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The Daily Grind: Do you make use of mule characters?
If you go to any bank in World of Warcraft, you're going to see two different kinds of characters: actual players bedecked in fine combat gear... and level 1 bank mules with cute names and even cuter guild tags. These characters are often seen as worse than alts; they're not merely alternatives to someone's main character but characters who exist solely to hold extra gear or sell items on an auction hall, usually circumventing the intended inventory limits system. In short, they're real characters' pack mules. In some games, especially early sandboxes, such mules were loaded down with tradeskills to allow a single player to craft items for his real character, allowing him to circumvent intended character interdependency too and seriously impacting player-driven economies. Do you make use of mules or bank alts in your MMO of choice? Or has your MMO found a clever way to make muling unnecessary? 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!
Atari strategy classic M.U.L.E. coming to iOS next week
It's been three decades since M.U.L.E. was first released on the Atari 800, but we've got no time for wistful memories as the classic strategy game is slated to return on iOS in mere days, appropriately as M.U.L.E. Returns. For those to whom the acronym means nothing, M.U.L.E. is something of a cross between Settlers of Catan and Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. The goal of M.U.L.E. is to thrive among the stars as a colonist on the planet Irata (that's "Atari" spelled backwards). Other colonists will be competing with you for resources, though they just as often can become valuable trading partners. At launch (and even today) M.U.L.E. was revered for its easy to learn, but difficult to master mechanics and near-infinite replayability - no mean feat for an Atari game released in 1983. M.U.L.E. Returns makes its iOS debut on November 25. An Android version of M.U.L.E. Returns is scheduled to appear at some point in 2014. M.U.L.E. Returns is said to feature new, HD graphics, online leaderboards, and a faithful reproduction of the rules of the Atari original.
The Daily Grind: Are alts and mules a form of cheating?
In response to Beau's recent Free For All column on the topic of botters and cheaters, reader Keith wrote in to suggest that there's another form of cheating much more common and pervasive: the use of alternate characters. In games like EVE Online or Star Wars Galaxies, which limit the number of characters players can create, extra accounts are manipulated to allow a single player access to more skills through alts ("skill mules"), more storage space ("bank mules" and "auction mules"), or more avenues for safe PvP scouting. But the problem occurs in alt-friendly games too, like World of Warcraft, where it's not uncommon to see someone five-boxing an entire team of Shamans, or Ultima Online, where it's standard practice for every player to have a "craft mule" who loads up on tradeskills (to the detriment of the player economy). What do you think? Are alts and mules just another form of cheating, one that allows players with excess character slots or extra accounts unfair advantages? Or are "slave" characters just a natural and necessary part of online gaming? 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!
The Road to Mordor: Making your alts work for you
I have a confession to make. My name is Justin, and I'm a Lord of the Rings Online altoholic. I know. I have a problem! I'm weak! DON'T STARE WITH THOSE ACCUSING EYES! I always start out in games with the best of intentions: I'm going to stick with just one character, at least until I hit the level cap. I'll only make new characters to reserve names I like. I won't get class envy and wonder what's on the other side of the fence. I'll stay strong! I'll be an oak! And then I turn out to be a willow tree, blowing about in the winds of whimsy, and suddenly I end up with alts staggered all over the leveling track. It's all right; I've come to embrace my altoholic tendencies because it really is who I am as a gamer. I like to sample everything, to try out different approaches to the game, and if I don't end up with a maxed-out uber-raider, then I can live with it. If you follow this pattern and are prone to rolling up a lot of alts in LotRO, there are several advantages you can gain over the monogamous players out there. Today I want to take a look at how you can make your alts work for you, if only to give you an excuse to keep rolling them!
More information on Final Fantasy XIV's retainers
With the announcement of Final Fantasy XIV's release date and some details on the pricing structure, one of the concepts we've been introduced to is that of the retainers. Any veteran of Final Fantasy XI is all too familiar with the "mule" characters that would dot cities; they were all but required for serious players, used for additional storage, and parked as a never-closing bazaar whilst the player wasn't active. Rather than forcing players to pay for a second character, Square-Enix is apparently letting the practice be fully realized by the game in the form of your retainer. A new translated article helps explain a little more about what a retainer's role will be. Adventurers will be allowed to choose one retainer for free, with the selection process running similar to Final Fantasy XI's adventuring fellow. Your retainer can be called at various points through use of a special item, and allows you to set up a storefront that will run while you're offline. A retainer will also provide extra storage, serving as combination mobile bank and assistant. Take a look at the full article for more details, as well as more shots of the beta client for Final Fantasy XIV in action.
Chevy Volt coasts closer to reality, first bona fide model now in production
General Motors has just cut the ribbon, metaphorically at least, on the production of the first genuine Chevy Volt integration vehicle. Unlike previous versions, which have been "developments mules" made using parts from the Malibu / Cruze lines, this will look (and hopefully feel) 100 percent like what the company plans to start pimping out this November. The pre-production model will be put through the paces in case the design needs to be refined and tweaked before going full steam ahead. GM is sticking pretty close to its original plan of building at a rate of ten a week by mid-July, with "several hundred more" going into production early next year, and with any luck, it'll be packing some standardized EV plug by then.
Video: Taxpayer takes Chevy Volt's powertrain for a ride
See that? This dowdy looking sedan is the very symbol of hope for GM and perhaps the US auto industry as a whole. Although this Volt prototype is technically a mule -- an engineering hybrid that crosses the body of a Chevy Cruze with the Volt's Voltec powertrain -- it still gives "an 80-plus percent representation" of what the Volt's electric driving experience will be like. Or so says GM exec, Tony Posawatz. Our greasy sisters over at Autoblog took the Volt-mule for a spin. Their take? Overall, the electric drive system in the mules performed as advertised and GM appears to be well on its way to meeting a November 2010 Job 1 date.Too bad hope doesn't pay the bills. Hit the read link for the full story including a novice's guide to prototyping automobiles. Video overview after the break
The Daily Grind: On MMOs and Alts
Sign in on the auction house mule in World of Warcraft, check mail, and then scan the AH. Log in to EVE Online, pull up the markets, check what's up in Jita. Figure out if you need to make something to sell or use then log in the alts to do the dirty work. For some people, an alt is as simple as having a bank character that you send everything to for selling, or as involved as having a string of alts who can do every single production/tradeskill in your favorite MMO. Personally, I'm one of those folks who has a bank alt on pretty well every MMO account possible and a couple of profession alts purely for the professions I think are fun or interesting. This morning we thought we'd ask you - do you have any of those alts floating around, and if so, what are your alts for?
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Preparing for 2.3: Guild Banks
Since it's looking hopeful that patch 2.3 will be released within the next couple of weeks, it's probably time to start getting prepared for all the long-awaited features that are being added to the live realms. Aside from Zul'Aman, guild banks are probably the biggest new item coming out with the patch.While guild leaders will undoubtedly be delighted to delete their bank alts, (some of the guilds I've been in have had as many as five or six,) and will also have to make difficult decisions about which members get access to the loot, I'd like to focus more on the impact upon individual players rather than whole guilds. Most players that have been in Azeroth for awhile probably have a bank alt that's mainly used to store trade goods and sell things on the auction house. In 2.3, according to all reports thus far, it should be possible to set up a one-alt guild so that your bank alt will have access to much more storage space.
Beyond 2.1: Guild banks
"Games for Windows" magazine has released an second article regarding further implementation of features post patch 2.1. Guild banks, a feature we've been begging for for years, will finally be a reality! Get ready to free up some character slots and delete those mules! In every bank, a new NPC will appear where guild members can deposit and withdraw items. Offering potentially hundreds of storage slots, this will offer players the ability for free storage. At repair NPC's, a new button will appear allowing players to repair using guild funds rather than their own money. Blizzard even has methods for hindering the abuse of this system. Using a tab system, guild leaders can allow certain levels of players access to certain tabs in the bank. This will prevent players from stealing and selling or transferring guild items. "But what if the guild leaders do the thieving?" Blizzard's website will track EVERY transaction, so their customer service can respond if there is a dispute. I think this feature is a long time coming, and I'm excited to see it finally implemented. I'm not sure how it will work for those of us who have private mule characters to consolidate our auctions, funds, and storage between many different alts, but we'll see what happens. You can read the article here.
