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The Daily Grind: Do you keep MMO accounts on for veteran rewards?
I've got a guildie who's a bit insane. He is notorious for staying subscribed to MMOs he's not playing, sinking tons and tons of money into these games but not logging in. Is he doing it to support developers? Nope. He does it for the veteran rewards. Seriously. He once told me he stayed subbed to City of Heroes because he really, really wanted a veteran minipet. When I consider what that minipet must have cost him in subscription fees, all I can do is think how many brand-new games he could have picked up on Steam for all that dough! And yet here I am looking at my Ultima Online account the same way. The account is 16.5 years old with nine years of vet rewards on it. I left it on a few extra months last year to get to the ridable ethereal polar bear mount reward because hello, ridable ethereal polar bear mount, right? What about you -- do you leave your subscription MMO accounts on to collect vet rewards? 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!
Star Trek Online reveals 1000-day veteran rewards
Starfleet and Klingon captains, your attention please! Cryptic Studios has an announcement that should be especially exciting for any long-time players of Star Trek Online. The game has been going strong since February of 2010. Tomorrow its first wave of players will reach the 1000-day mark, and everyone knows what that means: veteran rewards! Today the studio unveiled the shiny rewards that these dedicated Trekkies will have bestowed upon them in gratitude for their loyalty, and those players are certainly in for a real treat. Players who prefer the Starfleet side of the game will be given access to the latest in Starfleet technology: the Chimera Heavy Destroyer. This fine starship has a number of top-of-the-line features ranging from the prototype Dynamic Tactical System to the "powerful multi-targeting Lotus, which is capable of piercing multiple targets." Meanwhile, the Klingons in the house will be able to jump into the cockpit of the Peghqu' Heavy Destroyer. This versatile ship is very similar to its Federation counterpart, featuring the same Dynamic Tactical System and Lotus weaponry. Veteran players who reach the 1000-day mark will also claim a new in-game title, an extra starship slot, and an exclusive forum title. Better yet, all lifetime subbers will also receive instant access to all existing veteran rewards, which is handy since lifetime subs are on sale for $199.99 (down from $299.99) for the next month.
The Daily Grind: Should MMOs recycle old rewards?
It's no shock to realize that as Guild Wars 2 approaches, the Guild Wars 1 devs are slowly getting the older game set for long-term stasis. The year's Dragon Festival was surely a sign of that: Instead of doling out brand-new festival hats as it has in previous years, ArenaNet awarded tokens that allow players to earn discontinued hats from old events. Hats are serious business. Some veteran players argue that handing old hats to new players devalues old players' loyalty. After all, why play (or pay) on day one if everyone can get the cool shiny thing eventually anyway? Guild Wars isn't alone in adopting this convention. World of Warcraft transforms previous expansions' endgame skins into the next edition's leveling gear; other games place pre-order bonus perks in a cash shop at some point down the road for people who missed the first time around. So today we're wondering what you think of this practice as it pertains to the wider MMO genre. Do you think loyalty perks like event rewards and pre-order trinkets should remain unique? Or is it fair for developers to reintroduce and recycle old gear, rewards, and rares for a new generation? 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!
Veteran SWG players home in on veteran reward
It's been some time now since Star Wars Galaxies launched, but I was surprised to see that they're now offering their 57 month veteran award. Almost five years have passed since the Galaxy Far, Far Away opened to players, and it's been about four since the Jump to Lightspeed expansion brought players into space. Folks who have been in-game since the beginning now have a brand-new option for space travel, a doodad profiled in this past week's Friday Feature.The Homing Beacon will be a housing placeable item handed out to veteran players. If you're in the same star system as your beaconed house, you'll now have the option to land directly at your home from the system's space station. It can be placed and removed multiple times, but only the veteran player can make use of it; other housing administrators are out of luck.I've always been partial to these regular gifts from the dev team; my personal favorite is probably the Jedi Starfighter hologram from the 21-month slot - just beautiful. Do you have a vet award that you thought was particularly spot on?
Razorwire snaps at TR vet reward
In our daily internet travails this morning we were a bit surprised to see Warcry's razorwire taking a bit of a nasty shot at the Tabula Rasa community crew for having included a joke 3-month-veteran award instead of something "cool" like black armor. He further postulates that one of the artists for the game probably put a lot of work into the model for his furry fandom, and wanted to validate that work by including it in the game somehow. I'm not quite sure if he was trying to be funny or edgy or whether he was actually genuinely angry about having a unicorn mask left in his bag for being a 3-month veteran. Seems a bit of an overreaction either way, and he appears to have missed the point.Anybody who has followed Tabula Rasa for a few years now no doubt remembers when the game's development was rebooted due to a lack of design focus. Back then, the game featured a lot of eccentricities that were more befitting the East Asian audience the game was originally trying to court. One of those eccentricities was an abundance of unicorns in the early builds of the game, which delighted some and confused most. Back in November we found one of the early trailers of the game and were similarly confused by the unicorn to people ratio. It was quite high. Still, I think the unicorn mask is a fun little self-deprecating joke with the fans who are most likely to "get it." Moreover, we know full well we're not getting our charcoal paint for another week, so what's the sense in crying about it?
