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EVE Evolved: The road ahead for 0.0 alliances, part 2
In the days before the sovereignty system, alliances unofficially claimed vast swathes of space and lived out of NPC stations. When the sovereignty system was introduced, POS (Player Owned Starbases) were used to officially claim systems. It wasn't long before people got bored of shooting down massive numbers of enemy POS and setting up their own to steal their sovereignty.
The Daily Quest: Keep watching the skies
We here at WoW.com are on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere. Starman over at Casual Raid Leader has a great post about taking negative feedback during raids / WoW, everyone should read this and link it to their guildies! A great post from Defeat Dragons on making your recruitment work. It was Flow Chart Friday over at I Like Bubbles. Honors Code talks about the uphill battle for a fresh level 80 tank. Healing Death Knights can be "fun," and Rolling Hots gives it a go. Click here to submit a link to TDQ
Anti-Aliased: A few reasons to cage the nerdrage pt. 2
3. Because almost every game has a silver lining This is a sentence that I abide by in almost everything I do. Even in games I don't like, I can usually find something that really wows me and makes me appreciate the developer's work. I know Darkfall is one of those games that many people just really don't like. I'm the same way -- I don't care for the way the game handles itself. But where it failed in game design, it didn't fail on unique vistas and sharp combat. Sure, the graphics aren't top notch, but there are still areas in the game where you just have to go, "Wow, that's an incredible sight." Plus, it's real time combat in a MMO. That's really, really hard to do and kudos to an independent developer for pulling it off. "You've heard that everyone's a critic, yes? Well everyone's also apparently a game designer." Even when you completely hate a game, I urge you to look back at it and consider your experiences. You wouldn't have played it for a while unless there was something that made you enjoy the experience even a little bit. Then again, maybe you hate it all. But if you do, see the piece of advice above before you begin nerd vomiting all over forum threads.Although... there certainly are gaming exceptions to this rule...2. Because it doesn't help anybodyThis is the part where people seem to totally and completely miss the boat. And when I say miss the boat I mean that the boat as totally pulled away from the dock, is 500 feet away, and people still run off the dock and jump into the sea holding their suitcases.Nobody benefits from aimless criticism that amounts of nothing more than the screaming of biased opinions. You get to look like an inconsiderate idiot, the community gets irritated at your groundless claims, and the developers learn nothing about how to improve their game. Bad criticism isn't bad as long as it's appropriately constructive. It's actually some of the best stuff you can possibly get in regards to your product. Positive feedback means you're going the right way, but constructive feedback shows exactly what's going wrong with your current design and where you can improve. "If you think making any game is easy, then I challenge you to sit down and start making your own pen and paper roleplaying game, or a board game, or a card game." My favorite comment in this regard was made by a Bungie developer during the Halo 3 multiplayer beta. A journalist asked him, "What did you learn from this beta test?" and I recall the developer responding that all he got from the bug reports was that the level sucked. He didn't know why the levels sucked because everyone just wrote that they sucked.1. Because you may not know what it's like to make a gameYou've heard that everyone's a critic, yes? Well everyone's also apparently a game designer. Everyone knows what's best for a game, how to balance the design, and how to make it so "X class doesn't suck."I think that many people think it's super easy to make a game. Slap some abilities in, render a few areas, get a server, and you have an MMO, right? Heck no! You have programming bugs, design bugs, art asset bugs, pathing to worry about, scripts to run, a whole set of connections between servers to worry about, and much, much more. So here's my challenge. If you think making any game is easy, then I challenge you to sit down and start making your own pen and paper roleplaying game, or a board game, or a card game. Share it with your friends and see what they say. But, above all, see how long it takes you to make a "simple" game. Include with that the testing you do with your friends, the fine tuning you may make to the rules. You'll find it's more work than you probably through it was. Believe me, I know, I'm doing it. So next time before you rocket fire your hate mail out onto the intarwebz, think about a couple of these things before you trash someone's game. You might just find yourself holding back, just because you understand a little bit more about gaming and a little bit more about how frivolous it is to hold such pointless grudges. Colin Brennan is the weekly writer of Anti-Aliased who hates aimless hate. When he's not writing here for Massively, he's rambling on his personal blog, The Experience Curve. If you want to message him, send him an e-mail at colin.brennan AT weblogsinc DOT com. You can also follow him on Twitter through Massively, or through his personal feed.
Tips for raiding faster
I am definitely an advocate of the fast instance or raid -- when I played a tank, I pulled pulled pulled (according to the healer's mana, of course), and even now, mostly as a Hunter, I still get impatient. When the healer's mana is full and the tank is not /afk, I sometimes just throw a Misdirect up and go. That's probably why I really liked Naissa's tips for speedy raiding -- she lays out a few really practical things you can do to get your raid moving faster, from only marking skull and X when necessary to only worrying about the healer's mana. It's not the end of the world if the Mage or Hunter has to drink for a second after the pull. While you should always get back to full before a boss pull (and as she says, that's a perfect time to break down the basics, only the basics, of the fight), usually as long as you've got the tank and healer ready, a quick pull will give you time for aggro to settle down as well.I don't completely agree with her DPS meter remarks -- I do think that beating the raid is much more important than trying to win the DPS meters, but as a DPS player, I like viewing the meters as good feedback on where I should be. If I'm super low in the meters, it's time to look at my gear and rotations and try to figure out why so I can get better, and I think it's valuable for DPS, as long as they can keep their attention on the raid, to do the same thing.But all of the other tips are great, and in general, "pull pull pull" should be the order of the day. Some groups are better at rolling through content than others, obviously, but as long as you've got a solid tank and healer in play who know the instance and know how to handle what comes, most raids and groups can move through the content pretty quickly.
SOE wants to know what you want at Fan Faire
Looks like things over at Sony Online Entertainment are really gearing up for this year's Fan Faire in Las Vegas. Sure, you know something big has to be coming because it's the 10th anniversary of EverQuest this year, but to sweeten the deal SOE is looking for player input. Did you hate that you didn't have enough time for Q&A on your favorite SOE title last year? Would you have preferred to hear John Smedley sing something other than Guns & Roses at karaoke? Did you really enjoy the silly competitions that Brenlo held during dinner? Perhaps you'd like to suggest a whole new panel that they haven't considered doing yet? Whatever your reasons, be sure to pop by the Fan Faire forums and let them know!
Speaking up for what's right
This is a pretty insightful thread, from all sides, on what the forums and customer feedback are really for. Rekker on Detheroc makes a good point, and that is that while people will complain about anything, almost no one speaks up when things are working right. We talked a little bit about this on the podcast this past week: are Blizzard's decisions based on a player base that never seems to be happy, no matter what you throw at them, or on some arbitrary design guidelines that Blizzard has stuck with from the beginning? Ghostcrawler, as you might expect, says it's a little bit of both. Blizzard doesn't just do what players say -- they consider player feedback and then make decisions from there. But at the same time, they can't ignore what players say, either. GC agrees that the forums are not the best sample of feedback, for the same reasons that Rekker gives: players go there because something is bothering them and they want it changed, not usually because they really love something in the game and want it to stay the same.Of course, forums are not the only form of feedback from the community, and there are many places Blizzard can get feedback about things in the game that players like (ahem). But just like Blizzard does, whenever you look at the forums, you have to realize that you're looking at just a slice of the feedback. People don't make QQ posts about the stuff they appreciate and like having in the game.
Windows 7 bug fixes to include multitouch zoom for Explorer
After hearing of the thousands (hell, two thousands!) of bug fixes and enhancements that Windows 7 users will be seeing as they make the journey from Beta to Release Candidate, you'd have thought that we'd heard the last of all that for a bit. But not so! It seems that Microsoft's own Engineering Windows 7 blog will be letting the improvements trickle out as they are addressed. So brace yourself for some exciting plot twists, such as improvements to the taskbar thumbnail overflow and various jump lists, the trimming of sound schemes to enhance system performance, and our personal favorite, the addition of multitouch zoom to Windows Explorer. How cool is that? But there's plenty more to this saga -- hit the read link for all the saucy deets.
Lichborne: It's been one week (of 3.1)
Welcome to Lichborne, the weekly Death Knight column. This week, Daniel Whitcomb continues to make sense of just what the heck they're doing to us on the PTR.So we have one week down in the PTR. We've had a chance to get more familiar with the Death Knight changes, both the documented and undocumented, and to see how they'll affect the way we play once 3.1 goes live. Of course, by the time 3.1 goes live, they could be changed pretty extensively, but for now, it's a good idea to check out where they are right now, and not only predict where they might go, but let the developers know by our feedback, based on testing, where we think the class should go. With that in mind, let's take a look at the current state of the class on the PTR, where we're going and where we want to be heading.
Windows 7 to get 2,000 bug fixes pointed out by testers
Microsoft has been a bit lax in communicating with beta testers of its Windows 7 operating system who have reported problems or bugs to the company -- according to some of the testers, anyway. Well, apparently they've been really busy! Steven Sinofsky, senior vice president for the Windows and Windows Live Engineering Group at Microsoft, has just directly addressed the issue of bugs in a blog post, noting some pretty astounding figures. First, he says that over 2,000 bugs will be fixed in the release version of Win 7 because of feedback from the over 10 million downloaders of the beta OS, which ended on February 10th. Sinofsky says that at peak times in January, Microsoft was receiving one feedback report every fifteen seconds for a week straight, and has, to date, gotten over 500,000 of them. He assures testers that the company reads and considers every email and comment received. Hit the read links to find his entire post, as well as an update detailing of some of the fixes that are on the way! [Via Daily Tech] Read - Some changes since beta for the RC Read - Feedback and engineering Windows 7
SOE's Station Launcher gets an update
SOE's all-encompassing Station Launcher has received an update, responding to (like the last update) player feedback and suggestions left at the Station Launcher forum. According to SOE, the Station Launcher's daily usage levels have been steadily increasing over time, with more and more users adopting the handy platform. A lot of the changes are related to the "Friends network" -- among these is the new option to "Join [friend] in [game]", speeding you through game, server, and character selections to meet up with a pal. You can also hide your online status from the Friends network with the "Disconnect" button, and inactive characters won't show up on the Friends tab by default any more.Other welcome changes include improvements to the Scanning process that ensures that game files are up to date, and an automatic re-login feature to counter disconnects. Check after the break for the full list of updates.
GC seeks feedback on totems, warlock spells
Since somewhat before the Wrath beta, we've been seeing a much more interactive Blizzard development team. The level of open communication with and feedback gathering from the community has been raised significantly, and with people like Ghostcrawler giving straight answers as much as he can, I'm feeling a lot better about the lines of communication between developers and players. At the moment, Ghostcrawler is specifically asking for feedback on the following two issues: Warlocks, which spells do you never use? Please don't clutter up the thread with extraneous issues. I actually think they did a pretty good job with the Spellstone/Firestone change of getting rid of two previously useless spells; I can't think of many obvious candidates off the top of my head. Eye of Kilrogg maybe, but I wouldn't want to lose that. Shadow Ward is used pretty infrequently. Shamans: Totems, totems, totems. Again, please do not talk about extraneous issues in that thread - just talk about totems. They're not going to remove or sideline them, but they are interested in making them "cooler," which is certainly much-needed. So go on and post your feedback in GC's threads (warlock, shaman). Or feel free to talk about it here, whatever. I do think totems feel clunky, but I can't think of how to fix them exactly - I guess that's why I'm not a game designer.
Champions Online wants your feedback!
Everyone has an opinion, especially when it comes to making your own superheroic persona to represent you in things like City of Heroes. Cryptic Studios learned this from their experiences and they're taking player feedback into consideration as they continue their work on Champions Online. That's right, you too can be an armchair developer for Champions!If you have some ideas for what you'd like to see in Champions, just drop by the Cryptic website, log in, and fill out their feedback form. Really, it's just that simple. No beating up any thugs or avoiding super death rays. Plus, if you're lucky, you might just find some of your suggestions in the game. Sounds like a good deal to us. We've already stuffed the ballot box asking for rocket launchers that fire flaming chainsaws.
Poll: Should 40-mans make a come back?
Peeking around the official forums, I saw a few threads dedicated to the reincarnation of 40-man raids. Do you remember the old, pre-BC epic AQ-40/MC/Naxx days? I can honestly say I really do not. I was a freshly minted 60 when BC came out. I got my feet wet in ZG and AQ-20, but that's it. Perhaps I'm missing out on something important. It's entirely possible that others feel the same way.Since Blizzard has tuned Wrath raids to both 10 and 25 person versions, what's stopping them from rounding it out to a full 40. Perhaps they could even go for more. Many are already complaining that Naxx is too easy. They're looking for a real challenge. I don't know if Blizzard is open to the possibility of tuning up the dungeons, but we've seen evidence that the developers do listen to player feedback.
Encrypted Text: Words from the wise
Every Wednesday, Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the Rogue class. This week, an interview with acclaimed Rogue theorycrafter Vulajin. If you have ever been to the Rogue section of the Elitist Jerks forums, chances are good that you've read one of the amazing posts by Vulajin of Mal'Ganis. His Roguecraft spreadsheet and Rogue PvE DPS discussion thread are amongst my most treasured resources. Still very active in the community, he's been involved in some of the recent work concerning boss crit depression and a possible change in a Rogue's chance to miss.I had an opportunity this week to sit down with the very intelligent and self-effacing Vulajin and talk about a few different topics, and I wanted to share some of that discourse with you today. We talked a great deal about the current Rogue hotness that is Honor Among Thieves and also concerning the impact that we as players can make upon the design of WoW in the future.
Codemasters wants your feedback on Mines of Moria
You've now had almost two weeks to get your feet wet in Lord of the Rings Online's Mines of Moria expansion, and now Codemasters and Turbine want to know what you think. Do you enjoy the new Legendary Weapons? Do you hate the new combat system? Do you want to scream every time you see a pack of Wardens running around in game? In probably every case but the last, Codemasters and Turbine want your feedback.It's rare that a community team opens themselves up to such a public display of feedback from the community on a brand new expansion, but it seems like a great way to do things, and it shows their confidence in an exceptional product. Simply head on over to the forum post at the official Codemasters forums and speak your mind.
Darkfall beta is actually happening, tester feedback proves it
Aventurine's Darkfall has been in development pretty much since the dawn of time (alright, since 2001, but that's not far from the dawn of time for the MMORPG genre), and we have on more than one occassion wondered whether or not those promises of an eventual beta test would be fulfilled. Turns out that for some, they have been.The developers have posted a large collection of quotes from beta players' feedback. They claim it's representative, and it's mostly (but not all) positive. Sounds like players are impressed with the hugeness of the world and a solid crafting system, but a bit turned off by a complicated and unconventional control scheme. The devs say they're working on it.If you fall into Darkfall's hardcore Ultima Online-esque PvP niche, feel free to scan through to see what you've apparently been missing out on for the past seven years.
Fujitsu's in-car safety tech senses drowsiness, reacts to wake you up
digg_url = 'http://digg.com/tech_news/Fujitsu_s_tech_to_wake_you_up_in_your_car'; Not that we haven't seen similar technology from other outfits before, but we'll take as many in-car safety advancements as we can get. It's bruited that Fujitsu is conjuring up a sophisticated sensor system that can actually detect when a driver gets drowsy or begins to sink into a deep, dark wonder-world of sleep. Put simply, the system would detect specific changes in the motorist's heart rate via the steering wheel, and once it determined that you weren't exactly "with it" any longer, the car could then roll its own windows down, blast the stereo or jolt the wheel in order to get your attention. In our minds, the biggest issue here is to not cause an accident by spooking a sleepy driver out of their slumber, and we presume that's exactly what the company is working on in its R&D labs.[Image courtesy of MetroHealth]
Blizzard seeks PTR feedback
If you're testing on the PTR to try and determine what changes patch 3.0.2 have on your character, take some time and give some feedback on these specific issues. Blizzard is specifically asking folks to note if they've lost any abilities they should have or gained ones they shouldn't, if the new token panel is functioning correctly, if mounts and pets are being properly learned from their respective items, if all of your bags and bank slots are working properly, and if you're gaining all of the Achievements you should have.So, please help our blue overlords determine that everything is working smootly for the launch of 3.0.2 so that we don't all end up with abilities we shouldn't have or tokens lost in the ether. I would, but beta testers aren't able to.
Make your Mage magnificent!
Well, maybe not magnificent, but at least functional and viable in Wrath of the Lich King. Tipster Daniel alerted us to Ghostcrawler -- the blue of blues for Wrath, according to him -- blinking into the Mage forums to request Mages to give feedback about the different trees. Although Ghostcrawler seems to post her call outs during the wee hours when people are deep in slumber -- or in a drawn-out raid -- we at WoW Insider believe that it's our duty to get everyone in on the action. If you happen to be in Beta and play a Mage, now is the chance to have your thoughts heard on the Frost tree, the Fire tree, and the Arcane tree. While you're at it, give the developers a pat on the back for the overwhelmingly enjoyable Mirror Image.
Metamorphosis feedback wanted
For all of you Warlock beta testers out there, Ghostcrawler is looking for your help! Since the Wrath Beta began, Metamorphosis has been one of those abilities that sound cool in theory, but the application was totally wrong, more or less. Ghostcrawler has put out a call for focused, constructive feedback on the ability. When you head over there, keep in mind that Ghostcrawler wants feedback specifically about Metamorphosis in this thread, and 'get rid of it' isn't constructive feedback. Those of you not beta testing may be interested in the thread as well, since it might be a pretty strong indicator of where Demonology will end up.The most common feedback I've seen is that the ability renders most of your other talent points null and void for the duration of the transformation, rather than synergizing with them. I find myself agreeing with that wholeheartedly. It's an interesting concept, but no top end talent should nullify everything before it unless it's good enough to make up for all of those talent points you lost. Metamorphosis definitely does not have 51 talent points baked into it, and I'd say it would be impossible to even do that.
