David Allen has left his second failed attempt (first being Horizons) at making an MMO, and now Alganon is in the hands of the notorious Derek Smart. I say notorious because Mr. Smart doesn't have the most stellar of reputations when it comes to interacting with the gaming community. Here's a quote from one particular interview, "Sometimes when I get online, and it's quiet, and I see something that attracts my attention, I'll post just to piss these guys off. That's why I do it. Because I'm in a good mood that day, I go in there and I start trouble."
There goes the neighborhood. Personality issues aside, he is held in high regard as an indie developer.(*edit - in certain circles)
The Alganon members didn't receive the courtesy of receiving this information on the official forums, but rather through massively.com. This should get interesting.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Establishing Roots in Midgard
While initially I thought I'd be spending the weekend leveling my mauler in DAOC further, there were more pressing issues calling me...one of them being housing. Even though I'm not sure how long my stay will be, I just couldn't resist. I spent nearly two hours Saturday evening riding through Hibernia and Midgard housing zones looking for that perfect spot. It had to be waterfront and close to the market. Finally, I settled on a plot. There are four sizes of homes and the cost and maintenance of three of them were reduced drastically from last time I played. For new players, however, the costs are still high but definitely doable in a month or two of play time.
During my Saturday session of gaming, my partner in crime a couple feet away kept looking over to see what I was up to. Eventually, the nostalgia wore him down and he started the DAOC download. His tutorial perspective was different than mine though. Unfortunately, he has succumbed to the leash-led zombie masses and was heard grumbling "Why the $@*& can't they just show me where to go and why the $@*% is it so dark here?" I thought his stay was cut short as he logged out frustrated.
Meanwhile, I logged in all my old high level toons. Several of them had received respecs and I had no clue where their points were spent previously. And trying to find information on how to spec wasn't very successful. Unfortunately, Mythic never had any official DAOC forums for players to share information, and there are very few outside sources these days to find help for DAOC. One of my favorite classes back then was my valewalker and fortunately her spec hadn't been reset. So after about an hour of dragging skills to hotbars and hoping I was using the right ones, I took her out for a test drive.
I picked up one of the instanced mission quests, headed in, and kicked some serious butt. My other half returned and did the same with his friar, his prior favorite. So it looks like he'll be sticking around awhile as well as I now have a house neighbor.
Surprisingly, I've been seeing over a dozen members online in my old guild. One of them was a familiar face who coincidentally is just playing for the ten free days as well. And alliance chat has been busy with lots of activities scheduled, which is great to see.
Funny thing about nostalgia. When I returned to EQ1 I realized my memories were sweeter than reality and I just couldn't play it anymore. My return to DAOC is just as sweet as I remembered. It's such a great game with so much to do and definitely deserves more players than it has.
During my Saturday session of gaming, my partner in crime a couple feet away kept looking over to see what I was up to. Eventually, the nostalgia wore him down and he started the DAOC download. His tutorial perspective was different than mine though. Unfortunately, he has succumbed to the leash-led zombie masses and was heard grumbling "Why the $@*& can't they just show me where to go and why the $@*% is it so dark here?" I thought his stay was cut short as he logged out frustrated.
Meanwhile, I logged in all my old high level toons. Several of them had received respecs and I had no clue where their points were spent previously. And trying to find information on how to spec wasn't very successful. Unfortunately, Mythic never had any official DAOC forums for players to share information, and there are very few outside sources these days to find help for DAOC. One of my favorite classes back then was my valewalker and fortunately her spec hadn't been reset. So after about an hour of dragging skills to hotbars and hoping I was using the right ones, I took her out for a test drive.
I picked up one of the instanced mission quests, headed in, and kicked some serious butt. My other half returned and did the same with his friar, his prior favorite. So it looks like he'll be sticking around awhile as well as I now have a house neighbor.
Surprisingly, I've been seeing over a dozen members online in my old guild. One of them was a familiar face who coincidentally is just playing for the ten free days as well. And alliance chat has been busy with lots of activities scheduled, which is great to see.
Funny thing about nostalgia. When I returned to EQ1 I realized my memories were sweeter than reality and I just couldn't play it anymore. My return to DAOC is just as sweet as I remembered. It's such a great game with so much to do and definitely deserves more players than it has.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Return to Camelot
Early this week I received in my mail box the most recent Warhammer update. I usually read the whole thing to see if there's anything that would interest me in coming back to play. At the bottom of the letter the topic turned to Dark Age of Camelot. Any returning players can play free for 10 days. Also, everyone gets the last two expansions for free now.
With my interest in STO already dwindling and the addition of a death penalty not helping that situation, I thought this might be as good a time as any to revisit DAOC. The most recent expansion included a minotaur race and mauler class, playable across all three realms. To get back in the swing of things, I thought it would be best to start from scratch and go through the tutorial.
I played on the Gaheris server, which is the only completely PvP-free server. Playing here here also allows you to have characters in all three realms--Albion, Hibernia, and Midgard, which also means access to three times as many quests as you can freely travel throughout the realms. Loading up my account, I had forgotten how many alts I had played here. You are given 10 character slots in each realm, and I had a whopping 27 alts, with 8 of them being max level. I have never had anything close to this number of alts in any mmo. There are about 45 different classes which is enormous. Some of them do have some similarities. For example, there are three different ranged classes from each realm--the scout, ranger, and hunter. But they each have completely different skills along with strengths and weaknesses. And then there are some classes that are completely unique to that realm with no similar counterpart.
I had one slot available in each realm and decided to go with my favorite, Midgard. I love the viking structures, the music, and the entire realm is a bit dark and brooding. You can almost feel the chill in the air and I have this temptation to curl up in my chair with a hot cup of coffee as I play. Although I'm usually not a fan of furries, I was going to try the minotaur. But there was no female option, just a big, brawny male. That only left the norsewoman for the mauler class, which was my typical racial choice for Midgard anyway.
So on to the tutorial. This was not a quick 15 minute affair. My weekday play time is limited, but I did play each night throughout the week and only just finished it up Friday evening. For those used to not reading quests and just wanting to follow the mini map to git er done, they may be disappointed. There is a very small map with red dots giving you a general idea of where to go which does help. But quest npc's are not highlighted once a quest is completed, so you do need to read up on who gets what.
Actions aren't always quick jobs some might be used to. You may need to click and type /use for some things. You may need to click on your icon in your quest journal, which then puts it in your inventory, which then must be clicked on again. This is an older game, so the functions are older style, but nothing that can't be picked up on fairly quickly.
In the tutorial there are three different towns or quest hubs. One of the quests takes you into Demon's Breach which is a dungeon accessible by the tutorial of all three realms. On a typical server, this would mean your first exposure to PvP. But here it just means a chance to come across other players and say hello. Loot drops are great here and it's worthwhile to stick around a bit.
You will finish up the quests at around level 11 where you'll receive a complete set of armor as well as a mount. Now if you weren't reading your quests in the first hub, you will be left wondering what you're supposed to do now that the quests are finished. But if you were paying attention, you'll know you need to head back to the first quest hub and speak to the channeler. Even though he's not highlighted, he will offer a quest and whisk you away to your first real town hub just outside Jordheim.
Once here, your quest options can be overwhelming. And considering your quest journal is very limited, you need to pick and choose which area to focus on for quests. You can stay in town and follow the town quest progression. You can head into the city and pick up your Epic quest line, which can be soloed for most levels. You can do the quest lines in the Undercity, located under Jordheim. This was always one of my favorite areas for questing. You can head to the Shrouded Isles for a change of scenery for questing. There are task dungeons which can be done over and over if you like the grind method of leveling. There are dungeons to be explored that are very much soloable if you don't have a group. Often the barkeeps in the towns will tell you where to go based on your level.
There is a new quest line in the city involving some dragonslayer. Since this was completely new to me, this was the area I decided to focus on. Now with a little more play time this weekend, we'll see where this leads me.
Dark Age of Camelot definitely isn't an mmo with linear progression. If you need to be told specifically where to go and what path to follow, you will be frustrated. But if you like the freedom to explore and have the world completely open to you, the PvE options here are just tremendous.
...to be continued...
With my interest in STO already dwindling and the addition of a death penalty not helping that situation, I thought this might be as good a time as any to revisit DAOC. The most recent expansion included a minotaur race and mauler class, playable across all three realms. To get back in the swing of things, I thought it would be best to start from scratch and go through the tutorial.
I played on the Gaheris server, which is the only completely PvP-free server. Playing here here also allows you to have characters in all three realms--Albion, Hibernia, and Midgard, which also means access to three times as many quests as you can freely travel throughout the realms. Loading up my account, I had forgotten how many alts I had played here. You are given 10 character slots in each realm, and I had a whopping 27 alts, with 8 of them being max level. I have never had anything close to this number of alts in any mmo. There are about 45 different classes which is enormous. Some of them do have some similarities. For example, there are three different ranged classes from each realm--the scout, ranger, and hunter. But they each have completely different skills along with strengths and weaknesses. And then there are some classes that are completely unique to that realm with no similar counterpart.
I had one slot available in each realm and decided to go with my favorite, Midgard. I love the viking structures, the music, and the entire realm is a bit dark and brooding. You can almost feel the chill in the air and I have this temptation to curl up in my chair with a hot cup of coffee as I play. Although I'm usually not a fan of furries, I was going to try the minotaur. But there was no female option, just a big, brawny male. That only left the norsewoman for the mauler class, which was my typical racial choice for Midgard anyway.
So on to the tutorial. This was not a quick 15 minute affair. My weekday play time is limited, but I did play each night throughout the week and only just finished it up Friday evening. For those used to not reading quests and just wanting to follow the mini map to git er done, they may be disappointed. There is a very small map with red dots giving you a general idea of where to go which does help. But quest npc's are not highlighted once a quest is completed, so you do need to read up on who gets what.
Actions aren't always quick jobs some might be used to. You may need to click and type /use for some things. You may need to click on your icon in your quest journal, which then puts it in your inventory, which then must be clicked on again. This is an older game, so the functions are older style, but nothing that can't be picked up on fairly quickly.
In the tutorial there are three different towns or quest hubs. One of the quests takes you into Demon's Breach which is a dungeon accessible by the tutorial of all three realms. On a typical server, this would mean your first exposure to PvP. But here it just means a chance to come across other players and say hello. Loot drops are great here and it's worthwhile to stick around a bit.
You will finish up the quests at around level 11 where you'll receive a complete set of armor as well as a mount. Now if you weren't reading your quests in the first hub, you will be left wondering what you're supposed to do now that the quests are finished. But if you were paying attention, you'll know you need to head back to the first quest hub and speak to the channeler. Even though he's not highlighted, he will offer a quest and whisk you away to your first real town hub just outside Jordheim.
Once here, your quest options can be overwhelming. And considering your quest journal is very limited, you need to pick and choose which area to focus on for quests. You can stay in town and follow the town quest progression. You can head into the city and pick up your Epic quest line, which can be soloed for most levels. You can do the quest lines in the Undercity, located under Jordheim. This was always one of my favorite areas for questing. You can head to the Shrouded Isles for a change of scenery for questing. There are task dungeons which can be done over and over if you like the grind method of leveling. There are dungeons to be explored that are very much soloable if you don't have a group. Often the barkeeps in the towns will tell you where to go based on your level.
There is a new quest line in the city involving some dragonslayer. Since this was completely new to me, this was the area I decided to focus on. Now with a little more play time this weekend, we'll see where this leads me.
Dark Age of Camelot definitely isn't an mmo with linear progression. If you need to be told specifically where to go and what path to follow, you will be frustrated. But if you like the freedom to explore and have the world completely open to you, the PvE options here are just tremendous.
...to be continued...
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
VIE - Virtual Island of Entertainment
Just earlier today I was blogging about the lack of social features in games correlating to fewer females playing, and I came across this:
"enVie Interactive™ announces the development of a new game that targets the most underserved market in the gaming community: women. This massively multiplayer online social game (MMOSG) caters to women looking for an engaging online game that speaks to them."
Speak to me! It goes on to say, "VIE is an online playground for adults that offers stunning graphics, unique customization and the ultimate entertainment experience to a market that has been virtually ignored by the gaming industry. VIE offers an ongoing series of episodic content, unique shopping experiences, high fashion, art design, and intimate encounters, all in a tropical island setting. It provides a mature audience the opportunity to escape and indulge in mysterious adventures at their leisure."
High fashion and intimate encounters? Bwow-chika-bwow-bwow
And it appears there could potentially be some real life benefits! "VIE supports the theory of Productive Play allowing gamers to explore and expand their creative and artistic sides as well as their social interaction in a virtual world. Reports show that people who engage in Productive Play are actually more productive in their real world lives."
Despite my silliness, let's just say my interest has been piqued and I did sign up for the beta.
Maybe it will actually speak to me.
"enVie Interactive™ announces the development of a new game that targets the most underserved market in the gaming community: women. This massively multiplayer online social game (MMOSG) caters to women looking for an engaging online game that speaks to them."
Speak to me! It goes on to say, "VIE is an online playground for adults that offers stunning graphics, unique customization and the ultimate entertainment experience to a market that has been virtually ignored by the gaming industry. VIE offers an ongoing series of episodic content, unique shopping experiences, high fashion, art design, and intimate encounters, all in a tropical island setting. It provides a mature audience the opportunity to escape and indulge in mysterious adventures at their leisure."
High fashion and intimate encounters? Bwow-chika-bwow-bwow
And it appears there could potentially be some real life benefits! "VIE supports the theory of Productive Play allowing gamers to explore and expand their creative and artistic sides as well as their social interaction in a virtual world. Reports show that people who engage in Productive Play are actually more productive in their real world lives."
Despite my silliness, let's just say my interest has been piqued and I did sign up for the beta.
Maybe it will actually speak to me.
The Loss of Community
It's hard to find positive posts lately on the Star Trek Online forums. The amount of rants filling the pages is overwhelming. Most of the rants are directed at Cryptic and what they aren't doing right or aren't doing at all.
But I came across one post in particular where the poster had ended his subscription in large part due to the community. The zone chat is pretty horrific and has been one of the worst I've seen anywhere. For some reason I had envisioned Star Trek attracting more of role play community, or at least a more mature one. While that was part of the poster's issue, his main beef was lack of response from anyone when auto grouping. I had positive experiences in beta, but once the game went live, players just stopped talking when grouped. I've made a point to speak in every single auto team encounter, whether it's just "hello" or "thanks for the team." Pretty close to 100% of the time I get nothing back. It made me wonder where all the loud mouths from zone chat are. Do they only speak in community zones? Or maybe they just never leave the zone or team up.
There were several responses, however, indicating that many are in voice chat with their fleets or friends and pay absolutely no attention to the chat tab. And so their solution was to join a fleet. While I agree a guild/fleet can make all the difference in one's gaming experience, unfortunately many will never bother to pursue that route when their first impression is such a lack of community.
But I can't imagine every single person I teamed with who didn't speak was in voice chat. I'm sure some just want to get the quest done and not be bothered, while others may not even speak English since we're all on one server. But whatever the reasons, the silent treatment most are receiving combined with the obnoxious zone chat is very discouraging.
When I think of games that I consider to have great communities, I place LotRO at the top with EQ2 following behind. What those mmo's both have that's missing from most others is non-combat social activities. LotRO has a wonderful music system and I always stopped to enjoy any impromptu concerts. Often I'd strike up conversations with the band when they were done or with other listeners as we gave them a round of applause. Then there are those wonderful festivals and fairs, which both games offer, with EQ2 having a slight edge. Add to that the housing and guild halls, and there are just so many opportunities for socializing and meeting other players.
When you see these type of activities in an mmo, you also see more females. And when there are more females, the community is nicer. Yeah, yeah I know I'm stereotyping. I know there are some women out enjoying Darkfall ganking with the best of them. But in general, when I notice a higher female population, I notice a nicer community. And there is a distinct lack of females in STO. Our guild of 60+ in EQ2 has more women than men playing. In my fleet in STO, there were four of us out of 90 members.
The new crop of mmo's just completely overlook this aspect of gaming. I know budgets are tight these days when making games. But they're really missing an opportunity here. Without the foundation of a good community, they're just an empty shell of pew pew.
But I came across one post in particular where the poster had ended his subscription in large part due to the community. The zone chat is pretty horrific and has been one of the worst I've seen anywhere. For some reason I had envisioned Star Trek attracting more of role play community, or at least a more mature one. While that was part of the poster's issue, his main beef was lack of response from anyone when auto grouping. I had positive experiences in beta, but once the game went live, players just stopped talking when grouped. I've made a point to speak in every single auto team encounter, whether it's just "hello" or "thanks for the team." Pretty close to 100% of the time I get nothing back. It made me wonder where all the loud mouths from zone chat are. Do they only speak in community zones? Or maybe they just never leave the zone or team up.
There were several responses, however, indicating that many are in voice chat with their fleets or friends and pay absolutely no attention to the chat tab. And so their solution was to join a fleet. While I agree a guild/fleet can make all the difference in one's gaming experience, unfortunately many will never bother to pursue that route when their first impression is such a lack of community.
But I can't imagine every single person I teamed with who didn't speak was in voice chat. I'm sure some just want to get the quest done and not be bothered, while others may not even speak English since we're all on one server. But whatever the reasons, the silent treatment most are receiving combined with the obnoxious zone chat is very discouraging.
When I think of games that I consider to have great communities, I place LotRO at the top with EQ2 following behind. What those mmo's both have that's missing from most others is non-combat social activities. LotRO has a wonderful music system and I always stopped to enjoy any impromptu concerts. Often I'd strike up conversations with the band when they were done or with other listeners as we gave them a round of applause. Then there are those wonderful festivals and fairs, which both games offer, with EQ2 having a slight edge. Add to that the housing and guild halls, and there are just so many opportunities for socializing and meeting other players.
When you see these type of activities in an mmo, you also see more females. And when there are more females, the community is nicer. Yeah, yeah I know I'm stereotyping. I know there are some women out enjoying Darkfall ganking with the best of them. But in general, when I notice a higher female population, I notice a nicer community. And there is a distinct lack of females in STO. Our guild of 60+ in EQ2 has more women than men playing. In my fleet in STO, there were four of us out of 90 members.
The new crop of mmo's just completely overlook this aspect of gaming. I know budgets are tight these days when making games. But they're really missing an opportunity here. Without the foundation of a good community, they're just an empty shell of pew pew.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Alganon - The Big March 1 Patch
Well the patch didn't come. This was to be the content patch that included new dungeons as a result of the Dawning event.
What did come, however, as the official announcement regarding their new subscription-free model. They are calling it subscription-free rather than free to play because there will still be a purchase price. Their hope is that this will minimize the troublemakers and help maintain some social maturity in game.
They are adding a Tribute Market System as their method of real money transactions. Those of us with prepaid subscriptions will have Tribute deposited into our accounts following the official relaunch in mid-April. Along with items typically seen in ftp such as mounts, pets, and equipment, they also will be selling study time. Currently, longer term subscribers would have had an advantage due to the study system. However, those with padded wallets will now be able to buy their studies rather than wait. Also, it appears items such as mounts will not just be purchased outright. You will need to continue to pay for them in the form of maintenance.
Also coming with the April relaunch will be a redesigned starter experience and new starter areas, along with a collection of dungeon instances.
Honestly, I'm not sure what to make of it yet. It's still over a month away, so I'll have to wait and see what sort of pricing structures they have. But I am disappointed the studies will now be tied to how much money you have rather than how long you've been playing. That was probably the biggest let down of the whole thing.
What did come, however, as the official announcement regarding their new subscription-free model. They are calling it subscription-free rather than free to play because there will still be a purchase price. Their hope is that this will minimize the troublemakers and help maintain some social maturity in game.
They are adding a Tribute Market System as their method of real money transactions. Those of us with prepaid subscriptions will have Tribute deposited into our accounts following the official relaunch in mid-April. Along with items typically seen in ftp such as mounts, pets, and equipment, they also will be selling study time. Currently, longer term subscribers would have had an advantage due to the study system. However, those with padded wallets will now be able to buy their studies rather than wait. Also, it appears items such as mounts will not just be purchased outright. You will need to continue to pay for them in the form of maintenance.
Also coming with the April relaunch will be a redesigned starter experience and new starter areas, along with a collection of dungeon instances.
Honestly, I'm not sure what to make of it yet. It's still over a month away, so I'll have to wait and see what sort of pricing structures they have. But I am disappointed the studies will now be tied to how much money you have rather than how long you've been playing. That was probably the biggest let down of the whole thing.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
TERA - Open PvP or Not
Back when I first heard about TERA a year ago, their comments on how PvP would be handled was really vague. Now that they've found a publisher to bring this Korean product to the West, and seeing that it will actually be a subscription-based model, I took a look over at the site to see if there was further detail.
But looks like that aspect is still undecided. They have a poll in their forums asking players if they would still play TERA if PvP was highly limited. Based on the current poll numbers, about 50% would not play without open PvP and the other 50% either don't want PvP at all or prefer PvP in a battleground/arena environment. But if you read the posts that follow it, you would think 90% of the posters prefer open PvP. PvE types tend not to post as we don't want to be ganked in the forums any more than in our MMO's.
My guess is they will go with some form of forced PvP. It may not come till later levels, it may be through content restrictions, or through some other mechanisms. And that would be a shame, as the majority of the Western audience won't play it. They may try it. They may enjoy a few levels of it. And then they move on.
The world graphics are pretty from what I've seen, and the character models are pretty spiffy too, including the obligatory cute player critter. It's still a year away from release, so maybe there's still hope yet for me.
But looks like that aspect is still undecided. They have a poll in their forums asking players if they would still play TERA if PvP was highly limited. Based on the current poll numbers, about 50% would not play without open PvP and the other 50% either don't want PvP at all or prefer PvP in a battleground/arena environment. But if you read the posts that follow it, you would think 90% of the posters prefer open PvP. PvE types tend not to post as we don't want to be ganked in the forums any more than in our MMO's.
My guess is they will go with some form of forced PvP. It may not come till later levels, it may be through content restrictions, or through some other mechanisms. And that would be a shame, as the majority of the Western audience won't play it. They may try it. They may enjoy a few levels of it. And then they move on.
The world graphics are pretty from what I've seen, and the character models are pretty spiffy too, including the obligatory cute player critter. It's still a year away from release, so maybe there's still hope yet for me.
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