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The Mog Log: Don't you want me, FFXI?
Final Fantasy XI has launched its fifth expansion, and yet I can't bring myself to be as excited as I should be. Longtime readers will recall that the account I've been playing on is younger and lacking in many of the higher-level conveniences such as airship passes and a white mage leveled enough to handle Sneak and Invisible. Put simply, I'm not in a place to just jump right into all of the content that Seekers of Adoulin has to offer right out of the gate. On the plus side, I do have several conveniences that completely new players wouldn't have, not the least of which is an extensive knowledge of the game as a whole. A new player coming in straight would look at the game and just wind up baffled, and I can't blame him in the least. If you're starting fresh, the game is not welcoming you. Longtime readers will also know that I've long been a proponent of making the game easier to get into. But is this even worth bothering with? Is the game for players starting at lower levels any more? Is there even a point to easing up the lower-level restrictions any longer?
Forge developer diary discusses the state of the game and what comes next
Forge isn't your typical MMO, set up as a straightforward PvP arena without niggling little issues like outside quests to get in the way. The development team behind the game has been looking at its current state, and in the newest address to the players they state what the game is doing wrong and how to fix it. The diary makes it clear that while the number of people playing Forge is down, they believe a lot of that has to do with the steep learning curve new players experience. To fix this, there are plans for a new starter area in which players can practice against bots to get accustomed to the combat and the game mechanics. The team also plans to improve the tutorial and the UI so that what an ability does is more transparent. For players already at the higher end, this is still good news -- the matchmaking system will be updated, visual customization will be improved, and you'll be able to respec at any time to ensure that you aren't stuck with poor choices forever. Check out all the details in the latest development diary.
The Daily Grind: How long do you need to play a game before you get a fair impression?
First impressions are tricky things. Play a game for a little while and you'll get an idea of what the game is like, but you might miss some important parts that give it context. The combat doesn't change once you finish the tutorial in DC Universe Online, but you have a lot more powers and abilities afterward. Having your full skillbar in Guild Wars 2 changes a huge chunk of the gameplay, and you don't unlock your final slot until level 30. But some gamers would argue that you can tell whether you'll like a game earlier than that. Speaking as a journalist, I know I need to evaluate the game as a whole to make sure it's not just a good game that isn't to my tastes, but a casual player doesn't have that restriction. So how long do you feel you personally need to play a game to get a fair impression of the game as a whole? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Tips for City of Heroes refugees in Champions Online
Champions Online has been a breath of fresh air for the past couple of weeks. It's not a perfect game, nor is it a perfect substitute for City of Heroes, but it's a remarkably good approximation. I would imagine that most players familiar with the latter will feel fairly comfortable in the former, once they get over the obvious differences between the two. Not that the hurdles are exactly minor. For all that I've grown fond of Champions Online, it still has a lot of strange fiddly bits, doing with six different systems what most games do with two or three. Just jumping in cold, as I did, can leave you looking around aimlessly and quite possibly result in your making some choices regarding character builds that you swiftly regret. As I also did. So here are a few tips for players new to the game, tilted in no small part to anyone coming over from our dearly departed CoH. I can't keep you from making every mistake, but I can at least help you get a feel for the game's systems in some small part.
The Daily Grind: What things should MMOs explain to new players?
Games do not like to explain the concept of roles to players. This is not to say that they don't expect players to take those roles, most frequently the standard trinity setup; rather, those roles are never explained in depth. There's no tutorial in Star Wars: The Old Republic explaining what a tank is or how you will want to play one. In a game like Guild Wars 2, which has a radically different role structure from every other game, you'd expect more explanation, but it offers even less. This is a smaller part of a larger problem: Many MMOs are built with the assumption that the players are familiar with certain core conventions. So you get tutorials on movement but not on roles or character builds or group behavior or anything that you might need if you've never played an MMO before in your life. What do you think MMOs in general should explain to new players? What areas are lacking in resources for anyone getting into a game cold? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Are pet battles too inaccessible for new WoW players?
Recently there were some complaints on the official forums (shocking, right?) about how expensive pet battles are. The argument by many is that new players should have easier access to this feature. In the Pet Battle Q&A from about a week ago, Cory Stockton explained: Cory Stockton [ ... ] the 100g training cost is going to make it difficult for a new player to get caught up in Pet Battles super-early, and that's by design, because everyone should learn how to play World of Warcraft first. Having said that, a new alt that can get 100g from another character can start the Pet Battle system at level 5. source In answer to the more recent forum post, Zarhym reiterated: Zarhym The cost is there, in part, because pet battles are intended to be a fun mini-game, particularly for players who've been around a while and want some new ways to spend their time while logged in -- it's not a profession. The system isn't really targeted toward new players while they're focused on leveling and character progression. This is why there is a low level cap, but a buy-in barrier. It allows players with high-level characters and/or lots of alts easy access to the system, while reducing the risk of it being distracting or confusing for people just learning the core gameplay systems/mechanics. source More from Zarhym after the break.
Storyboard: RP 101 - What is roleplaying?
Two weeks back, I received a comment asking, in all seriousness, what was the deal with roleplaying. The author of said comment opined that as near as he or she could tell, it was mostly just talking like your character and developing a bunch of strange romances. If that comment had only listed vampires in there, really, I could have stopped writing this column altogether. All right, there's more to it than that. While I've spent the past 120 installments of the column dealing with creating characters, playing respectfully, and producing stories, I've never actually put down a definition of what roleplaying is. I've never liked opening off by defining roleplaying because it's an awkward beast, and the explanation is always shoehorned elsewhere. So today I'm going to kick off at least one and possibly more columns answering the very basics, starting with the obvious -- what the heck is roleplaying?
EVE Evolved: EVE Online's new tutorial
If you've ever tried EVE Online and couldn't make it through the cumbersome tutorial, you might want to revisit it. The new player experience received a huge update with the recent Inferno 1.2 patch, which visually updated the starter tutorial and revamped the rookie ships and free frigates players are given. The new tutorial is fully up to date, even introducing recent gameplay updates like the "loot all" button on cargo containers and the new interface for accessing agent missions while in space. A lot of effort has been put into the updated tutorial, but has it really made a difference? This week I gave it a try to find out. Last night at around 6 p.m. EVE time (GMT), there were over 38,000 players online, and only 1,200 were marked as trial accounts. I logged in to find 2,800 players in Rookie Help, a mandatory help channel exclusively for characters under 30 days old. That means just over 7% of characters logged in at the time were either rookies or veterans starting new alternate characters. With only 1,200 of those characters being on trial accounts, a healthy number of the remaining 1,600 must have been recent signups on fully subscribed accounts. Even the most cynical player has to admit that these are encouraging numbers of new players. In this week's EVE Evolved, I give the new EVE tutorial a spin to find out whether now is a good time for new players to sign up.
Storyboard: Breaking into roleplaying for the first time
Roleplaying is probably harder to do than any other game activity. The first time you run a dungeon or take part in PvP, you might fail horribly, but that's a matter of practice and statistics. But the first time you get up in front of a group of other people to roleplay, you're essentially acting on a virtual stage on which anyone can see you, with no lines, no stage direction, and no indication whether you're doing it right or not. And if you screw up, your indication that something went wrong will just be a wall of stony silence. So it's intimidating. It's all the anxiety of jumping into a new social group with added anxiety over whether your character is interesting enough for anyone to care. I'm not going to pretend it's not, but I can offer some advice to make your first attempt as smooth as possible. And hopefully provide some useful tips to recover even if everything goes horribly wrong.
The Mog Log: Starting fresh in Final Fantasy XIV, pre-2.0
So you're interested in Final Fantasy XIV version 2.0. You're not alone; really, a lot of people are. But you don't want to be the guy struggling to catch up when the change happens. No, you're buying your copy now and heading into the game, figuring that anything good you accomplish now will be well worth the effort after the end of the world. And truth be told, you're probably right, since you'll be free to bask in all of the newfound glory of the updated game with plenty of money and resources to start. Of course, none of that helps with the fact that you're jumping in to a game that doesn't make the road easy for a new player. It's not like other MMOs. It's a game that seems to have followed a wholly divergent evolutionary path, one that I've previously compared to a species of carnivorous dinosaur lumbering alongside modern tigers. So what would I suggest to someone starting Final Fantasy XIV right now? A lot of things. Let's cover some basic advice for new players who'd like to see the game as it is while they wait for the game that it will be.
Fallen Earth trimming up the game experience for new players
Fallen Earth isn't a cumbersome game, but it can be hard to approach at first. The game has a lot of complicated systems playing off one another, and as a result, trying to jump in can leave a new player confused about what to do next. Luckily, the development team is well aware of the problem, and a recent development blog outlines the steps being taken in the next patch to help streamline and improve the experience for new players. The change that will have the biggest impact on everyone in the game will be the consolidation of several gear slots, meaning that players will no longer have to scrounge for corresponding pieces when starting out. The addition of sector chat and a beacon leading toward the nearest garage will help players find others and receive aid as needed. And the team is looking ahead to future improvements as well, all in the hopes that your first moments in Fallen Earth are fun enough to convince you to stay.
Mists of Pandaria Beta: New strings hint at help for sweeping class changes
One of the biggest complaints players have about the ever-changing system design of World of Warcraft is that each expansion brings with it sweeping changes or new mechanics that need to be relearned. In addition, if you were absent from World of Warcraft for an expansion or two, your class will not look the same in any way, shape, or form (with respect to rogues, of course). Blizzard has apparently been listening to these concerns, if these new beta strings are any indication. With the release of a new beta patch comes new data strings and the information contained within. Recently uncovered was a family of strings called "What has changed," with some examples for the warrior listed in the files. "What has changed" looks to re-educate old players or bring new players up to speed on the design, rotation, and role of each class. The warrior, for instance, has four strings at this time, letting the player know about the Rend/Deep Wounds change, how some old talents are now just learned specialization spells, and some examples of the new rage mechanics. WHAT_HAS_CHANGED - What has changed? WHC_WARRIOR_1 - Many old talents have become specialization spells. WHC_WARRIOR_2 - Warrior abilities no longer require specific stances. You can use any ability in any stance. WHC_WARRIOR_3 - Rage is generated by Mortal Strike (id 12294), Bloodthirst (id 23881) or Shield Slam (id 23922). Only use Heroic Strike (id 78) when you have more Rage than you can spend. WHC_WARRIOR_4 - Rend (icon ability_gouge) is now called Deep Wounds (id 115768). It is automatically applied so it won't appear in your spell book. I couldn't be happier for these new helpful tips. I don't even know where to begin with rotations or strategies with new classes (especially mages, for some reason). Hopefully with these new tips, old players and players tired of mechanics changes will be able to slip into Mists of Pandaria much more easily, if that's what these strings indicate at all. It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
Addon Spotlight: A UI primer for returning WoW players
Each week, WoW Insider's Mathew McCurley brings you a fresh look at reader-submitted UIs as well as Addon Spotlight, which focuses on the backbone of the WoW gameplay experience: the user interface. Everything from bags to bars, buttons to DPS meters and beyond -- your addons folder will never be the same. World of Warcraft experienced numerous cataclysms over the last year and a half as Blizzard, the community, and everything in between had a weird hiccup moment. Mists of Pandaria seems to be shaping up to pull many lapsed players back into the World of Warcraft ranks, and the Scroll of Resurrection is a none-too-subtle way of facilitating that goal. Old players who thought WoW was down and out have been pulled back because of instant access to a lot of the features once reserved for the especially dedicated. Last week, I gave you some tips on what to install on your brand new player's game in order to facilitate a smoother first-game experience. This week, we're going to address old players from all past eras of WoW's lifespan and help them get back into the game without too many bumps along the way. It's a very different game, but the core components are exactly the same. Blizzard correctly pointed out that when WoW's got you and your character's boots on the ground, the game works the best. But first, before we begin with the article proper, I wanted to proclaim victory for the WoW community with regard to AoE looting. Blizzard has announced that AoE looting will be making the release of Mists of Pandaria, and I could not be happier. I've been championing AoE looting for some time now, and I want to send the happiest thoughts possible to the dev who got this feature on the launch list. You have no idea what types of quality of life changes that this will bring to everything from old raid farming to time spent waiting around in dungeons.
Anarchy Online's new game director details early 2012 plans
We haven't heard a whole lot from Funcom's old-school sci-fi MMO Anarchy Online since mid-December when the game's producer bowed out. Today, however, the new game director, Fia "Lindelu" Tjernberg, stopped by the game's official forums to give players a bit of an update on what they can expect from the first months of the new year. For starters, Tjernberg gives players a progress report on the game's upcoming shiny new graphics engine. She goes on to explain that "[Funcom's] artists have been preparing a couple of playfields to a standard that is very close to what we're aiming for," and adds that the first video of the new engine should hit sometime in February. Another large priority for the team for early 2012 is the new player experience, but perhaps most importantly of all is the "balancing act," as Tjernberg puts it, which (predictably) aims to bring the game's professions into balance "a little bit at a time." For the full details on Anarchy Online's plans for the next couple of months, just click on through the link below.
EVE Evolved: The new player experience, part 2
Two weeks ago, I began an experiment to look into EVE Online's new player experience from the perspective of someone who has never played the game before. I convinced my friend Kajatta to try the game for the first time, with his only prior knowledge being the same stories, videos and screenshots that anyone will have seen before signing up to give the game a shot. In the first part of this investigation into the new player experience, Kajatta delivered a harsh first impression of the user interface and character creation. A common story I've heard when I'm talking to current EVE players is that many didn't really get into the game the first time they played. As happened to Kajatta, some found adapting to the UI and control scheme a jarring experience and were put off as a result. It was usually the second time they played EVE that seemed to make the game stick, whether that was restarting a new character immediately or giving the game a second try up to a year later. Could it be that EVE is most likely to appeal to new players the second time they play it? To put this theory to the test, this week Kajatta took a fresh second stab at EVE Online and played through all the career agent content. But has his first attempt provide the equipment necessary to scale EVE's famous learning cliff, or did the UI and control scheme prove as impenetrable a barrier as ever? In this week's EVE Evolved, Kajatta delivers his verdict on whether EVE is better the second time around and delves into the Cash Flow For Capsuleers combat missions.
EVE Evolved: The new player experience
Ever since a graph showing a downward trend in daily peak concurrent logins started to make the rounds on blogs, players have insisted that EVE Online's recent Incarna expansion has been a complete failure. I mentioned in an earlier article that we should really have expected this as the captain's quarters were primarily designed with new players in mind. Starting the game as an avatar, even one who's been grounded in his space-room by his space-dad, helps people identify with their characters in a way that bridges the gap between EVE and traditional avatar-based MMOs. By introducing a player to his character as a person rather than a ship, the new player experience may also help make the loss of a ship not such a big deal. It's all fine and well to theorise about Incarna's success or failure, but ultimately it's only new players who can make that determination. If the captain's quarters do their job of flattening that initially jarring part of EVE's learning curve, the expansion's effect on subscriptions would be to convert more free trials into paid accounts -- an effect that wouldn't be immediately noticeable until another exciting and heavily advertised gameplay expansion brings in large numbers of new players. To help figure out if the captain's quarters have been successful in that regard, we have to turn to people who have never played EVE before. In this week's EVE Evolved, I finally convince my friend Kajatta to try EVE for the first time. I delve into his first experiences with the game to find out what EVE does right and wrong in the new player experience.
The Mog Log: Throwing out the barriers
If you're starting Final Fantasy XI fresh right now, you'll have the most fun if you have absolutely no idea how much stuff you have to do -- not just because it's intimidating, although that's certainly an element, but because it's a huge pile of things that you can't do by yourself in any meaningful fashion. You have to rely on charity or making friendships based solely on your charming personality because you've got pretty much nothing else to offer when you start off, and no one at level 85 really wants to go farming for subjob items yet again (to say nothing of gysahl greens). These sentiments are not new. This is not something that I have never said before or a thought that had remained unexpressed for ages until just this moment. I've long talked about the fact that there's a huge barrier to entry for the game, one that essentially locks the game in for the people who are playing right now and no one else. But for all that talk, I can also see some very good reasons to keep those barriers in place because they're providing some useful functions -- or at the very least, they're not actively harmful.
Veteran EVE Online pilots share wisdom with new players
If you're looking for an excuse to visit the recently revamped EVE Online official forums, you could do a lot worse than a newbie help thread started by CCP Fallout. Whether you're an actual New Eden rookie or a veteran looking to dispense advice (note we didn't say good advice, since it's EVE), it's worth checking out. The thread is also good for a bit o' the ol' nostalgia, as Fallout specifically mentions silly mistakes she made back in the day, and she invites other players to share similar stories. The thread is fairly modest to this point (i.e., it's definitely not approaching threadnaught territory), but we suspect it will swell a bit as more vets weigh in with stories, pointers, and trolling attempts.
Age of Conan: Unchained conquers 300,000 new players, doubles revenue in a month
The secret is out and the jig is up: MMO studios have solid evidence that adding a free-to-play option on top of a subscription model is the way to bring in hordes of new players. Age of Conan: Unchained proved this today as Funcom announced the addition of over 300,000 players to its bloody family in the first month of service. Apparently the servers are packed full and Funcom is raking in the moolah, too. The studio announced that servers have quadrupled activity during this time period, and revenues have more then doubled. This is certainly good news for the 2008 title, which is now being supported by a mix of subscription and cash shop options. Funcom CEO Trond Arne Aas is pleased as (a) punch: "The launch of the hybrid business model has been very successful so far. The activity levels on the servers are booming with a fourfold increase in players during July, we more than doubled the revenue generated from the game, and we have experienced a positive development in subscriber numbers. This definitely gives us great hope for the game's future." Age of Conan is set to release a movie tie-in update later this month called Savage Coast of Turan to take advantage of the Conan the Barbarian movie coming to theaters on the 18th.
EVE Evolved: Upgrading to a PvP cruiser: Minmatar and Caldari
Over the years, I've introduced several friends to EVE Online and tried to give them the best start possible. Offering a financial safety net for ship losses definitely helped a little, as did providing funding to back market experiments and manufacturing or research ventures. What I found helped most of all was to bring new players on quick PvP fleets and discourage them from gravitating toward mining or mission-running as their primary form of gameplay. The adrenaline rush of EVE PvP is something I've yet to find in another MMO, and it's the reason so many of us are hooked to the game. It only makes sense then to introduce new players to it as soon as possible. Last month, I encouraged new players who might be starting out on their own to grab a few friends and similarly charge into PvP from day one. To follow up, the last two weeks' columns have been dedicated to getting new players into their first PvP frigate and upgrading to a cruiser, with emphasis on staying financially ahead of the inevitable ship losses. Last week we tackled Gallente and Amarr ships, with some cheap battle-tested setups for the Thorax, Vexor, Arbitrator and Omen that new players will be able to fly with only a few weeks of skill training. In this week's EVE Evolved, we look at Minmatar and Caldari cruisers, with setups for the Stabber, Rupture, Blackbird and Moa and tips on saving your escape pod to minimise the cost of death.
