Storybricks: A First Look

Posted on by Gazimoff

I remember the early promise of MMOs. Looking back it feels like I was almost miss-sold them. “Become a Hero” they’d loudly proclaim, as if you were the only one who could rid the world of the evil dragon and save the kingdom.

Fast forward ten years and I’ve slain countless dragons, liches, evil kings and so on. And yet I’m just as heroic as the thousands of other players who’ve done the same thing. We’ve all spoken to the same NPCs, picked up the same quests, killed the same dragons and got the same loot. There’s one path that we all follow and one mechanic that we all follow – gathering big enough numbers so that our stats and skill are enough to defeat our foes.

Hang on a minute though – wasn’t I supposed to be playing a role here? At least, that’s what I thought. But the contrast between a tabletop role-playing game where all options are open-ended and the PC-based RPG which is much more linear is huge. Sure you might have some fantastic voice acting instead of listening to your GM’s cheese-grater falsetto and a dynamic orchestral score instead of Celtic Hits Vol III in the CD player, but is the story delivered any better? More importantly, do we feel any more involved in how that story plays out?

It’s this line of thought that’s behind Storybricks, Namaste Entertainment’s latest creation. I recently got the opportunity to catch up with Kelly Heckman (officially their “Cat Herder”) and their AI CTO Phil Carlisle. During the session I got a chance to see Storybricks in action, and find out how the technology had been developed. I also learned how they’re planning to use the technology in their games and why they’re so keen on getting the community involved.

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Playing DPS: From Good to Great

Posted on by Gazimoff

It’s been a while since I wrote about actually playing MMOs, rather than just hypothesising about trends, changes and so on. It’s about time I talked about my favourite pastime.

You might think that as long as you’re top of the damage charts that you can rest easy. You’re pouring out the pain in your preferred manner and bosses are falling over with ease. Job done, surely?

Alas, no.

The thing that separates good DPS from great DPS is being able to dish out damage while doing a multitude of other things as well. It’s not just about mashing your primary nuke button until your finger goes through the keyboard, through the desk and starts playing staccato on your kneecap. Read on and I’ll explain.

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Trading in Titan

Posted on by Gazimoff

News recently emerged that Diablo 3 will feature several in-game auction houses. One of these will use in-game gold to buy goods, while the other will use real cash. Putting the argument aside about this being a good or bad idea, I wanted to take a look at what this means for Titan, Blizzard’s next MMO.

It’s likely that Titan will feature an auction house of some description. Depending on how successful the RMT (Real Money Trade) auction house is in Diablo 3, it’s also likely that Titan will have the same kind of setup.

  • A gold, BlueBucks or other in-game currency based auction house where commodity items like common crafting materials are bought and sold. The kind of stuff that’s easy to get and will save you a bit of time but nothing more
  • A Real Currency based auction house where everything that’s rare gets bought and sold. Hard-to-find crafting materials, rare items and pre-made characters are all likely to end up here.

Yes, it’s possible that the Titan auction house will support character sales too.

While the previous gold-making champions are understandably excited about the potential to make money from Diablo 3, I think they’re missing the point a little. This is a test. Blizzard are getting a feel for the reaction from the players now. Once the game launches they’ll be able to pull off live data to see how it’s actively being used.

The potential for an RMT based auction house in a full-fledged MMO is huge. How huge? Let me show you.
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If Not You, Who Else?

Posted on by Gazimoff

I’m beginning to feel like there’s a crunch brewing. It’s almost like the shocks that happen before the earthquake, where you know something is going to happen but you can’t quite put your finger on what.

It started off with the comments I’d spot on Twitter from players saying they were hanging up their Warcraft boots and going to Rift. Not because Rift was the hot new game (that’s supposed to be Star Wars: The Old Republic) but because they were just fed up. Fed up of the repetition of daily quests (and let’s be fair, the Molten Front daily grind is by far a huge one) or fed up of the raiding content.

Then there was the news that Warcraft had lost 300 thousand subscribers. This, after Blizzard gave every North American veteran player a free 2nd copy and they opened up trial accounts to be infinite in duration. If I were an analyst on the Activision-Blizzard investor calls I would seriously be asking what their churn rate is.

So what gives? Where’s everyone going? At this point I could only do what any self-respecting blogger would – ask people.

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Rebuilding My Blogroll

Posted on by Gazimoff

If you saw the splash page earlier or read one of the various tweets on Twitter, today there’s been a bit of a change going on at Mana Obscura. I’ve decided that it was high time to move from shared hosting to a virtual private server and save a wedge of cash every month in the process. What’s the difference? One’s like buying a toy car while the other’s like an Airfix model. Some assembly required.

As always when moving home there are some things that get broken, and websites are no exception. It seems that in the move from there to here my blogroll has been lost. The list of sites I read and recommend has vanished.

I could try and scribble it down from memory but I’d probably miss a ton of great blogs that I really should be reading. So I figure it’s about time to give it a refresh anyway – off with the no-longer-updated and in with the fresh new content!

If you think there’s a blog out there I should be reading (even your own) then post it in the comments! I’ll be updating my blogroll over the weekend, adding ones that fit with the theme of the site (gaming, MMOs, geek culture, etc). Don’t be afraid to suggest podcasts as well while you’re there!

Thank you all for your help and patience while I finish ironing things out and unpacking stuff from teacrates. Hopefully it won’t be much longer.

Review: PingCraft LagKiller (Part 1)

Posted on by Gazimoff

Warcraft can be a challenging game at the best of times. Whether it’s fighting raid bosses, battling it out in arenas or just trying to cram daily quests into our hectic schedule we all want to be playing at our best.

There’s various things as gamers that we can do to improve our game time. One is making sure we’re using a computer with enough grunt to handle our favourite MMOs. The next is to select keyboards, mice and other peripherals that support our individual styles of play.

The final piece is our internet connection to the game servers. This is the one thing we sometimes struggle with. You can spend ages trying to pick a good ISP or even move house to get better speeds. Sometimes though there’s pretty much nothing you can do.

This is where latency reduction and tunnelling services like PingCraft’s LagKiller come in – aiming to reduce your in-game latency for a small monthly fee. But does it actually work or is it just some snake-oil scam? Time to put it to the test.

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A House of Cards

Posted on by Gazimoff

If you’ve played World of Warcraft for any reasonable length of time you’ll have seen people riding around on giant chickens or single seater rockets. You may even have seen someone mounted on a translucent tiger, proudly showing off in the middle of Stormwind or Orgrimaar.

Ask where any of these come from and the same enigmatic response comes back. “TCG Loot”.

Like many people I dabbled in picking up a few of the Warcraft Trading Card Game packs when they first came out in a search for rare and exclusive items. Alas, my search yielded only the simplest of items. A limitless supply of paper gyrocopters and a small barbecue grill were pretty much my only rewards, apart from the huge stack of cards I was left with.

The funny thing was, I never actually played the game. I just packed away the cards, promising I’d get around to doing something with them at some stage.

That time finally came around. I was invited to a “taster session” at Rules of Play in Cardiff, where I’d get the chance to learn how to play the game part of the TCG. I’d finally find out what the non-loot cards were actually used for.

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Tired of MMOs?

Posted on by Gazimoff

There’s been a discussion kicking around Twitter for the past week or so, which seemed to end up with a single question. I think it was probably best said by Wolfshead: “is there anything left to say about today’s MMOs that hasn’t already been said?”

If we’re talking about the current crop of MMORPG games then no, there probably isn’t anything more that can be said about them. While our experiences playing those games is as varied and unique as our daily lives, the core mechanics used are almost identical. No wonder we’re all getting so jaded!

So why do we keep playing (and writing about) these games when there seems to be diminishing returns? When you’re comparing Dishwashing Online and Washing Up World, you’re still virtually washing dishes. Surely there’s only so much you can say?

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Managing Guild Change

Posted on by Gazimoff

“All the world’s a game,
And all the men and women merely gamers”

With apologies to William Shakespeare

This is a tough subject for me and one that comes from recent experience. You see, it’s about how guilds change and how that change is managed by guild leadership.

Some change is inevitable, such as when Blizzard changes the game. Other changes are brought about by the continual joining and leaving of members. Some are even evolutionary, brought about by a gradual shift in focus or change in direction.

Change doesn’t always have to be a bad thing. Done right it helps keep your members involved and informed as part of the decision making process. When it’s done badly it causes the opposite, alienating guild members and ultimately leading to them leaving the guild.

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The Infinite Trial

Posted on by Gazimoff

I find it funny how the word “trial” can be taken in two ways.

There’s the positive side – being able to sample something or try it out before you commit to it. After all, we all want something for free and being able to try a bit of it for free sounds almost as good. Like being able to have a taste of the chocolate cake before buying it.

The other side of trial isn’t so great – two groups come together to settle a dispute in a formal manner. Being “put on trial” conjures up feelings of discomfort and ordeal. Even being part of a trial, such as a juror or witness, is no great joy.

With that said you can probably understand why the concept of an infinite free trial doesn’t exactly fill me with bountiful leaps of joy. After all, I don’t want to be standing in front of the Jury of Cake explaining why I devoured all of the prime chocolate gateau.

A sneaky little blue post crept out explaining that Blizzard’s free trial of Warcraft would no longer be limited to ten days. Instead you’d be able to play the game as much as you like for as long as you like, but you’ll never be able to progress beyond level 20 until you shell out for an account. You’ll be able to gorge yourself on as much cake as you like, but it’ll only be the spongy bit at the bottom. The delicious frosting with all the chocolate shavings and the glacé cherries will remain out of reach until you reach for your wallet.

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