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A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Points of great divergence
It's been an interesting few weeks leading up to the launch of the Incarnate system, in no small part because it's all been secret knowledge up until now. Yes, you all saw my writeup on the new task force and a quick interview regarding Issue 19 just a couple of days ago, but it happened before then, and I've been sitting on my hands with some knowledge about just what the next evolution would mean for City of Heroes. As a result, I didn't want to talk about it too much -- speculation was pointless, since I knew what the Alpha Slot actually did, and I wasn't allowed to just say it. So what do I think about the Incarnate system? I'm excited about it, obviously -- I'm excited about anything that really takes a new idea and runs with it, and I have a lot of faith in the team doing the development. But at the same time, I can see more than one future lying ahead for the post-Issue 19 City of Heroes, one good, one bad. Armed with the knowledge of the first slot and a loose overview of what's coming, I think now is a time to look at what I see as the two possible outcomes.
Cataclysm raid progression update
Valnoth comes to the rescue of a forum poster wanting clarification on the intended progression path for Cataclysm instances and raids. Since we figure this is information that will interest a few of our players, here it is in pog form! (Note, it's not actually in pog form.) Valnoth - Re: Can we get some info on Cata-Progression Q u o t e: So with raid testing in full swing, i think it's a good time to ask what the planned progression path will be concerning raids. Will we be allowed to directly do heroic-modes or are we forced to do normal first? Will there be any kind of gating? Any Info on Sinestra? Try-limited? Time limited? Not limited, just hard? Also, will there be heroic-mode testing in Beta? Below is the basic progression map. Obviously your mileage may vary, i.e. If you're Paragon or Premonition you will be able to skip some of the below and/or mix and match at your discretion. *Normal Dungeons/Crafting/Questing to get full set of 85 blues (non-heroic) to do Heroic dungeons. *Heroic dungeons to get full set of 85 Heroic blues to do Normal mode raids. *Normal raids to get full set of 85 epics (non-heroic) to do Heroic mode raids. *Heroic Raids to get full set of 85 Heroic epics, which will presumably help a bit on Sinestra and the next tier (when released with patch 4.1.0) *Badge vendors to help fill in gaps at all tier levels. *No real gating to speak of for ship. *Sinestra opens after Cho'gall is defeated on HEROIC mode. No timers or attempt limits, but she will pound you relentlessly. She has better than Heroic epic level gear (half a tier better). source
Age of Conan's Morrison talks progression, design
Armchair designers of the world, take note. If you've ever wanted a peek inside the mind of an MMORPG developer, Craig Morrison's latest personal blog entry might be right up your alley. The Funcom executive and current Age of Conan boss has posted a lengthy look at his thoughts on massive design, and more specifically, progression. Morrison examines progression versus entertainment, and goes on to contrast the need for the former with the desire for storytelling. He also touches on the vast array of player motivations, ultimately concluding that while "progression, and the need for it, is a bedrock of the expected player experience," future MMO designers should be mindful of the differences between what they want the player to do and what the player wants to do. Clearly, there is no easy answer to the question of how does one design a good MMORPG. After all, one gamer's soul-sucking grind of death and despair is another's relaxing evening at home. That said, Morrison's perspective illuminates at least one line of developer thinking and is worthy of a read-through whether you're a dev, a player, or both.
The Daily Grind: What content keeps holding you back?
Back when I was in the middle of Naxxramas in World of Warcraft, there was an iron wall that held my entire guild back, and that was Grobbulus. It was insane. We could clear every other wing of the raid without a single wipe, even managing the much more difficult Four Horsemen battle without any problems, but every time we wound up facing the slime daddy it was a night of wipes and frustration. When we finally took him down, the rest of the raid fell to us in a matter of an hour. For some reason, that one boss was just such a hurdle. It could be a mission that you can't solo and can't get help with in City of Heroes. Maybe it's a raid boss in Lord of the Rings Online. Or maybe it's a certain episode in Star Trek Online in which a bug breaks the game and prevents you from completing your objectives. Whatever the reason, we all have something in our games that just refuses to let us past, content that we'd happily never do again if we could get past it the first time. So what's your iron wall?
Flameseeker Chronicles: Guilds, grind, and Gamescom
Thursday evening was fairly eventful for me. Thursday is our regular Massively night in Guild Wars, so [MVOP] arrived in The Wilds and began setting up for our run through the mission. We found a few players waiting for us, extended guild invites, sorted out our grouping, and off we went. We made it through the mission with only one hitch -- which I'll address in a moment -- then headed over to the Eye of the North to begin tackling the Asura storyline. The plan was to make the full trek through Vloxen Excavations to the Asura Gate, but once we arrived at Umbral Grotto, certain party members (me) were falling asleep in their seats and had to bow out and get some rest. The plans for this week are all set, and everyone is welcome to join us. Now, about that little hitch. We were traipsing around the jungle in The Wilds when I got an IM telling me that the level cap had been set for Guild Wars 2. What? No way. A quick check confirmed it, and my wonderful group sent me off to a safe corner to leech and knock out a quick news story while they continued the mission. They even came back to find me after I returned and demonstrated my truly dismal navigational skills, because they are wonderful like that. The leveling and progression information was pretty big news, so there was no question that I'd look into it a bit more deeply for this week's Flameseeker Chronicles -- follow along after the jump.
Officers' Quarters: Emotionally invested
Every Monday, Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership. He is the author of The Guild Leader's Handbook, available this spring from No Starch Press. When you're frustrated with your guild, it's tempting to jump ship. But sometimes it's also difficult to let go. This week, one officer asks, can you be an officer in one guild and a regular member in another? Dear Scott, I am Raid Officer in a casual raiding guild. I attend the most raids and am one of the highest output players on each raid on all my characters. I am one of the most active, hardest working Officers in the guild. We have always been lenient with who is allowed to raid -- we have some healers who do less than 50% output of other healers who are similarly geared, we have DPS that do less than half of what they should be doing (with "casual" expectations, I don't expect everyone to do 10k DPS but 4-5k is low for a well geared player in ICC with the buff). Even members of our A-team have been slacking a bit. Many players don't pay attention to the leaders in Vent, don't react well to constructive criticism of their gear, spec etc. PUGs are further progressed than our guild is.
Funcom's Morrison talks story in MMOs
Funcom game director Craig "Silirrion" Morrison has delivered an epic-length post over on his personal blog examining the various aspects of story in MMORPGs. Given the fact that BioWare has recently raised a few eyebrows with their story, story, and more story mantra (not to mention some old-fashioned genre heckling), it seems only natural that industry veterans like Morrison would have something to say on the matter. The Age of Conan executive producer, who is also a former game director on Funcom's long-running Anarchy Online title, talks about everything from the practicality of a single-player story to the desire for it in a massively multiplayer title. "If a game is said to have poor game-play or lacks a good user experience, having a great story rarely tends to save its sales figures. So the game-play is still the most important thing, and it is the same for an MMO. The story is a very close second, but it is second," he writes. Morrison goes on to share anecdotes including his storytelling experiences in World of Warcraft as well as his views that MMOs already surpass single-player games in terms of communal storytelling. Grab a cup of coffee and check out the full post over on his blog.
Funcom's Morrison asks for your AoC feedback
Age of Conan executive producer and game director Craig Morrison is no stranger to the game's official forums, and earlier today he stopped by the boards to solicit feedback from fans. Specifically, he's interested in your thoughts regarding progression in the recently released Rise of the Godslayer expansion. "What do you consider to be your first priority for progression in the expansion content? As we move forward it's one of the important areas for us to consider at we look at any potential balance changes to the methods and sources of progression, so I am interested to see what you folks think," he writes. Head on over to the official Age of Conan boards to cast your vote and make your voice heard in the discussion.
Breakfast Topic: Banging our heads against the wall
As a raider, you tend to encounter that one boss that will kick your butt night after night. In Burning Crusade, my guild saw Teron Gorefiend as our bane. Week after week, we wiped on him for at least three hours a night. All of the raid members did the famous ghost simulator many times, but still we had people who had lag issues when they came to the encounter. We also knew our DPS was not up to par, but our raid leader at the time did not want to run Mount Hyjal to get some of the gear people needed. It wasn't until the patch 3.0.1 nerf that we were able to overcome Gorefiend and move on in Black Temple. Fast forward to Wrath of the Lich King, a different guild and a different server. We have found our proverbial wall in the Lich King. Many of us have successfully downed him in 10-man, but the 25-man fight is a different story. Our problem seems to come from executing phase 2 right, with having a stun rotation on the valkyrs and placing the Defiles in the right spots away from other raid members. Yes, we have the lag monster come out during this phase, but it is mostly an execution point. In both those cases, I have seen my guildmates get so frustrated that they either leave the guild, take a break from the game or even not show up to raid on those nights we are focusing specifically on that boss. They just don't want to be hitting their heads against a wall all night, even though it would be for progression. Raid leaders, how do you get over that hurdle? Do you just keep picking away at the boss until you get him down, or do you take a night where you go through old content to give your raiders a break? Raiders, how do you handle constant wiping on a boss? Are you the type who stays with your raid group through thick and thin, or do you jump ship when you are stuck on that one boss? This article has been brought to you by Seed, Aol's guest writer program that brings your words to WoW.com. Watch for the next call for submissions and a chance to submit your own article. The next byline you see here may be yours!
TERA FGT2 gameplay feedback detailed
TERA's official website has updated with the first in a series of 'postmortem' articles featuring player feedback and developer responses to the recently concluded second round of focus group testing. En Masse has collated a mountain of information from the 60-hour testing period and organized it into three broad categories (gameplay, Westernization, and technology), each of which will feature a postmortem article. The first article, focused on gameplay, expounds on everything from race/class combinations, to gear and itemization, to progression rewards. "Feedback regarding progression fell into four categories: equipment, items, skills, and gold acquisition. We asked testers whether they felt they received real and tangible rewards for their efforts, and feedback followed many of the same trends for each of the three categories. Gear was a hot topic: moving forward, TERA will feature more equipment items per level, new visuals for these items, and a wider assortment of item statistics. Gold seemed to be just about right, although testers noted that it was hard to tell for sure without a live, in-game economy," the article states. Check out the full write-up over at the official site.
The Anvil of Crom: Offline leveling? It's about bloody time
You'll forgive me if I don't devote this week's column to Rise of the Godslayer. Yes it's coming out in two days, and yes I've been playing (and enjoying) the hell out of the beta, but frankly I think I've contributed quite enough to that particular hype machine at this point. Instead, I'd like to highlight Age of Conan's offline advancement system, and in doing so, attempt to restrain my optimism over the fact that maybe, just maybe, a major MMORPG developer finally gets it. In a nutshell, Funcom has taken a page out of CCP's book by allowing progression to take place whether or not the player is logged in and chasing carrots. In addition to the free-level-every-four-days mechanic now available on the live servers, the Godslayer expansion will also make use of the system by giving players the option of leveling up their new Alternate Advancement trees over time, whether they're logged in or out (step away from the ledge, naysayers, it's a very slow process in the current beta build). Jump the cut to see why Funcom made the right decision.
Ensidia's Muqq talks progression, fun
As far as 'I quit' posts go, we've all seen worse than this one from Ensidia's Muqq. The blog entry, which takes a calm, reasoned approach when laying out his decision to quit World of Warcraft, also compares Blizzard's MMORPG behemoth to smaller titles like Final Fantasy XI in an attempt to illustrate why the author feels that the fun has left the Azeroth building. "I've kept asking myself the question, dating back to early WotlK, 'is this fun?' The conclusion was always the same. No. For me personally, I felt like things always stood still. The lack of difficulty throughout most of the game, coupled with having only some gear progression as the only form of character progression left a sour taste in my mouth," he writes. While some will no doubt perceive Muqq's observations as stating the obvious, it's worth noting when a major player in one of WoW's elite PvE squads finally burns out. "The game philosophy has shifted, maybe due to the large turnover of players, or perhaps it might have been the reason causing it. Regardless, here we are today, playing a game with some of the best gameplay features any MMO has to offer, yet lacking the depth and character progression to go with it," he concludes. Check out the blog entry over at the official Ensidia website.
Brenlo talks EverQuest II's future
Alan 'Brenlo' Crosby, Sony Online Entertainment's Senior Producer for EverQuest II, has dropped an epic forum post on the official boards detailing the future of the long-running MMORPG. For starters, he talks about the game's technical issues, specifically the recent server performance concerns. "Some servers are struggling a bit with the new load created by returning players, Battlegrounds, more items in the database, etc and are not reacting well. This is our engineering team's number one priority<," he said. He also touches on the much anticipated New Halas zone, indicating that it will finally see the light of day in the next patch and will be well worth the wait in terms of extended content, housing, and art design. Tweaks to the traveling system and itemization will also be made, and, though no specifics were given, feedback was solicited on both accounts. Battleground updates and tweaking are also in the pipeline, as is a new Storyteller UI system that promises to tie together Norrath's many quests in service of a larger, more meaningful story. Finally, Brenlo hinted at alternate rule set servers, mentioning PvP, permadeath, and progression as possibilities. He also dropped a few hints at the upcoming development cycle for this fiscal year. <"You should see at least one raid each update, of which there are four major updates planned for the next fiscal year. Details of those to follow but I can say they will be a mix of reworked content e.g. Lavastorm revamp, and all new content. Through the next year, we plan to bolster our events as well, eventually having one event each calendar month, providing more entertainment for you,"he said.
WoW.com Guest Post: What Cataclysm might mean for guild alliances
In this installment of WoW.com's ongoing guest post program, we welcome Nico Deyo. Nico is a sometimes mage blogger and all-around nice gal who writes at Empowered Fire. It's no secret that Blizzard is going to be changing the face of guilds in Cataclysm with guild talents, perks from being a collective entity, and rewards for using their new tools. While this benefits the majority of groups, what about those who have created something outside of the standard? They might not be a large chunk of the WoW playing population, but for the people who raid and socialize differently than the average player, the systems raise some new and troubling questions. Blizzard's particular idea of a guild is becoming the predominant social unit in Cataclysm, and those who don't fit into it might be all but left in the dust when it comes to new mechanics and rewards. So who doesn't fit? I'm talking about two groups, mostly -- guild collectives/coalitions (several guilds who have banded together for a common purpose) or raid alliances (a very specific coalition or mixed group of people formed into a team for content). Both are two structures that have emerged socially and pragmatically to fill gaps that the traditional guild structures of yore haven't met.
The Classifieds: Me too
The Classifieds brings you weekly updates on guild recruiting, rankings, splits and merges, progression and more. Have guild news or a Random Act of Uberness to share? E-mail TheClassifieds@wow.com. Skilltastic death knight Raegwyn of EU Zuluhed-H isn't the only player who's become renowned for soloing older instances and bosses. Demonstrating the power of the light is Kurushimi, a paladin from US Staghelm-H who's working his way through the heroic five-mans of Northrend. Already under his belt (all heroic): Azjol-Nerub; Culling of Stratholme; Halls of Lightning; Drak'Tharon Keep; Halls of Stone; Old Kingdom; The Nexus; Utgarde Pinnacle; The Oculus; Utgarde Keep; Gun'drak. Back in Burning Crusade content, Kurushimi has also soloed Magister's Terrace, Doom Lord Kazzak, Doomwalker, Morogrim Tidewalker, Al'ar and High Astromancer Solarian. See more of the carnage on Kurushimi's YouTube channel. There's plenty of new content to talk about this week, too, with world firsts and guild rankings popping like mad. Let's open up The Classifieds ...
The Classifieds: Buttering up the Panera Bread WoW Man
The Classifieds brings you weekly updates on guild recruiting, rankings, splits and merges, progression and more. Have guild news or a Random Act of Uberness to share? E-mail TheClassifieds@wow.com. Remember back during the holidays, when we had a nice cozy Breakfast Topic chat about the fellow who's been spotted schlepping his entire iMac to the local Panera Bread to play WoW? Sharp-eyed reader Paul discovered a followup article at Gizmodo, featuring five questions with the Panera Bread WoW Man. It's no headline news, but it's an interesting peek into how a fellow WoW player gets his fix. Let's open up The Classifieds ...
The Classifieds: WoW player/MMA fighter on the mend
The Classifieds brings you weekly updates on guild recruiting, rankings, splits and merges, progression and more. Have guild news or a Random Act of Uberness to share? E-mail The Classifieds. In news from the WoW community, guildmates of MMA grappler Haydn Clasby, aka Croc of <Defiant Hearts>, US Bloodscalp-H, are rallying in support after he suffered a broken neck in what was called a freak accident during a match in New Zealand last month. Friends and fans are publicizing a Recovery Fund to help Croc out with the medical costs of the devastating accident. Our friend Jens "Little Evil" Pulver, also an MMA fighter and inveterate WoW player (and seen in yesterday's 15 Minutes of Fame), offered these words of support for Croc: "My heart and thoughts go out to you, brother. Make sure you keep your spirits up and tackle this with the same grit and guts you used to get in there in the first place. Take the time to heal and get well soon. Chin down, hands up and always come out fighting; don't let this stop you. I wish you all the best." Best wishes, Croc, for your continued recovery! Let's open up The Classifieds ...
Player rewards versus character rewards
Rewards have, more often than not, been things that make your character better. You complete a quest and you get a new piece of equipment, or access to a new area, or even just a nice handful of experience toward the next level. But we've recently talked a bit about how leveling, and progression by extension, can get rather tedious. Spinksville also talked about this, discussing the differences between player rewards and character rewards, with the former being general rewards that stick with the player and aren't contingent upon or related to power level. An excellent example is that of Klingons in Star Trek Online. The race has been a staple of the series ever since it began, and the Klingon Empire is one of the major political factions in the game... but it's not initially accessible to players. You have to complete a mission or reach Level 6 in order to unlock the option of playing a Klingon. Similarly, World of Warcraft gates its first hero class, the Death Knight, by requiring a level 55 character before one can be created. Player rewards contribue less to a sense of avatar progress, but they also help keep the power level slightly lower, as well as providing benefits that you can take with you, so to speak. On the other hand, they're vulnerable to feeling less like rewards because they're unrelated to the character who obtained them. We've all been well-versed in the endgame grind for gear acquisition, however, so the post's call for more player rewards might be a welcome change for many of us.
The Classifieds: News briefs on guilds and players
The Classifieds brings you weekly updates on guild recruiting, rankings, splits and merges, progression and more. Have guild news or a Random Act of Uberness to share? E-mail The Classifieds. Welcome to our first installment of The Classifieds, an evolution of our former Guildwatch feature. As more and more players move into endgame raiding, we thought it fitting that our guild news should evolve, too. The Classifieds gives you more of the news you can use: who's progressing, who's marking milestones, who's recruiting. But it's not only about guilds. Because we're all down there in the trenches of Dungeon Finder groups at every opportunity, The Classifieds lets you send a shout-out to that player who made your last PUG a thing of real beauty (whether through pure technical finesse or a winning attitude). And if you're curious about how WoW intersects with the world at large, we'll be passing along links to academic research studies seeking participants, as well. Editor's Note: One thing you might notice missing in Guildwatch's new incarnation is the "Drama" section. In the interest of fostering community growth and positive interaction, we're checking the drama and negativity at the door. Let's open the Classifieds!
Final Fantasy XIII character progression system explained
Though the effeminate hairstyles have managed to stay in tact as the Final Fantasy franchise has evolved, one element seems to change from game to game: The character progression system. From Materia to Guardian Forces to the Sphere Grid and plain ol' leveling up, the series has introduced some novel forms of strengthening your characters. It sounds like Final Fantasy XIII will be no different -- according to the latest issue of Shonen Jump, the RPG introduces a new progression system called "Crystalium." Andriasang laid out the gist of how the system operates -- instead of gaining experience from battles, players earn "Crystal Points," which they can then spend on new abilities and stat boosts which are arranged on a circular chart. As you progress down one of the chart's specialization trees, you unlock stronger abilities; Fire leads to Fira, and so on. Sounds a lot like the aforementioned Sphere Grid -- but we suppose we'll have to wait until we get our hands on the game before we can make a more insightful assessment.
