warhammer-age-of-reckoning
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Choose My Adventure: I da popular ork
Klurgind may not be the smartest ork in Warhammer Online nor the strongest one, but he's certainly a popular greenskin. What is it about him? That beady, penetrating stare? The way he eulogizes Squig Herders on the fields of Nordland? His sharply alluring green-blue skin and bright orange tattoos? Or just the fact that everyone knew he was my character, thus ensuring that every regular reader went out of the way to shower him with praise, advice, and adulation? I don't know. But I do know that special thanks go out to Tsavonglah for some excellent in-game advice and a veritable wall of information in the comments, Daswagga for a large pile of Strength talismans, and the many people who gave me a wave or cheer for bring a touch of Massively WAAAAGH to the game. So read on past the break for talk about my adventures in the twilight of Tier 1, the dawn of Tier 2, scenarios, open RvR, and the general stages of the Choppocalypse.
Further details on Warhammer Online's new user journey
One of the features that's been mentioned repeatedly in conjunction with Warhammer Online's upcoming patch 1.3.2 is the New User Journey, an attempt to streamline and consolidate the path of new players. The most recent developer diary outlines in detail the reasons for the revamp as well as the new path of the game's experience, which the article mentions is designed to help the entire playerbase in the long run.Highlighting the need for accessibility, the entry discusses the change to all players starting in the same location, explaining how it can help ensure other players in the area for the game's public quests. It also allows for the early questing experience to be more thoroughly revamped and improved, with all of the players starting out funneled through a single area. The original starting areas will still be available for players who want to explore them, but will no longer be mandatory.The diary also points out some of the other new features added, including detailed tutorial windows to help introduce concepts in-play as well as an improvement to pop-up tooltips. Combined with global chat channels to help bolster the community, the focus is clearly on getting players unified and up to speed in the most efficient way possible, helping to diminish the barrier to entry. Take a look at the full article for more in-depth features including a closer look at the tutorial window.
MMOGology: Gear of war
Last night several members of my Alliance guild initiated some old school, world PvP attacks on Tarren Mill. We were bored, looking for a fight, and boy did we get one. It was fun for a while, but it wasn't long before I realized we had no chance of winning the skirmish. It wasn't a lack of skill, strategy, or cooperation that drove our faces into the ground. It was the fact that our group didn't have the gear necessary to be competitive. There's nothing more demoralizing than getting utterly pwnd by someone that you can't even scratch; despite the fact that you're of equal player level. I've realized there is a Grand Canyon sized gap between a freshly minted 70 in quest gear and one that's been raiding or participating in arena battles. It's the equivalent of a level 60 attacking a level 40. There's a very noticeable difference.Of course, I shouldn't be surprised by this in a game that's so gear-centric. One of the primary draws of World of Warcraft is the amazing gear that you could potentially get; if only you'd spend hours and hours running and rerunning instances or competing in arenas or getting your hinder stomped in the battlegrounds thousands of times. But for casual schleps like me, the gear divide is a source of endless frustration. It becomes less a battle of skill, and more of battle of who has logged the most hours playing the game. Maybe that's the whole point of PvP in an MMOG; reward playtime over ability. But does it have to be this way?
Ultima Online shake-up: incoming developer layoffs, team restructuring and relocation imminent
Ultima Online recently celebrated its 10 year birthday and even launched a shiny new expansion titled Kingdom Reborn that received mixed reviews. The celebration is soon to end with heads rolling as many Ultima Online developers will be pushed into the unemployment line after John Riccitiello, CEO of Electronic Arts, sent out a Dear John letter -- tasking every studio and company under EA's conglomeration to make the necessary cutbacks to adjust resources accordingly against rising costs. (EA corporate raid gathering: "Fools, prepare the chopping block!") Chris Rabideau, Ultima Online Producer, posted on the Ultima Online Herald that the Ultima Online team will be moving from its current station located at EA's headquarters outside of San Francisco, CA to EA Mythic's studios located in Fairfax, VA. Rabideau claims that development on the game will continue as planned and the move will have very little impact in the short term on the game and community . Nowhere in his letter to the community does he acknowledge any lay-offs, but an anonymous source has come forward claiming he is and is clearly devastated. (I can not confirm or deny this source). "There is nothing to lose for me to post this and I admit I feel bitter, so why not let you know the truth? Alot of the UO team was laid off today including me and all of QA. We were escorted out of the building and not even allowed to email our goodbye email to everyone else. They even had managers watching us the whole time like we had done something wrong. Most of the engineers are already working on Warhammer. Most of the rest of the UO team is not going to Virginia. Only one person is moving fore sure and maybe one or two more are considering it too. Thats it. Almost all of the famous devs are not going. Almost everyone on the list posted earlier by someone is not going to Virginia for sure. Early December is when everyone who does not move to Virginia is laid off too. I hope that something I did for UO is something that you found fun. We really did try to do our best. Maybe I will see you all in another not EA game soon!" Business as usual, but you know it's that stinky EA business. While it's plausible Ultima Online will benefit from this move later down the road; thanks to more resources available under one roof, all the UO and DAOC devs doing quality assurance on Warhammer: Age of Reckoning, that sort of thing. One thing is certain and that is you can't replace a dedicated developer who worked on the project for years and poured everything they had and expect the same results from their replacement or non-replacement in some cases. I guess we can expect a skeleton crew for UO from here on out. Do you think these corporate lay-offs stem from Electronic Arts spending 600 plus million dollars to purchase Bioware?
