skills
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Wrath Beta patch notes: Shaman
With the Wrath of the Lich King beta upon us, we now have a plethora of new information about where shamans are going in the expansion, and one thing is clear: totems are changing. And for some folks, those changes may be seen as pretty bad. If you're a DPS warrior, you're not going to like the change to Windfury Totem."Windfury Totem is now a flat 20% melee haste totem. All ranks have been modified."The up side for shamans is that our own Windfury Weapon ability seems to be unaffected, according to MMO-Champion. In fact, there's no reason that the two efffects couldn't co-exist, meaning that an enhancement shaman could get the benefit of Strength of Earth (with its new strength and agility benefits), Windfury Totem (with the flat melee haste) and Windfury Weapon allowing for the damage of two extra attacks with increased attack power. We can talk more about the changes inside, shall we?
The tyranny of skill training
One of the nicest features of EVE Online is the fact that skill progression doesn't go hand-in-hand with a monotonous grind. Rather, the game uses a time-based system of advancement. But this seemingly casual aspect of the game is a double-edged sword; in the earlier stages of skill training, a newer player needs to log in very frequently to switch up low level skills. Some EVE players set their alarms and drag themselves out of bed in the early morning hours to switch their skill training, so as not to lose hours of time where progression halts. PC gaming blog 'Life is a Mind Bending Puzzle' has a post about how EVE's system "creates significant pressure to log on and pop a new skill on every time one finishes." Logically, a new player would assume that it's possible to queue skill training in advance. That assumption, however, would be wrong. Thus the early career of an EVE pilot is one of setting alarms, calendar reminders, and sticky notes... all to avoid that guilt over losing hours of advancement because of something trivial like sleep or a job. But as time goes on, skill training intervals lengthen at higher levels and thus require far less maintenance. Implementing a skill queue was one of the issues brought to CCP Games by the player-elected Council of Stellar Management (CSM), as it's one of the complaints most players have when getting to know the game. How do you feel about skill queues? Is it a necessary feature that CCP should implement, or should the developers be focusing on more pressing matters? [Via]
Is World of Warcraft really World of Diablo?
So how do you design Diablo 3 anyway? Bargain Bin Reviews has an idea -- just retrofit World of Warcraft. Shift talent points to spells, decrease enemy health and damage and increase the number of enemies by a factor of 10 or so, do away with healing spells and tanking, and you're essentially done. It's a bit silly and a bit tongue in cheek, yes, but it also brings up a good point. In the end, WoW is probably influenced by Diablo 2 as much as it is by Warcraft 3, if not more.
Results of the Council of Stellar Management meeting with CCP Games
CCP Wrangler has just erected quite a wall of text at the EVE Online forums, but this one is definitely worth a read as it concerns the direction of the game. Wrangler's post is essentially the minutes from the first meeting between the player-elected Council of Stellar Management and CCP Games in Reykjavik last month. CCP Wrangler's post lists the issues that the CSM brought to CCP Games, summarizes delegate views on the issues and CCP's responses to their concerns. The minutes represent three days worth of meetings; highlights include skill queues, Black Ops improvements, alliances and factional warfare, and 0.0 sovereignty issues. Beyond these issues, there's much more listed that covers a wide range of player concerns. Of course there won't be any immediate changes to the game, but the minutes give a fair estimation of how EVE Online may evolve in the months to come.
Forum post of the day: You are prepared for a Death Knight
We still don't have a release date for Wrath of the Lich king, but I suspect we will in the very near future. From what I've seen any folks are chomping at the bit to get started on their Death Knights. Blizzard's been handing out tidbits of information on the class. Many players have been dreaming about the gender and race combinations they'll select for the Death Knight, or even how to play the class. Aside from that, what can we do to be ready for our first heroic class? Rizelle of Gurubashi is already preparing herself for the arrival. In a thread entitled "I'm already playing my Death Knight," she described the actions she's taking:
Have Clone, Will Travel: 3 Essential Tools for Capsuleers
With Empyrean Age finally released, I wanted to give it a try to get this old Carebear in some pew pew action. Since my main character, Treenara Mazouk, was part of an industrial corporation that wanted to remain neutral throughout this war time, I decided to create an alternate character (Alt) to test out Factional Warfare.What I didn't know, and didn't expect, was being humbled by the whole experience. You see, I've been immersed in EVE Online for almost four years now, and playing a new character reminded me how much work new players have to go through to get ahead. Talk about a major flashback!Despite my experience and knowledge of the game, I still felt very limited by my new characters (lack of) abilities, assets and skills. It reminded me of my early days in New Eden, and how little I knew of what to do, where to go or who to ask. Through it all, I've gained a respect for the brave new players who start off in New Eden.I felt I needed to do something about this. Something more then the initial list I had made a few months back. The following is a list of 3 basic tools that I feel every new capsuleer should have in order to survive the harsh landscape of the EVE universe. So strap yourselves in, buckle-up and start taking notes.
MMObile: extensions of our social and gaming networks
How many times have you wanted to check on your game stats, switch skill training, or buy something at an auction house while you were nowhere near your computer? We have a host of mobile devices and services available to us with speed increases every year, but still connections to our online social networks are quite limited when we're not in front of our computers. Shouldn't more companies focus on allowing our mobile devices to act as extensions of our computers and consoles? That's what Tom Sperry, CEO and President of Exit Games Inc. thinks. He lays out his vision for how things can improve, in this scenario:
Sweeping changes to Hellgate: London in Abyss Chronicles
Hell is about to get even hotter, as Flagship Studios prepares to unleash fresh content for Hellgate: London. Our sister blog Big Download has some posted new screenshots of the upcoming Abyss Chronicles for HG:L, as well as info on the 2.0 and 2.1 updates to the title. Patch 2.0 will be Hellgate: London's second major content update, and brings with it a host of new features and changes to the game. The build is likely to go live on the Test Server in the next week, but until then, here's Big Download's breakdown of the 2.0 changes: A new quest line that covers the spread of the Abyss through Parliament Square and the survivors' efforts to fight back A major rebalancing of the Blademaster class A complete PvP overhaul, including achievements, rankings, rewards, and a new CTF team gametype Changes to the Shared Stash, such as a separate pane for each difficulty Addition of two new trinket slots for players to add rings and such to their characters An attribute respec NPC that allows players to remove points from an attribute for a fee-per-point Three new skills for each class A consignment house (read: auction house) where players can sell stuff to other players without direct trading Beyond rolling out The Abyss Chronicles with 2.0, the next area Flagship Studios is focusing on is PvP through Patch 2.1. The patch will 'open up an entirely new side to Hellgate: London' by introducing five cohesive elements of PvP in a single update: ranking, matchmaking, rewards, achievements, and Capture the Flag. The end result is what Flagship describes as 'a robust PvP experience.'
WoW Rookie: Mad weapon skillz
WoW Rookie is brought to our readers to help our newest players get acclimated to the game. Make sure you send a note to WoW Insider if you have suggestions for what new players need to know. One of my favorite things about World of Warcraft is the wide variety of sharp, pointy objects and projectiles at my disposal for beating on my foes (and occasionally my friends). At times I find myself overwhelmed by the number of options for each class, and I've always wanted a handy guide to what I can use and where to get it. Since I couldn't find such a guide, I've decided to create one. Hopefully you will all find it useful also.
Player vs. Everything: Age of Conan's newbie blues
I've been playing Age of Conan a fair amount over the last week, trying to figure out if I like it well enough to continue paying for it on a monthly basis after my free month expires. The problem is that it's going to be my second MMOG -- the one I play when I'm not busy farming or raiding with my guild on World of Warcraft. Even for someone who writes about videogames professionally, when you start stacking up multiple subscriptions, things get pricey pretty fast. Usually, I keep two subs active at a time and write about what I'm playing. Anyway, I've been trying to make this decision and I have a problem: I hop classes a lot. When you're talking about a 250 hour investment, you want to make sure that you pick a class you enjoy playing. To figure out what you enjoy playing, you really just have to try the classes out -- especially when the classes are as unique as the ones in Age of Conan. I've leveled two characters to the high teens in Tortage, and several more to the 10ish range. What I've decided, after doing all of this poking around with the classes, is that AoC's first 20 levels are about as frustrating as they can be once the initial sheen of "new game wonder" wears off. If you didn't notice it your first time through, just wait until you make your first alt.
Player vs. Everything: Could a turn-based MMOG really work?
Have you ever noticed how the combat formula for mainstream MMOGs has managed to remain surprisingly stable over the years? There may have been a few small advances: more skills to use (World of Warcraft), counters (Vanguard), twitchier gameplay (Age of Conan), and destructible environments (City of Villains), for example. But even in the games that make use of those newer concepts, the basic formula of the gameplay hasn't changed a whole lot since the days of EverQuest. We run up to the monster we want to kill, pop auto-attack, and start using whatever skills we have to take it down. It has worked out just fine in most games (I'm obviously a fan of the system), but it's also pretty simplistic, to be honest. Combat tends to occur without a lot of strategy or feedback -- it's usually too fast for a lot of complexity. Even if you had a bunch of interesting skills, stances, and counters, it would be more annoying than fun because using them in real time would require remembering where they all were on your hot bars and clicking all over the place. Given all this, how could you possibly make combat more interesting without making it less fun? Well, I was reading an article the other day where a developer was defending his use of turn-based combat in a modern game, and started wondering how well it would work in an MMOG. If we slowed things down and made a turn-based MMOG, could we have much more complex and interesting fights? Would you even play a turn-based MMO?
Learning your leadership skills from World of Warcraft
We've covered the IBM/Seriosity study before -- that's the one that said players who are able to organize and lead guilds can use those same skills to succeed in the workplace. Just recently, Computerworld sat down to chat with Seriosity co-founder Byron Reeves, who's since used his research to actually develop ways for companies to use MMO-style gameplay in the workplace, including creating a currency system to develop and manage interactions between employees.It's very interesting stuff. Reeves says that MMO games and the leaders in them are a prime example of the environment creating the leader, not necessarily the talents of the person themselves -- when a game gives you the tools and influences necessary to have you leading a guild, you'll do a good job at it. He also says that the speed of online games can be a huge benefit to workers -- when you need to organize groups fast ingame, those skills will directly translate to running groups in real life.Not everything is the same -- Reeves admits that the risks are much smaller when running around a virtual world (no one loses their livelihood if you don't down a boss), and there's a lot more transparency in games -- you can know characters' levels and specs, but you can't really know exactly how much experience your employees have or what they're really good at just by looking them up in the Armory. The interview is definitely an interesting read for anyone who's ever lead a guild or a workplace -- it's becoming more and more apparently that there are many lessons to be learned across both.
Player vs. Everything: Putting raiding on your resume
Ten years ago, the idea of putting something like being an officer in a hardcore raiding guild on your resume would have been laughable. When trying to sell yourself to a prospective employer, you want to put your best foot forward. The last thing you'd want them to know is that you spend upwards of 20 hours per week frittering your time away on something as silly as a videogame. Businesses want employees who are punctual, intelligent, analytical, and driven -- problem solvers and team players. What's funny, however, is that those are exactly the same qualities which a guild looks for in its raiders. Good luck trying to explain that to a non-gamer, though. Fortunately, gaming is slowly becoming a mainstream activity. As the generation of gamers that pioneered the online gaming craze begin to climb into their 30s and 40s, a younger generation of gamers is just starting to graduate from college and enter the mainstream workforce for the first time. Unlike their older peers, these young men and women face a business world where their boss is as likely to enjoy playing World of Warcraft in his free time as golf. For the first time, it's possible that your hiring manager might actually view your dedication to your guild as a reason to hire you, rather than a reason to dismiss you. Does that mean that it's time to start putting your MMOG experience on your resume?
EVE Evolved: EVE's skill system demystified, part 2
Something that's always bothered me about EVE Online's skill system is how often it's misunderstood by new and potential players. A few common myths and misconceptions surrounding the skill system are responsible for putting a lot of potential players off signing up. In this final part of the guide, I debunk two classic myths about the EVE skill system and go on to show you how to get the most out of your skill training time. Myths debunked #1 - New players can't compete with old ones:A common thought among new new EVE players and people thinking of signing up is that new players can't compete with old ones. In a world where open PvP reigns supreme, it does sound reasonable to assume that a new player in his lowly frigate has no chance of competing against a three year old veteran player in his tech 2 fitted battleship. This common mistake is usually caused by people misunderstanding how EVE's PvP works. In other MMOs, a lot of emphasis is put on the individual player's gear and abilities. You wouldn't invite a level 20 character along on your level 70 raid in World of Warcraft because they'd be useless. This doesn't really translate into EVE at all.Read on to see this myth get busted along with another common misunderstanding people have with EVE's skill system. Read Part 2, Skill myths exposed > ><< Back to Part 1, EVE's skill basics
EVE Evolved: EVE's skill system demystified, part 1
Most MMOs, among them the popular favorites World of Warcraft and Everquest, employ a level-based character progression system where your player accumulates levels during play. Killing enemies and completing quests reward the player with experience points toward their next level. As the player's level increases, they gain access to better skills and equipment. Alternative systems of accumulating points in various skills have been used successfully in games like Ultima Online and Runescape. These systems still share the familiar idea of your character progressing in their abilities by practicing.The result is that players who put in more effort reap more reward as their time and effort spent playing their character directly translates into increased power. These tried and tested systems are what players have come to expect from MMOs today. CCP's EVE Online uses a different training system that doesn't reward players with increased abilities for playing the game. Given the MMO genre's tendency toward level-based character progression, it's not surprising that EVE's unique skill system seems foreign and inaccessible to a lot of MMO gamers. In part 1 of this article, I demystify the seemingly complex EVE skill system.Read on for a condensed breakdown of the system for the typical MMO gamer. Read Part 1, EVE's skill basics > > Skip to Part 2, Skill myths exposed > >
Player vs. Everything: Learning by doing
In most MMORPGs, it's practically considered a right of passage to learn advanced concepts by the sweat of your brow and with a big helping of independent research. We're MMO players, after all! We don't need tutorials guiding us through the advanced aspects of the game. Right? They're for the weak and lowly fans of single player and casual games. We rely almost solely on forum information, lessons from more advanced players, and learning by doing (and we're darn proud of it). And as Tobold discussed a few weeks ago, you really have to do that stuff if you want to be a successful player.While raiding Karazhan last weekend, my guild brought a relatively newbish hunter along for the ride. Her spec wasn't terrible, and she brought a number of epics (albeit PvP epics) to the table, so we figured, "What the heck?" We didn't even get too worried when her DPS wasn't up to par. Things were going just fine until we got to the second boss fight and needed her to do a little chain trapping. A few wipes later, we realized that she had absolutely no idea how to use her frost traps effectively-- a core mechanic of her class. What was the problem there?Well, there's no game tutorial that comes in, holds your hand, and says, "Hey, pal. You're going to need to use frost trap effectively in the end game. Let's practice it a little until you get the hang of it." Most MMOGs just teach you the bare-bones basics of the game (like running, moving, and auto-attack) before they abandon you to the wild. You're expected to figure out the rest on your own, and eventually to hit up sites like Elitist Jerks or the World of Warcraft class forums to make sure that you're being all that you can be. Is this necessarily the best way to do things, though?
Insider Trader: Alchemy, the final stretch
Insider Trader is your inside line on making, selling, buying and using player-made products. While alchemy is certainly not the most flashy or popular profession out there, alchemists are an integral part of the game, and any guild worth its salt has at least one, preferably several, working to supply guildmates and fill the guild bank with stacks of consumables and transmuted items. This week's leveling guide will feature the usual cheapest route, and the most useful, to 375 for solos and casuals. For those of you who will be working for your guild (and hopefully are also being financed, or supported by herbalists), we'll show you how to reach 375 by making the most useful items. They might cost more, but your guild will be requiring them anyway, so you might as well get your skill points that way, rather than making stacks of items you won't be using.
Dragonrealms revisited
Just over two weeks ago I wrote my first impressions of Dragonrealms, a text-based MUD that was recommended to me. Here I am, knowing a bit more about the game, and more importantly still engaged, still having fun, plotting my next steps, and interacting with a range of characters on a regular basis. Following on from the comments to that post I plan to dip into Gemstone soon as well.Dragonrealms has a lot of subtle design features under the hood, many of which I am still getting to grips with to be honest. However, a few things have emerged quite clearly since my first post: things that make the game quirky, interesting and good in my eyes - your mileage may vary.
Captain skills tuning for all classes in PotBS build 1.2
A recent devlog at the Pirates of the Burning Sea site talks about the changes that are coming to captain skills (your at-sea arsenal) with build 1.2. It looks like every single class will have changes of some sort coming. These will be in the form of global changes to certain types of skills, and changes specific to each class in the game. The global changes include: stopping speed buffs from stacking, reducing the morale cost of skills that cancel upon taking damage, and the addition of crew recovery rate increases and decreases to some existing skills.The remaining changes coming to skills in build 1.2 are too numerous to list here, but we'll go over some of the highlights.
EVEMon was down with API update, is now back up and working
The good news on this one is that there is no news: EVEMon, the out-of-game app that is a must-have for EVE players, wasn't working for most people after the Trinity patch this week, but a series of bug reports over on the developer website (EVEMon is open sourced) confirms that the problem was just that CCP had taken down the API for testing. By now, EVEMon should be back up and running, ready to help you plan those skill changes out.And in other EVEMon news, the New Features page over on the developer site is a fun read, too, if you haven't seen it in a while. Very cool to see all the new features planned for the next release: Battleclinic loadouts, a new plan printing feature, and updates to the Ship and Item browser. EVEMon is already a terrific app (definitely the best MMO-related out-of-game app I've ever seen), and it's great to see the devs are hard at work making it better.
