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Captain's Log: Testing out the future
Captain's Log, Stardate 65264.3... Hello, computer (and players)! As you have must have seen by now, open beta testing of Star Trek Online's new F2P model is well underway; the developers have been posting dev diaries about the impending changes for the last couple of days. Because testers on the Tribble test server were required to start new characters, and because character transfers will not be an option for at least a few weeks, many players have begun a mad dash to level up their test characters in order to test out some of the retooled endgame content. Since testing, especially in this manner, can be confusing, I have decided to dedicate this week's Captain's Log to those who are willing to take on the challenge. Past the jump, you will find a checklist of sorts that you can use while testing (or, ultimately, playing) the new content and updates. I suggest reading each section and then checking it out in-game. While some recommendations may seem less interesting than others, I suggest you give each a fair shot so you can provide feedback on what can make the game better. Ensign, warp 10! Let's give our dedicated Tribbleites some structure to their testing time...
Newest Star Trek Online blog entry outlines the Duty Officer system
One of the issues that Star Trek Online has always faced when emulating its source material is the simple issue of size. Players take the role of a captain overseeing an entire ship, crewed with numerous people, a ship that in the television series would be filled with actors and recurring faces. But in gameplay, that sense has always been a bit more difficult to convey... and it's an element being addressed with the new Duty Officer system. In the latest entry in the Path to F2P blog, Geoff Tuffli outlines the goals and overall thrust of the Duty Officer system. Players will receive Duty Officers as rewards in a variety of ways, including spending time in the academy for each respective faction. The officers can be placed in departments, sent on assignments, or otherwise managed by players in order to receive the greatest amount of benefit from the support staff. It's a feature that's long been promised by the development team, and as the game moves toward a hybrid business model, it looks to finally be moving to release.
Some Assembly Required: How to screw up your sandbox
Between bouts of Global Agenda, Age of Conan, and a stack of single-player games, I've been taking my own advice lately and looking for a new sandbox. The end of Star Wars Galaxies is forcing my hand, and I figured I'd better start now if I don't want to be stuck with nothing to play on December 16th. While there is a veritable ton of different sandboxes to choose from, I must admit to being a bit frustrated with nearly all of them. If it's not one thing, it's another, and most are such glaring deficiencies that I can't help but wonder what was going through the minds of the development teams during the construction process. Join me after the cut for a few things you should consider if you're making an MMORPG sandbox.
SWTOR's Damion Schubert pulls some ideas off the Wall of Crazy
Many of you have already heard Lead Systems Designer Damion Schubert talk about the infamous Wall of Crazy. Schubert explains it as a wall full of sticky notes, each one with an idea someone somewhere would like to see implemented into Star Wars: The Old Republic. Most of these are extra game systems that have no direct impact on the core game, such as UI tweaks or minigames. At this point in development, the ideas on the Wall of Crazy have to stay on the Wall of Crazy until after launch. However, in a recent interview with TORWars, Schubert reveals that he was able to bump the priority of a couple of ideas so that we may actually see them at release: Of particular note, the dressing room made it in (alt-rightclick to preview an equipment piece's appearance on you or your companion). The ability for group leaders to mark targets with symbols his party members can see just went in. We also have a couple of minor features we're putting in designed to make it easier for players to find and form groups -- features I'm more willing to talk about once we've vetted them as improvements to the game in general. The obvious implications of marked targets should excite any raid leader, and perhaps the dressing room is the first step toward the fabled appearance tab. We will all find out for sure when the game launches -- when is that, again?
The Anvil of Crom: Can AoC Unrated keep up with the Joneses?
Sooooo, City of Heroes and LEGO Universe caught the free-to-play bug this week. Fallen Earth did so the week before. What does this have to do with Age of Conan? Quite a lot, if you think about it, and that's what I'm given to doing every week around this time as I sit down to hum a few bars relating to Funcom's Hyboria. In case you've forgotten (and it's easy to do thanks to the rash of announcements lately), Age of Conan is gearing up for its own version of freemium MMORPG madness. At this point it's anyone's guess as to when the big day will actually roll around, though, and the longer Funcom waits, the more it concerns me.
The Dawn a bit further off for Mortal Online
When Mortal Online first announced its far-reaching expansion, Dawn, it was a little hard to believe. (The day the news first came out didn't help matters, certainly, as it was announced on April 1st.) But it's a very real thing, and players of the game have no doubt been hotly anticipating its release. Unfortunately, as it turns out, the release date of Dawn has now been pushed back to the end of the month at the earliest and the beginning of June at the latest. So what's behind the delay? The newsletter explains that there was a server issue which required some reworking, with the caveat that the required updates have ensured Dawn will be even better. Mortal Online players can assuage the wait at least a bit by reading the extensive article by Black Opal detailing several of the expansion's features, including explanations of the new gathering system, Task system, and new styles for housing and buildings.
Wakfu shows off ecosystem mechanics in newest trailer
The trailers continue to surface for Wakfu as potential players in the U.S. anxiously await word on an official beta date. For those players in other regions already participating in the beta, that wait is a bit less pressing. But whether you've been enjoying the game for some time in its testing phase or you're just looking forward to finally getting your hands on it, the latest trailer should provide you with plenty of eye-candy and features to look forward to. This time around, the highlight is on the game's ecological systems. One of the major selling points has always been players having a substantive impact on the game, with the landscape changing and reacting based upon player actions. This ecosystem trailer gives a look at the ways in which players can either help or harm the surrounding environment, providing new life in barren areas or destroying ambient plant life. The latest Wakfu video can be found just past the cut, a worthy diversion for anyone interested in this anticipated strategy MMO.
The Daily Grind: Do you like classed or classless systems?
Class-based systems have dominated MMOs for years, but it wasn't always the case. Ultima Online, the granddaddy of the graphical MMO, had an open system wherein players could advance in whatever field they chose. It was EverQuest that first introduced a rigid class system, and arguably World of Warcraft that made it the golden standard. And it's a kind of silly standard, resulting in class-based games like RIFT trying to be as freeform as possible while freeform games like Champions Online offer class-like archetypes. It's as if one side always wants to be like the other without sacrificing its identity. A classless system gives characters far more freedom of progression, but it also creates degenerate environments where everyone takes the few useful skills and the rest go unattended. Class systems, on the other hand, promote a strong sense of homogenization wherein everyone of the same level has the same abilities, often with only tiny variations. So what game has the best implementation of this back-and-forth? Do you like a class-based game that has a very open skill tree, or a classless system with a wide variety of useful skills, or a game which hews closer to the core of either concept? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their 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 Daily Grind!
Final Fantasy XIV expands details on the battle system
While Final Fantasy XIV doesn't go out of its way to be massively accessible, Square-Enix is clearly making a conscious effort to avoid confusion wherever possible. The official player site has been steadily receiving updates about how game systems work and what's going on behind the scenes, with the newest update discussing Battle Regimens and incapacitating body parts in combat. The systems had never been discussed in-depth before, but they now offer players a chance to understand exactly what each system entails. Battle Regimens are distantly similar in theory to the skillchains that ruled Final Fantasy XI's combat, but they have many differences in practice. Rather than being a chained deployment of specific skills, chains of general ability types will both buff the party and debuff the enemy party. Body parts, meanwhile, are targeted and damaged by certain weaponskills, with a helpful chart explaining what skills target what and which types of monsters can be affected. While it doesn't reveal the full details of Final Fantasy XIV's combat, it should provide players with an excellent place to start understanding the system.
The Daily Grind: What cool feature was still a disappointment?
The problem with the barrage of information coming out before any major expansion or game is that you wind up with an idea of what the game will contain that isn't always accurate. Sometimes that's a matter of promotional materials containing features that were later quietly dropped (something Wrath of the Lich King suffered from), and sometimes the feature in question just winds up getting lost in the shuffle. At other times, the system is in the game -- but less cool than you imagined, even though it's functionally exactly what you were told it would be. You might have been really looking forward to making the moral jump in City of Heroes, but when Going Rogue went live you were disappointed by the fact that shifting from rogue to hero (or vigilante to villain) is a notable jump. You might have really looked forward to Final Fantasy XIV's class-blending, only to find that the combat classes and the gathering classes are firmly segregated. It doesn't make a cool game bad, but it means that one of the things you were anticipating isn't there after all. What cool game feature have you heard about only to find that in practice, it's not quite as great as you hoped?
A translated look at Final Fantasy XIV's Guildleve system
With the coming of a little show known as E3 -- you may have heard of it -- fans of several upcoming titles are hoping for new information. Final Fantasy XIV players are no exception, but as has slowly been the case ever since the testing began, little bits of information are becoming more readily available to players. FFXIVCore has recently translated a piece from 4Gamer, taking an in-depth look at one of the central features of the game, the Guildleve. The main source of quests in the game, the system promises to be somewhere between Final Fantasy XI's Fields of Valor and the timed battlefields. Once a Guildleve is accepted by a character, they're directed to an Aetheryte crystal to begin the quest. Touching the crystal fully restores HP and MP, as well as starting a time limit and making the targets of your quest visible. A given battle can be tuned based on party size, desired difficulty, and party level, giving players a variety of options for playstyle. The full translation has more screenshots and specifics on the core of Final Fantasy XIV's questing system, and fans are encouraged to take a look in anticipation of this week's news from E3.
Camon Hero reveals card production and dismantling with new action shots
It's almost cliche to say that a game has a unique art style these days, but Camon Hero is something of a special case. A card-based game with a setting and art style inspired by that odd pedigree, it may be the only place you can see things like a knight in armor fighting musketeers, angels, and flying gingerbread men. But there's more to the game than just the breadth of setting -- the game has just disclosed some details of the system whereby a character can break down unwanted cards or create new ones, thereby expanding their capabilities. Almost everything can be dismantled, from equipment to random items to cards. Dismantling produces both Arc Stones, used for summoning monsters and upgrading equipment, and possible bonus items. In addition, players can find recipes for new cards on the field, which can be assembled in town from various items. Since cards define a character's capabilities, dismantling and re-assembling are likely to be integral elements to gameplay. Check out the gallery below for several new shots of Camon Hero in action, and keep your eyes open for more news as the game moves through closed beta. %Gallery-90435%
Final Fantasy XIV alpha test guide leaked
Information on the highly anticipated Final Fantasy XIV has been coming in great rushes with the testing in full swing, and what we've been hearing only whets the appetite. Robust character customization, diverse character growth, and a unique battle system all offer something at once reminiscent and yet different from Final Fantasy XI. While Square-Enix has stayed fairly tight-lipped even as we've gotten more Japanese news on the game, the first major "leak" from the test has emerged: a full disclosure of the Alpha Tester's Manual, as sent out by Square to all of the game's testers. Although many elements of the game have already been disclosed from other sources, seeing everything laid out in the manual format helps make things a bit clearer. It also goes into more details about the limitations on the test, implying that several of them (such as the 20-ability limit) are unique to this phase of testing. There are also firmer details on things like Aetheryte, which function much like Final Fantasy XII's Save Crystals. If you're interested in Final Fantasy XIV, you can still glean more information from the newest leak, but like much news on the game it might just whet your appetite.
Crapgadget CES edition, round 15: Shredmaster Jr.
Smells like cheap knockoff spirit.
