[GW2] Clawswitz: Still Alive, Still Reckless

#3 on my list of places to not bring a hardcore character.

I'm something of a map completionist.

Even on my alts, if I start doing a zone, I want to finish all of it.

This has caused some problems with my attempts to take a character to level 80 without dying or crafting. Here, for example, is Clawswitz (the Cautious Cowering Charr) standing on top of a vista in Timberline Falls.

Some falls from this tower are perfectly safe, and land you in water. Others send the character to a painful death on the scaffolding below. But that wasn't a big deal. Neither was the champion krait witch at the top of the tower.

The problem was Krait Nimross - level 60 mobs with pull, bleed, immobilize, and knockback. They're strategically placed right at the top of the tower, along the one log you follow to the vista. I took one look, and wondered whether this would be the source of another hilarious death.

Grrrrrr.

Fortunately, Clawswitz survived the vista... by waiting for everything to path away, and being thankful nobody else was around to pull mobs randomly. He's level 65, and very much alive.

Unfortunately, he's also neglected - recently, most of my time online is salvaging or dungeons on my guardian for gold. Hopefully I can find some time to push him the last few levels. (Ideally, time without my ISP dropping out on me randomly. It went down on Saturday while I was killing separatists with Clawswitz. The couple minutes until it came up were... awful.)

As far as hardcore challenges go, I'm not alone in the insanity - at least one other person is trying for 80 without dying or crafting. (The OP in that thread hit level 70 without dying - so doing it better than I am!)  A ranger hit 80 without dying (but some crafting). And a possibly-related youtube series has another ranger working toward 80. Of course, there are a couple skeptic threads on whether this is even possible.

Is it sick that part of me is wondering whether an ironman challenge is possible?

[GW2] Beautiful Square Peg, Tired Round Hole

Source.

Sometimes, reading some of the more negative reviews of GW2, I'm convinced the author and I are playing a different game. And its because we are.

"How you play the game can completely change the perception you get of it." The conditioning players have experienced in other MMOs often causes them to miss some of the most amazing bits of GW2. And the game isn't showing them another way to play.

Take combat.

Plenty of MMOs have conditioned players to believe that difficulty is defined by how complex the priority system / rotation is for the class. (Looking at you, feral cat John F* Madden.) MAX DPS is a solo endeavor. Learn a rotation. Do it well. And do it on every single boss. Ok, maybe coordinate some cooldowns from time to time.

So GW2 - where there isn't really a rotation - seems simple. Individual damage can be max'd by hitting 1. Sometimes 2. Keep up buffs. Dodge stuff that hits hard. Stay out of the fire. Standard MMO fare, but with easier button pushing.

But underneath that simplicity is a devilishly complex - and social - difficulty: coordinating combo fields and finishers.

For example, using a blast finisher in a fire field gives might to everyone in the area. So 8 blast finishers = 24 stacks of might (25 is the cap). Which is 720 power / condition damage. Which is about one-third to half of the total power/condition damage of someone stacking that stat. For everyone in the group.

Thing is, one person can't lay down the field and use 8 blast finishers quickly. That takes coordination. So difficulty is now social and coordinated, not individual.

So...

You will literally be hitting the same buttons over and over again, brainlessly, and not only will you succeed, but you will actually perform at almost max efficiency.

Well, you could do that. But max efficiency? Not so much. While our guild initially thought explorables were a bit rough, learning to use these combos like the devs suggested made runs both easy and short. To be fair, since GW2 does next to nothing to teach players how to effectively use combo fields, its all too easy to dismiss combat as trivial. (I have to look them up.)

The same is true of the game world.

MMOs have conditioned players to expect that the UI will direct them where to go. No talking with NPCs to find hidden stuff. No clicking statues. Definitely no reading. Its a pretty fun way to play. But in GW2, its also a way to miss a ton of really fun stuff.

For me, it took the constant impending peril of death to make me realize GW2 is a little bit different.

I started to notice things, so I went back on my main.

Harathi Hinterlands has a statue. I'd learned from other statues that /kneel can yield buffs. Charr need no gods... but every cat loves its belly scratched.

So I light the candle, and kneel. Ghost pops up, tells a cool story, and directs me to start an event. Event is awesome! And just sitting there. Waiting for anyone ready to observe the world around them. (Cara Emm's video above does so much more to detail this.)

Its not just events. Its all those vendors I've been ignoring. Fleetze has a great post listing some fun and useful consumables found around the world. Summonable ranger pets for all. Instant vanish. Knockdowns. Fire fields. I'm probably going to lose half my gold porting to every vendor in the game and clicking the junk they have for sale, just to see if its actually useful. Oh goodness, did I just become a skritt?

For just for a little more willingness to explore, I've found so much more depth to the game.

Time for some sage quaggan advice:

ooooOOOOoooo Quaggan thinks you should smell the roses, maybe?  ooooOooOOOOooo

Curiosity Killed the Sith

Ok. The Curiosity Rover now has an open invitation to the Dark Council. "Interrogating" martian rocks via laser fire? Deliberately targeting Coronation? You'll fit in just fine.

Alas, that isn't my posting topic.

In my last post, I noted that I was taking a couple weeks of vacation from the SWTOR news cycle. I was worried about my enthusiasm for the game... particulary given that my guildmates have been Eeyore to my Pooh. (At least, I hope I'm Pooh? I'll settle for Owl. Please don't let me be Rabbit.)

Well, I goofed on that. Ended up reading the news. D'oh.

So I've completely returned to the land of Telara. I'd been playing Rift on the side for a month. Now I'm swapping to it completely. (Its the season, I think - Honor's Code did a similar return to Azeroth.)

So. Much. To. Do!

Unsurprisingly - this is Rift, after all - a ridiculously large amount of content has been released since I left in December. Two raids, instant adventures, Conquest (a giant PVP deathzerg), a mobile ap (?!), a PVP revamp, fishing(!!!), mentoring, ... . I'm sure I missed stuff.

Oh so much to learn. So much gear to get. I'm psyched.

I've found a new high-pop home (yay Faeblight! horray for free server transfers!) and have a great guild. I've got myself back to raid-ready and am rolling in gear. Time for a new world of myths to bust.

Defiant aren't big on superstition.

PS: To those still serving on the Dark Council: can someone get Curiosity to cover my quota of Jedi killing while I'm gone? Jedi spawn like rabbits without regular culling. And even then, some come back. Which causes problems with the EPA over ghost storage. Messy.

[SWTOR]: F2P, A New Hope

Well, my feedreader just exploded like Alderaan.*

By now, I'm guessing most folks have seen the announcement that SWTOR is going Freemium and taken a look at the subscription vs free features of the game.

Not enough verbage?  Don't worry, the blogosphere has you covered. Inquisitor's Roadhouse, Sprinksville, SWTOR face, Moon Over Endor, SWTOR commando, Blessing of Kings, Hawtpants of the Old Republic, Fynralyl, Aggronaut.  (Who'd I miss? My reader is moving at Kessel-record-breaking speeds.)

Alright, now everyone use the force, turn off your targetting computers, and just say to yourself "I'm alright".**

At this point, its probably a great idea to mention what SWTOR's F2P announcement isn't:

• The death of MMO gaming.
• The death of subscription models.
• TORpocalyse Now.
• Evil incarnate.

What this is:

• A good time to wish SWTOR well.
• A ton of potential.

I've always viewed SWTOR as a first-rate RPG just finding its footing as an MMO. Setting up a persistent RPG story with regular continuations via patches and expansions seems to be the most promising selling point of SWTOR.

Problem is, most RPG gamers I know are skeptical of subscription models.  This keeps them out of the MMO market. If Bioware can now attract these players to the MMO market, they can escape from the mentality that the "mmo market is zero-sum". They can use their solid RPG - for a box price - to hook players on MMO elements - for a subscription. They'll have found a sustainable niche.

Obligatory EA hedge: don't get me wrong, they could blaster-to-the-foot this design in the details. They could nickel-and-dime the fun right out of it. They could market it to the wrong crowd. If they are shooting for an RPG crowd, they need better tutorials to adjust folks into MMO gaming.

Side note: I don't think this move is being made because they currently have between 500k-1m subscribers. Those numbers, if sustainable, would make everyone happy. I think they're doing it because they see a WoW expansion, Rift expansion, GW2,... and wonder what would happen to those numbers unless they do something big.

But the potential of this change... I find impressive.

EDIT:  MMO melting pot posts links to yet more posts on the topic.


* Video added for soothing effect.
** Optional step: at this point, find a Sith to shoot your ship droid. I'm happy to volunteer, so long as you aren't grouped with a smuggler.

Measuring Gaming Value by Depth, not Time

I see a fair number of comments arguing that 'hours occupied' is the way to measure the value of a game:

A 2 hour long movie will cost you at least $3 at a cheap theater, at best that's $1.50/hour of entertainment. Most movies cost closer to $8 to go to and lots more if your poor judgement gets you to pay for overpriced snacks ($4+/hr of entertainment). I've played 250+ hrs of D3, maxed every class to lvl 60 and tried a little Inferno with each of them. For less than $0.24/hr of entertainment I'd be hard pressed to find a better deal. For me D3 was definitely worth it! (source)

Which is a sort of weird quantity-over-quality argument... akin to arguing that a long movie is better than a short one, simply because it occupies more time. Because 'The Wolfman' would magically become a better movie by making it longer.*

When I choose to be online, I'm opting to not be hiking outdoors, playing with data, hanging with friends, (insert other favorite activities here). My time is another scarce resource I invest in games.

I measure the value of a game in its depth - the ability to generate those quirky moments of surprise that make for lasting memories. Social games have a greater potential for depth, by adding a layer of player interaction to the game.

Years later, I can chat with friends from WoW and have a laugh. It isn't the boss kills we remember, or even the 'big guild achievements'. Its the random quirks. We joke about kiting world bosses to capitals, giant world pvp deathmatches, random "you heal?" whispers, odd pranks, endless travel times... All of us remember a half hour wait for one priest to return from afk before a boss fight (her name is still a curse). Whether good times or bad, I remember those moments fondly.*

Typing that, I can't help but smile. That is great value.

D3 - after about 100 hours /played - is pretty thin on those memories. On the whole, I look at D3... distastefully? I can't point to anything from my time in-game as epic, or ask "remember when...". D3 just didn't have enough depth in game mechanics to have those quirky bits of fun. The world was a bit too linear and unsurprising, and the game design was a bit too flat. Group size was too small for a good social dynamic.

That is poor value.

I could just as easily write the same paragraph about SWTOR. It is too linear, and the groups were a bit too small (at least for the crew I game with). What saved it was the depth. I remember killing guildmates via sorc pulls. Endlessly slaughtering infinitely respawning ship droids after one too many irksome 'conversations'. Dodging instant nukes hopping up walls in the trenches of Denova.

This parallels the recent ForceJunkies and Gamespy articles on content depth (via fluff). In an MMO environment where the raiding can't be the sole endgame for all players, games need depth - at launch - to keep a wider range of players excited about the game. Which is why I'm surprised D3 and SWTOR ended up selling themselves short - by launching without more of that content, the games were great on potential, but thin on value.

Which loops back to a better understanding of why good games occupy more time. The kernel of truth there is that additional content will take more time to work through. But in a great game, that content enriches what is already there.


* Worst. Movie. Ever.
**I'd be content to call this nostalgia... but I can do the same for Rift.

Customer Service Droids

Consider this post to be a little letter of support for a positively wonderful blogger.

Long story, well, still pretty long: Battlechicken recently posted some experience appealing a one-week ban from SWTOR for 'use of an unauthorized Third Party Program'. Trouble is: the email didn't mention which program is a violation of the TOS, so there is no way to understand what caused the ban / how to fix the problem. What is even worse: despite repeated calls / emails, customer service is just replying with automated responses.

Shame on you, CS droids.

Much like Screaming Monkeys, I hope someone at Bioware can stop and take a moment to look into the case, apologize to Battlechicken, and resolve the issue. They've got a great community of devs... so it'd be a shame for the automated bots in customer service to reflect poorly on that.


UPDATE:: Bioware contacted Battlechicken, apologized, and reinstated the account. It also looks like they're reevaluating their policies on how they contact players. Horray for positive change!

Turning it Up to 11 (or 9... or 17)

Typically, this blog revolves around my plots for galactic domination.

Scatterplots.*

Today, I'm going to depart from that.

If that isn't your cup of tea... here is a lovely youtube video.  Please disregard the words after it.



Still here?

Last week, Pugnacious Priest had had a fantastic and thought-provoking post on bench warming. I was struck by one thought in particular:

A raid can still be done with less than 25 or less than 10 -  but never more.

Why not?

Or, to translate to a galaxy far far away, why do operations use the price-is-right rules?  8 or 16 players, but never more?

Every now and then, my guild ends up one or two short for a op.  No big deal, we each search our friends lists, find someone awesome, and get to hang with some other folks on the server. I'm actually a pretty big fan of pugging, so this works wonderfully.

We do this because we're a casual group: not everyone can make every operation. But over-recruiting sometimes leads to nights where too many players show up. Someone gets benched, which just isn't all that much fun, and can lead to drama from time to time.

But what if we could bring 9 players to the 8 man?

The difficulty could scale up (more HP, shorter enrage).  Maybe a few more piles o yuck thrown about.

The advantage: nobody gets benched.  Suppose you could run the 8 person ops with 8-10 players.  Now, if 11 or 12 show up... you're within pugging distance of a group of 16, or a few players split off and do some flashpoints.

I think this fits in with other features - like dual specs - that make operations (or raids) much easier for a casual guild. The game reduces the drama-points of organization, ensuring that guild activities keep going. (I'm also guessing that players are more likely to leave MMOs when their guilds collapse, so keeping guilds stable has to be a priority for devs.)

*Punishment was originally used to keep the local systems in line. While more effective than fear, it sapped whole parsecs of the will to live. Much like Jar-Jar.

Three Months in Review

Its been three months already? Seriously? Woah.

Kristalys and Shintar did thoughtful and insightful three month reviews, which got me to thinking about my time in SW:TOR.

It has been quite the roller coaster.

I started as a tank, and went powertech, since I really love block tanks, and all that shielding seemed the most block-y. It was fantastic to level, but not a great fit for endgame. They're cool in their own way, but I felt too much like a foozeball.

I'm much happier as a sorc.

They have to be the most visually stunning class in game. Their lightning is iconic and beautiful and makes me giggle with glee. I love the combination of burst and mobility from the hybrid spec I'm running. Its also the first time I've ever fallen in love with the gameplay of a caster in an MMO. This makes everything just that more new and exciting.

The simple act of rerolling to a better fit made me love the game anew. It has made operations positively joyful in a way that SWTOR's taking just wasn't. I look forward to running a flashpoint, even though there is no chance of loot. Oh, and I've become a huge fan of dailies. And I pvp'd my way to Battlemaster (before they made it so much easier). Finding my gameplay fit made the game much much more fun.

I'm truly blessed to have such supportive and patient guildmates, to tolerate the reroll.

While I love the gameplay, I'm not a big fan of my sorc's personality. I know my bounty hunter and her companions much better than the sorc and her crew. I also like them more, and feel like they've accomplished more in the galaxy. As her story unfolded, my BH grew and developed with her story, matching its ever-increasing awesomeness. My sorc's personality... well, it stagnated with the relatively flat inquisitor story. I haven't quite got a feel for her, which is something I really need.

I hope to work that out, and to get a better sense of my sorc, with time.

I've also noticed that the story is a bit disjointed in the game, but more on that in another post.

I'm slowly working through the other class stories. I positively dread logging onto the sniper, so its collecting dust. Stopping before combat plus long cast times isn't my idea of fun gameplay (not exactly a Han Solo / Chewie). But the operative? On my, she is the hilarious destroyer of everything. Whatever she touches just explodes. And she is even more wicked in pvp. I plan to level her to 50 so I can have a more malevolent option.

Please, try and run. It'll make her day. Before she nukes your city and kills your entire race. Why? Because you were there.

Mostly, though, I'm kept busy with dailies, and ops, and then the odd bit of alt leveling or game mechanic tinkering. I've also been bitten with the desire to collect all the synthweaving patterns, which makes for a ton of GTN trips. The crafting army is mostly finished, aside from my lack of motivation to make an armstech. Go figure. But I do have 7 busy slicing characters.

Overall: some really fun times in game.

Don't get me wrong, I could easily write a darker "bugs and annoyances in the past three months" post. But I really do trust that they've got good people on the dev team who are ironing those problems out (Daniel and Georg are brilliant, to say the least).

And those bugs aren't what I remember of the past three months. I remember friends, and jokes, and ops, and drunken rancor jousting. I remember pvp, and lightning, and stunning folks in fire. I remember my BH's story arc, and my ever-growing fondness for her crew and their quirks.

Good times indeed.