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Lord of the Rings Online dev diary details legendary item and relic changes
While the radiance mea culpa and radiance's subsequent removal from the game is the big Lord of the Rings Online news nugget of the month, it's worth noting that Turbine's version of Middle-earth will be rolling out some changes to legendary weapons as well. In a new dev diary at the official LotRO website, Ken "Graalx2" Burd and Brian "Zombie Columbus" Aloiso spell out some of the upcoming tweaks. The good news is that the randomness associated with legendary items is soon to be a distant memory. In spite of the Pool A/Pool B legacies introduced with the Mirkwood expansion, players would still occasionally be stuck with item legacies that didn't fit with particular playstyles. New Legacy Replacement Scrolls will remedy this situation; they will be acquired through the deconstruction of an item with the desired legacy (or through the game's item shop). The devs also have a bit of info to pass along regarding changes to the game's relic system. In a nutshell, the goal for relics was the same as the goal for legendary item tweaks: reduce the random element and give the player more control. To this end, the number of relic tiers has been reduced to six, as has the amount of time required to attain the top tier. Secondly, Turbine has added a new legendary item currency called shards, which serves to "bind various parts of the system together," according to Aloiso. It's a lot more complicated than that, of course, and you can read the lengthy details at the official LotRO website.
The Daily Grind: Is your relationship with MMOs like courting?
Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Or, to the angry-slash-rebellious, The Day of Insufferable Expectations Sponsored By Hallmark. Whether you're with a significant other or are secure in your singleness, we just want you to know today that Massively loves you very much. The chocolates and plush teddy bears are on the way, promise. Speaking of love and dating, several people have made the observation over the years that players' relationships with MMOs are significantly different than players' relationships with other types of video games, almost as if these relationships mirrored romantic courting. There are periods of infatuation, lust over the hype, falling in love with the product, monogamy, secret affairs with other MMOs, moments with the game loses its luster, and the occasional break-up. So is this you? Are your relationships with MMOs like courting? Today, take a step back and analyze just how you relate to these games -- maybe you're a "player," maybe a faithful lover, or maybe just plain disturbed by this analogy altogether. What do you think? 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 Soapbox: A sense of humor is your number one weapon
Disclaimer: 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. It's one of my ongoing theories that MMOs severely tempt (if not outright encourage) us to engage in the less savory aspects of our character. I'm sometimes worried that these games do shape our personalities, at least while we're playing, to bring out the worst in us. I'm not talking about addiction or anything like that, but rather about things as simple as fostering greediness, selfishness, envy and bullying. From games that are supposed to be massively social, I often get the impression that the message they're preaching is to look out for yourself and get ahead of the (kill ten) rat race any way possible. At least in my own game sessions, I've seen signs of this happening. I've kept silent when guildies ask for help, because I want to get this quest done for myself. I've fallen into the stressful grind of endgame gear to the point of becoming completely fixated on it to the exclusion of all else. Once or twice I've written an angry diatribe on forums, attempting to use the sheer weight of my words to club the opposition into submission. And, yes, I've lost my cool with party members whom I judged as not pulling their weight, and I've chewed them out. It's usually at times like these when someone or something kicks in to remind me that I have gotten a little too serious and need to lighten up. It's not that MMOs are "just" games but that these are games, and as such, shouldn't we be having more fun and laughing more often than we do now? This is why, over the years, I've developed a personal philosophy of gaming that revolves around three simple concepts: if it's not fun, don't do it; help others when the opportunity arises; and always bring a sense of humor to the playing field. Today I'd like to explore that last one.
Breakfast Topic: How do you cope with muggles who don't "get" WoW?
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. We have a hunter in our guild whose mother does not understand World of Warcraft at all. She's the type who doesn't use computers, refused to have an internet connection in the house until this very year, and thinks that MMOs sound the death knell for her hopes of having grandchildren. My friend the hunter has painstakingly explained that raids are a group activity, that there are real people behind the colorful avatars, and that it's not polite to jump up and leave in the middle of fighting a raid boss -- to no avail. The mother still doesn't understand what could be so compelling on a computer screen that her child can't be at her beck and call. We all know people who are not WoW players, and most of us have had the experience of trying to explain our favorite game to someone who just doesn't get it, whether that someone is a parent, a significant other, a coworker, or a friend. My own efforts have met with varying results. My family still can't quite wrap their heads around a gaming hobby, but after much persuading I was able to convince my last girlfriend to give WoW a try. She's a valued guildie to this day. Have you ever had to explain your World of Warcraft hobby to the uninitiated? What was the hardest thing for them to understand? What kind of reaction did you get? Have you convinced any of them to try the game themselves?
Visualized: Facebook's global reach
If you've ever wondered what a map drawn entirely of Facebook relationships would look like, wonder no more. A Facebook intern by the name of Paul Butler has put together the above image by feeding in location data for pairs of friends, with the white lights representing cities, towns, and hamlets, and the blue streaks between them identifying relationships linking them. It's fun to see large swathes of Australia and South America devoid of Facebook activity, but check out the bit on the map where Russia and China are supposed to be -- is Facebook the most capitalist social network ever or what? Hit the source link for the full-scale image, it gets prettier the closer you get to it. [Thanks, Ian]
The Daily Grind: How much of your social life comes from MMOs?
While we may be the target of mockery or quizzical expressions for mentioning our online friends, relationships in MMOs are often a significant part of a gamer's social life. After all, gamers are places where we all share a common interest, can go on uncommon adventures, and have the potential to forge bonds that transcend the game itself. So how much of your social life comes from MMOs? Do you have a great group of friends or a guild that's there to support you, laugh with you and have fun with you? Did you ever fall in love in an MMO and perhaps find your way to the altar together? Do you log in more to hang out and be goofy with your pals than to grind your way to the level cap? Are MMOs just a small fraction of your social scene or the majority of it? For a bonus question and a cookie, does your MMO social life mirror your social life outside of the game or is it the polar opposite? Do you have a few friends in real life but a ton online, or are you the same party animal in game that you are out on the town? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of our 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 The Daily Grind!
Breakfast Topic: Has playing WoW changed your life?
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. As I write this, it's my last week on the job. I work as a small-time newspaper reporter in the southern United States, and at the end of the week, that's going to be over. The following Sunday, I'm going to be packing up my meager belongings and heading to the Sunshine State. What brought on this change to my life? Why would I move, when Mark Twain himself if often quoted as saying, "Two moves equals one fire?" World of Warcraft did this to me -- but in a roundabout and fairly awesome way. I met my fiancée, a fellow WoW player, while battling foes and rounding up new prospective guildies to enter into the WoW social scene. What's funny is, at first, she said I was kind of mean to her. Despite blowing up guild chat with random quotes or lyrics, I was a fairly serious guild master, having to mediate disputes between raid fellows and defuse explosive situations with only words and hard choices. My fiancée and I ended up talking after one of these situations. She told me about her life, and I told her about mine. After months of speaking this way, we felt that we knew enough about each other to try a face-to-face meeting. I flew to the Bay Area and we met. Everything clicked into place after that. We're getting married next year, after a faction and server change (myself from dwarf to tauren warrior, her from draenei to troll mage). If you would have told me a year ago I'd be moving across the country because of World of Warcraft, I'd have thought you were crazy. Then again, it's a crazy world. How has World of Warcraft changed your life, and in what ways?
The Daily Grind: Have you gotten spouse aggro?
The couple that plays together may very well stay together, but sometimes only half of the couple is interested in playing in the first place. There's nothing wrong with that, of course -- until the issues start up about how much time you spend on your favorite game. That's where the dreaded spouse aggro comes from, when the biggest threat you'll encounter in Guild Wars comes not from parties of healers and anti-caster NPCs, but from your significant other yanking the power cord mid-pull. Sometimes the non-playing half of the couple has a legitimate point and you really are spending more time on the game than with your partner. Other times it's just a case of your partner not being interested and expecting you to give up the hobby obligingly. Have you ever gotten a bad case of spouse aggro? Was it from your spouse, or was it a girlfriend or boyfriend? Did you work matters out, or was that the signal for better or worse that it was time to move on?
The Daily Grind: There's a line, and you crossed it
The relationships we form in games are by their very nature kind of mercenary. You make friends in EVE Online not because you know your bosom buddy is waiting for you, but because flying in 0.0 is pretty dangerous on your own. So most of your friends in a game start off based on you deriving some benefit, and with a few exceptions that's where they remain. The problem comes when that benefit is outweighed by something else. That's when guilds of friends have nasty splits over what seem like minor matters, because someone crossed a line and no amount of in-game support is worth the drama. Sometimes it's all game-related, and other times outside drama shoves its way into the game. Either way, it's something bad enough that you're often cutting off a significant advantage -- sometimes even a whole guild and the concurrent access to the endgame -- for purely personal reasons. Those of us who have done so, though, rarely look back with regret. What about you? When has a relationship in a game passed the point where the benefits are outweighed by the drawbacks? Or have you only ever been on the flipside of the equation?
Facebook and Zynga make nice, announce long-term relationship
A joint press release from Facebook and Farmville creator Zynga has announced that the two have entered into a "five-year strategic relationship," which "increases their shared commitment to social gaming on Facebook and expands use of Facebook Credits in Zynga's games." The new union likely comes as a response to reports that Zynga CEO Mark Pincus was considering leaving Facebook behind to start a new social gaming hub. The terms of the relationship aren't being discussed, but we imagine a new agreement was reached regarding how much Facebook takes from purchases using the aforementioned Credits. We're likely to hear more about the specifics of this agreement in the coming weeks.
The Daily Grind: What's your best relationship that started in a MMO?
I have a confession to make: I would not be married with two wonderful kids if it wasn't for the internet. Yes, I hold my head up high when people ask how my wife and I met, and I tell them... an online dating website. That sort of thing might have been odd and unusual ten years ago, but nowadays, forming great relationships through the internet is almost as common as in real life -- and just as meaningful. So our question today is less about the gaming side of things and more about the social aspect: what's the best human relationship you've experienced that started in a MMO? Did you meet a significant other, a wife, a husband, a confidant, a best friend, a soulmate or a crony in game? Did a game help to rescue an estranged relationship and smooth over the cracks? Has your guild gotten so close that you meet regularly to help each other solve mommy issues?
The Daily Grind: What's your longest MMO relationship?
If online games like Team Fortress 2 are just flirtations, MMOs are full-on relationships. You might look with vague interest at EVE Online even as you briefly date Star Trek Online. Perhaps you broke up with Final Fantasy XI to get together with Aion. Or maybe you and EverQuest are celebrating another anniversary and wondering why people feel the need to overextend a relationship metaphor. Joking aside, MMOs require a larger time investment than any single-player romp. While claims of playing since a game's beta are almost a self-parody, there's a lot to be said for dedication to a single game, and it breeds far more resources for a player to make use of. On the flip side, of course, you can only spend time in so many different worlds, and having a breadth of different experiences is more to the tastes of some players. So what MMO have you been playing the longest? Is it a game where your subscription has never lapsed, or one you've frequently left and come back to? Are you happy to keep playing it, or is it that crazy one that you keep almost breaking up with but never quite go the distance?
Drama Mamas: Overpulling your love life
Dodge the drama and become that player everyone wants in their group with the Drama Mamas. Lisa Poisso and Robin Torres are real-life mamas and experienced WoW players -- and just as we don't want our precious babies to be the ones kicking and wailing on the floor of checkout lane next to the candy, neither do we want you to become known as That Guy on your server. We're taking your questions at DramaMamas@WoW.com. Most of the troubled souls who write in to Drama Mamas already know the steps they should take to free themselves from their predicaments. They simply want to hear their conscience speak aloud, to come face to face with the writing on the wall. Things are no different this week for lovelorn correspondent A Troubled Tank. Although his plea for help is more eloquent than most, his sticky situation (and subsequent avoidance of the issues he lays out with clarity and precision) is all too familiar. Dearest and Revered Mamas of the Drama, This warrior finds himself in the prickliest of predicaments. On the server Earth, my main is a pretty normal dude; what is relevant is that he is in a relationship. My alt in Azeroth is getting him into trouble, however. Viewed as objectively as possible, my main relationship is a good one. However, it leaves me feeling unsatisfied. The problems of the relationship, which do not bear additional mentioning, are primarily external to the relationship. That is, if whoever runs the Earth server would nerf various things, it would be rather good. However, context and circumstance delegate it to a troublesome bore. Enter my alt's crush on a guildie. She is beautiful, charming, funny, intelligent and never bugs, scolds or annoys me. O would that she would reside in my zone, or one neighbouring mine! Yet alas, she resides on a foreign coast. She who is of relationship ilevel 277 is beyond my reach. Nonetheless, I daresay she adores me. Though as a warrior my Intellect is low, even I can tell she is my perfect match. What's worse, my guildie crush is unaware that I am seeing someone. Our friendship started innocently enough, but soon it was clear that we fit like a tank and a healer. My Earth server girlfriend and I are like two DPS, laboring in a 30-minute queue. My alt's heart's desire completes my set bonus.
GDC 2010: Hands on with Pocket Creatures
One of the best things about going to a convention like GDC is what we in the business call "doing research," which you might know as "playing games." We often get to check out the latest and greatest that developers are working on, and so when Tactile Entertainment offered us a chance to check out their upcoming Pocket Creatures title, we gladly took it. The company is founded by four friends from Denmark, one of whom used to be the Development Manager at Crytek (makers of the PC graphics engine and its flagship shooter Crysis), and Pocket Creatures, due out later this year, is their first title. The game's backstory tells of an island somewhere with an egg in an ancient temple, and in an intro movie, the egg hatches to reveal the game's main creature character. But the game isn't merely a virtual pet simulator. While you can pet the little guy to make him happy or slap him to make him sad, the rest of the game actually embodies a pretty complex ecosystem, of which the creature and his emotions and abilities are only a part. %Gallery-88237%
EVE Evolved: When social and market values collide
Research into the social sciences suggests that people interact with each other in two separate modes. One mode is governed by primarily social influences and the other by basic market forces. Which one we choose in any given interaction has a profound impact on the way we interact with each other. Perhaps nowhere in the gaming world are these forces played out as strongly as in EVE Online, with its lack of economic regulation and tight-knit social structures. EVE players routinely form social relationships with other pilots, their corporation leaders and corpmates. On the flip-side, we interact with hundreds of players we don't know using more selfish market-driven rules as we trade, haggle over prices or even just buy something from the market. But how do these two types of player-to-player interaction coexist in the same universe and what problems can arise when they collide? In this complex and in-depth article, I examine the relationships we form with other players, why they're important and what can happen when we inadvertently cross the line from an implied social contract to a market-based business one.
EVE Evolved: When social and market values collide, part 2
As close as social structures get in New Eden, it's often billed as a cold, harsh universe where anything goes and you have to keep your wits around you. A relationship can be characterised as following market or business rules rather than social rules when it's dominated by prices, value, risk and immediate reciprocity.
Facebook vs. World of Warcraft
They both have millions of users across the world. They both have made and broken friendships and relationships, and they both have raised millions if not billions of dollars for their respective companies. And chances are that they're both so popular even your grandma knows about them. Gamasutra has written an interesting post comparing both World of Warcraft and Facebook of all things, and they say that the two are more alike than you might think: both enable you to create an identity, and use that identity to interact with others, and both give you a wide variety of options to do so (in WoW, you can slay dragons together, and on Facebook, you can tag pictures or post on walls). Gamasutra wants to get to the center of where exactly the interactivity lies, and in doing so, figure out what makes Warcraft a game, and Facebook a network. One major difference is in the interface -- obviously, WoW is wrapped in a fantasy world, so that in between all of the socializing, you're also fighting the Scourge or the Burning Crusade. Facebook has games, but it doesn't have that overarching narrative. WoW also rewards group teamwork and coordination, while Facebook leaves collaboration to its own rewards. And of course the cost is another big difference: WoW is still a subscription game, while Facebook pays in other ways. But the amount of similarities between the two are pretty fascinating. And comparing the two, as Gamasutra does, really makes you think about just what interactivity means, and how two apparently very different types of interactive media aren't that far apart after all.
Q? Entertainment connecting lovers with Q?'pid's Finger Puzzle
Is your relationship going through a rough patch, fueled by soul-crushing trust issues and mutual acrimony? Has your love begun to languish, leading you to wonder whether your significant other is really all that significant? Are you looking for stopgap measures to keep the fires of love burning? Don't shell out cash for counseling -- there's an app for that. Rather, there will be soon -- Lumines developer Q? Entertainment recently revealed a bizarre iPhone project titled Q?'pid's Finger Puzzle, which tasks a couple with tracing lines to clear up fuzzy "titillating images." Following a level, the couple is given a compatibility report which offers relationship advice such as "look into your partner's heart and drink in their vapors." Yeesh. Thanks for the helpful tip, Buffalo Bill.
Player stories on the official site
Blizzard asked for real-life stories from players a little while ago, and now they've posted a pretty big collection of them over on the official site (this page was around last year, but they've added many stories since then). As Bornakk says, these are personal accounts from players of how playing the game with others has helped them grow relationships in real-life. I'm not sure what exactly the point of posting these is (maybe Blizzard wants to stave off some of that negative media reporting about the game and addiction to it), but then again, if you dive into a few of these, you can see that they don't really need a point -- they're really interesting (and in some cases pretty heartwarming) stories about how players are using this game to enrich real-life relationships.They're still accepting more stories as well, so if you've got a good tale of some WoW-sharing in real-life, hit them up over on the submission page and put yours in the mix. Hopefully Blizzard will figure out a way to get these out into the real world -- harsh stories about addiction are so easy for the media to jump on, but great stories like these are the real reasons we all play this game.
Craigslist Lotharios looking for PlayStation Home rendezvous
There, shining like a beacon of justice atop Mt. Craigslist, we saw it. Two men from the Washington D.C. area had poured their hearts out on a digital classified ad, looking for women tailored specifically to their carnal needs. Their demands were innocent enough, until the inclusion of the immediate disqualification of "Obese Girls (try drinking water for a change)." This shallow (and confusing) item required immediate karmic retribution. As we pondered our involvement in this matter, we saw it: "Looking for potentially LTR (long-term relationship) with college educated women around our same age, to meet initially via Playstation Home." Our minds raced with the retaliatory possibilities -- shapeshifting would most certainly be involved, that much is given. But to what extent could this vulnerability be exploited? An hour of feminine manipulation, and then ... the switch? A day of personal exchanges before ... the exchange? A week? A month? A year? With solemn determination, we gathered our courage -- and became unspoken executors of the Longest Con. [Via Superannuation]
