Filed under: MMORPGs
There are always whisperings of MMORPGs moving away from the classic Gygax-inspired class specific and level-based progression systems that have been with us since the master introduced D&D to the world in the seventies. While I’d like to see games over the next decade introduce different types of character progression, I must admit, there is something satisfying about that type of quantifiable achievement–a concrete affirmation of advancement often times absent in real life. Other quantifiable in-game measurements (from gear bonuses to skill/talent tree “builds”) always seem to dodge the bullet when this issue comes up.
I think the main flaw of current MMORPGs besides static, unchanging worlds is that it’s turned many gamers into statisticians more than role players. Numerical stats are a necessary evil in pen-and-paper because they effect the outcome of the dice. Computer gaming has thrown a veil over the mathematics of things to a certain extent, leaving probability and outcomes to the programmers and giving us “real time” play, mouse clicks, and button mashing over dice rolling.
It’s about time gear and character attributes catch up. Knowing the exact durability or attribute bonuses of a particular item is handy–I’m not arguing that, but I think it saps a good part of the life and imagination out of the game, especially as more and more players enter the genre who don’t come from an RPG background.
Number crunching sucks the life out of the more fantastic elements of fantasy, with players dissecting their characters like a frog in biology class. Sure, you get to know the bits and parts of the subject, but by the time you’re done, old Kermit is lifelessly pinned to the table. There’s nothing inherently wrong with existing formulas and predefined ways to “build” your character–it’s just a shame that it takes so much of the thought and spirit out the more important elements of game play.
Filed under: MMORPGs
Disclaimer: This post starts on one tangent and ends abruptly on another.
The recent delay in Age of Conan’s release got me thinking: Who cares? I don’t know if it’s post-Christmas malaise or if I’ve just had a crappy week at work, but recently I’ve lost my zeal for 2008’s forthcoming releases. Only time will tell, but all this downtime has got me thinking. Are AoC and/or WAR really gonna have what it takes to pull us away from whatever we’re currently playing–or will it be like 2007 where we dipped our toes in the tepid waters of LOTRO, Tabula Rasa, or Vanguard only to find ourselves back in WoW, EVE, or EQ2 within a matter of months?
Sure we’ll have player-built cities. Sure we’ll have epic seige battles. But is that enough to keep my curmudgeonly head occupied? And as far as AoC’s “radical” combat system, I care as little about incorporating ‘twitchiness’ into MMORPGs as I do about crafting. A stiff middle finger in the air to the lot of them. And let’s face it, adding elements that have long been standard in the rest of the videogame industry and dropping them into an MMORPG is about as radical as giving your grandmother a mohawk. She’ll just end up looking silly.
Both AoC and WAR have a lot going for them (mainly two stellar IPs) but with AoC moving more and more towards a PvP/PvE hybrid during the course of it’s development, and WAR’s inescapable stylistic simularities to WoW (thanks to Blizzard borrowing quite liberally from Games Workshop’s Warhammer tabletop game in the first place), I’m questioning whether these games will look and play differently enough from the current crop of titles to really grip us.
AoC’s PvE/PvP hybrid approach is something right up my alley but there’s something about what I’ve seen of the game so far (or maybe it’s what I haven’t seen) that’s just not grabbing me by the throat the way a true Cimmerian should. One of my big pet peeves is I like whacky races in my fantasy gaming. Sticking to humans kind of dulls things down for me even though there is no place for, and no viable way to, add high fantasy player characters into Conan lore.
I’m excited about WAR, but I want the best of both worlds. I’m not a hardcore PvPer, but I like to have that option available to me. I never played DAoC, so I’m betting WAR will have enough things that’ll appear fresh to me to keep me subscribed for a while. The question here is will a PvP-centric game be enough to keep me long term? Player versus player adds a refreshing randomness to in-game conflict, but will capturing, losing, and defending the same cities over and over again lose it’s luster after a few months if there is not a well fleshed out PvE option to turn to when we need a breather from hacking and cleaving our fellow players?
Before any hardcore PvPers jump down my throat, I don’t think WAR should water down it’s focus on PvP for PvE by any means–WoW did this already and I’m sure AoC is well on it’s way to doing it again. It just strikes me as odd that of the two MMO play styles (PvP and PvE), PvE can definitely use the most work, yet the two big titles of 2008 promise to be PvP-centric. The fun in PvP is the spontaneity of events and organic chaos that ensues when there’s another person at the helm of your opponents.
PvE needs to learn some lessons from PvP to thrive. Once it moves away from static environments and scripted, respawning mobs, it will have as much to offer as PvP. I’m just not quite sure we’re there yet.
Filed under: World of Warcraft
Over the weekend, my level 60 undead lock on Sen’jin finally completed his epic mount quest–after doing all the required steps leading up to the Dire Maul run well over a year ago. The quest itself was not terribly difficult (our group consisted of two locks, a pally, a rogue, and a level 70 priest) but it did take a decent amount of time.
I had the fortune of finding a very good pick-up group. My horde toon pretty much solos. Lacking the extensive network of guildies I have on Eldre’Thalas, I’d pretty much dismissed the possibility of finding a competent group willing to run an instance that no one runs anymore.
I like how WoW post-BC still requires locks to go to Dire Maul and shammies and pallies to hit up Scholo for their epic mount quests. It gives new players the opportunity to experience some of that oft-neglected pre-BC content that is glossed over in their frantic grind to get to Outlands. With Blizzard’s ability to keep players hooked on repeatable content, I’m shocked that they haven’t done something with the pre-BC instances to keep them more lively.
There are simply beautiful instances (Zul’Gurub immediately comes to mind) that have turned into ghost towns simply because Blizzard has given new players zero motivation to make the trek into them.
I’d love to see Blizzard give players more motivation to revisit many of these wonderfully rendered yet ignored “classic” instances, whether by nerfing them to 5- or 10-man groups or creating heroic versions of the instances a la Outlands. The only problem I see with this is Blizzard’s love of adding grind where it’s not necessary.
I don’t want to haul ass to any instance, old OR new, to faction grind again and again–but maybe the occasional seasonal event–like the Headless Horseman in Scarlet Monastary–would be a good way to make sure some of these great instances can be more than yesterday’s news. I mean, think of the minute percentage of players who actually got to experience BWL or Naxx or AQ40 the first time around?
Take these places and put them in the hands of the casual players who may never have had an opportunity to see them the first go around. The hardcore will always have their flavor-of-the-day conquests and fresh raid content to gnaw on that Blizzard throws their way. It’s clear that a lot of work went into each of these dungeons. Yesterday’s hard work and artistry should not be ignored just because there’s a new kid on the block.
