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The Anvil of Crom: Alternate advancement explained
Welcome back to the Anvil of Crom, Conan fans. I trust you've been gorging yourselves on the movie and all of the new content that the Age of Conan dev team has pushed out the door over the past couple of months. This week I'm going to step back and take a high-altitude look at one of the game's mechanical aspects, that being the alternate advancement system that shipped with 2010's Rise of the Godslayer expansion. I say high-altitude because many of the AA tricks you'll learn over the course of your AoC career will be class-specific, and though I'll eventually get to those in my series of class guides, today I'll start with an overview of the system as well as a bit of commentary relating to why you should care about it. For you free-to-play folk, yeah, Funcom did lock your AAs behind the paywall for the time being, and yeah there is quite a difference between a "fresh" level 80 and a level 80 who has had even a little bit of AA training. Join me past the cut to see if upgrading is worth it.
LEGO Universe update adds progression system
LEGO Universe has the creative aspects of MMOs and online gaming down pat. After all, we're talking LEGOs (edit: LEGO BRICKS OMG, LEGO BRICKS) here, and if there's one word that's synonymous with the long-running Danish toy line, that word is build. What's there to do in LEGO Universe when your creativity runs dry, though? Thanks to the game's latest content update, traditional MMO character-building is now a viable option. Player minifigures may progress through 40 levels of content, unlocking points, achievements, and equipment along the way. That's not all, as the latest LEGO Universe patch also features four new faction kits (Specialized Adventurer, Shinobi, Inventor, and Space Ranger), each of them aligned with one of the game's four Nexus Force factions and each offering players the opportunity to rank up and explore "new gear, powers, and abilities." Last but not least, the new LEGO Universe update brings a new instance challenge in the form of the Avant Gardens, and a big nasty known as the Spider Queen awaits players who are creative enough to make it through to the final battle.
The Guild Counsel: Fan Faire 2011 guild leader panel
As you know from this column, I'm a big fan of guilds. So it's probably no surprise that I went to Fan Faire with a special goal of meeting up and talking to guild leaders from a variety of SOE games. Last year, I teamed up with Adam Trzonkowski, my former podcasting co-host and author of the book The Guild Leader's Companion, and together we recorded a show with several guild leaders from EverQuest, EverQuest II, Star Wars Galaxies and Free Realms. This year, we met again, and had a chance to catch up with a few returnees as well as some new faces. Joining the discussion this year were leaders from DC Universe Online, EQ, EQII, and RIFT. Judging by the turnout, you could say that guilds are like snowflakes. We had Rick Hall and his juggernaut guild Heroes, the oldest guild on the Luclin server in EverQuest. He's carrying a roster of hundreds, and regularly raiding 54-man raid content. Added to the list of "long in the tooth" guilds were Legion of the White Rose in EQII, led by Kendricke, and Iniquity, who has moved from EQII to RIFT, and is led by Adam. The league Absolute Justice in DCUO, led by Arctic Titan, is not only playing in a different genre of MMO, they're on a completely different platform, the PS3. Twilight Company, led by Megera in EQII, is mainly a tradeskill guild, which set it apart from the others in attendance. And last, but not least, is Revelry and Honor, my guild from EverQuest II, and now led by Maesyn, Nauralea, and Andaraiel. Read on for a peek at what has led to their success, and some amazing war stories along the way.
Lost Pages of Taborea: Improving versatility in RoM's content
I'm bouncing off last week's Lost Pages of Taborea to elaborate on why Runes of Magic's content is lackluster, especially in light of the ability to over-gear but also to come up with some ideas to keep it from becoming meaningless and boring. It's not absolutely necessary, but it will help if you've read last week's article. RoM's gear-system ensures that you get a lot of variety in choosing what kind of character to make and how you want to play it, but there's a threshold at which the only way to allow for even more diversity among class builds is to offset the linear difficulty of new content by replacing your stats with more powerful versions of themselves, adding refinements and tiering, upgrades that just up your sheer power. Players get funneled into more restrictive builds as they gain levels. The downfall is in the content itself because it becomes super-easy-mode killing after over-gearing. It's turning on a cheat code. Any need -- or desire -- to manage blood bars or skill rotations gets thrown out with the trash. It's a foreseeable issue in just about any game across any platform or genre in which you would allow the players to gain extra amounts of power. But is there a way to allow for it and keep in some challenge and variety? Some solutions might be to slow down the pace of combat, stretch the utility of player bars, make content more dynamic, or throw in some sandbox behavior.
Spiritual Guidance: Progression vs. farm, identifying the right raid spec
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Spiritual Guidance for discipline, holy and shadow priests. Dawn Moore covers healing for discipline and holy priests, while her archenemy Fox Van Allen handles the shadows (and laundry.) Dawn also writes for LearnToRaid.com, produces the Circle of Healing Podcast. Not a raiding tier goes by where the forums aren't littered with posts from novice healing priests asking why some well-known priest from some high ranked guild doesn't have a cookie cutter talent spec recommended by the community's leading theorycrafters. The post always goes something like this ... "I looked up Lawliesthesiaspec from on the armory today and I just don't understand why she took three points in Inner Sanctum and only two points in Twin Disciplines. Shouldn't she max out Twin Disciplines for the extra healing? Am I doing something wrong? Should I copy that?" Sometimes there is an amusing theory about why the priest has taken the talent, or an accusation that the player must be terrible at the game. Whatever the tone of the post, the question is ultimately rooted in the inability of many players to identify one talent spec from another. Today I intend to fix that so you're all prepared for Firelands in a few weeks.
SWTOR Trooper progression video lays on the hurt
With E3 just around the corner, many fans are surprised at the level of updates the community team at BioWare has given us these last few weeks. Some fans speculate that this level of activity could mean a large reveal during the expo for the highly anticipated MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic. Last week, the developers gave us the Studio Insider about sound design, and just the week before that the Sith Inquisitor class trailer made its debut. This week the story is the Trooper progression trailer. SWTOR Troopers are divided into two major advanced classes: the Vanguard and the Commando. As demonstrated in the video, the Commando is there to deal high amounts of damage or call on medical droids to revive allies. The Vanguard displays his prowess as a fortified wall between the his comrades and Sith opponents. The full video is available after the break, so take note of the differences not only in the armor but in the abilities of the two advanced classes. It will be very interesting to see whether the fabled all-Trooper guild can be pulled off effectively.
APB Reloaded beta version 1.5 is live
We've talked a lot about version 1.5 of APB Reloaded's closed beta client in our last couple of updates and today we're pysched to report that the patch has officially made its way onto the live testing shard. The APB Reloaded blog has the extensive patch notes courtesy of Bjorn Book-Larsson's latest post, and you'll want to grab a tankard of your favorite caffeinated beverage and block off some reading time. The notes feature quite a bit of info about everything from open world crimes and witnessing, to spawning and equipment leasing, to progression tweaks. There's also some space devoted to the environmental updates that GamersFirst has been working on, as well as a full listing of the default game controls that should come in handy for new testers. Head to the APB Reloaded blog for more info.
Firefall dev blog talks skill vs. progression
If you're a bit apprehensive about the balance between progression mechanics and skill-based gameplay in Red 5's upcoming Firefall title, you're not alone. You're also in luck since senior designer Dave Williams has just posted a new dev blog on that very topic. So what's the answer to this age-old design predicament? That's hard to pin down, and Williams spends quite a few words attempting to wrap our brains about the firm's plans for the game. In a nutshell, we can expect something called horizontal progression -- basically an "enlargement of your toolset" -- as opposed to the vertical progression in a typical RPG that often results in god-mode for players a couple of levels above their opponents. "At the end of the day we want your ability to place your crosshairs over your enemies and pull the trigger to matter," Williams explains. It's clear that Red 5 also wants to keep players engaged over the long-term, and how Firefall manages the delicate balancing act between grind and fun will be interesting to watch.
GDC 2011: Funcom talks The Secret World's PvE, PvP, and ARG
Many of you are no doubt as anxious as we are to get your hands on Funcom's new The Secret World MMORPG (with a new website!). The skill-based end-of-the-world riff has been shrouded in a good bit of mystery for a good long while, but we've finally managed to snag a few minutes of face time with the title. This year's GDC marked the first opportunity for anyone outside of Funcom's alpha team to lay eyes on the game, and we've got some pretty juicy details to pass on. Join us after the cut for the new trailer as well as a recap of Funcom's presentation, which was spearheaded by Ragnar Tornquist and featured designers Martin Bruusgaard and Joel Bylos. Discussion topics include PvP, PvE missions, and character progression.%Gallery-118804%
How far have you progressed in Cataclysm?
The other day, I logged on to an old realm of mine to chat for a bit with a few friends and old guildmates. (I do this periodically, since I'm not a big fan of using Real ID for anyone other than very close friends.) Whenever I'm there, I casually poke around on a character that was once my prized raiding toon in early Wrath of the Lich King. "Poking around" consists of organizing my bank and doing about three to five quests. I figure it would be nice to have another 85 that I could play casually, but I lose interest in it too quickly. Anyway, at some point in the middle of a conversation with a mage friend, I said, "At a rate of three quests per night that I actually log in, I should be 85 in two years." "It really gives you some perspective on how much you have to play this game, doesn't it?" he responded. I hadn't been serious about the statement I made, but it made me think about the hours I had to play to get to 85 on my main. It occurred to me that if you only play WoW for an hour or so every few days, it would probably take a couple months to get to level 85 from 80, and that's only if you're completely focused each time you log in. This got me wondering how far into Cataclysm everyone else is. %Poll-60657%
The Soapbox: Respecting the IP and why developers shouldn't
Here's how it is: The Soapbox column is entirely the opinion of this week's writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Massively as a whole. If you're afraid of opinions other than your own, you might want to skip this column. If you've never heard of Firefly, you're either afraid of things that are awesome or you've had an unfortunate gap in your viewing history for the past nine years or so. If you have heard of it, however, you're more than aware that simply referencing the show is enough to send most gamers and fanboys into paroxysms of quotations and general gushing. To say that the universe remains well-loved is an understatement. And if you play MMOs, Firefly seems like a setting that's too perfect to be true. Who knows how many moons are out there in the black, how many crews are left to explore the 'verse and make a fortune? The game never went beyond an announcement, and it still topped our list of games that have gone MIA, after all. And the best part is all of that open nature plays right into the structure of an MMO, with no need to change the wonderful IP set forth in the slightest.
World of Tanks progression detailed in third video tutorial
The video tutorial series for World of Tanks is rolling right along, as Wargaming.net has just released the third installment of its ongoing series. The latest update is called Progress, and it's all about unlocking your tank's potential and acquiring bigger and badder equipment. As each World of Tanks battle comes to a close, the game presents your personal achievements in the form of tanks destroyed, vehicles damaged, and vehicles spotted. These numbers are used to calculate your experience and credit gains, which in turn go toward researching modules and upgrading armor. All tanks have five basic module slots, which are accessed when you click research and select from a list of available upgrades. Advancement takes the form of progressing through research tiers and unlocking new tiers by participating in battles. World of Tanks also features an experience curve for your NPC tank crew. Leveling your crew members up enhances their overall performance, and once they've reached 100% in their basic skills, the advanced skills of repair, firefighting, and camouflage become available. Click past the cut for more details courtesy of the new video.
Breakfast Topic: The kill shot and other boss downing traditions
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. So, you and your guildies have been waiting for this moment for months. You've leveled up together and run heroics until the sound of Ozruk's voice was haunting your every dream. You took all that fancy blue gear, watched some videos and made a couple nights of attempts. Now you stand at the body of some freshly killed behemoth wondering exactly what the hell a worm was doing with a fancy pair of pants (It's because he's jealous of your legs -- classic Little Mermaid syndrome.) Congratulations! Once all the purple pieces have been passed out, though, it's time to memorialize the occasion. Guilds have long participated in the time-honored tradition of posing for screenshots after they down raid bosses for the first time. If you need further proof of this phenomena, simply do a Google image search of any current tier raid boss, and you'll be assaulted with pictures of avatars, standing together proudly. Something else you notice about these pictures, though, is that they can be -- let's face it -- kind of boring. Personally, I've seen enough boss kill screenshots to last a lifetime, so when my guild succeeds in killing something new, I don't even take one. Instead, my wife mocks up a Photoshop like the one above to commemorate each victory. It's silly, but it gives us something to look forward to as we progress. Does your guild take screenshots of first kills, or do you document the occasion in some other way? Perhaps you write an exciting RP blog entry recounting your band of heroes' legendary triumph? If you do take the tried-and-true screencap, what does your character do to shake things up? Extra points if you always pop a sandbox tiger and ride it in furbolg form!
Eskil Steenberg talks LOVE, progression, and making indie MMOs
Eskil Steenberg's LOVE has been flying well under the radar of late, even more so than is usual for an indie MMORPG. A little phenomenon called Minecraft happened over the past year since LOVE's launch, and while both games hail from Sweden, that's about where the similarities end. In fact, comparing LOVE to any other game is rather challenging (but also instructive), as evidenced by a new Eurogamer interview. Steenberg is literally a one-man development show, and the piece covers a lot of fascinating ground including everything from how you measure the title against more traditional fare to how players react when confronted with LOVE's open-ended paradigm shift. Gamers will "play a game like mine... and they'll go back and play something scripted and say 'oh my God this is so archaic.' It's like if you play Dragon's Lair today. I'm not controlling it, it's all fake," Steenberg says. The interview also touches on why Steenberg opted for a non-traditional approach to massive development, or put another way, why he didn't fall into lockstep behind World of Warcraft (and EverQuest before it) as the vast majority of the industry has done. "I'm trying to do something completely different," Steenberg says. "What they're doing is limiting what you do. You follow, you grind upwards. [Progression] is something you should do if you want to make money because you get that hook. But I was never interested in making my players addicts."
EverQuest devs talk progression server on new Live Cast
Ladies and gentleman, start your time machines! Today marks the launch of EverQuest's Fippy Darkpaw progression server, and SOE has a trio of new Live Cast videos with the dev team available for viewing on its YouTube channel. The discussion is hosted by Eric "Piestro" Cleaver and features lead designer Adam Bell, designer Ed Hardin, and lead programmer Steve Klug. Topics covered include the hows and whys of a progression server, the world and zone revamps, and the XP curve (which the team says will be slowed down quite a bit relative to the live game). "There are no 'hell levels,' but it will still be slower than it is on a normal server," Hardin says. The team also talks about how certain races and classes, and even the game's tutorial, won't be available from launch, as they're locked to certain expansions and will only become available as the progression server ages. Speaking of progressing, the devs have implemented a brand new voting system with a dedicated in-game UI in order to afford players the opportunity to choose when the server should move to the next expansion. As far as who gets to vote, Bell says that "you'll need to be on the progression server and at least level 30 in order to vote to unlock the next expansion, and we may raise that level as the expansion unlocks continue." Head past the cut to view the entire Live Cast in three parts.
The Anvil of Crom: Time for F2P?
Welcome to the Anvil of Crom, folks, and to the new year. I kicked around a lot of ideas for this initial column, including some raid and endgame commentary, an analysis of Craig Morrison's latest development update, and a look at the new Jhebbal Sag PvP minigame. While all that stuff is worth talking about, it will have to wait, as I stumbled across a thought-provoking thread on the official forums last week that demands attention. The thread addresses, both directly and indirectly, the two most important Age of Conan issues that Funcom needs to fix in the coming year (those being the game's population and its grind). The title of the thread? Time for F2P.
The Daily Grind: What's your longest journey to the level cap?
So I recently hit the level cap (again) in Age of Conan, and it got me to thinking about how rare an occasion that really is. While I've played a huge number of MMORPGs over the years, I can count the number of times I've managed to reach the mythical endgame on one hand. I came close on a couple of occasions (notably in Aion and Lord of the Rings Online) only to have an expansion come out and bump the cap beyond the reach of an unrepentant game-hopper. Recently I've returned to Atreia for a bit of dabbling, and given the stately pace of NCsoft's updates, it looks like I might possibly max out at 55 in the near future. If and when that momentous occasion occurs, my Sorcerer will be well over a year in the making. Conversely, I'm about to ding 50 on my first Global Agenda character even though I only started playing the game in October. These two titles sit at opposite ends of the MMO progression spectrum. One has been watered down from its grindy roots but still boasts a disheartening 50-to-55 summit, while the other is expressly designed for lighting-fast progression (made even faster by boosts from Hi-Rez's store). Today's Daily Grind is all about leveling speed. What's yours? What is the longest time frame you've ever spent maxing out a character? 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!
TUAW's Daily App: Max Adventure
Max Adventure has been quite a while in the making. I first saw it at 360iDev earlier this year, and then again at WWDC, where we met up with the husband-and-wife team of Imangi Studios to talk about how it was coming along during development. You may have also seen this video of a level being made in the game. Finally, everything is done, and a few days ago, the game itself showed up on the App Store. It's a hit so far, too. Even though it's a dual-stick shooter, a genre that's been done to death on the iPhone, Max Adventure's got a fun and original sense of humor -- you play a little kid fighting off parent-kidnapping aliens around the neighborhood. There's an excellent story mode to play through, with progression, power-ups and quests to find and do, and if you finish that, there's a survival mode as well, complete with Game Center achievements and leaderboards. Just as you'd expect from Imangi, the folks behind Harbor Master (who recently updated their original app with Retina Display graphics just for the heck of it), the quality is excellent all around. The team at Imangi has put a whole lot of love into this one, and it shows. At the introductory price of just 99 cents (for the universal app!), Max Adventure is a bargain, even during the crowded holiday season. Odds are you've already picked up a few games this year, but even if that's the case, go find another buck in your couch because this one's a must-buy.
Cataclysm 101: Zone and instance progression
If you're sitting there at your keyboard right now violently coveting your upcoming Cataclysm experience and daydreaming of all the places you'll go, we here at WoW Insider would like nothing better than to aid and abet you in your wacky escapades. And since Cataclysm is launching on International Matthew Rossi's Birthday, who better to help you figure out where you intend to stream like an unstoppable torrent of locusts? Well, there may be lots of better options, but I'm doing it anyway. Cataclysm has several new zones to experience and quite a few new dungeons to crawl through. Let's take a look, shall we?
Lost Pages of Taborea: Level 62 growing pains
Halloween has stubbornly refused to leave the land of Candara and is relentlessly holding monster parades around the clock. While it may be boring some, other persistent folk are probably stock-piling enough candy to make it all the way to next Halloween. So while we conveniently ignore the Pumpkin Prince, I want look ahead to the coming new zone. I've been steadily finding great content on the Runes of Magic forum, and the new level-cap increase is a hot subject right now. When chapter 3 rolled out, we knew we'd be seeing the maximum level raised to 60, but this new one wasn't expected, especially not so soon. This new level cap will take us into Limo Desert and to level 62. That means at least one new dungeon, new quests and most likely new armor. There's more than a few in the Runes of Magic community, including CM Swag, who have voiced their opinions both for and against another raise in levels so soon. Let's take a look at the situation that this presents, and I'll give my opinion on the new level cap.%Gallery-108554%
