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Rumors of the Void in EQ2 Game Update 45
Keen-eyed SOE watcher Kendricke of Clockwork Gamer has been scouring the 'Net for hints of the nature of EverQuest 2's next expansion. And he may have found a clue on the French version of SOE's EQ2Players web site. The announcement reads, in part (translated from the French): "The Rodcet Nife event will go live with Update 45. Optional quests associated with this event will grow in intensity leading to large-scale invasions of Void creatures around the world for all levels."We've written previously that the next EQ2 expansion, The Shadow of Odyssey, might have something to do with The Void. The Void is a realm of which we know little, aside from being the extra-planar home of the Shadowmen from which they are launching their secret invasion of Norrath. This latest news has us more and more convinced that come November, we may find ourselves exploring the eldritch towers and dead moonscapes of this shadowed realm.What has the god of healing, Rodcet Nife (a flawed anagram of Fine Doctor), to do with the Void? We don't know yet, but somehow his return is mixed up with the Shadowman invasion in some way. We'll know in a couple of weeks when GU45 hits the live servers.[Via Clockwork Gamer]
I am healer: breaking healing's spell
Imagine a fantasy MMO that completely shirked the idea of healers, healing potions, and healing in general. Instead of dedicating hundreds of player hours to perfecting these combat crutches, why don't game designers finally throw aside the long-cliche notion of healing, and design their games more like real life? This is the question at the heart of a recent blog post by Kendricke over at Clockwork Gamer. If you follow Kendricke's line of reasoning - the heroes in most major forms of media survive not by having one of their cohorts plant themselves in the back of the room and lob magic spells that regenerate cleaved flesh, they simply avoid damage. Wouldn't this make a more exciting product for players in the long-run, and free developers from the "tank/healing/dps" trap that has held them for so long?The answer, naturally, is that of course it would be an improvement, but only if the developer gave the idea due diligence. EVE Online is an example of a game that doesn't rely on the healing crutch, but it was something that was really built into the foundation of its gameplay mechanics and lore. Warhammer Online's approach to having combat healers is slightly more suspect, because it seems like they're trying to have their cake and eat it too; how long will it really be before these healing/damage hybrids become completely co-opted for healing? Kendricke's take on the subject is definitely worth checking out, even if you're not typically the guy who gets suckered into healing as some of us do.
Mixing skill into a multiplayer game
Clockwork Gamer posted an interesting look at skill in MMOs the other day. He categorizes skill in online games into three areas: character gear and advancement, game knowledge, and player skill.Character gear and advancement can be done by anyone-- the longer you've played a game, it's almost guaranteed that the better your character will be. Game knowledge is usually something cultivated both outside the game, and by social interaction inside the game. It's only by reading sites like this one and talking to your friends that you can learn strategies to defeat enemies (or other player classes). And player skill is the hardest form of skill to get a grasp on. It's that weird measure of how good you are at aiming the mouse and hitting the right buttons when necessary.Usually, when people say "playing skill," they're talking about games that require twitch and computer knowledge to conquer: first person shooters, real-time strategy games, and so on. MMOs don't usually fit into that because in most cases, the other two forms of skill can match up or even outweigh actual "skill"-- a level 1 character will never topple an endgame character, no matter how great his aim is. But there's a lot more research to do here-- it seems like there is definitely a sweet spot for player skill to be found in MMOs. While some have tried (and are trying) to find it, we haven't quite hit it yet.
Rise of Kunark replaces lore with bore
If any sect of gamers was ever prone to nostalgia, it's RPG players. If you're ever in a situation where you want to get a nerd talking, just ask him about the most epic D&D campaign he's ever been a party to. It's got a 99.9% success rate, just try it. In the same vein, Clockwork Gamer's Kendricke spins a yarn about his nostalgia for the pure story-driven goodness of his first introduction into the world of high fantasy. Using Rise of Kunark as an example, he explains how the repetitive kill and fetch quests that proliferate in the new EQ2 expansion have neutered whatever sense of time and place the player had.It's a sentiment that's nothing new, as our own Marc Nottke recently proclaimed the death of roleplaying in MMO. Kendricke's argument is much more focused, however. He say that Rise of Kunark has none of the pan-expansion story arcs that made Planes of Power, Legacy of Ykesha, and even Gates of Discord fun for players. Is it really any surprise then when players blast through all the content in a manner of days? You can't stop and smell the roses if there aren't any flowers on the way.
How the MMO crawled out of the MUD
Clockwork Gamer has a good juicy post up about how MMOs first learned how to do things from MUDs, and since today is Old School Day, I thought it was appropriate. Wait, you haven't heard of Multi-User Dungeons? If you've never played one, you'll probably be shocked that they used to fascinate people-- imagine an old-school computer, with its green text on a black screen, dialing into another computer and entering a text-based virtual world. As in, you dial up your favorite BBS, and a message greets you "You are in an inn. There are exits north and west," and from there, you type in words telling the computer what to do, while other users play the game with you. You can try the whole thing with the java client here if you want.A far cry from the virtual worlds we know today, yes, but that's where it started. CG actually focuses on the higher level of things (in many MUDs, players could actually form guilds, and wander around the world together-- "go north"-- killing dragons-- "attack dragon with great mace"), but even the most basic of MMO thrills was originated in the MUD world. "Seeing" a virtual character pass through the room you're in ("Kingofworld enters the room. Kingofworld leaves the room.") was a thrill, because you knew that there was someone else, looking at a screen just like you, behind that character. On the other hand, as CG points out, there were a lot of things that MUDs could do that graphical MMOs can't nowadays.
