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Ex-Ubisoft devs unveil ReRoll, an ambitious stab at turning reality into a game
For years, games have repeatedly tried to outdo one another in the quest for the most expansive, interactive open-world experience possible, but what could offer more true freedom than our own planet? That's the basic idea behind ReRoll. In development at Pixyul, a new studio created by two former Ubisoft developers, ReRoll uses civilian aerial drones to capture images from all over the globe which are then stitched together to create the in-game world. Further, ReRoll employs a "Reality Sync System," that takes real-time environmental data from our reality and feeds it into the game. If it's snowing in Chicago, ReRoll's virtual rendition of the Windy City will likewise be blanketed in fluffy white flakes, Pixyul claims. Little is known of ReRoll's gameplay, though its developers describe the game as a survival action-RPG. "To subsist, you need to eat, rest, exercise, learn, fight but most of all find all the different ways to survive," reads the game's official description. While no release date has been established for ReRoll, Pixyul has set up a crowdfunding effort on the game's website. As with most fundraising attempts, those who contribute money to the development of ReRoll will earn exclusive swag in exchange for their blind faith in the project - in this case, weaponry and vehicles to be used in the game. [Image: Pixyul]
The Road to Mordor: Three ways LotRO could encourge rerolls
You're either an altoholic or you're not, and if you're not, then you're probably not too concerned about what your next journey will look like. For those of us who love to fill up our character screens to the max and have rarely gone a week without thinking of sampling a new class, race, or approach we haven't tried before, then a game that provides excellent reasons to do so is essential to our long-term interest. I've made many a new alt in Lord of the Rings Online over the years, and some of those alts even survived the reality show-like elimination process to make it to high levels. Well, at least until Moria, after which the Balrog probably got them. In 2013 alone I've made good attempts at three alts, the highest of which is level 51. However, my enthusiasm for alting in LotRO is on the wane. I feel as though I've seen and done everything in those low levels to death, and Turbine isn't giving me good enough reasons to go back through it again. That's unfortunate because alting extends our interest in a title and gives us something to do once we've run out of new content to devour. So here are three ways that Turbine could encourage players to reroll more often in the future.
The Daily Grind: Do you ever roll two of the same class?
Every once in a while I'll hear from a friend that he or she has rolled a new character in an MMO. This by itself is not strange nor unusual, but what is weird is that the new character is of the exact same class as another one that the player regularly uses. To me, this is a hard concept to wrap my head around. MMO characters take so much time to develop as it is, and part of the joy of rolling a new alt is trying a different experience. Why would someone want to play the same class again if there are others that haven't been touched yet? I'm sure they have their reasons, and I'm curious if you've done this. Do you ever roll two of the same class, and if so, why? Explain yourself! 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: The heartbreak of altitis
In the MMO culture, there are those who alt and those who don't. Sometimes there's a hilarious rift between the two factions, as one side can't understand why you wouldn't want to try out all of the game's classes and the other side can't understand why you wouldn't specialize and excel in a single character. I'm one of those who alt, which is a blessing as much as it is a curse. I blame City of Heroes for starting me out on the path to altoholism. C'mon, it was simply impossible to play that game and not be rolling a new superhero concept every other day. By the time I moved on to more "traditional" titles, I was hooked on the idea of alts. It's a curse as much as it is a blessing. I'll be the first to advocate that alting can give you a wider perspective in a game, offer you more play flexibility, and perhaps keep you in a title far longer than if you played a single character until you burned out. But there's a darker side to it, a path to heartbreak. For those of us who alt, this is the unspoken danger that lurks in every reroll.
The Road to Mordor: The reset scenario
At this juncture of my Lord of the Rings Online career, I have zero interest in starting over. I've attempted two fresh characters over the past six months, and while the "newness" was enough to sustain me for a while, I simply didn't have the time or energy to get them through the long, long, long journey of content to meet up with my Captain. So I've made peace with the thought that my main will be my only character through the completion of the game, barring Turbine releasing an incredibly compelling new class or severely streamlining the leveling process. That's OK, really. I'm content. Yet I also like to engage in mental hypotheses in which I am forced to restart -- a reset scenario, as it were. If I woke up tomorrow and found that my account was completely blank, or if I were thrown back in time and had to start all over again, what would I do? Would I choose differently or the same? So here we go: the reset scenario. Let's assume the game is more or less how it is now and I have all of my current knowledge. If I had to start from scratch, how would I forge a different path in the game?
Enter at Your Own Rift: Going from zero to Storm Legion in a summer
As a returning player, I appreciated Karen's last column, which outlined some of the big changes to the game since last I played. While I had a level 50 Rogue sitting in Sanctum, I just couldn't connect with her because it had been so long. Even though I knew it would require a bucketload of time and effort, I rerolled a fresh-faced Cleric to go through the game all over again. Was I insane? Probably. My biggest worry at this juncture is that I won't be ready for Storm Legion when it comes this fall. When you've been at the level cap for a while, you probably don't even think about the amount of content you need to chew through to get there. I didn't want to be caught flat-footed when the expansion released, shouting, "Wait up guys!" as I fell behind. Re-rolling was good for me for two reasons. One, it's allowing me to connect with this new character and feel out all of the changes in the game. Two, it's giving me the chance to prove that anyone could start RIFT right now and be totally prepared for the expansion -- even if you're just a casual player. Today I want to share a few of my experiences on the leveling game and why it's not too late to get ready for Storm Legion, even if you're a newbie.
Breakfast Topic: What class will you never play?
We all have one. Some of us might have more -- two or even three, she says, whistling nonchalantly. You all know what I mean: the class you think you might have a go at yet never get out of the starting zone, or the class you look at time and time again and just can't quite bring yourself to try. These classes often look good on paper. I like tanking on my paladin. I know it's not exactly challenging, but I enjoy it -- so other tank classes should sound fun too, right? Wrong. I cannot bring myself to roll a warrior. I don't know why, exactly; I don't have a good reason for it. It's clearly a deeply personal thing, but I just can't find any appeal in that class. I have two healers already, a priest and a shaman, so adding a druid should be good. After all, they can tank, too! But druid is my #1 rolled and deleted class. If I had stats for that, I reckon I've rolled and deleted maybe five druids. Maybe six. Most of them don't make it out of the starting zone. For some reason, I just find them uninspiring. The spells seem dull, not exciting or engaging. I'm sure they're great if you give them a chance, but the sulky teenager in me doesn't want to! Of course, these tastes are incredibly subjective and personal, and I am under no illusions that there is a right answer or even a majority opinion! But I want to know what classes are the ones you will never play? What are the classes you roll and delete in their infancy? And, dear reader, why?
The Daily Grind: Have you ever let the queues win?
One of the worst MMO launches I ever sat through was Star Wars Galaxies' in 2003, I'm sad to admit. My guild was split over two servers from the start because Sony Online Entertainment had locked off our preferred server to prevent it from becoming overcrowded, so half of my friends were stranded and unable to create characters. A week later, the locks were still in place, and we grudgingly rerolled on a new server, losing our day-one characters, favorite names, and even a few members in the process. Years later, that second server was one of the first to dry up, and we spent cold hard cash moving our characters back to the original (and still heavily populated) server. It was a lesson hard-learned. Star Wars: The Old Republic has thus far avoided hard locks on servers, preferring to persuade players to move organically with long queues. So today we ask you this: Have you ever been swayed to leave your launch server by long queues or temporary character creation bans, or do you ride out the launch period and figure it'll resolve itself eventually? Have you ever given in and let launch-day locks or lines win? 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!
Breakfast Topic: How many rolls did it take to get your character right?
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. A lot of players took a few swings to get their characters right. You might find that that first mage you rolled doesn't really synch with your desire to stab an Ogre with that sword. That Human might have been a bit bland for a game where you could be a goat with face tentacles from space, or a walking slab of USDA-approved beef. I know several people who started playing at the bequest of their friends, made a character, leveled it for a while, only to get the message: "I'm sorry, but your friends are on another server!" It can be a bit jarring, especially if you've leveled into the 40s or 50s when a sizable time investment has been made, but perhaps not enough to justify paying for a server or faction transfer. Mistaken class choices can only be rerolled. I lucked out. My friend who got me into WoW told me exactly which server and faction to start on before I downloaded the trial account. I picked a Human paladin because I loved paladins in Diablo 2 and started on my voyage. The ability to tank fed into my natural tendency to melee things, and sword and shield has always been my favorite aesthetic weapon choice. Others in my guild were less fortunate. Our mage, who played a paladin in beta, rolled a paladin on live servers, only to find that it was completely different than the class he fell in love with in the beta test. He traipsed through a rogue, priest, and hunter before he got around to maining his mage. Our Draenei enhance shaman started out as a Blood Elf paladin who didn't make it past level 40. How about you? Is your main your first toon?
The Daily Grind: Do you re-roll when you come back?
Coming back to an MMO after an extended leave of absence can be a trial in and of itself. Unlike the first time, when everything is fresh and new and straight-forward, a return means that you have to unravel all of the messy threads that you left behind when you bugged out after a rage quit (I'm just generalizing, here). All at once you have to remember your passwords, get reacquainted with your characters, relearn your skill rotations, puzzle out your entire quest log, and catch up on the (presumably) many changes that have happened to the game since you left. Consequently, the temptation can be strong to simply wipe the slate clean and re-roll a completely new character. A brand-new character can help you relearn the game without overwhelming you with too many details at once, which is hugely appealing. On the other hand, it might seem like a waste not to continue an old character that you invested so much of your time and effort into building. So do you re-roll when you come back to an MMO, or do you pick up where you left off? This Daily Grind will self-destruct in five minutes or after a hundred comments, whichever comes first. 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!
Wasteland Diaries: Long-term goals
So you're a brand-new clone in Fallen Earth, dressed in your snappy LifeNet ensemble? So far you've managed to get yourself blown to bits inside the bowels of the Hoover Dam. Remember that awesome scoped battle rifle you were using? Well, forget that. The weapons you will be using for the time being will be a bit more primitive and a lot less deadly. Luckily for you, Elena Winters was able to respawn you safely away from the dam. After being led around by the nose, you're no doubt ready to begin making some of your own decisions. I'm going to tell you that you aren't quite ready to do that. Not just yet. Before you go off on your own, there are some important things you need to know. These things I will tell you will save you a lot of trouble later on. I wish someone had given me all the information I'm going to give you, but I learned it the hard way. As they say: "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." This also holds true in Fallen Earth. Now that you're in a safe place, I'll get that handy information to you after the break.
MAG's Veteran Mode explained
MAG's official launch was only a few days ago, but developer Zipper Interactive is already explaining some of the benefits to having a high level character in the MMOFPS. Players who hit the level cap of 60 can enable "Veteran Mode", which Zipper Interactive has mentioned in the past. Now, they've clarified what exactly the advantages to doing so are in a blog post -- essentially it's an incentive to reroll once you've maxed out your character, and experience more of the game. If you're looking to try something new, you'll be able to keep your past accomplishments (medals, ribbons, and related stats) when you reset your character to level 1. Even though your experience counter resets to zero, your lifetime experience will show everything you've ever earned -- a permanent record viewable on the stats page of your barracks. Players after trophies for hitting max level in all private military companies (PMCs) in MAG will want to take advantage of Veteran Mode and the experience boost it imparts. Veteran Mode gives players a permanent 10% bonus added to the experience total for each match, provided that players sticks through the entire round. Other players can easily recognize a Veteran by the gold insignia displayed beneath that character's rank. While we suspect it'll be a while before most players hit that level cap, Zipper Interactive detailed MAG's Veteran Mode on the game's official blog.
The Five Rs of Character Revitalization
So I've talked recently about life as an RPer, and how we seem to interact with our characters just a bit differently. Sometimes, whether we like it or not, a certain character and their back story just grab hold and won't let go, and we find ourselves coming back again and again, just to see where the story leads. Of course, sometimes the character goes just the opposite way, and no matter what you do, your stories fall flat and you don't feel enthusiastic about logging on. It may be because you can't stand the character's personality anymore, it may be because your normal group of friends has hit an RP rut or even taken a break for a while themselves, it may be a variety of other things. Recently, Anna of Too Many Annas wrote a pretty awesome article about how to refresh a flagging RP character using 5 Rs: Relax and Rest, Reintegrate, Refresh the Character, Retcon, and Reroll/Reskin.What's sort of cool about this list is that you can even apply a lot of the principles to characters in general, even if you're a non-RPer. Anna's covered the RP angle pretty well, so I'll mostly focus on this other angle.
Breakfast Topic: Why reroll?
I probably should've mentioned this in my Breakfast Topic yesterday, which asked about your favorite noob moments, but my brother-in-law had a major one with his very first character. Playing a Druid, he eventually found himself in Moonglade. Not the best person with directions, he actually got lost in Nighthaven, unable to find his way out. He even tried to kill his Tauren by drowning in a Moonwell. Didn't work. In frustration, he deleted his toon and rerolled another Druid. My cousin had a similar experience when, at Level 12, we pointed out that his horns were white while the rest of his Tauren was black. He immediately logged off, and met up with us an hour later with an all-black Tauren with the same name. Speaking of names, my wife leveled a Priest but decided at some point that she didn't like the name and rerolled. These were the days before paid character customization, of course. I suppose we all have different reasons to reroll. Before the days of PvE-to-PvP transfers, a bunch of us decided to start from scratch and reroll on a PvP server because we couldn't progress on our original one. As painful as that was at the time (we all had a couple of Level 60 toons already), it turned out to be a great decision as we ended up being able to experience the endgame. Have you ever felt the need to reroll, or start from scratch? Not quite the same as leveling an alt, but to start fresh entirely. With paid server transfers and character customization, I'm certain the need is less urgent, but for those of you who started anew, what were your reasons?
Breakfast Topic: Finding motivation to level or grind
Arrowd of the US Cairne server has a question: How do you keep leveling without getting bored, abandoning a character, or rerolling? She says that she's had around 14 characters, and she's never managed to stick with one past about level 45. She always gets bored, and she wonders if there is a way to avoid it. Now as I've mentioned before, I've leveled a lot of characters myself, and have a few 70s, but even I can sometimes get a little bit tired of the grind, and sometimes even I need to make up goals to keep myself focused. Sometimes I even need it for my level 70s if I'm running low on gold or raiding supplies. In that way, I can definitely feel where she's coming from, but I do (usually) manage to keep myself motivated. Sometimes, for me, the Motivation is pretty simple. For example, on that Shaman I'm leveling, what keeps me going is the prospect of getting some sweet Dual Wield action going. I'm actually having a lot of fun with her, so I don't need to focus on it too hard, but the idea of imagining her with 2 axes enchanted with Windfury is a mental picture that is too awesome to put into words. I mean, we're talking cover of a Dragonforce album awesome. So now I turn the question over to the rest of you. Whether it be leveling on a lowbie or grinding on a 70, how do you keep yourself motivation when the going gets tough and you get tired out? Is it the promise of a new skill? A new piece of gear? What keeps you charged up and logged in?
Ready Check: End of the road?
Ready Check is a weekly column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, ZA or Sunwell Plateau, everyone can get in on the action and get mad purpz. Today, we look at the increasing numbers of player departures and wonder when enough is enough. In this column I've talked about what makes raid guilds as a whole break up, but not what makes individuals decide raiding isn't for them. Having seen multiple guilds go through this process en masse recently, and breaking up as a result, here's a point-of-view on raiding and when it's time to stop or move on, based on personal experience in a European PvE guild.
Officers' Quarters: Two heads > one
Every Monday Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership.I sometimes envy those two-headed ogres. Imagine if you could fill out your tax forms and play Warcraft at the same time. Hmm, has anyone actually done that? This week's e-mail comes from a pair of players who want to start a guild as co-leaders. Can a guild survive with two GL's running the show?I have a question or two I'd like to ask you, oh great guild master guru. My friends (RL) are all going to reroll on another server because most of them are new, while I have two 70's already. My friends count a total of around 6, maybe a 7th if he decides to join us on retail instead of private servers. We will start a guild of course and one of my friends (who has a 70 already) and I will be the guild masters. I will be the raid leader and such and he will be the PvP leader. We came to this agreement mutually and have decided that we will be each other's counsel. A small system of checks and balances, if you will. Our main reason for choosing ourselves is because of our extensive experience and we get along together, not to mention work like a well-oiled machine in almost all situations. While this will be our first time actually leading the guild, we have both been officers in several different types of guilds and we have sort of an inkling as to what we need to do.My question is: Is this bipartisan (excuse the loose word usage) leadership a good idea? And could you give us some tips on starting/leading a guild? Just the vital things! :D
Waiting to reroll
While I'm referencing threads on the European forums, this situation is no less common on US realms. Some players out in the World of Warcraft are simply chronic rerollers. They love the environment of a new realm -- a fresh economy, plenty of other people to level up with, and that thrilling race to level 70. And since Blizzard hasn't released any new realms (for players on US or EU realms) since the release of The Burning Crusade in January, players of this sort are really getting a bit antsy. Blizzard, for its part, is holding to its stance that they'll release new realms when overall population requires it -- but until then, the best you're going to get is low population recommended realms. Vaneras thoroughly explains the situation for us: the fact that people enjoy playing on brand new realms just isn't a compelling reason for Blizzard to create new realms when existing realms have plenty of room to grow.But what's the solution? Vaneras tell us that merging existing low-population servers in order to be able to open new realms isn't going to happen. (And I can understand why -- merging realms and then rolling out new realms is a lot of work by Blizzard's tech team, and essentially serves no purpose.) Vaneras suggests that you could get yourself organized and ready for new guilds on new realms, but that's probably little comfort. Some posters suggest a rerollers' realm of sorts -- a realm that resets every few months to offer players wanting an authentic rerolling experience a chance to race to 70 on a regular basis, without the need for any new realms. But what do you think? Do we need new realms? Is the fun of playing on a new realm enough of a reason for Blizzard to regularly deploy them -- even if they'll wind up ghost towns down the road, when players abandon them for other fresh realms?
Rerolling or alt-itis?
Reading through the forums I have seen several posts about people wanting to reroll characters, and this confuses me. I am an altaholic myself, and I spend my time spread between 9 characters, the 10th being our guild bank alt. I might even say I have more alts than that, considering the two I created for It came from the Blog. What this means is that when I log in, I choose a character to play based on how I am feeling at the time. Sometimes I feel priestly, sometimes I feel the need to rage against the world. But back to the concept of rerolling. Rerolling a character, as I understand it, entails completely deleting the character you have been working with in order to start anew. I have had friends that did this, one in particular that deleted his hunter in favor of a priest, only to regret the decision later. I asked him why he didn't just leave the character since you have 10 slots to work with. The only reply I got was a /shrug.
Breakfast Topic: Why do you keep playing?
Some people call them "nerfs." Some people call them "balance." (And usually this is exactly proportional to how the change impacts your own class.) But however you want to phrase it, gameplay in World of Warcraft changes -- and it doesn't always change for to the benefit of your playstyle. So how do you keep yourself playing when you seem to have hit the bottom of the nerfing/balancing cycle? Reroll? Play alts? Explore areas you've ignored in the past? Tell us, why do you keep playing?
