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The Daily Grind: What do you think about travel in MMOs?
If you never played Final Fantasy XI, you missed the singular joy of trying to catch a connecting flight in a video game if you wanted to go from, say, San d'Oria to Kazham. And sometimes you missed the flight and had to sit and wait for the airship to come land again. World of Warcraft might have eliminated that issue, but Alliance players still have nightmares about arriving in Darnassus and flying across an entire continent just to go through a single dungeon run. Compare and contrast travel in Guild Wars, a game in which you scroll around the map, click where you want to go, and port there with no fuss. On the one hand, there's something to be said for keeping travel an inconvenience, as it helps contribute to the feeling that the game world is huge and difficult to get around in. On the other hand, there's no reason in the world why a video game needs to be made that obnoxious and difficult to navigate -- you're not trying to chart a course to India in the fifteenth century, you're trying to go kill internet dragons. So what do you think about travel times in MMOs? Do you like a big world that takes a while to traverse, or would you rather just take the lead from the map travel of Guild Wars? 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!
DDO Update 5: Massively's interview with Fernando Paiz
Dungeons and Dragons Online Update 5 has been out for a while now, and it came on the scene to mixed reviews. Some players were unhappy about the combat changes, bugs here and there caused problems, and there were a couple of hotfixes in the first few days. The new adventure pack and guild renown system balanced it out nicely, though. In spite of continued glitches they were viewed overall as a great addition to the game. We were curious about several aspects of the update and what Turbine has planned for the immediate future, so we posed a few questions to Executive Producer Fernando Paiz. Follow along after the jump to see what he had to say about DDO's Update 5.
Exploring Eberron: First impressions of Update 5
Update 5 arrived on the Dungeons and Dragons Online servers Monday, making for a rough first half of the week. Guild renown, the underpinning of the much-touted airship system, was bugged to the point that it had to be completely turned off for most of Monday and Tuesday. The servers came down for four hours Tuesday afternoon for a hotfix. When they came back up, guild renown was fixed. Unfortunately, the auction hall bug was still hanging around, causing players with expired auctions to receive in-game mail containing nothing -- their items had disappeared into the ether. The auction hall was partially disabled Wednesday to alleviate the problem, and hotfix round two brought the servers down for a few more hours. This doesn't mean that Update 5 was a bad thing. Not even close. The rough start was only one facet of this update's launch week -- there is plenty to talk about after things settled down in that arena, and overall some great additions were brought to the game. Follow along after the jump as we look at the first week in Update 5.
Exploring Eberron: Is there a downside to the guild renown system?
This week's Dungeons and Dragons Online guild renown contest encouraged more players to visit Lamannia and check out the renown system. Turbine has been receiving a fair amount of feedback on these features and making adjustments every few days. Some functions -- such as the small guild bonus and renown in treasure bags -- have been removed for the time being, while others have been added. Renown can now be gained when hirelings make kills, for example. Tweaks and changes like this continue as the feedback comes in, and the updates to the Lamannia patch notes are continuing along with the forum discussions. It sounds like a great system, but is there a downside? Follow along after the jump as I take a closer look at the upcoming guild renown system and what it means to guilds of all sizes.
New DDO screenshots highlight airships
Airships are a big part of what's coming for Dungeons and Dragons Online update 5: Rise of the Guilds. We've gone from knowing nothing beyond "Ooh, pretty flying boats" to knowing quite a few details on acquisition, amenities, appearance, and so on. Today's latest round of screenshots highlights what we know a bit more. We've got a shot of an airship captain with a few interesting accessories lurking in the background, a group of ships traveling over the ocean, and a guild group digging into a chest full of goodies on their ship. We also got a peek at the absolutely gorgeous airship showroom -- seriously, take some time to look around on your first visit. The designers had a lot of fun with this one. Check out the gallery for the four newest images. %Gallery-94875%
New screenshots for Dungeons and Dragons Online update 5
Update 5 for Dungeons and Dragons Online is just a few weeks away, and as we find out more about guild renown, airships, and all the accessories that come with them, players are anxious to begin experiencing the new content firsthand. Turbine has made the wait a little easier -- or even harder, depending on how impatient you are -- by providing some screenshots of guilds with their shiny new airships. The images emphasize the focus on guilds working together to unlock these items, so check out the screenshots in the gallery below, and begin rallying your guild to earn your own. %Gallery-94875%
Ask a Beta Tester: Icecrown, quest rewards, and scary monsters
Good news! No corny jokes today! Just pure, delicious Ask a Beta Tester. Let's start with Actuality's question... When I first ran around TBC, the Fel Reaver scared the hell outta me. Ground shaking, crazily running everywhichwhere to get away. And the Draenei spiders still creep me out. But by and large the monsters now have a "ho hum" quality because I'm too used to them. My question is, are there any monsters in LK that will scare me or creep me out for at least a while?There are most certainly a bunch of those. There's a lot of "whoa, cool" mobs and "holy crap what the hell is that" mobs. My favorite is the geist (pictured above), and it sounds like a lot of our other readers adore that one as well. It has a very maniacal laugh when you aggro it. The Revenants are cool as hell, except for the Earth revenants which look like floating poo. I don't mean they look bad, I mean they actually look like poo. Also: Thrym in Zul'Drak. I won't tell you what he is or what he looks like, but you'll know him when you see him. Just remember the name Thrym. There's plenty of other cool/freaky models in Wrath, too many to name, so yes. There are monsters that will scare you and/or creep you out.
Boeing's Skyhook JHL-40 blimp gives us hope for yesterday's future
We love dirigibles and we're not about to apologize for it, so that's why Boeing's new Skyhook JHL-40 airship has us ooh'ing and aah'ing in wonder. The eight-engine blimp is being developed for 40-ton 200-mile hauls in adverse environments such as wildernesses and what Boeing calls places "no other kind of transport can go." It is also slated to have a minimal impact on the environment with a carbon-minimal footprint as it won't require new roadways in remote areas. Of the eight engines, four provide lift while the other four control direction. Two production prototypes are under development at its Rotorcraft Systems facility in Ridley Park, PA. Can we sign up for a test flight? Maybe? Just a little?[Via Coolest Gadgets]
First Impressions: Flyff
Flyff is a play-for-free 3D MMO with that anime style that today's youth hungers for. In my quest to devour all MMOs in existence, I took it upon myself to give Flyff a shot. Akela: He plays weird stuff so you don't have to.Here's the immediate take-away: Even though their tagline is 'Fly for fun', it's not immediately clear how the flying will occur. A lot of their advertising features great-looking airships, people soaring through the air on their own, fabulous critters wafting along, etc. In my initial hour, though, Flyff gameplay followed the standard, whacking things with a sword until they dropped loot like so many naughty piñatas.%Gallery-10430%
