the last ten years. He’s now an “immortal,” which in MMO terms means guild leader/staff member. His achievement came with a lot of accolades but what I found most interesting was his goal: to destroy every good following in the game.

Sound a little extreme? Well, it’s not really. The game he was promoted in is a MUD, and one that still lets players choose between good and evil. Ryan, of course, chose evil.

The whole thing got me thinking, can we really be evil anymore? I mean, sure, there are classes and races the game tells us are evil, like warlocks or drow, but I wonder how much further it goes than character creation. Can a single player really be evil?

They can be good. You can buff your fellow players, offer them help on a tough quest line, etc. Then you have dungeons, where players band together for the “greater good” of quelling whatever threat lies within.

But as a player, sometimes I just want to be bad. I want to plot. I want to connive. I want to trick, and betray, and kill. But not my friends, of course. I want to be feared.

VERY Evil

I was always like this. In the days of MUDs, I was a PK’er and gave each character a backstory for why they were so murderous.

And every step of the way was some “good” guy wanting to wreck my fun.

Well, let me tell you, we didn’t get along very well.

But, with the jump to modern MMOs, all of this has lost its point.

So, I wonder: has evil left the building?

In most games, I believe the answer is yes. PvE necessitates it. You can’t have people killing each other left and right in dungeons. Betrayal begets whining. Theft equals inequality, where what you’ve spent “countless hours” earning can change hands without your knowing.

In short, evil is only fun for the people being evil.

More importantly though, evil was nullified when death became meaningless. There’s not much point in it when your enemy has nothing to lose.

Then, what’s left isn’t being “evil.” It’s being a griefer. The truth is, most of us that want to play an evil character are actually decent people. It’s not about wrecking your day, it’s about how we make our own fun and roleplay.

Yeah, yeah, I know know roleplay is lame and all that. But, the fact is, if you take roleplay out, you’re left with some guy being a jerk to another. That’s not what it’s about and that’s why most self-respecting “evil” players have given up the ghost. The ones that are left are the mouth breathers. The newbie killers. The corpse campers. You know who I’m talking about.

That’s not us and it’s not what we wanted. See, we wanted you to be good and us to be evil. We wanted war, baby, not to be jerks. There’s a difference.

So, to sum it all up, evil is in the eye of the beholder. The difference is, the game will support being good. You make your own evil, past character creation.

Just remember to play nice.