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The Game Archaeologist and the SysOp's Sinister Stratagem
When you think of MMORPGs, I wouldn't blame you if your mind stayed rooted firmly in the past decade or so, perhaps taking a brief vacation to 1997 before returning to today's 3-D polygonal glory. But it's not like people just woke up in the late 90's, looked at each other, and said, "Hmm. Online multiplayer RPGs. Let's make it happen!" On the contrary, history had been building up to that moment for quite some time. Tabletop RPGs and computer MUDs (multi-user dungeons) were both important ancestors of modern MMOs, just as was a mostly forgotten piece of software lore: the bulletin board system, also known as the BBS. In layman's terms, BBSes were like pocket internets -- host computers that allowed anyone to dial up and use special programs remotely. While BBSes weren't (initially) tied together like the world wide web, they featured a lot of the elements that would make the WWW so popular, such as email, forums, and, yes, online games. Today's special one-shot Game Archaeologist will take a brief look at the history of the BBS, as well as a couple of its games that could be considered "MORPGs" (like the renowned website, the "Massively" part would be a while in coming). Dial up, gentle readers, and make your hissing modem noises!
Evolution as it does and doesn't apply to MMOs
A few days ago, we discussed the lack of innovation in the MMO market at the moment, as well as some of the underlying reasons behind it. The topic prompted We Fly Spitfires to postulate the idea that we needed an MMO that broke most if not all of the established and accepted rules of the genre. In his own parlance, we needed a mutation instead of a steady evolution. Those of you familiar with evolutionary science might be quirking your eyebrow a bit, as did Of Teeth and Claws, where it was pointed out that mutation is a part of evolution. Continuing the analogy, it's a part of the slow improvement we see in our genre of choice, as the source leading to feature implementation and improvement. And as Killed in a Smiling Accident added, evolution is not a straight line, nor does it select features based on inherent quality -- the current "standard features" have evolved because they're best at succeeding in the current environment (that is, the market). Ultimately, aside from fascinating extension of the analogy, the biggest point to be taken away from both this discussion and the previous one is that change in the genre isn't something which will happen overnight. While the powerful influence that World of Warcraft has placed upon the genre is beginning to abate a bit, it'll be quite some time before it's discarded wholesale.
The Daily Quest: Back in action
We here at WoW.com are on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere. Big Hit Box gets their hands on a Raging Deathbringer and Stormstrike crits you with math. This doesn't have a whole lot to do with WoW, but Of Teeth and Claws reviews the demo of a pretty slick indie game. AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! Episode 7 of The Hunting Party Podcast is available for download, featuring Munken, one of Ensidia's hunters. Hunters Rhok continues their series on pet control, this time highlighting the art of organizing your pet bar. Runeforge Gossip takes a look at World of Logs. Click here to submit a link to TDQ
Are DPS helper mods cheating?
Karthis at Of Teeth and Claws raises an interesting question concerning "helper" mods for DPS rotations -- should they be considered cheating? He observes that, whie they may be a godsend for classes and specs with more difficult rotations, many of them remove the need to think about anything other than following the mod's instructions on what skill to use and when. He writes, "If a chimpanzee was trained to press the key that corresponded to the skill that Face Mauler popped up, then it would put out insane DPS without understanding even the very basics of what it means to be a feral cat."**The issue leaves me somewhat torn. There's no way around the fact that Karthis is right; mods like these -- and they exist for several classes -- make it possible for players to do great, or at least acceptable, DPS without understanding the class and spec they play. They also have the side effect of encouraging tunnel vision on the mob/s rather than what's happening in the raid (and, as someone who plays a tank, I must admit I hate dealing with an utterly oblivious DPS). Nobody wants to see a lazy player rewarded with excellent DPS for no other reason than their ability to install a mod and then do what the mod tells them to do.
The Daily Quest: Ulduar
Despite all of the instance server problems last night, a number of bloggers throughout the community marched into Ulduar to give the place a whirl on live realms for the first time. We Wipe On Trash downed a few bosses. They also, amusingly, wiped on some trash. Luckily, that trash was hotfixed today. Honor's Code had a whole lot of fun figuring out Flame Leviathan. If you haven't tried that boss out yet yourself, it might be worth reading before you do. First hand experiences are even better than regular ol' strategy posts sometimes. Hoof n' Healz came to the realization that Naxxramas made him a worse player, and Ulduar trash surprised him a little bit. I fear that most of my raid will come to that same realization tonight when we give the place a whirl. Of Teeth and Claws is just a little bitter about the current state of the game, and hopes Ulduar will revive the endgame.
The Daily Quest: Cake is delicious
We here at WoW Insider are on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere. Vodka, currently one of the top raiding guilds in North America, has put out their Ulduar preview video. Give it a watch, then just try and tell me it doesn't excite you Children's Week is quickly approaching, and the Hunting Lodge wants to bring the holiday into the real world. Head on over to the Hunting Lodge and give Child's Play a helping hand! Of Teeth and Claws talks Druid DoTs in Patch 3.1. DoTs of the Feral persuasion, mind. You Moonkin are out of luck on this one. Wonderland has some sweet, sweet baked goods for all of you to salivate over. If you want more cakey goodness, don't forget that we have our own World of Warcraft cake gallery. Click here to submit a link to TDQ
Cautiously cracking crowd control
In any fight where your group is fighting multiple mobs, you're going to want to have some version of crowd control. For those that play tanking classes the challenge comes not when the fight begins and the mobs are tied up with freezing traps or polymorph, it comes afterward, when the time comes to break said methods of control. As Karthis mentions in a recent post on Of Teeth and Claws, breaking crowd control successfully is more of an art form than you might think.First, there is the concept of threat. Each method of crowd control angers a monster to varying degrees. Add to this the other abilities a crowd controller might have used previous to controlling the mob -- a hunter plinking away at the mob a few times to get its attention, for example -- and the CC'ers threat is pretty darn high. The monster, once they are free, will have eyes (and claws) only for the group member that kept them tied down in the first place. It makes sense, honestly. I know if someone shackled me to the ground for a minute or so I would be pissed.
I hate rogues! No, rogues are awesome!
Mirshalak doesn't like rogues. He makes a long post telling us why, and then Karthis from Of Teeth and Claws posts this rebuttal. Then in an utterly shameful display, Mirshalak... concedes that Karthis has a point.Oh dear. Well, there goes any hope of name calling, hair pulling or other ungentlemanly behavior. (Or unladylike, I don't know the actual gender of the folks involved.) So, then, what can we actually take from all of this? Well, here are my own incredibly long winded 'point/counterpoint' thoughts. Well, to be completely fair and honest, I have had a lot of the same problems with rogues Mirshalak mentions. While I don't believe that the entire class is sociopathic or full of people who can't work with a group, I have several stories stored up from my time playing WoW of rogues who decided to wipe the group and vanish because they didn't get a drop they wanted (not that someone else did get it, just because the boss did not drop the item, mind you) or rogues deciding to try and train bosses over the hunter who has feigned death to hopefully use his jumper cables to res a few healers in order to help prevent a reset wipe.
Shifting Perspectives: Druid blogs you should be reading
Every Tuesday, Shifting Perspectives explores issues affecting druids and those who group with them, brought to you by David Bowers and Dan O'Halloran. I love gamer blogs. Well, I love gamer blogs that are either entertaining or informative. And I really love gamer blogs that are both. Today for Shifting Perspectives, I'm going to highlight some of the better Druid gaming blogs out there and show you why you should be reading each and every one of them.Resto4Life - Player Phaelia started this blog back in March to educate herself about playing a better healing Druid. Turns out, she's educating the rest of us as well. Her entries delve into the many facets of a Tree Druid's gameplay: Reevaluating Spirit, mp5 vs +Healing and Getting More Out of Innervate are just a few of the many treasures to be found on this blog. Updated frequently with a friendly and informative tone, Resto4Life is the Big Red Kitty for Restoration druids.Big Bear Butt Blogger - What Phaelia does for Tree Druids, BBB does for feral tanks: useful, informative and well written posts about how to best maximize your class. This blog is not only filled with great posts like the No Math Feral Spec, Consumables for Feral Druids and Feral Tank Starter Gear at 70, but also other topics that everyone can relate to such as the wonderfully articulate rants I Hate Damage Meters and There Is No Crying In Kara. I would recommend this blog to any WoW player, for there is a little something for everyone and it's all good.
