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The Unlearning game
World of Warcraft constantly changes. It changes in patches in small ways (buffs change, spell power changes making a formerly useless ability stronger, or a strong ability weaker) and it changes between expansions in much larger ways. If I still played a fury warrior today the way I would have played one back in Wrath I'd be using Whirlwind as part of my rotation. Between player action (players roll alts, switch mains and change roles) and the game's inexorable forward progress, there are always new things to learn, which require us to unlearn what we did before. Factor in returning players who take weeks, months, even years off - I've seen a lot of Hey, I left the game in X expansion, what's different now emails in my time at WoW Insider - and you have a continuous problem for World of Warcraft in people who have, in essence, a different game in mind when they play. This issue affects gameplay in numerous ways, both for those players (and eventually, we're all those players) and for the game itself.
The Daily Grind: What MMO feature did you appreciate only after it was gone?
I liked City of Heroes, obviously. I miss a lot of things about the game. But you know what I miss right now? The economy. I had never thought about how well-balanced it really was, especially considering that it was a late addition to the game... but I miss it just the same. It was spectacular, and now it's gone, and I didn't really appreciate how good it was until now, when it's not around any longer. We've all got blind spots like that. There are certain things you just don't fully appreciate while they're around; it's only when you realize they're gone that you can keenly feel the loss. Sometimes features are lost because a game closes down; sometimes it's just because they get patched out. So what about you, readers? What did you learn to really appreciate only after the feature was already gone from the game? 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!
The Daily Grind: What changes were you worried about that turned out fine?
Whenever a new feature is put into a game, there's a portion of the playerbase crying foul before it even hits the test server, and not without cause. Nearly every fan crying out that this change will cause huge problems has evidence, both anecdotal and otherwise, that will be pointed to as an obvious reason why the change is a bad idea. The developers listen, nod quietly, and push it live anyway. And as it turns out, the sky remains where it is, cats and dogs do not begin living together, and the hysteria is remarkably contained. To claim that we don't all have our pet causes is ridiculous -- we all have certain things that we know will break the game beyond a shadow of a doubt. But sometimes these game-breaking changes go live after all, and as it turns out they aren't actually such a big deal. So when have you been frightened of a major game change that turned out to not be all that important? Was it a class redesign, a major mechanical change, or an apparent simplification that wound up making the game more fun to play in the end? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of our 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 The Daily Grind!
Alganon making the switch to the full free-to-play model
It's been quite a while since we've heard much from Alganon, with the last major game announcement having been the switch to a subscription-free model back in April. The team over at Quest Online has apparently decided to take that philosophy to the next level, as on Friday, August 13th, the game is going fully free to play. The client will be free to download and play indefinitely, with no time limits. There will be certain restrictions on new accounts, with a lowered level cap and ability cap that can be ameliorated via microtransactions. Said microtransactions are also the game's way of compensating players who had already purchased a copy of the game, with existing purchasers getting several caps removed automatically. The full details, as well as details on a special offer within the first week of the game's free-to-play launch, are outlined within the official announcement. Alganon is certainly no stranger to controversy, but it remains to be seen what the MMO community at large will think about the game in its newest incarnation.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Six (years) in the city
It's strange to think that City of Heroes is older than my car. But that's only the tip of the iceberg, as the game is six years old as of today and still running strong. Oh, sure, there are some signs of aging here and there, some parts that don't fit quite as well as they did back when it launched... but the game holds up pretty darn well. And that's astonishing, considering that it launched a full year before the game that generally gets the credit for starting new paradigms of MMO design. Of course, you can go further back and point out that a lot of the "innovations" that The Game Which Shall Not Be Named included were present beforehand, and you'd be correct. But after the EverQuest era of game design, City of Heroes stood as a vanguard of a new design philosophy. It was a game with unparalleled customization at the time, a game that put forth the idea that you could be just as cool at Level 1 as you could at max level. So how have things changed? How far have we come in the years? There's almost too much to cover to go over everything... but we can hit the big points.
The Daily Grind: Do you vote with your wallet?
There are certain changes, usually big ones, that don't exactly produce... positive reactions. In fact, they generally produce screaming rants and huge doses of rage at how they were handled and implemented. You know the sorts we're talking about. Star Wars Galaxies and the Combat Upgrade. Ultima Online and Trammel. Final Fantasy XI and the nerfs to Beastmaster "catch and release" tactics. All loathed changes, many of which led to an exodus of players. Really, leaving a game can be the best way to express displeasure with a change. It's the surest way to send a company the message that they've done something that will no longer justify your monthly subscription. On the flip side, your individual impact is small, you once loved the game... a lot of players will choose to rough it out, in hopes that things will improve or with the knowledge that the changes can't be all that bad. And for games where you have a lifetime subscription or are experiencing it free-to-play, your absence isn't really a deterrent at all. So, do you vote with your wallet? When you're fed up with what's been done, do you head off for greener pastures? Or are you of the mind that it's not even worth the bother, that they might well not even tie your departure to the change, even if you say so?
Breakfast Topic: Does WoW ever make you feel old?
So much has changed in the game of late. The acceleration to experience has some grumbling "I remember when you had to grind your levels," a la Grandpa Simpson. In fact, for those who have been playing the game for a couple of years, nostalgia not only kicks in, but a little dementia as well. The_ivorytower recently posted on the WoW LJ about this very topic, about all those moments that add up in WoW to just make you feel just plain old.Among the things she brings up are those times in long past when spells like Consecration and Evocation were talents. Or how about the Unending Breath that never actually ended, allowing the Undead to sit underwater untouchable by their opponents? She mentions also Mor'Ladim and his insane aggro radius; he would basically run straight at you once you set foot in Raven Hill. And the Sons of Arugal that would descend in a pack to pick your bones clean in Silverpine before you even knew they were there.Because this game has changed so very much since launch, often times you can date yourself from the elements you remember before they were removed. Plains Running anyone?
