January 2012 – Page 2

Pure DPS: The One True Class

Posted on January 11, 2012 by Gazimoff

Every so often I hear this argument crop up: character classes that can only deal damage shouldn’t exist in modern MMOs. Every class should instead be able to switch to tanking or healing, or possibly even both. The idea is that a shortage of any one of the three roles should be resolved by players switching over to fill that demand.

I’ll admit that it is a tempting concept. When I was designing my own MMO I was keen to allow players to pick any direction they wanted to head in. By providing them with freedom for their character, the idea was that you’d end up with an even population of tanks, healers and DPS depending on the demand for those roles. Interestingly, this is the same concept now being used in The Secret World.

I also don’t think it’ll work.

The problem’s a basic one. Very few people actually enjoy healing or tanking. You need a will as tough as iron to handle these roles without being reduced to a wreck when the blame truck rolls into town and tries to work out why we’ve failed to kill the raid boss for the fifth time that evening. For everyone else, pick a DPS class that you know will never ever be asked to tank or heal. Ever.

So what’s the solution? Remove tanking and healing. Everyone plays DPS.

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xBox: Security Is A Lie

Posted on January 9, 2012 by Gazimoff

One of the most important aspects of any online gaming service is how you pay for it. As gamers, we’re willing to spend a substantial amount of cash with companies that we trust. These days it’s not just boxed games and MMO subscriptions either – publishers offer us a range of in-game items and downloadable content to extend and enhance the games we play.

The cornerstone of all of this is trust. Do we trust the games companies to use our payment details safely? Will we be left out of pocket when things go wrong? Can we rely on them to put things right quickly, or are we likely to be left without service for an extended time?

For most of us these questions remain unanswered until it’s too late. Recently there’s been an upswell of reports that Microsoft’s xBox Live service was costing people large amounts of cash, as criminals run up huge bills on compromised accounts before selling them on third party sites on the backwaters of the internet.

It’s the kind of news that you can put down to “phishing attempts”, “social engineering” or other bland terms that tend to push responsibility back to the customer. But what if it’s Microsoft’s service design that actually exposes us to greater risk and creates a greater market for purloined accounts?

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That 6AM Moment

Posted on January 5, 2012 by Gazimoff

Have you ever had that moment when you’ve been playing an MMO for so long that you lose track of time completely? Where the darkness outside slowly gives way to grey sunlight? Where you mistake the dawn chorus for someone playing Angry Birds nearby?

When I started playing Star Wars: The Old Republic with my wife, I expected her to be a moderating influence on me. Alas, unlike Syp over at Bio Break, Molotovchicken has been playing MMOs for longer than I have. As a result we’re both having so much fun that we’re egging each other on. Just finish this zone. Just finish this class quest. Just finish this planet. The next thing you know it’s 6AM in the morning and you’re wondering where the time has gone.

That’s Bioware’s biggest hook though – the story grabs you by both hands, pulling you through the game. It might still be Kill Ten Rats in places, but by golly these Republic Rats have got away with it for long enough and their actions are an insult to the Empire!

Ahem.

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