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Sodality and I have been getting quite deep into Lord of the Rings Online (as I’ve previously mentioned) and are just raving about how great an experience we’re having. This is Epic Slant though! We can only discuss the good so long before it is time to really talk about what improvement is needed. So, while I am truly enjoying the game and plan to continue doing so for quite some time, it is time to talk about some of the little things that are annoying me.
I know I mentioned this in my mini-review but I really feel like it needs repeating: LotRO’s guild support is embarrassing. For a game that has been around as long as this I am shocked that a refresh hasn’t been done yet! Each guild is limited to a mere four ranks with set names and powers. Customization is dismal and to unlock features you simply have to wait. There is no way for a very active and motivated group of players to advance their organization. Whether you play five hours a week or five hundred you get to sit back and wait on the timer. Realize that Sodality has a more complex rank structure than most games offer but surely we can do a little better than this!
One complaint that I have heard quite often is that there just aren’t enough mob models in LotRO. In all honesty, I have to agree. I can understand, given the restraints of the (……)
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I’ve had quite a week when it comes to MMO design. It would be fair to say that I am involved in numerous polite and less than polite discussions on a variety of subjects ranging from grouping to PvP. Given the topics that are flying around I thought it might be fun to tackle a couple of inflammatory subjects and dispel the myths around them (or just outright call them myths). The worst possible case is angry readers with torches and pitch forks arriving at my door. On the up side, however, we might have some solid discussion and understanding on these subjects.
Myth One – Forced Grouping
The biggest myth that I have seen continuously perpetuated is forced grouping. I consider this a myth for two major reasons: it is based around EverQuest and a tiny minority of MMOs but expanded to include anything where someone forwards the development of group content and, more importantly, it wasn’t even true in EQ1. To ensure that there is no ambiguity and that we are all on the same page I would like to define my terms. When I hear “forced grouping” I read it as “there is no way to effectively level in an MMO without a group.” I do not read it as “soloing is not the most efficient and effective way to level and is possible on my (the player’s) terms.” If you choose to reply be sure you qualify on which definition (or give your own) that you’re working. It will save us all a lot of heart burn.
I’m certain a large portion of readers would check that first paragraph and think, “Ferrel, you’re on crack. EQ1 was all about grouping.” To those of you with that thought I would agree! EverQuest did focus on grouping! It, however, did not force you to group. Soloing was not only possible but highly effective! People just want to gloss that fact over, however, because some limits were imposed. You could solo quite effectively right out of the box with a necromancer or druid. Over time shaman, bards and beastlords were added to that list. Other classes could solo but admittedly not as well. I can also argue the fact that twinking further opened up soloing options to players who wanted a second character. Can every class solo at all times? No, they cannot. Was it possible to solo effectively in the game? Absolutely yes if you accepted the terms.
I would also like to point out that EverQuest was also extremely (……)
The fact that StarCraft II won’t feature LAN play isn’t exactly a new story if you follow the usual online gaming outlets. I read about it last week and certainly thought it was extraordinary but haven’t had the time to collect my thoughts until now. Ars has followed up with a good piece about the lack of LAN support and I thought I might as well say a few words.
StarCraft was probably the game I played more than any other non-MMO PC title ever designed. It was also a game that I rarely, if ever, played alone. Most of my games were played on a LAN at Dresden’s house. If not there than somewhere else with friends. We sat together, laughed together and played together. In all honesty those are some of my fondest memories my nerdy childhood. That LAN saw home to basically every Blizzard title and now it is apparently not good enough. I am truly disappointed.
Now, before I get too misty eyed or cranky, I realize that I can do the exact same thing with “the new Battle.net.” The point is pretty simple though: Why should I have to? To play with my friends I now have to be sure that my internet connection is indeed running and that the service on the distant end is functioning? If either is in a state of disarray I will sit powerless, staring at my friends as we poke our computers like a primate might a monolith. Does anyone else see a problem here?
Blizzard is trying to try to sell this to us as a good thing of course. To quote them on the subject:
“While this was a difficult decision for us, we felt that moving away from LAN play and directing players to our upgraded Battle.net service was the best option to ensure a quality multiplayer experience with StarCraft 2 and safeguard against piracy.”
I can respect the piracy argument as I truly believe (……)
It wasn’t that long ago that I mentioned Sodality and I have returned to Lord of the Rings Online to give it another shot after a long two year hiatus. Our original trip through was not that noteworthy and our impression of the game was quite low. Now that we’ve spent a few weeks in Middle Earth I feel it is fair to talk about some of our experiences this time around.
Guilds
With any MMO my major focus has been and always will be the guild interface. It is quite natural and logical for me to want the most bang for my buck when it comes to running Sodality in game. It is in this area that LotRO is the weakest. Very few features are offered to the guild leader and customization is pretty much non-existent. Additional ranks cannot be added and the names cannot be changed. There are no permission options and the interface is not very useful beyond seeing who is online and where they are playing.
To be honest I am surprised by this. The systems by which guilds are managed have come a long way in the last few years and LotRO is a mature product. In addition to that LotRO is a PvE focused game that highly encourages grouping and raids! You would think they would make guilds as useful as possible to encourage those activities. It is my hopes that sometime in the near future we’ll see an upgrade to these systems.
Content
In little over two years Turbine has added (……)
Lately I’ve been immersing myself in the discussions going on regarding the struggle between the pro-solo and pro-group camps of MMO players. The newest bouts of debate have spilled into a few forum discussions and the comments and related articles by Wolfshead. With such a provocative topic I’ve been inspired to write on many different topics. The one I settled on, to begin with, is how this issue affects guilds. It is my contention that by focusing MMOs so heavily on solo content we are producing players ill-equipped to deal with guilds and, ultimately, weakening the need for such organizations.
The concept of player organizations is not a new one. They have existed for many years but, in my eyes, truly grew to a new height with the advent of the raid guild. These organizations are not unlike real world businesses in the fact that they monitor their member’s “hours” and pay them for that labor (DKP). They also have elaborate hierarchies and stringent policies by which someone is hired. This was sometimes taken to an insane degree and these organizations wielded massive amounts of control in EverQuest when it came to what content a player could experience.
To the uninitiated this may have seemed like an insane practice. In reality, however, it was quite the opposite. In those days the other individuals that were in your guild directly affected your experience of the game so it seemed perfectly reasonable to be quite picky. It was also not an experience that you usually repeated. Most of us were “company men.” It took me 11 months to (……)
Welcome to the ninth installment of the EVE Blog Banter and its first contest, the monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by CrazyKinux. The EVE Blog Banter involves an enthusiastic group of gaming bloggers, a common topic within the realm of EVE Online, and a week to post articles pertaining to the said topic. The resulting articles can either be short or quite extensive, either funny or dead serious, but are always a great fun to read! Any questions about the EVE Blog Banter should be directed here. Check out other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!
“Last month Ga’len asked us which game mechanic we would most like to see added to EVE. This month Keith “WebMandrill” Nielson proposes to reverse the question and ask what may be a controversial question: Which game mechanic would you most like to see removed completely from EVE and why? I can see this getting quite heated so lets keep it civil eh?”
For the 9th Eve Blog Banter we were given a topic that I struggled with for quite some time: “Which game mechanic would you most like to see removed completely from EVE and why?” I’ve frequently discussed what I would add or amend in an MMO but rarely what I would outright remove. It seemed, at least to me, that too many aspects of Eve were too important to be absent. After a great amount of thought I settled upon the only thing that made sense to me: non-mutually declared corporation wars.
Eve is heavily focused on the interactions between players and, more importantly, corporations. Players are taught rather quickly that being the lone wolf is not the most effective way to succeed. They are slowly but surely nudged in the direction of corporations where they will be swept up in the excitement that those organizations offer. The problem of that, however, is that small corporations and their members can be preyed upon long before they’re ready to stand on their own feet.
I like to think of small corporations that work mostly in hi-sec space as “Mom and Pop” businesses. They’re building up their assets slowly in hopes that they will one day be Wal Mart instead of Ferrel’s General Store. This plan can sometimes be cut disastrously short by savvy raiders that declare war on these little businesses. When hi-sec space is no longer safe, life becomes (……)
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