tobold
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The tyranny of skill training
One of the nicest features of EVE Online is the fact that skill progression doesn't go hand-in-hand with a monotonous grind. Rather, the game uses a time-based system of advancement. But this seemingly casual aspect of the game is a double-edged sword; in the earlier stages of skill training, a newer player needs to log in very frequently to switch up low level skills. Some EVE players set their alarms and drag themselves out of bed in the early morning hours to switch their skill training, so as not to lose hours of time where progression halts. PC gaming blog 'Life is a Mind Bending Puzzle' has a post about how EVE's system "creates significant pressure to log on and pop a new skill on every time one finishes." Logically, a new player would assume that it's possible to queue skill training in advance. That assumption, however, would be wrong. Thus the early career of an EVE pilot is one of setting alarms, calendar reminders, and sticky notes... all to avoid that guilt over losing hours of advancement because of something trivial like sleep or a job. But as time goes on, skill training intervals lengthen at higher levels and thus require far less maintenance. Implementing a skill queue was one of the issues brought to CCP Games by the player-elected Council of Stellar Management (CSM), as it's one of the complaints most players have when getting to know the game. How do you feel about skill queues? Is it a necessary feature that CCP should implement, or should the developers be focusing on more pressing matters? [Via]
Celebrating five years of Tobold
In the MMO genre, celebrating five years of anything is quite a feat. If you think about it, what games were you even playing five years ago? Everquest? Ultima Online? So we acknowledge that the industry is still fairly young, and blogging about it is even younger. This makes Tobold's fifth year anniversary of his MMO blog something to celebrate.It's a natural fact that blogs come and go. When there's a hot new topic and someone feels passionate about it, they let it all loose in the first few days, weeks or even months, but a very low percentage make it further than that. Tobold is the exception to this, and we respect him for the fine work he's done thus far. The future progression of MMOs and their close relationship with community-driven blogs only makes sense. They go together like tanks and aggro. So here's to many more years of Tobold, and many more years of blogging about MMOs. Cue sappy music.
Blizzard wins lawsuit against bot makers
You may recall the long running Blizzard vs. MDY battle from various reports here on WoW Insider. In short, Blizzard sued MDY, the makers of the MMOGlider bot (formerly the WOWGlider bot), claiming that the bot violated Blizzard copyright by writing portions of the game to RAM in order to work (since you only have a license to run the game files, and do not actually own them, unauthorized copies are against the EULA). They also claimed that the bot tortiously interfered with Blizzard's customer base. MDY sued them right back, claiming they had every right to sell and distribute their bots. MDY received a crushing blow yesterday as the court ruled against them, Virtually Blind reports, declaring them guilty of copyright infringement and tortious interference (Apparently, bots stealing your kills is now a legal issue, which is sort of cool). The ramifications of this decision are still being discussed in various corners of the net and legal world.
Why do you pay for your games each month?
How much game do you need to support a monthly fee? That's a question Tobold asked in his blog, noting that there are a number of games charging for monthly subs that would be better off with alternative business models. He cites the example of the in-beta Football Manager Live, which he feels is niche in the first place, and coupled with great complexity and minimal graphics, wouldn't exactly draw crowds of subscribers. Tobold thinks that a higher cost to purchase the game and then offering a free basic version would be a more appealing option for some players. And for those who are hardcore about the game, a subscription that would include more detailed statistics would be a better fit. He notes titles like Diablo, Hellgate: London and Guild Wars -- games which eschewed the standard subscription model for either box sales or partial subscriptions. This led him wonder what exactly we expect from a game we're willing to subscribe to. Tobold asks: What are you willing to pay a monthly fee for, and where do you balk at the cost? Are there specific features which you think justify a monthly fee? Sound off if you have some ideas about what makes your game of choice worthy of your sub money each month. Or if your preferred MMO isn't a subscription title, what drew you to that game?
World of Warcraft's J. Allen Brack interviewed
Ah, Paris – the romance, the exquisite food, all the latest World of Warcraft information from the 2008 Blizzard Entertainment World Wide Invitational. WoW Insider is there, and are reporting back every snippet about class change and renovations, world-PvP, developer panels, and everything there is to know about Wrath of the Lich King. Tobold, an astute MMOG blogger with some Blizzard PR clout, was also in attendance, and with press badge in hand grabbed a short interview with World of Warcraft's Lead Producer, J. Allen Brack. In the interview they discuss hero classes, WoW's expansion schedule, the shortage of tankers and healers players encounter when putting a pug together, and more. No earth-shattering revelation is exposed but it is a worthy effort at picking one of the top brains working on World of Warcraft.
Richard Bartle vs Tobold
Massively's interview with Richard Bartle from last week has caused several tidal waves of opinion over the now-infamous line, "I've already played Warhammer. It was called World of Warcraft." by the father of the genre. MMO bloggers are coming out of the woodwork to give their own opinions on what this means, and how much they agree or disagree with Bartle's statement. Bartle himself has expanded upon that line several times, including an interesting exchange between himself and Tobold over at Tobold's blog.Whether you agree or disagree with Bartle's statement, the fact is, it has become big news this week. This recent exchange shows that Bartle isn't afraid to make his opinion known, and sees it as something that shouldn't be weighed more heavily than that of the common gamer.
The future of storytelling in MMOs
We can't help but wonder what the future of MMO storylines may eventually evolve into. So many players have so many various preferences when it comes to their favorite game's plot, that it's not an issue of pleasing everyone at the same time, but what the majority wants. Tobold addresses this issue in his latest blog entry, and speculates on whether or not the MMO storyline will progress in the same evolutionary line as movies have, where they began as novelties of moving pictures and soon became rich with real plots and immersion for the viewers.But if we follow the current trend of what's popular in MMOs, we'll see that the most popular games have little to no storyline. It takes a certain type of person to read every quest text and have a comprehensive understanding of what's going on in the game, and why they need to save the half-naked woman from the bad guys. That type of person seems to be a rarity, judging by the subscription numbers of the lore- and story-based games such as LotRO and AoC. But does this mean those games should stop being made? We certainly hope not, because it's always nice to have an intelligent game to play when you get burned out on grinding mobs and running errands.
Maybe one has to be immature to enjoy mature content
That title is a quote from the latest entry over at Tobold's blog, concerning the success of Age of Conan. He believes the combat system itself is one of the main draws of the game. While appearing somewhat similar to other MMOs, the combat system seems to make more sense in regards to its speed, intensity and overall enjoyment.Some other points he makes include the content of the game, and the enemies you encounter. LotRO made good use of its license in regards to the mobs, zones and quests, but Tobold feels that in regards to AoC, most of the content could be from any other random fantasy game. In addition to this (hence the interesting title) is how Tobold doesn't believe the mature rating drives sales too much, despite the fact that "Age of Conan nudity" is the top search phrase that leads people to his blog. Hey, that's how we found it!
How will Blizzard respond to Age of Conan's amazing launch?
It must seem a little like deja vu to the Blizzard bigwigs back in Irvine. A fantasy-based MMORPG with some good buzz in beta, a smooth launch, and a sudden rush of players several times more than were expected, requiring dozens of new servers? Wasn't that us, four years ago? But four years is forever in Internet time, and in that time, Blizzard has enjoyed popularity entirely unseen in the MMO genre, anywhere in the world. Now, though, a young upstart is looking a lot like the fresh-faced game that swept us all away all those years ago. What's Blizzard going to do to reassure its stockholders that it still has an iron grip on its 10.7 million players? How will they keep the kids on the farm when they've seen the big city?Kanthalos at MMOre Insight wonders if Age of Conan could ever have gotten enough breathing room to launch so well if Blizzard had just released more expansions, faster. Would so many people have flocked to AoC's world of Hyboria if they'd been busily carving up Northrend? Would they be rolling up Dark Templars if Blizzard had given them Death Knights by now? Tobold agrees, and wonders how many people AoC will retain once Warhammer Online and Wrath of the Lich King are released. Has World of Warcraft's slow release cycle had you looking for new games to try? Are you still excited about WotLK? If you did start playing another MMO, what would Blizzard have to do to win you back? Start talking about WoW 2? World of Diablo? A complete revamp of the low level game? Or should Blizzard just sit back and let things play out, confident that when the dust settles, they'll still be #1 and as strong as ever?
Player vs. Everything: Fixing the problem of guild-hopping
There's a bit of a discussion going on in the blogosphere right now about how to handle the topic of dungeon and raid rewards in MMOGs (specifically World of Warcraft, actually, but it universally applies). Tobold started the whole conversation by suggesting that the problem of players leaving to join a better guild when their gear progression is further along than the rest of their guild could be fixed by adding deterrents to leaving, like forcing you to leave any gear acquired with the help of your guild in the guild bank. After all, he argues, you couldn't have gotten those epics on your own. Why should you get to take your gear and walk away with it when 24 other people helped you obtain it, while waiting patiently for their turn? Other people then made the counter-argument that hopping to further-progressed guilds is only one of the many reasons that people leave guilds, and that tying loot to your guild would give too much power to guild masters and punish people for circumstances that are often outside of their control (what if your work schedule changes and you can't raid anymore? Many hardcore guilds don't allow casual players). There were some more good points made as to why this system would be a bad idea. Still, it's a good thing that Tobold brought this up, because it's a very real issue. Even if tying loot directly to the guild is a bad idea, what can you do to discourage people getting what they need and then leaving for greener pastures?
April Fools at Tobold's blog: WoW to cost $20 a month
We have to admit, Tobold's April Fools' joke is easily one of the better ones coming out today. Upon first glance his reasoning for the $5 dollar subscription bump seems somewhat plausible, citing rising power costs and the weakening dollar. However the real treat is beyond the joke, in the comments where 'Mike Morhaime' -- co-founder and current president of Blizzard -- makes a comment about the joke being a good idea and to wait for official announcement on the World of Warcraft website. If that weren't enough, the director of Activision Blizzard Jean-René Fourtou mysteriously pops up in the comments afterwards and publicly fires Morhaime! Oh no, what will happen next? Ah, well then things take a truly inspired twist as the CEO of Electronic Arts John Riccitiello triumphantly appears to announce that Warhammer Online is actually coming out May 1st and then promptly thanks Actiblizzvision for allowing EA to scoop up their lost customers.We thoroughly enjoyed the joke, as it's fairly surreal to see even fake versions of these people posting comments on a blog.
Outdoing WoW at its own game
Yesterday, Tobold made a post concerning the question of whether or not World of Warcraft can be, well, "out-WoWed" -- as he puts it. The game he proceeds to create via his list o' features is aimed at an even more casual audience than the one already playing in Azeroth. After reading through the list and considering its intent to draw in a much more casual market, we sort of feel confused.
Insider Trader: Crafting a future for professions
Insider Trader is your weekly inside line on making, selling, buying and using player-made products.Are you a tradesman -- or are you simply a player who crafts? The determining factor is yet another question: Do you care? For the vast majority of WoW players, crafting is a means to an end: better gear, more money, consumables and resources. For others, though, crafting is a game in and of itself. The WoW tradesman relishes the entire process of crafting: training up, obtaining rare recipes, scrounging mats, actually crafting items, researching new possibilities, interacting with customers ... an enjoyable pursuit in its own right.WoW's crafting system is by no means complex or even especially compelling – and perhaps even anachronistic. This week, Insider Trader brings you musings on professions inspired by well-known MMORPG blogger Tobold's predictions on the shape of MMORPGs in the year 2020. We have a lot for you to ponder and pontificate about – so please come join the conversation, after the break.
The great RMT debate
It's always a pleasure reading up on topics getting bounced around the MMOGblogosphere. One of the recent rigorous back-and-forths centered around the announcement of the Live Gamer service. We discussed the 'legit' RMT outfit and the reluctance of companies like Blizzard to take part, but other folks took the ball and ran with it. Raph Koster, well known designer and the big name behind Metaplace, opined that the announcement made a lot of sense as eradicating Real Money Transfer (RMT) is essentially impossible.Blogger Tobold's view on the subject was quite different, as he offered that RMT was basically just another design problem to be overcome. His site is often quite World of Warcraft-focused, and he offered several possible solutions Blizzard might adopt such as making gold 'bind on pickup', or by changing the Auction House to a 'blind bid' system like that seen in City of Heroes.Raph responded by offering that Tobold was essentially asking designers to remove the 'Massive' element from online games. He argued that the only real way to prevent RMT or power-leveling would be to disallow players from conversing, grouping, trading, or interacting in any meaningful way.That's the point when the fit hit the shan. The back and forth began, and Raph let loose what may be the most comprehensive article on Real Money Transfer I've ever seen. Make sure and read that one, and read on for a breakdown of the blow-by-blow back and forth.
A booming economy (and a lack of PvP) in the PotBS beta
The Pirates of the Burning Sea NDA lifted the other day when the beta went open, and so lots of bloggers are posting their own impressions of the game (we at Massively got to post ours a while back, but hey, we're cool like that). Tobold, though, has an interesting post up about a favorite subject of mine in the game: the economy and crafting system. Once again, you can read my thoughts in the crafting writeup from a while back, but Tobold says something I hadn't considered-- that it is extremely easy to raise a fortune in PotBS.Or is it? Tobold says you can make a lot of money just by using your stored labor (which stores up in real-time-- my favorite innovation in the game), and right now, that's true. But having played the beta for a while, my prediction is that prices in starter and close-to-starter ports will drop pretty sharply after the game comes out. Right now, PvP is still in its infancy in the game (either because people are still learning how to do it, or because pirates haven't geared up yet to the point where they can really crush newbies). I was able to sail around the world to trade without any trouble at all. But in the live game, it'll become that much more dangerous to travel across the seas, and that will push the system to where FLS wants it: with PvP and the economy as two sides of the same paper.Right now, it's easy to make a ton of money because money is moving fast around the world. When the game comes out, and the real pirates make their way to the open seas, the economy will fall much more into the pattern that FLS is trying to get it in: goods at home will be bought and sold cheaply, and to make the real production and trading money, you'll have to travel through dangerous waters and survive to sell at the other side.
The return (of Tobold and others) to World of Warcraft
Well he doesn't think he's news, but since we reported on his exit way back when, we might as well bring the whole story full circle, and report on Tobold's return to World of Warcraft. Patch 2.3 (and the Scroll of Resurrection deal-- which is a great one, I don't blame him for filling out a form to get 40 days free) is bringing him back as, he says, a casual player only.Now of course, the story's not really about Tobold-- with apologies to him for the unwanted attention we sent, it never was (so leave the guy alone, already-- if you've got comments about his decisions, leave them over here). But he is a big, influential MMO blogger, and his leaving WoW was part of a trend back then. In the dark days before 2.2, progress on the realms was stagnant, and there was nothing new to keep folks interested. Even with patch 2.2, voice chat wasn't a big draw for players (and in fact, now that I think about it, I haven't used it at all since it debuted-- my guild is still on Ventrilo, and no one has invited me to use the voice chat system).But now we're at patch 2.3, and the times, they are a-changin'. There's new midlevel content (!), Engineers have a purpose in life, Hunters have no dead zone, and there's a brand new 10-man instance in the game (almost guaranteed to quickly become the most popular endgame instance out there). Tobold's back, and, just as before, we've got to wonder if he's part of an early trend. Are all the players who took a break this summer coming back to Azeroth?
Tobold looks back at WoW, wonders what's next
Tobold's MMORPG Blog is one of the most popular online gaming blogs in the series of tubes, but Tobold suggesting that he and a lot of other online gamers are in a "gaming slump." World of Warcraft transformed the industry and expanded the market by leaps and bounds, but its appeal might be winding down, Tobold said. He could be right. Blizzard has been reporting active player numbers as high as ever, but a big chunk of the numbers comes from the enormous Asian player base. North American and European players might be ready to move on.But what's next? Most games these days are WoW clones, and many of them haven't done as well as expected. Does the genre need a Battlestar Galactica-esque total reboot? If so, what will do it? The new Blizzard MMO, as Tobold suggests? The fabled KotoR MMO? The Elder Scrolls Online? What are your thoughts, dear readers?
Charting the history of MMO subscriptions
The world of MMOs has been around a lot longer than even I realized, and thanks to Tobold's pointing out MMOData, I was able to look at the history of MMOs, at least as far as their subscriptions were concerned. The data on the site is not exactly up-to-date, but what it gives us is a general idea of the flow of popularity of each of the MMOs. But as a commenter pointed out on Tobold's article on the subject, counting accounts is not really the most accurate determinate of how popular a game is, particularly when you toss free MMOs into the mix. Rather, the data that would better tell us how popular a game is would be the active players information. If you know exactly how many people are playing each of the games during, say, a given week, you would then have a better understanding of how to compare their popularity. Hop on over to MMOData and play with the charts yourself. If nothing else, it's fun to mess with interactive data analysis, even if it's not entirely accurate.
Declines in user hours can spell trouble for sharded MMOs
WoW user hours (for USA users) have declined from August to September - by 18%, according to Xfire. No big dig at World of Warcraft, though. After all, they still have more USA subscribers than the USA has farmers [language warning], and most everyone slid a bit in the same period as school terms picked up again, so WoW is holding its own. MMO blogger Tobold observes that declining server populations/user hours have some issues quite distinct from overpopulation.
Does Tabula Rasa include Auto Assault code? Does it matter?
Auto Assault is widely considered a failed MMO, though opinions on the reason for this abound. Regardless, is there something there to be harvested and repurposed?A reader for the blog 'Tobold's MMORPG Blog' claims that there are aspects of Tabula Rasa that he's "100% sure" utilize code from Auto Assault. Some of these aspects include UI elements and character models. The blog goes on to ask 'So what?' Does it really matter if there is legacy code from a failed game in an upcoming, and hotly anticipated title? The commenters bat this back and forth, but the questions remain: are there similarities enough to invite the speculation, and is there anything to be concerned about here?(Via Tobold's MMORPG Blog)
