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MMO Mechanics: Exploring death mechanics
They say death must come to us all, and that inevitability extends to our characters in MMOs. The death of our characters may be inconvenient when we want to plough through content, but penalising failure is an essential part of any MMO and further incentivises success by making you learn from your mistakes. As much as players crave gratification through rewards and progression, they also need to feel that such progress has been well-earned and greatly deserved. Rewards become that much sweeter when we must risk something to secure them, and failure without consequence would render the gains made in our favourite MMOs insignificant. Without a considerable death penalty, it becomes possible to mindlessly crush content through brute force. I don't know about you, but I don't find fun in bashing my skull repeatedly with a rock in an attempt to crack it! In this week's MMO Mechanics, I compare various death penalties and the effects they have on the MMOs that employ them. I'll explore just how tangible death penalties such as corpse running, gear durability loss, and XP drain make our character's demise feel.
A Vanguard fifth anniversary year-in-review
It's that time again -- time to look back on a year of Vanguard: Saga of Heroes and see what changed and what stayed exactly the same. The game is now five years old, and the last year has been relatively exciting for the community. Vanguard is just one of those titles that seems to want to last forever. The playerbase is loyal, mature, and truly dedicated to this aging title. Will the players' efforts pay off? We took a look back on the last year to see what the larger announcements were. There were some surprises and even updates (yes, actual updates to the game), something that is still affecting the community. While other games might publish monthly or even weekly updates, the Vanguard players are the camels of the greater MMO community and have learned to live off very little development fuel. Bear in mind that as I type this, an update is being played through on the test server.
The Soapbox: Sandboxes and the cop-out of FFA PvP
Disclaimer: The Soapbox column is entirely the opinion of this week's writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Massively as a whole. If you're afraid of opinions other than your own, you might want to skip this column. Last week, our own Jef Reahard mounted the Massively Soapbox with an article titled Sandboxes and the fear of FFA PvP. In it, he argued that open PvP was a natural and necessary part of any solid sandbox MMO. He also made waves by suggesting that FFA PvP is crucial to the roleplaying experience and that roleplayers should really face their "fears" and give it a try. I'm a sandbox gamer and a PvPer at heart. I played the early years of Ultima Online and lived the adrenaline rush of full and brutal PvP and thievery. Dark Age of Camelot's RvR sucked up another year of my life. Star Wars Galaxies remains my sandbox of choice, and I've braved a World of Warcraft PvP server since launch. I know this territory very well. I'll knock it, because I have more than tried it -- in several tasty flavors. And even though I'm an unabashed Jef-fangirl, I think there are a few debatable issues with his article. Hit the jump for some good old-fashioned counterpoints!
Allods Online will replace harsh death penalty with Patch 1.1
Since launch, the free-to-play Allods Online has had a very unpopular death mechanic. When a player is killed in the game, Fear of Death is applied to their character. This debuff is a 25% hit to offensive stats for a duration based on level up to 51 minutes. And it stacks, so if the player dies again, they get a 50% debuff. Players must use a special item (incense) to remove the effect early. They can buy incense using the cash shop or in the auction house from other players who have already paid for it with real money. With the launch of Patch 1.1: Revelations of Gipat on July 7th, Fear of Death will be going away, replaced instead with a different kind of penalty. But will it be what players have been asking for all along?
