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Flameseeker Chronicles: Expectations vs. reality
Welcome to another edition of Flameseeker Chronicles, and happy Thanksgiving several days late! I had an enjoyable weekend visiting family, eating way too much, and shopping (also way too much). In between that I managed to hop into Guild Wars and farm some pumpkin pie and hard apple cider. Earlier last week I also spent two and a half hours playing through Hearts of the North on Massively's Livestream channel, showing the content to several hundred readers. That was a bit of a nerve-wracking experience, because it's not the easiest content in the world, and there's nothing quite so much fun as having to restart over and over in front of a huge crowd. In the end I had a great time, and it was a good illustration that this isn't throwaway content that you can skate through. My thoughts on the content as well as some Guildcast discussion got me looking at the interaction between ArenaNet and the Guild Wars community, something I've been doing a lot in the absence of major Guild Wars 2 news. Follow along after the jump to see where my focus has been lately -- and as always, share your thoughts at the end!
Darkfall devs planning crafting, alignment revamps and more
Curious as to whether Aventurine listens to user feedback relating to its Darkfall MMORPG (and if so, what it does with said feedback)? We were too, and as such we found the most recent activity report to be an interesting read. Aventurine's Tasos Flambouras gives us a bit of insight into the creative process, outlining a developer meeting that saw a good bit of discussion regarding GUI suggestions, alignment considerations, and newbie experience feedback. "This is a topic of great importance for us and we might call it the newbie experience but changes in this should improve the general player experience as well," he writes. Regarding alignment, Flambouras states that "we agree [with the playerbase] that as far as alignment goes, going red is too forgiving when it needs to be more of an active decision with implications for the player." He also touches on a potential auction house implementation, a significant crafting revamp, and quest and questing system enhancements. While none of these items is divulged in detail, the report is an interesting look at considerations currently on the table for Agon's near future.
Don't panic -- Massively's getting a makeover! [Update #5]
Blizzard isn't the only team around preparing for a cataclysm. The perceptive among you might have noticed a few subtle changes around Massively today and wondered what was going on. Is it the end times?! Nope! In fact, we have exciting news! Tonight (Monday, November 22nd) and continuing through the week, we'll be rolling out our brand-new site. That's right, folks: Massively's getting a much-deserved facelift meant to bring the site in line with our community's needs and position us a bit more prominently alongside our sister site, Joystiq. We'll not only be easier on the eyes but easier to navigate, and best of all, we'll have a new and improved login and comment system. Rejoice! We'll get a new URL too -- massively.joystiq.com -- although www.massively.com will continue to redirect just fine to all the content you love, old and new. Over the next week, Massively might be a little bit weird as our Gnomish Engineers scramble to get a site of this size into its new outfit, so please bear with us while we tinker. Just to quell any remaining fears -- we're not closing down, we've not been bought out, and we're not selling out to corporate overlords. We've always been part of the Joystiq network; it's just going to be a bit more obvious now. The same bloggers will still be bringing you the same MMO posts and features as before. We're just going to look a whole lot more stylish doing it. We'll keep you posted as the rollout continues! [Ongoing updates are behind the cut! Last update was at 11:05 a.m. EST on Wednesday, November 24th. -Bree]
New Darkfall blog talks optimizing interaction and offline leveling
Darkfall has always had a reputation for being a very hardcore game, but Aventurine has been hard at work trying to improve the in-game experience for all players -- both the well-known PvP audience and the more PvE-focused crowd. In the most recent official blog, Tasos Flambouras calls the team's focus "optimizing interaction," a convenient catch-all term for an overarching goal of making the game world and the interface easier to work with and more meaningful to players. Flambouras mentions the previously discussed offline skill leveling -- in short, you will pay gold to meditate on a skill to advance it while you're offline. The feature will be limited to a few skills when first implemented, but if it proves not to cause any balance issues, more skills will be added to the roster. There's a lot of information about where the Darkfall development team is placing its emphasis, so take a look at the full article for a peek inside the team members' head.
The Mog Log: We all live in a community submarine
This week, like the week before, has seen an explosion of controversy about Final Fantasy XIV. I have not really taken part, as I have been far too busy playing Final Fantasy XIV to care one way or the other. But after a month of people's impressions, it seems like the perfect time to dive back into the meat of the community topics -- much like we did last month around the same time, as a matter of fact. Sadly, Final Fantasy XI has been fairly quiet, both due to the anger generation systems its successor features and due to a general sense of community burnout. After all, we're about two months away from another version update, and thus far we've heard nothing about what's due for December. Still, jump on past the cut for discussions about Final Fantasy XI as well as FFXIV, with the usual dosage of commentary to accompany each.
Age of Conan wants your feedback, lots of it
If you've ever wanted to make your voice heard with regard to Age of Conan and its future direction, now is your chance. Funcom executive producer Craig "Silirrion" Morrison has posted his monthly Hyborian outlook on the game's official community site as well as the forums, and July's Letter from the Game Director offers players the chance to communicate with decision makers via five separate survey questionnaires. The surveys are fairly lengthy; filling them all out will probably take you the better part of an hour, and they cover everything from general gameplay, to PvP, to raiding and beyond. In addition to farming opinions, Morrison hints at ongoing tweaks to Age of Conan in the form of Khitai progression (specifically, trophy drop-rates) as well as the upcoming Dreamworld engine revamp. In our experience, it's fairly rare for a developer to solicit this amount of feedback, and Funcom looks to be committed to giving players even more of what they want going forward.
Apple patents another haptic feedback solution
AppleInsider reports that Apple is still bouncing around ideas for a screen that allows for haptic feedback on its iOS devices. A new patent filed this week outlines a system of screens on a device designed to not only detect touch and protect the underlying technology but also provide physical feedback in various areas of the screen. We've talked about this before, and Apple's been working on it for a while; as nice as the iPhone and iPad's screens are, there are some functions (like typing on a keyboard or hitting buttons in games) that call for a little more physical feedback. The patent also mentions things like giving users notice when they've reached a limit (as in scrolling or panning across pictures) or providing clicks on a scroll wheel. Unfortunately, this is all still in the prototype stages. For whatever reason (I can guess a few, from power requirements to manufacturing costs), Apple still hasn't included any of this technology in a production device. But they're obviously very interested in providing haptic feedback, so hopefully, it won't be too long before we see an idea like this come to fruition.
Toshiba brings texture to touch (video)
Reach out and touch whatever screen you're reading this on. What if, instead of feeling the glass or plastic beneath your finger, you could experience the texture of a brush, woodgrain, or even a stone? Well, Toshiba's working on just such a project, which operates on the basis of a film affixed to, say, a smartphone's touch panel -- electrical currents are sent through this layer, and your digits are shot up with the simulated sensation of touching those various surfaces. Senseg, the company behind this tech, has been around since 2008, but perhaps this recent prototype demo is a sign that things might actually start going places. It's not like there'll be a shortage of imaginative uses for such precise tactile feedback. Video after the break.
Funcom's Morrison asks for your AoC feedback
Age of Conan executive producer and game director Craig Morrison is no stranger to the game's official forums, and earlier today he stopped by the boards to solicit feedback from fans. Specifically, he's interested in your thoughts regarding progression in the recently released Rise of the Godslayer expansion. "What do you consider to be your first priority for progression in the expansion content? As we move forward it's one of the important areas for us to consider at we look at any potential balance changes to the methods and sources of progression, so I am interested to see what you folks think," he writes. Head on over to the official Age of Conan boards to cast your vote and make your voice heard in the discussion.
WoW Magazine polls the community
WoW Magazine is looking for some new information, helpful hints, and feedback in the form of two polls just added on the official Warcraft forums. What's in it for you? The best responses they receive will be incorporated into the magazine's features as quotes, and people whose suggestions are used will have their character fully credited for the quote they provide. The first is a request for tips, hints, and other useful information for the "Battlegrounds Back to Basics" feature, regarding Eye of the Storm in an upcoming issue: Bashiok The industrious gnomes and goblins at World of Warcraft Official Magazine are currently working on the next issue. One of its regular features is "Battlegrounds Back to Basics" - this time around covering Eye of the Storm As part of that feature, we're looking for hints and tips from EotS veterans. Is that you? If so, please feel free to post your favorite one-line strategies, tactics and tricks that help give you the winning edge. They can either be team oriented, or even class specific. The best suggestions will be incorporated into the feature as quotes - and of course your character will be fully credited. Remember – these should be straightforward one-liners – we're not looking for long paragraphs packed with intricate details. Thanks in advance to all! source The second involves the upcoming beta for Cataclysm, whether or not people are avoiding it and what those that are opting-in are looking forward to among other things. Is this a hint that we'll see the beta for Cataclysm before we see the next issue of Warcraft Magazine? Who knows -- but check out the post for more information on what kind of feedback they're looking for: Bashiok The gang at World of Warcraft Official Magazine would like to know if you plan on participating in the Cataclysm beta. What about it gets you excited? What should people know before opting-in and participating? Are you purposefully avoiding the beta and all information? Do you love to hunt down bugs, do you thrive in a world of the unknown, or do you despise the impermanence of a testing environment? Tell us about your best experiences from past tests, missed opportunities, your dos and don'ts, your beta hopes, and anything in-between! The best posts will be incorporated into the feature as quotes, and your character will be fully credited. Thanks in advance to all! source Have an opinion about either of the two topics? Check them out on the official Warcraft forums and put your two cents in -- who knows, you may end up in Warcraft Magazine!
Sony Online Entertainment offers live chat with Quality Assurance
Sometimes submitting feedback or a bug report can feel like you're talking into a dead phone. How do you know the developers on the other end are even hearing you? Sony Online Entertainment is keeping those lines of communication open by planning a chat with their Quality Assurance team. This will be a live event on the SOE Ustream channel and last about an hour. The QA team will use the time to talk about the feedback process for all of their games, share some stories, talk about what the community can do to make their feedback more effective, and answer questions from the community. That last part, of course, is where you come in. If you've got a question for the QA team, send it in by April 6th (tomorrow) at 10:00 AM US Pacific Time, then plan to watch the live webcast this Wednesday, the 7th at 1:00 pm PDT. Check out all the details here, and get your questions in!
Star Trek Online Advisory Council formed, wailing and gnashing of teeth ensues
Fan input can be a touchy thing. You get it whether you ask for it or not, especially if you have official forums, and it's usually fairly divided. The fanbase frequently can't agree on what they want as an aggregate, so it's understandable that companies might want to filter some of the input through other sources. It's understandable that Cryptic would want to create the Star Trek Online Advisory Council, consisting of vocal fans that they can use as a barometer of current opinion and compressing the most urgent issues. Especially given the philosophy of player-driven development, it all makes sense. The problems come when they announce this to other players. First response in the official thread is an incredulous statement that one group of fans is getting more input in the game's direction than anyone else for what they consider no logical reason. At 51 pages as of this writing and still going, the thread's response is overwhelmingly negative, ranging from anger to baffled confusion at the program. How Star Trek Online's producers will react is unsure, but it's certain that the announcement hasn't gone over well... a true shame after riding high from the first large content patch.
Jagex Community Dev Diary: Striking a balance
Massively has invited Jagex Games Studio, developer of RuneScape and other online titles, to share with the MMO community some of the unique challenges and tasks that they deal with on a daily basis. In the first of a regular dev diary series, Jagex's Kelvin Plomer (Head of Community Management) and Paul Mayer (RuneScape Community Manager) open up about the difficulty of striking a balance between the needs of players and the direction of developers. The Community Has Spoken: How MMO Creators Balance Development Plans with Player Feedback Community and player involvement are the backbone of any good MMO. One of the huge issues we face as a Community Management team, and as a game developer and publisher, is that all of our players have an opinion on pretty much every aspect of our games...and they're not afraid to let us know about it! What's the issue, then? Well, when you have the largest free MMO in the world in your game catalogue with millions of players, that's one hell of a lot of opinion to attempt to digest, respond to and factor into game development.
Help develop Tyrannis on the EVE test server
EVE Online's Tyrannis expansion is due for release in a few months and players are looking forward to the new planetary interaction mechanic. Although the core ideas for the expansion have been settled on, many of the game mechanics have not been fully fleshed out. In an effort to get players involved, CCP have begun releasing early prototypes of the planetary interaction feature on the EVE test server Singularity. It's important to keep in mind that nothing on the test server is final. As a studio that makes heavy use of agile development strategies, CCP will use feedback from players on the test server to incrementally refine the design. Dierdra Val, director of EVE University, has been on the test server to bring the EVE community details of CCP's current designs. They've released a video showing the process of installing structures on a planet and setting up factory links. So far, planetary interaction seems very similar to the moon mining and reacting industry but it's definitely a much more active process. While moon mining operations produce an endless supply of moon minerals at a steady rate, planet-based material deposits will vary in total size and yield per cycle. The materials produced on planets are also different than those produced by existing industrial operations. Skip past the cut to watch EVE University's test-server planetary interaction tutorial or set up a test server client and try it out for yourself.
Champions devs looking for player feedback on melee powers
Cryptic is looking for constructive player feedback on the melee powers in Champions Online. You can post your thoughts over on this thread created by Daeke on the official forums. With power sets being such an integral part of what makes this game tick the way it does, this is a prime opportunity to have your voices heard. You'll need a forum account, but besides that it's open to anyone looking to respond. Now, we know some of you harbor an unfettered distaste for the brand of MMO superherodom found in Champions Online, and that's wholly your prerogative. If you find yourself wanting to let the developers have a piece of your mind, just make sure you do it in a manner that's both organized and constructive. Red-faced yelling -- or its online equivalent -- won't get your feedback taken seriously by anyone with the authority to actually do something about it.
Champions Online: Did you enjoy Attack of the Misfit Toys?
For the holidays, Champions Online presented their fans with an especially nice surprise: a gigantic, slavering teddy bear bent on the destruction of...well, everything. So how did you like it? Randy "Arkayne" Mosiondz is the lead designer for Champions Online who created a forum thread today for fans to give feedback on their first ever winter event. The thread asks for your top three likes, your top three dislikes, and what you would like to see in future holiday events. Players have been giving feedback here and there up until now, but the thread will serve as a central place for the CO design team to hear how the player base feels. They'll take the answers into account as a guide to creating future events, so if there are some things that really stood out to you during the winter event -- either good or bad -- this is the time and place to be heard by the developers. The thread can be found at the official forums, so head over and give your take on the event.
[1.Local]: Do it for the e-peen Sunday
Reader comments -- ahh, yes, the juicy goodness following a meaty post. [1.Local] ducks past the swinging doors to see what readers have been chatting about in the back room over the past week. The hot topic at [1.Local]'s press time was an opinion piece from Adam Holisky mulling over the unfortunate high profile of inappropriate posts from disgruntled players on the Blizzard forums. "While it's obvious that trollish parts of the community value and participating in internet yelling matches, the majority of the community does not care to hear it," writes Adam. "We bring this issue up and to the forefront on popular WoW media because it's imperative for the health of the community that this vocal minority does not control or continue to influence the quiet majority." Urnias: Adam H. is exactly right. Forum posts like the one referenced are why I stopped trying to garner any useful information from that source. I got tired and angry of having to wade through 1) e-peen, 2) flame wars, 3) players who do zero research and 4) those who feel their drop in the bucket to Blizzard's coffers entitles them to dictate game direction and others' play styles. Please shut up and just play the game. If you're that pissed off, quit. When Blizzard sees the thousands upon thousands of accounts leaving to play Star Trek or Warhammer, they will make the changes you need to feel better and they will beg you to come back.
Blizzard and how they deal with ninjas
Wojtek sent us this thread in which he posted a long series of emails between him and Blizzard about the ninja of an Onyxia Drake. There's a lot of back and forth, but eventually, the bottom line is that Blizzard was not able to help him, whether that's because he didn't have the information right, they couldn't find what they needed in the chat logs, or they just didn't want to. Later on, the thread is locked, and Wojtek is given the usual feedback address for the GM actions. So what does all this mean? We've heard in the past that Blizzard will occasionally help with ninjas, and we've even heard unofficially that if you get the main looter in a PuG raid to state the looting conditions ahead of time, Blizzard can go back, look that up, and then reward loot based on who really deserves it. But of course, all of that is unofficial, and there are so many variations and issues in situations like these that there can't really be a hard and fast rule -- sometimes Blizzard can help, sometimes they can't.
Schiller defends App Store approval process
Well here we go. Up until now, we've heard a lot from developers about how much of a mess the App Store's approval process is, from people who've been rejected outright to people who've been forced to resubmit to people who've just given up completely. But we haven't heard much from Apple, and now Phil Schiller has spoken with Business Week about what it is about the App Store's approval process that has devs pulling their hair out. The verdict? Schiller says the process is in place for a reason. About 90% of the apps submitted merely have bugs or technical issues, and he says for the most part that devs are happy to get that feedback (though TechCrunch doesn't buy that for one second). But the other 10% of the apps Apple denies are simply what they deem "inappropriate," which could be anything from problematic coding (code that steals passwords or other private information), or app content that doesn't belong on the store, from porn to apps that help break the law or steal in some way. Apple is also vicious about trademark defense -- Schiller says that "if you don't defend your trademarks, in the end you end up not owning them." That all sounds fine and dandy (ok, well, the "inappropriate" label is a little unclear -- that's broad enough that Apple could fit almost anything under that umbrella, which is a bit troubling), but what about all of those angry devs? Unfortunately, Schiller doesn't address at all the idea that Apple might someday allow devs to release apps that haven't been through their approval process, on the App Store or anywhere else. As far as Apple is concerned, it seems like they're keeping their grip on what gets released, and anyone who doesn't like it is welcome to go elsewhere. [via TheAppleBlog]
Insomniac Games took negative Resistance 2 fan feedback to heart
In a display of candor we rarely see from video game industry figures, Insomniac Games community manager James Stevenson recently poured his heart out in a VideoGamer.com interview. He admitted that although Resistance 2 garnered fairly good reviews, negative feedback from devoted fans of the series' first installment "weighed" on him. He went on to add, "the hardcore fans of Resistance 1 were maybe a little bit disappointed. Those folks consistently expressing that - especially GAF - it was like your dog turned on you." Stevenson continued the analogy, stating, "you had this dog that loved you. You loved the dog, too, but they expressed all this affection for you. And then suddenly the dog bites your hand and it's that feeling of, ooh, ow, that really hurts." We can only guess how disappointing negative fan feedback must be for a developer -- however, couldn't this be seen as your dog telling you they're disappointed, and suggesting ways to do better in the future? Oh, like that adorable, illustrated anti-drug dog! We love that little guy.
