Starcraft 2 - make money from custom maps

During the Battle.net panel just now at Blizzcon, it was announced that Starcraft 2 will have some really kick ass tools for map/mod makers. In addition to this, they are going to be implementing a "marketplace" where map/mod authors can place their creations for download - and charge for them if they like.

The goal appears to be to get more people making mods on Blizzard games, instead of a competitors platform - I say appears because this *is* a stated goal, just not sure it's *the* goal.

It all sounds really damn cool, and I for one am looking forward to it, even though I'm not a big SC fan (omgsaywhat?!)

Next WoW expansion: Cataclysm

It had been rumored over the last week or so, but it is now official. Cataclysm *is* the next expansion for World of Warcraft.

Some of the notes:

• Level cap raised to 85
• New Alliance Race: Worgen (werewolves)
  
• New Horde Race: Goblins
• Massive changes to the old zones (Kalimdor/Eastern Kingdoms)
• The Barrens is apparently to be full of lava and split into two zones
  
• Wetlands are destroyed.
• Ashenvale has been hit some too
• Azshara will become a low-level zone
• Flying mounts in Azeroth
• New race/class combinations (Human Hunter, Orc Mage, Night Elf Mage, Dwarf Mage, Blood Elf Warrior, Dwarf Shaman, Undead Hunter, Tauren Paladin, Tauren Priest, Gnome Priest, Troll Druid)
• Azeroth zones changed forever. No more going back to how they are now, apparently
• Shadowfang keep and Deadmines will now have a heroic option and will also be revamped
  
• A new leveling system for guilds
• Achievements for guilds
  
• Deathwing is back!
• Archaeology is a new secondary profession
• New Rated Battlegrounds

Thanks to WoW Insider for their live blogging coverage, from which I grabbed most of this info! Also thanks to MMO Champion, who apparently is buddy-buddy with someone at Blizzard.

So what's next?

So Project Overlord is on the back burner. I had the design doc just about complete, and then decided to just skip the whole web platform for now, and start working on a real game.

I have some ideas in my head, but I need to play around for a bit with the toolset I just purchased (Torque 3D for anyone wondering). Not sure what my first foray will be - I want to jump right in and start working on a MMO, but my gut tells me I need to do something small first to get acclimated to the toolset and to brush up on my C++.

Just a quick update for now, will post more once I have spent some time with my new toytoolset.

Everquest Next

It seems that work has begun on the next installment in the Everquest Franchise.

From the link:

"So you can see there's a lot to wrestle with as we begin laying the foundation for EverQuest 'Next.' As I write this, we have concept artists and game designers working hard in our studio-taking the lessons of the past, the best parts of the present and the most promising ideas for the future-to bring the world of Norrath to a new generation of players, as well as the dedicated legions of fans who made the EverQuest franchise timeless. I hope we'll see you there."

Off on a tangent

I am still working on the design doc for Project Overlord. It's my first time attempting to fully spec out a game design idea, instead of just little notes here and there. I have to admit, even for such a small project, it's a lot harder than you would think. Mainly because of the scope of the game - I have to keep rejecting features I want to add. Anyhow...

I haven't been doing much MMOing lately. I tinkered with Vanguard a little more after almost giving up on EQ2. Vanguard is closer to what I want to play in an MMO. If only it were a little more polished, and had more players! That being said, I have seen quite a few people running around the newbie island while I have been playing.

So what is taking up my time the last few days? Well, when I have time, I have been playing the beta for Heroes of Newerth. HoN is a game that spawned from a map-mod for Warcraft 3 call Defense of the Ancients. So it's kind of like "Team Fortress" for the RTS world. The game has a super steep learning curve, but holy cow is it fun - even though I get my ass kicked quite a bit.

If you enjoy RTS games at all, and don't mind learning a new game while getting beat down, you might want to look around for a beta invite :)

Project Overlord (working title)

So I was talking with my boss today, who is the original developer of Chivalry. It's a small web-based game that is somewhat like RISK. Development on it has pretty much tapered off, but we talked about maybe bringing it back from the dead (again).

It got my mind working, and I started tonight putting a design document together for my own web-based game. Right now, the working title is "Project Overlord". I am planning on it being a 2D, web-based game using XHTML and Javascript for presentation. Nothing overly fancy. But I want it to be engaging and damn fun to play. Something people can waste some time at work keeping up on, but not requiring them to sit in front of the computer like zombies in order to make meaningful progress.

It will be quite a while before actual development begins. I have the basic document completed but I need to go back through and flesh out several areas. I am planning to make this a free-to-play game, with a subscription component that doesn't really affect gameplay. It will probably be ad-driven for revenue, with the subs removing the ads.

The general idea is somewhat akin to an old BBS door game called 'Exitilus'. I'm sure not many of you remember this game as it is a bit over a decade old. Anyhow, the general premise is to become the "top ruler" in the game. You will do this by working your way up from a commoner to eventually a king. There will be politics, combat and city management all rolled into one. In addition, your "player" will level up outside of each game instance to give you certain bonuses and abilities to be used inside the game.

It's going to be fun trying to balance this game - but I have high hopes for it. It's a concept I have been wanting to tackle for years. I don't have the time to develop a client/server game, so the browser and a database will have to do :)

I will keep the blog updated as I make my through this adventure.

Bad design in MMOs - part two - content vs advancement disparity

Introduction
Yeah, it's been not one, but two years since I posted part one of this series. You see, right after I posted that first piece, I met the love of my life - and we just got married this past weekend. Now aside from the cleanup from the wedding, I should have some time to sit back and relax and game - and write! So here we go

This post will cover what I call the "Content vs Advancement" disparity that I find prevalent in most level-based MMOs. I should state that this really doesn't apply to skill-based MMOs due to their nature of progression, though I am sure this can apply at some level to them as well.

What I mean by Content vs Advancement is that, in level based MMOs, any given piece of content is typically created for characters of a set level range. Each content area, whether that be an overland "zone", a dungeon or a raid instance, is usually only relevant to a small subset of the playing population. Once you out-level the content, there is no real reason to go back and visit that content, save for power leveling a friend, leveling an alt or helping a guildie or friend with a quest.

Sure, there may be some high level quests, or that one named mob who you always ran from that might bring you back - but this is more the exception than the rule. So what we have is content that is created that will only be experienced for a very small time, if at all. Some games have so *much* mid-level content, that players cannot possibly experience it all in the normal process of leveling.

The current trend
In most level-based MMOs, you have a few zones for level 1-10, a few zones for 11-20, a few more for 21-30, etc. Toss in a few dungeons here and there to spice it up and that's about it. Many of these games have enough content in each zone that a character can level through the content and into the next "tier" without ever experiencing the other 4-5 zones the developers created for this level range.

What ends up happening a lot, at least from my experience, is that you level a character and see maybe 30-40% of the leveling content. What a waste this is!

Now, as MMOs are ongoing, evolving (in a sense) worlds you have new players that pick up the game and start from the beginning, or you have experienced players starting alts. The problem is, most of the lower level zones tend to be empty - or at the very least sparsely populated.

What is my vision?
Ideally I want to see characters of all levels, working together through content. I want there to be a reason for uber_raider_92347 to go back to the starting zones - and actually be able to obtain something from doing so. Everything is so level focused in these games (remember, level based progression games) that there isn't much room for other options in this specific subset of the genre. Imagine if you logged in to a five year old game for the first time and there were dozens or scores of people in the "old world" zones. Remember at release time for your favorite level-based MMO? Remember all the groups forming? All the dungeons being explored? What if that experience could be maintained throughout the life of an MMO?

So how can we get there?

What can be done?
Well, there are several options in my mind as to how to combat this, and some games have tried to address this in a indirect way. EQ2 for example allows a high level character to "mentor" down to a lower level character and group with them. So you have a level 80 character becoming a level 23 character. Stats and abilities are scaled down, and abilities that they shouldn't have at this level become unusable. It's a nice idea, but has some flaws. The biggest one for me is losing abilities - some of which players come to rely on or are used to using while adventuring. It's kind of silly to ask players to keep two sets of hotbars - one for normal adventuring and one for mentoring.

In my mind, I would want players to have a reason to come back to zone or area because there is something for them at their current state of progression. So what can new games do?

Dynamic quest and mob scaling is one way to achieve this. What this would entail is quests automatically increase their "level" for each character. NewPlayer_0001 who is level 15 can get the quest just as VetPlayer_8762 can get the quest. The quest will be of appropriate level for both characters. In order to make it challenging and the rewards applicable to both, the mobs that need to be killed, or avoided, or whatever scale to the level of the character. The problem comes in when both players are in the same zone at the same time with the same quest. In order to break this apart so the quest is still applicable to both players and the mobs are the correct level, would be to instance each zone based on level. This is not something we should ever see in an MMO, imo. This leads to further breaking apart the "community" feel I personally believe an MMO should have.

Alright, so what else can we do? Well, another method combines an idea with other gameplay mechanics that would need to be in place - some of which I am not fond of. If you have locked encounters and limited grouping based on level - meaning you can only group with someone +/- 5 levels, for example - and quest/mob scaling, combined with an intelligent proximity aggro mechanism, you can have players of all different levels on the same quests, killing the same mobs, running the same dungeons. It's a solution, but not one I really like.

Another option is one I touched on concerning EQ2 - and that is the "mentor" system. I believe City of Heroes has a similar system that works in reverse - you can bring a lower level friend and their stats and abilities "scale up" - a sidekick system. Unfortunately, I think this is the closest you can get in a level-based game. I like EQ2's system a bit better out of the two, because it encourages higher level players to visit lower level content. So let's build on that a bit and see what we come up with:

-characters can scale their level, stats and abilities down to that of a lower level. No "student" required to mentor to. When you enter a zone, you optionally scale down to that level range. Probably on the top end of the range.

-Abilities you should not have at this level do not become unavailable. they are simply scaled back. This opens a small can of worms as far as exploits go - but it should be a non-issue if this idea is worked into the game from the start

-You receive experience at the same rate/scale as if you were your "normal" level. In other words, a level 80 character scaled to level 50 would receive experience amounts as if they were level 80 killing a mob that was around their level, or completing a quest about their level. Otherwise, why would a level 80 go to a level 50 zone and get level 50 experience?

-Gear is scaled back as well. Special effects on items remain but are also scaled back in power.

-Gear obtained is scaled up with level - so going back and getting that uber sword off a level 20 mob might actually be worth it to a top-level character.

This allows players to play with each other a lot more instead of isolating each section of the population into different zones.

I could probably find a few more things to add in here, but my brain is tired.

In Closing
There really needs to be a way for players to experience all the content, on whatever characters they choose, even after they have "out leveled" it. My opinion is that the mentor system from EQ2, with some modifications, would be a great way for a future level-based game to address this issue. This is one thing I like about skill-based MMOs, is that this is really a non-issue for the most part.

How about you? What are your thoughts?

Button mashing madness

After a(nother) brief hiatus from gaming, which I took to prepare for my wedding - which is this Saturday, I resubbed my SOE station account. I am tinkering with EQ2 again, trying to get the "feel" back for my Paladin. I usually go through this stage when I come back to a game I have not played in a while.

For EQ, it's fairly easy. You have a ton of spells and abilities, but you can only have a handful "ready" at a time. In most other MMOs, you are only limited by the the amount of hotbars you can have open at a time.

Coming back to WoW was always a pain for me, because while there aren't a tremendous amount of spells and abilities, there are enough. I spend a few moments reviewing what the character has and then plot out what direction I want to take him - my main is a Shaman, so I have to decide on Melee, Caster or Healer.

Coming back to EQ2 however usually results in my popping open 3-5 hotbars and staring blankly at them for a few moments. This is exactly what happened this weekend when I logged into Din. One bar is mainly my offensive combat arts. Another is Healing/support buffs. Another is AoE and taunts. Yet another has some other buffs and some misc stuff. So I finally figure out where I had things last time I played and I set out for adventure.

I start fighting and then I remember one of my biggest issues with EQ2 - the massive number of abilities you use in a fight. On Din, I think I use, in every fight, 6-7 single target damage abilities. 2-3 AoE damage abilites, 2-3 different taunts - which I have to use to complete my Heroic Opportunities. Then I have my Ward and my Heals. It really makes WoW's 2-3 button fights seem like child's play. That being said, EQ2 is more like a faceroll.

I noticed the same pattern on my alts that I played with this weekend. By level 10, I had the equivalent of one full hotbar, with spells and abilities I use in almost every fight.

What possessed EQ2's developers to create a combat system with spells and abilities tuned this way is beyond me. Quality over quantity my friends. I would much rather have 2-3 direct damage abilities, 2 AoE and 2 taunts.

Right now, I have ~4500hp. By this measure, I assume the mobs I am fighting have around the same amount, +/- 1000 or so. I have 3-4 abilities that, when executed, deal all of about 200 damage - along with this I have one "big" attack that hits for 800-1000 and has a reasonably long refresh - I can use it maybe once per fight. My freaking auto-attack hits for about that much. Why not give me my 2-3 abilities that do ~500 each?

It seems like all classes are like this, with some having even MORE buttons to mash in a fight. In my opinion this is just overkill, and the only reason for this seems to be that SOE was attempting to show that EQ2 offered "depth" with the amount of spells and abilities. All they have accomplished with this is a very annoying click/buttonmash fest

What are your experiences in EQ2 with this facet of the game? Does you class require massive amounts of buttons and hotkeys for each fight?

ADD is an understatement

I have a hard time sticking with a single MMO. WoW is probably the one I have stuck with the longest - and no matter how hard I try to kick the habit, I keep coming back. The new 3.1 patch brought some cool stuff and right now I am eager to get my Shaman leveled up to 80 (he's 75 right now).

I went to Vegas at the end of March and then have been sick all this week. Not fun at all - though Vegas was a blast.

I have not played EQ, EQ2, VG or DFO since I have returned. I have only played WoW.

What is it about WoW that captures the interest of so many, and is able to retain them? What are your thoughts? My personal opinion is that it's an easy game to pick up and it's an easy game to get back in to. Blizzard is also pretty good about releasing solid, interesting game updates.

So why does the Warcrack keep people addicted?

Everquest Nostalgia

Well as you may know, from a previous posting, I am playing Everquest (live) again. Well, I am trying. I have gotten snagged by Runes of Magic a little - and I was able to purchase a copy of Darkfall Online one day when the shop was open for like 5 minutes. Combined with my job and my personal life - I don't get much time anymore - and it's killing me.

That said, I have been thinking about how my very first graphical MMO made me feel. That MMO was Everquest, and I dived in about 4 months before Luclin was released. I remember the total newb feeling I had thinking "oh wow. what the hell am I supposed to do now?" I slowly learned how to get quests. How to get efficient (yeah right) with xp gains. How to craft - which at that time in EQ was a royal pain in the ass. I remember getting a quest in Qeynos at level 7 or some such and trying to make my way all the way to Highpass to deliver some mail. I died. A lot.

Everything about EQ that I experienced, I loved. Having to keep a binder of maps and spell lists. It sounds so archaic now, but I actually enjoyed all this! I fed off it. I spent more time reading the lore and printing maps than I did playing the game I think.

I never made it very high level, but I still remember grouping in Timorous Deep. The first time I entered the zone and seeing 100+ people there. All the zone-wide shouts for people looking for a group, or groups looking for a tank or a healer, etc. The times sitting at that first safe spot in Blackburrow as trains rolled past.

Looking back, it all seems so ancient. I don't know if any of these things would "fly" in today's MMO market - but I sure as hell would love to get that feeling back. I don't know if it was EQ itself, or just the newness of MMOs at the time. Is it even possible to get that feeling again, after having played so many MMOs? There is a discussion over at the FoH boards with many people stating if EQ were redone - with new graphics but basically the same content, lore and mechanics, they would subscribe in a heartbeat. This is how I feel. What do you think?

So I'm playing EQ again

Yeah, the first one. Don't laugh. I'm serious!

I am not entirely sure what prompted me to play this 10 year old game again exactly, but I have a feeling nostalgia contributed quite a bit. Actually, I had intended to give Vanguard a try again and decided to go for a Station Pass this time. So now I can play VG, EQ2 and EQ as I own all three games.

Everquest was my first graphical MMO. I spent a few years before EQ tinkering around on various MUDs. I remember my first couple weeks in EQ. The graphics sucked and the camera control was horrid. But, it resembled a MUD so much, I instantly fell in love. It also helped that my best friend was in a toppish-tier raiding guild on Bristlebane at the time. I didn't play for very long before moving on to other games (DAoC, EQ2, WoW, etc) but I think my fondest memories of any MMO come from Everquest.

So, ten years after the game has been released, I find myself logging back in to a new character I just created yesterday. So how does the game compare with other current offerings out there? It's hard to say. I stopped playing right after Planes of Power was released. That was the fourth expansion for Everquest and they now have fifteen. Yeah, I've missed a lot! Plus, I have only been back for not even 24 hours!

That said, I still see a lot of what intrigued me about Everquest in the first place. There is tons of lore (though, this lore is a stickler for some people) which I tend to gobble up. The game isn't exactly "newbie friendly". It's no WoW, that's for sure. Hailing a NPC and then typing in key words to obtain a quest is not what many modern MMO players would consider fun, or even intuitive. But there is something about this that I like. Speaking of quests, I see they have changed a lot of NPCs. Now, you can look at the names floating above their heads and tell what they do (ie: there are notations above their heads if they are quest giving NPCs, or if they sell weapons or armor, spells, etc). I remember trekking all over the place, "hail"ing every single NPC to see if they offered a quest or right clicking them to see if they were merchants.

The game is still a bit of a grind-fest, but not near as much as it used to be. Actually, I take that back. It's more of a quest-fest that requires lots of killing. Much the same as many other MMOs out there. "Go kill of this" or "Obtain of that" and of course "Deliver to NPC_001".

One of the biggest changes, and one that I am absolutely loving, is the addition of mercenaries. These are NPCs that you can hire and they act as a groupmate. With my new guy being a Mage, I hired a Cleric mercenary and it's great. It's like having a friend party with you, but without the chatting. I miss that, but it's nice for people who usually tend to solo, like me.

A lot has changed, from the little bit that I have seen - but a lot still remains the same. Those of you still in EQ, or those that pop in from time to time, I have some questions for you:

What are some of the bigger changes in EQ since PoP? How hard is it to get to max level? How is raiding now (I have never raided in EQ before) ? How does raiding now compare to say, raiding in WoW (the only MMO I have attained max level and raided, other than guild raids in EQ2 while leveling)? What keeps you in EQ?

It has been awhile...

I just want to start this off with one comment - I suck at keeping up with a blog. There are many reasons for this - I play a lot of games, and I have a hard time sticking with one. I also have other things in my life that take time and priority. When I started this blog, it was just before I met the love of my life. Not long after, I stopped posting. Heck, I mostly stopped playing many games, including MMOs. We bought a house at the end of the summer last year and finally are mostly settled. Now, I finally have some time to play games and blog my thoughts about those games. For those that enjoyed reading this blog for the few posts that were made - thanks for reading, maybe you will come back!

So, I suppose I should get with it and post something of relevance!

EQ2: GU36 preview

Some preview information was released today about the forthcoming Game Update 36. Below is the copy-pasta from eq2players.com:

Game Update 36 Preview
So you've adventured through Darklight Wood and Neriak and now are left wondering what's next in EverQuest II? Don't think for a moment that you get to catch your breath, the dev team has been hard at work on Game Update 36 and it's time to share a preview of all the new things headed your way soon!

The Final Chapters

The Swords of Destiny quest line will draw to a close with GU36, providing players a chance to complete their quest and discover the final details about the place of these infamous swords in history, and their role in Norrath's future.

New Raid Zone

The Throne of New Tunaria (aka Felwithe Castle) will be available as an instance for high level raid groups to explore and defeat. There will be ample opportunities not just for a very challenging instance, but also exploration of the lore surrounding the Thexian Throne.

Dressing Room

GU36 will also bring a new window in which players can preview how many items appear in EverQuest II. You'll be able to preview weapons, garments, armor, furniture, mounts, and more before buying them. This new window will allow you to preview these items from links, merchants, brokers, recipe books, during trades, while inspecting others, in the commission window, and more.

Tradeskill Profession Reset Option

If you are an Artisan of level 10 or greater, you'll be able to reset your tradeskill profession and choose another to start from level 9. To do so, visit a Tradeskill Career Counselor in any of the major cities and request the ability to start over.

PvP Gameplay

PvP Players will also note a number of changes designed to improve PvP combat by making it much more equitable in level ranges where victory or loss was determined solely either by a character's class or how many Achievements they had managed to store up. Come join the thread already in progress on our PvP forums!

Neriak and Kelethin Status Housing Options

For those who prefer to pay for their housing in more Status than coin, there are new housing options available in Neriak and Kelethin for many existing housing models.

Kingdom of Sky Achievement Tree Review

The Achievement Trees introduced with the Kingdom of Sky expansion have been revisited to increase the number of options available to each character, and to improve their desirability. Weapon specific requirements for the class trees have been dropped with the exception of trees that require shields and ranged weapons. Pet Achievements have been revisited to take advantage of new functionality introduced to the game with the Echoes of Faydwer expansion. Finally, branches that were less than desirable have been revisited to improve their viability and provide more options to everyone.

No More Destroying Copper

Coins now have no weight and automagically make correct change as you loot more. This means you are free to carry as many coins on your character as you wish, with no ramifications in terms of weight. Your inventories will now also auto-sort coins to make your bookkeeping a bit easier. If you acquire 100 copper, your inventory will show that you have gained a silver coin. 100 silver will result in a gain of a gold coin. 100 gold will carry over into a single platinum.

There you have it! Game Update 36 will be packed full of new content, and changes to Gameplay that will result in a better experience for all, and a chance to explore many new options. If you were looking for a new dungeon, weapon, or approach to your character, this update will have something for you.

Discuss the GU36 Preview in this thread

New, free content is always a good thing and here we have a new raid instance, and a followup to a quest line. It's not a whole lot, sure - but remember they just gave us Neriak and Darklight Wood (oh yeah, and the little emo fairies, the Arasai).

There are some pvp changes going in, but I don't think I have ever once pvp'd in this game. Not even a duel. Wow ok, I should give it a try some time. Some housing option changes - that should please those who are like me and have little coin, but a bankroll of status points.

The rest is really pure win. Now you little rats and fairies don't have to constantly run to the bank to change over your coin as coin is now weightless. I foresee some little whiners complaining about this, saying it ruins the immersion if coin is weightless. Shut up. Really, just shut up.


KoS Achievement revamp is going to be iffy. On one hand, I am really looking forward to it - especially the removal of the weapon restrictions. But I am worried they might nerf some stuff they really shouldn't. We shall have to wait and see here, but I am hoping it's really going to be killer.

And *finally* they are adding a dressing room. No more running around in mixmatch armor! Some of us do actually like to look badass while we mow down mobs - a percentage won't care either way I am sure though.

All in all, I am really excited with the coming changes, and very happy to see that SoE is *listening* to it's player base - unlike a certain other vastly popular game. Good job guys, please keep it up :)

Bad design in MMOs - Part One - BoE

Introduction
BoE, or Bind on Equip, is terminology used to describe a game mechanic where an item, once equipped by a player character, can no longer be traded or sold to another player in the game. There is another similar term BoP, or Bind on Pickup also known as Bind on Acquire, which provides the same mechanic, but it is applied when the player acquires the item instead of when they equip it. The umbrella term typically applied to the mechanic of tying a specific item to a player is "soulbinding". The argument for these mechanics is that they provide a way to restrict the flow of items in the game world and to help keep the value of desirable items high. The argument against, is usually that it restricts players' freedom and that it doesn't really make a whole lot of sense from a in-game (or possibly RP - Role Play) perspective.

Most players can accept a Bind on Pickup system for items that require a raid to obtain or a long quest chain to be completed, though there are some who believe that no items, under any circumstance, should ever be soulbound to a player. In Everquest, for example, most items were freely trade-able except for the high end raid-obtainable armor and weapons and epic weapons. Popular items, such as SSoY (Short Sword of the Ykesha) or Fungi Tunic were often seen for sale in the trade areas of the game. I even obtained a Fungi on my low/mid level warrior, as I spent a lot of time soloing. Items like these were also very popular on the external item selling websites, such as Player Auctions.

The Pros
Inflation is one thing in most MMOs that is very hard to avoid. As players become richer, they are more willing to pay more and more to twink out their alts. Eventually, that item that sold for 5 gold the first two months the game was available, is now selling for 75 gold a year and a half later. There is also reverse inflation, which typically happens when BoE is not implemented, wherein items that were once the elite must-haves, are now a dime a dozen. Many times, players spend days trying to sell these - when there was a time they sold almost as soon as they were put up for sale.

Twinking is a term that is used to describe the act of a player with a high level character, using money from that character to buy high-end items for one of their lower level charcters, commonly know as "alts" - short for "Alternatives" or "Alternative Characters". A BoE system helps curb this act in some regards, as there is not a high availability of high end items, as most of them are being or have been used already. However, Twinking is more effectively curbed using a level-restriction system - which requires a character to be a certain level before an item may be equipped.

The Cons
With a BoE system, players are no longer able to sell their old gear. Nor can they pass it along to a friend. In Everquest, it was quite common for a high level player to "donate" gear they had outgrown to a lower level friend or guildmate. It was also possible for higher level players to "farm" gear for lower level players. I know I was the recipient of a few high level items on my level 14 mage, thanks to a high level druid friend of mine. Many developers and some players think that this act will make the low level player overpowered; a "god among mortals". I would like to suggest that this is not the case. Sure, it makes them somewhat stronger - but I can guarantee you that my mage, and my warrior (who had a fungi tunic) was far from overpowered. When soloing, my mage still died. My warrior still had to sit forever after killing something to "heal up" - even with the regen bonus from the fungi tunic. However, I was not decked out with high level items. If my warrior, at level 30, had a full set of level 50 armor - then yes most likely he wouldn't be taking a lot of damage at all.

The freedom of helping out a lower level character, of twinking out your alts is something some of us cry foul over. Combine that with a RP (role play) aspect, and it really doesn't make much sense. How come, after I equip uber_sword_01, I can't give it to the guy standing next to me, but I can run across town and sell it to a NPC vendor?

I think the main gripe is though, that once you are done with an item, you are not able to sell it to another player for a decent amount of coin. In WoW for example, there are several BoE epic-quality items that are found and sold to players for hundreds, if not thousands, of gold. This is a prime market for so called "Gold Farmers". They spend hours and hours and hours doing nothing but killing mobs over and over again. They don't quest, they don't contribute the game world, except to steal spawns from legit players - and then sell the gold they acquire for real life money. They also acquire several items that can be sold to other players. With the BoE system in place, the gold farmers, at least in WoW, are the primary source for BoE epic-quality items. If BoE was not implemented, you could buy that new shiny hammer for 800 gold, then use it for a while, and then turn around and re-sell it. This alone would help curb gold farming. Since they would not be the near-sole supplier of these items, they would have a harder time selling them and hence, have a harder time meeting their quotas, possibly eventually forcing them out of their "job".

In Closing
BoE is a lazy system, by lazy developers. Most developers claim twinking is one of the big motivational factors along with preventing gold farming. Their reasoning that this prevents gold farming is that, gold farmers can run a dungeon/instance over and over again and then flood the market with obtained items. As stated, a level-restriction system helps stop massive twinking. To stop the farming of instances, there are other methods that can be implemented - instance lockout timers, modifications to the loot dropping system, etc. BoE has no place in today's MMOs and should never have been implemented in the first place. Come on guys - you are the ones getting paid to develop these games - give us back our freedom and curb the unwanted elements of the game with less restrictive mechanics.

Bad design in MMOs - Introduction

Curt Schilling posed a question to the posters of the FoH forums the other day, asking what was the one thing each poster hated about MMOs. The answers varied from quick replies, to long drawn out responses (mine was one of the later) which were accused of not even answering his question! For me, I picked two topics that really held weight with me, even though there are several I could have listed and expanded upon. Instead of polluting up Curt's thread, I am going to make a series of articles here which delves into some of the topics that are hot-button items with many MMO gamers, including myself. I will rehash the two topics I commented on in Curt's thread, but will attempt to touch on each topic in a structured way which presents the good and bad of each, instead of just off-the-cuff ramblings. Some of the topics will be borrowed from postings on Curt's thread, but I will comment on them in my own words and using my own viewpoint on them. The first article in the series should be hitting this blog later today.

MMO Development!

As a lurker and sometimes-poster over on the FoH boards I happened upon a MMO development project they have going on. I am a bit excited, even though I am not really an official contributer right now. Why am I excited? Well because even if I don't end up contributing (I would like to), it kind of pointed me in the right direction to start working towards developing an MMO.

I hadn't done a whole lot of browsing on MMO development lately, unfortunately - so I wasn't aware there is basically a ready-to-go kit out there. You just add content (worlds/terrain/cities/etc, spells and skills, models and textures and so forth) and off you go. I need to do some more research, but picking up a paid license for the kit. It's apparently the Torque game engine, combined with some extra stuff and tools. I dabbled around in the default game world for a little bit - following the first in a series of tutorials. I got stuck a few times, as the tools seem to be a bit buggy - but I am looking forward to playing around more with the development kit.

Hopefully I can start contributing something to the FoH project soon - but I think it might have to wait until they finish this first test game. We shall see :)

EQ2 AA Calculators?

OK, I'm frustrated. Or maybe I am spoiled. Not sure which it is at this point. I have been playing a few alts recently (Necromancer and Brigand - oh and a Wizard and a Berserker) and I have been interested in investigating their AA abilities while I sit here at work twiddling my thumbs.

I stopped by the EQ2 Wiki, but the information there is laughable, at best. Many abilities have no pages or descriptions; some class/subclass AA pages have a screenshot with clickable image-maps while others have just table data.

Some of the class forums on the official boards have some links to information - but some are broken, some are not very informative, etc.

Are their any standardized websites that have AA abilties listed? Maybe a "calculator", ala Wowhead's talent calculator for WoW?

Like I said, maybe I am just spoiled - WoW has a ton of fan support in the form of utilities and fan sites - and their Wiki kicks the shit out of eq2i.com, sadly.

So can someone help me out? What's a good reference site for this information? I suppose I might have to undertake the task of making a AA calculator for EQ2 :-/

The return of Neriak!

After getting home last night, I fired up EQ2 and waited for the patcher to download the new patch/content. I had previously not bothered to download the extra free content (voices and such) so I checked those off and let the patcher do its thing. I was surprised that the new update plus all extra content was downloaded in about 20 minutes or so.

I logged in and created me a new Arasai - a necro - and started playing around in Darklight Woods. After having played a Fae the other day up to level 9 in Faydwer, I had already experienced creating a new character and not having to go to the newbie isle. However, I was still a little surprised after creating Asooz (my Arasai) that I got to start in the actual real game world, and not some silly newbie instance. I saw a few level 70s running around checking stuff out - and lots of fellow Arasai brothers and sisters.

My first impressions are very good. This is free content ya'll - and it's better than some of the original content that shipped with the game. Even with three instances of Darklight Woods spawned, I didn't have to wait very long for my quest mobs as they respawned quite frequently. There were plenty of quests to do, with most of the objectives easily accessible and close to the quest givers. There are several gathering-type quests mixed in with the usual kill and delivery quests.

There are also a few quests that ask you to kill a mob that is a couple levels higher than you - at least - the mob was 2-3 levels higher than me when I was able to get the quest. I still haven't killed them yet - but I should have them dead tonight before I have to switch over to WoW for one of my final raids.

Speaking of - I cancelled both my WoW accounts two nights ago. I like WoW - don't get me wrong. However, I have some "real life" things I need to do - and I am not happy with how they are treating the Shaman community (the numerous Shaman asshats aside). So I cancelled both accounts, but I still have a Karazhan raid to go to tonight, that I had previously signed up for. I am going to miss playing - but I need to get away from it. Plus, I am having a lot of fun in EQ2 right now, so it makes it a bit easier. Even so, I really don't think I need to be paying four subscription fees every month for MMOs (2x WoW, EQ2 and LOTRO).

Anyhow, back on topic! After reaching level 10 I travelled - encumbered - to Neriak to see what the city was like. It's very well done, actually. It's got the same blue and purple tones as the old neriak had - my only complaint was finding the tradeskill trainer. I asked a guard and he marked my map and such, but I ran through the little tradeskill area five times before I accidently wandered into the side cave where she resides. After coming back out, it was real obvious where the cave was, but on intial runnings-through, the "cave" looked like a little alcove with one workbench in it - not an alcove that had a passage on the other side. That aside, the tradeskill area is actually very nice. It's not instanced and it has a banker and broker right there for all your needs. I look forward to spending some more time here in the future.

Unfortunately, at this point I really needed to get some sleep - so I went and picked up my first apartment, placed my three free items and crashed. I shall be spending more time in this area this weekend for sure.

Some thoughts on Everquest 2

So I have a little time, sitting here at work - where all my work is done and I have nothing more to do for the day, where I can put some thoughts down about my re-experiencing of Everquest 2. Maybe first I should give a brief background of my experiences with EQ2.

Having played Everquest (live) for a little while, and that being my first graphical MMO, I got rather drawn into it. I absorbed the lore, the items, the classes the entire gameplay experience. I lived on sites like Allakhazam and Caster's Realm each day, passing time at work during the slow periods while waiting for compiles and such. So it was only natural that I picked up EQ2 the day it hit the store shelves. I had seen my roomate beta test it some, while I was beta testing WoW and it looked neat. So, after I loaded up the game, I eagerly created my Dwarf fighter. I had played a Dwarf Warrior in EQ, albeit not to high levels, and really enjoyed him. I enjoyed tanking and pulling and such in a group environment.

Anyhow, he and I grouped every day - my fighter which became a Crusader and finally a Paladin along with his Priest->Druid->Warden. It was a fun experience, despite some of the shortcomings of the game. So I played through the constantly linked and always locked encounters. I crafted through the times when sub-combines were in, and you couldn't make them yourself. I played when the game ran like crap on Nvidia chipsets.

That all being the case, I still enjoyed the game. It was new, which contributed to part of the enjoyment, but it was also at its core, a fun game.

Anyhow, there were indeed nuances about the game I did not care for but were not major critically flawed components of the game; at least not in my opinion.

Now I am back in the game and have been for all of about four or five days now. I have managed to gain two levels with my Paladin and level a Fae alt up to level 9. So what do I like in the game, whether it is new or old?

- The quests. While they may not all be unique, or ground breaking, there is a ton of them in the game. They always keep me busy, and while some are a bit redundant and monotonous, I still enjoy doing them. Currently, it seems you are limited to 75 active (uncompleted) quests in your journal at one time, and I am always borderline full.

- The alternate advancement/achievement point system. Having never played a max level character in EQ, I never got to tinker with the AA system there - but I did become familiar with the talent system in WoW. While I liked some of the things the WoW talent system does, I didn't like how it basically forced you to play a certain way in most cases. with the AA system in EQ2, it appears that while building up AP points and speccing certain ways would give you advantages over a like-leveled and like-geared class, it doesn't put you so far above them that the one who doesn't have the AP points you have is irrelevant. They still allow you to *boost* certain aspects of your character or play style, but they don't force you to abandon everything else about your character. I am planning to spec my Paladin more for tanking, as it is something I enjoy to do - but opposite from WoW - speccing for tanking will not gimp my ability to solo or farm, or to play a non-tank role in a group or raid. I am extremely happy, so far, in what I am seeing with this system. I admit, at first glance of the AP "trees" and abilities listed there, I was underwhelmed. "Wow, I can boost my abilities a little? Maybe get a new ability if I go deep into the tree? This system seems irrelevant and is for nothing more than a grind and time sink." I thought to myself. Then, I read some of the forums and studied the trees a little closer and the more I thought about it, the more I really started to like this system - for the reasons mentioned above.

-The tradeskills. Ok, like I said I had played and tradeskilled back when the original system was in place. My Paladin is a level 24 Armorcrafter. All gained in 2004/2005. I spent countless hours creating my subcombines. Mindlessly pressing the hotbuttons on something like 5 different hotbars I had setup for crafting. Yeah, five. I had the tradeskill abilities for everything up, because I had to so many different stations. I had to make temper, I had to make padding and stitching. I had to make paper for patterns. It really was overkill and I got really burned out on it. Now, I also have a low level alt crafter who I just dinged to a 10 Scholar two nights ago. I was almost orgasmic seeing that I did not have to make a ridiculous number of sub-combines to make something. I only had to have some raw materials, then go craft what I wanted to make. However, I still enjoyed the fact that you had to actually do more than press a "combine" button and wait for the casting bar to finish counting down. I still had to counter the reactions or problems and I still could use the abilities to boost my progress. Right now, with the limited exposure I have had to the tradeskill facet of the game in its current state - I flippin' love it.

-The group dynamics. Again, I compare to WoW here because its what I almost exclusively played for the last year or so. In WoW, for many instances, you really needed a certain group setup. You needed a tank - usually specced for tanking. You needed a healer - usually specced for healing. You needed some for of crowd control, then the usual DPS. From what I can tell so far, and from what I remember in the past, EQ2 doesn't really require that sort of makeup. Sure, things are easier if you have a tank and a healer and some crowd control and whatnot - but you can get through many of the instances with some really crazy group makeups. Oh you are a healing specced Paladin? Why don't you tank and let the Templar heal? Or maybe let the Bruiser tank and the Paladin heal or dps. I am sure the higher level instances might be a bit different, but I really do love the absence of the "shut up and heal" comments and ideology I would get in WoW with my Shaman. It's nice to be able to fill multiple roles easily. It seems almost every class can DPS in some form - some better than others obviously - but you can be successful with a secondary healer DPSing if his or her heals are not needed.

-Mentoring. Mentoring is a feature of the game where a higher level character can temporarily drop his or her level down to that of another member of the group. So as a level 42 Paladin, I could group with a level 14 Monk, and mentor him - which would lower my level to 14 while I am mentoring. While I liked the idea when they originally put this into the game, I loathed having to setup new hotbars because I couldn't use my higher level skills. Now, your skills scale down to the level you mentor to. I am not sure if skills that originally only became available to you at a higher level than what you are mentoring become disabled or not, as I have not mentored that low since I came back to the game. However, this system is a very awesome idea. You talked your friend into playing the game last week, but you don't want to roll a new character to group with him? No problem, just mentor down and you can continue playing your main character, but at your friend's level. I really do love this system.

-The guild tool. I forgot how awesome this thing is. I ran two different guilds in WoW in my year there, and I hated the in-game guild tool they have. Reorganizing ranks is a royal pain in the ass, and not being able to see when someone joined is a glaring oversight by the developers. With the EQ2 guild interface, you get a list of members and can see the date they joined. I don't know about the rank organization - but I would imagine it's more intuitive than WoW's. Also, you can select which events to save in the guild event log. You can record /ginvites and /gkicks or /gquits. You can record when someone in guild looted some "epic" loot, or when guild members killed epic mobs. It can log when people leveled (adventure or tradeskill) and many other things. I really think this is a guild tool done right. The only thing I don't like is how the mouse scroll wheel works in the guild member listing (it's scrolls a highlight bar, instead of just scrolling the window) and that the member list window jumps around when... I'm not sure what causes it. All I know is I am scrolling down to look for a name and it jumps back up a few pages. I imagine it's due to someone logging in, or a member joining the guild.

I have more things I like, but those are ones I really wanted to touch on with this post. All in all, right now, I am having a lot of fun with the game. And that's what games are for, right?

Back in EQ2

So it's obvious I suck at this blogging thing. I just always am doing something else - like gaming - which explains the pile of clothes on my bed. Nevermind that, I am back to playing EQ2!

I left the game in 2005, as I needed some time for myself - in fact I might have actually been dating at the time zomg! But yeah, after reading some positive commentary and discussion on the state of the game here and here, I decided I should give the game another try. Now, even in the state it was in back in 2005, I enjoyed the game. And now, with the changes I am seeing, I really like the game. I am enjoying it currently, and look forward to starting up a new alt in Neriak this week.

I am still on the Antonia Bayle server, but am now in Mistwalkers, a forum guild from the FoH forums. We did a few guild writs this week, which are basically epicx2 raids - which means you can bring up to two full groups along. I was chosen to main tank both days - and I had a blast. A tank is the type of character I like to play, despite my resto shaman in WoW. I made some mistakes, but then, I have only been back since this weekend - and this was my first ever raid in EQ2!

Anyhow, I think I am going to try and focus more on just commentary on here for now. I just don't have time to do any development, game or otherwise. I have a freelance project I need to get cracking on, plus my day job, plus splitting time between two games. More to come over the next week - hopefully ><