Category: MMO Musings

Time to Change Quest Mechanics

Posted on by Gazimoff


I’ve recently started playing Rift again after taking a break for about four months. It’s impressive to see how far the game has progressed – talents and abilities have been revamped, the artwork has been improved and a ton of new features have been added. The guys at Trion have been hard at work.

Then there’s the bits that are harder to improve. One of my gripes about Rift is that in the mid levels (about 20 to 40) fatigue starts to set in. The game simply becomes less fun to play, with questing becoming dull and boring. I’m finding it a struggle to motivate myself to log into the game and play. Why? Because every single quest hub is made of boomerang quests.

Almost anyone who’s played through an MMO knows what boomerang quests are, but I’ll explain with an example. You approach a small group of friendly NPCs on the coastline. One of them tells you that there’s a cave up ahead filled with smugglers, and would like your help to remove them. You agree to go off and kill ten Smuggler Pirates and ten Smuggler Pistoliers.

After wading through the cave you return to the NPC, who then asks you to head back out again. Only this time she wants you to kill Smuggler Corsairs and Smuggler Captains. You fight your way back into the cave, killing more Pirates and Pistoliers just to get to your Corsairs. Annoying, right?

On your return, the NPC sees you coated in the blood and bodily fluids of the best part of fifty pirates. Not satisfied she asks you for one last thing. Kill Smuggler Chief Spalding, who resides right at the back of the cave. At this point you swear at the screen and weigh up just telling her to get lost.

But no, being the dutiful soul you are you march back into the cave and trying to sneak your way through to the back, getting spotted, giving in and going on a genocidal rampage against anything Smuggler shaped. Finally you get to where Smuggler Chief Spalding should be, only to find his corpse lying on the floor and a stack of other players waiting for him to return to life.

At this point I either hit the hearthstone and go somewhere else or quit the game and play something more fun. Like Giant Lolcat Olympics In Space.

I have two problems. The first is that it’s really, really lousy quest design. It’s boring, it’s repetitive, it’s frustrating and Rift is jammed full of them. The second problem I have is that it’s a problem that’s already been solved in other games.

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Review: Razer Naga Molten

Posted on by Gazimoff

Last week I took the plunge and decided to order a new mouse. My trusty Logitech mx518 just wasn’t up to the challenge and I’d been eyeing up a rival for months – the Razer Naga. I’d been on the fence about purchasing one, mainly because I wasn’t a fan of the blue colour scheme. All that changed when the Razer Naga Molten Special Edition was announced.

Let’s be honest, I’m not the first person to review this mouse. The first one I noticed was back in 2009, brimming with potential about how the mouse could be used. Even the Razer Naga Molten was announced a year ago. So why the big deal about some two year old tech?

The answer is that I wanted to tackle two questions: is the Naga still relevant to the current crop of MMOs and the current way we play our games, and will it adapt to the way we’re likely to be playing MMOs in the future?

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The Brutal End of MMOs

Posted on by Gazimoff

There was no Armageddon

The camera plays over a derelict ruined city, buildings half-buried in the sand, bleached dune grass desperately clinging on. The dry wind howls.

We saw the end coming. Those who could leave did so. Those who thought they could defeat it perished in their idiocy.

A different city scape, different architecture. Half-built spaceships and unfinished portals lie wedged in the cracked earth. The decay of metal and paint is unmistakable.

We are all that is left, clinging to this ball of rock until whatever end consumes us all.

Through the heat haze coming up from the desert floor, the camera picks out a solitary figure dragging a wooden sled across the hard, cracked ground. A few trees can be made out, dried out, debarked and leafless.

A few city states remain, providing what little sanctuary can be found. But out there kid, in the wilderness, you’re on your own.

Welcome to Endgame.

There’s been a lot of challenge recently about most upcoming MMOs not catering to the veteran market. These are the people from the Stubborn Quadrant; time poor but skilled players looking for more challenge from their MMOs. But what would they look like? Here’s my take on how a game from the brutal end of the MMO spectrum could be built.

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MMOs: Heading in Three Directions

Posted on by Gazimoff

One of the allegations I often hear thrown at the MMO genre is that it’s become stale and generic, with newer games rushing out to mimic the most common or popular features instead of innovating and looking at new ways to progress the genre.

Over the weekend a group of us headed out to the Eurogamer Expo to have a look at the latest developments in MMO gaming. Although a couple of titles such as RIFT and World of Tanks had been out for some time, we also got the chance to take a look at three upcoming games: End of Nations, Star Wars: The Old Republic and Guild Wars 2.

Through the presentations I saw and the discussions I had with developers, one thing became quickly apparent – all three games have a different focus in how they hope to appeal to MMO gamers. It’s clear that the days of identikit MMOs are numbered, with each of these games hoping to push the genre in a different direction.

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Claiming Sanctuary From Griefers

Posted on by Gazimoff

One of the parts of MMO content that I often overlook are in-game events. These small pockets of in-game happenings can last anything from a couple of hours to a few weeks, providing players with an alternative to other activities.

Whether they’re the seasonal events that are loosely tied to real-world ones, dynamic events as made popular by Rift, GM-led events in the style made popular by Star Wars Galaxies or just player-led roleplay events, there’s no doubt that they help to break from the encroaching monotony of daily quests and reputation grinding.

They’re also a huge magnet for griefing. The time-bound duration of the events coupled with a specific set of objectives or (especially in the case of player led events) a lack of GM oversight, means that disruptive players have little risk when being a nuisance. This presents a dilemma – how do you run and encourage regular events without giving griefers a free pass to be problematic?

Carbine Studios recently launched a series of discussions as part of their way of encouraging potential players to help shape the game. Known as Wildstar Community Update, these discussions are set to take place on either Facebook or Twitter, and focus around a particular topic.

The first in the series focused on what in-game events players would like to see, with all four main event types came up along with a few interesting variations on GM-led events. You can have a look at most of the messages by searching for the #WSUplink hashtag. As part of the discussion, Troy “Aether” Hewitt from Carbine’s Community Relations team asked me a question:

I have this dream of putting anti-griefing tools into the hands of players. What tools would you like to see?

At the time I said I’d need to think about it, and that I’d get back to him. After some careful thought I don’t think I have all the answers, but I think I at least have a direction to head in with some basic pronciples. Have a read through and see what you think, and feel free to add your own suggestions at the end.

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What Is Skill?

Posted on by Gazimoff

There’s an argument kicking round at the moment that MMOs require no skill in order to play them. This statement is both completely correct and utterly wrong. How can a statement contradict itself? Let me try to explain.

If I take a carving knife to an MMO then the prime rump is usually the levelling game. It’s the part that we all go through as we develop and prepare our characters for endgame content, learn how the various abilities work and what our role might be as part of a group.

It’s also incredibly easy for anyone that’s played an MMO before. And that’s deliberate.

Think about it. If you’re a developer publishing a single player game you don’t really care if someone quits halfway through your game. They already have your money – it doesn’t matter to them if you don’t reach the end of the game.

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Smile Week: Gold-Plated Memories

Posted on by Gazimoff

It’s been a week since I started talking about the things I find great about MMOs. In that time I’ve looked at a whole bunch of stuff from how the games are built to how they’re supported. In the final post for the week, I wanted to talk a bit about one of the things that always stays with us from our time gaming: memories.

Over the time I’ve been playing Warcraft I’ve collected a whole bucketload of memories. There’s the time I ended up discussing jam-based artillery or the occasion I went on a bike ride through the jungle while being chased by dinosaurs. There’s even the tale of how my Warcraft journey began and where it led to.

My best MMO experiences have been defined by the people I’ve played with and the things we’ve got up to. Phil Carlisle, Namaste CTO dropped me an email on this theme at the beginning of the week that I’ve been itching to share with you. Here’s what he said:

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Smile Week: Supermassive Systems

Posted on by Gazimoff

Previously on Smile Week I’ve talked about how MMOs are changing mobile gaming, how the developers are more open with the community and how much work they put into art, music and worldbuilding. Today I’m going to talk about something a little closer to my heart: the nuts and bolts of an MMO and how incredible it all is.

I’ve talked about MMO design a couple of times in the past. Earlier this month I examined the various components that slotted together to make a great MMO, while back in July last year I examined the design of Warcraft realm clusters and how they’ve evolved over time. Today I’m pushing the view out even further to look at the building blocks for a complete online gaming platform.

Before I do this though, I want you to think about your own gaming experiences. You’re playing your favourite MMO and you’re knee deep in raidsville. The boss is pounding away on one of the tanks the healers are struggling to keep everyone up and the damage dealers are pounding their buttons like nutcases. You press an instant cast hotkey and the ability immediately fires. Barely a moment has passed and the ability has registered. The tank stays up, the healer stays calm and the deeps keep deeping. It’s the kind of thing you only notice when it goes wrong.

Now what if I told you that all this was only a part of all the systems that make up an MMO. Surprised? Let me show you just how many bits and boxes go into delivering our gaming experience.
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Smile Week: Atmospherics & Acoustics

Posted on by Gazimoff

How many times have you been playing through your favourite MMO, only to pause for a moment and say “Oh, wow…”

Screenshot

Likewise, how many times have you been in a quest, dungeon or even a raid and caught a moment of of stirring music. You remember – the kind that has you muting everything including ventrilo or mumble just so you can listen to it properly.

This post for Smile Week is dedicated to the time I’ve been stunned by the sights and sounds of my favourite games, literally pausing for breath while my senses take it all in.

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Smile Week: Dialogue Options

Posted on by Gazimoff

Today’s entry in Smile Week is a bit of compare and contrast. As MMO gamers we’re a bit of a fortunate bunch when it comes to developers and publishers. We’re looked after, listened to and cared for much more than our single-player brethren. What do I mean? Let me show you.

A single player game is revealed, marketed and released to aim for a particular point in time – the point in the year when the game is likely to sell at it’s best. They’re looking to make sure that there’s scarce competition from other similar games for a few months either side. Plus, marketeers want to make sure we’re likely to have money to buy the game or get someone to buy it for us.

The hype for a single player game all tends to be one way. A developer might release some artwork or a gameplay video, or hold an interview with a journalist or blogger. These are all great in sharing the vision of the game and the direction they’re headed, but there’s little room for the fans to give feedback on what they see.

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