Seems the discussion about my posting on Rift and why I am let down by the MMO community is making the rounds. My favorite remark in one post has been used several times, and I think we need some rebuttal here...
Rift: No, it’s not the “Jesus” game
If I may...myself, I have never noted Rift as the "Jesus" game. First, the remark makes no sense.
Jesus died....MMO's have not died (at least not yet)...Jesus was resurrected...uh, doesn't something have to die to be resurrected. Jesus is our savior (according to the Christians!)...
So, is it the savior part? Is Rift here to SAVE us?
It could be. But, only for those who are willing to help this market grow.
But, I digress on this point...maybe on another post? Lets get to the nitty gritty of this debate though.
Some of the commentary on this particular posting has a few concerns that I think we should look into. (Check out this link to Massively Multiverse for more on this story).
"Apparently, if I have loved WoW at any point in WoW’s history but haven’t fallen head-over-heels in love with Rift in the same fashion, then I should leave the MMO genre entirely because I am nothing more than a burnt out, jaded gamer who has simply played far too many MMOs in his day. Come to think of it, I am a burnt out and jaded gamer during these, my MMO twilight years….*snickers*…but that’s beside the point!"
Not entirely true. But, to instead look upon Rift as just "copying" WoW is where the main issue lies. If you cannot look at Rift with an open mind and either like it or leave it alone, is where it causes concern.
Again, I must refer to the infamous Metacritic rating by a standard user who felt the need to give Rift a ZERO ...and why?
"There is really nothing NEW here that hasn't been done before."
Fair enough. I have no issue with this. People will find a lot to not like in other MMO's. I can clearly point out EVERY issue with Lord of the Rings Online and why I feel this is an inadequately made game. But, I would never give it a ZERO, because it still has some things going for it, like a company who cares, a community who rocks. This would be a FAIR rating.
A lot of what I read about Rift is NOT fair. Again at Multiverse...
"There are only two things in Rift that are somewhat unique. The Invasions and the Soul system are the two features that should be touted by Rift fans everywhere."
So, the AOE looting, map transparencies, instant change loadouts for class skills between specs, hover over healing,...all the background workings that advance the way we play don't count because you can't see them?
This I think is the main issue in that Rift has advanced a lot of game mechanics that we normally do not think about (like the invasion mechanic...though not entirely new, used a different way here makes even quest hubs a danger zone... or how about the quick change soul specs, though mainly seen in Guild Wars, has the added option of being able to use it ANYWHERE).
Lets talk about the off-healing mechanic. What game has a smart heal system that looks at all players in a group and decides who needs the most healing when group heals take effect?
No, these are not innovative, because they are not TANGIBLE to the player. These are not NEW.
Multiverse goes on to say...
"As for the Soul System, it was probably the key ingredient that I enjoyed the most while playing Rift. It is a step in the right direction for MMOs, and I am more than happy to applaud Trion for its creation. But at the end of the day, it has two things working against it. First of all, that many souls will prove to be horribly difficult to balance over time, especially for PvP. I’m not sure if Trion will ever be able to get the balance right. Secondly, just like the talent system in WoW or EQ 2, certain flavor of the month builds will emerge and dominate as they always do, proving once and for all that we don’t really need a better class based system."
Good point. Yet, no one has done it yet. What MMO is 100% balanced and ready to play? What MMO does not get some type of balance change on a regular basis?
WoW is still not balanced to this day. Why should this be a strike? Instead it should be noted as ongoing development...because isn't that really what MMO's are about? A never-ending cycle of patching and balancing, content addition, etc.
What about a "better class based system"? As I discussed in my *Futura* post yesterday, only one of many MMO's releasing will have it. How will it work? And will the current MMO player of course find a way to ruin it?
Moving on...
"The bar has been raised and developers need to adjust their ambitions accordingly."
This one says it all. Who raised that bar? Who said that the genre MUST be 100% different to be a GOOD game? This is where the "jaded" gamer comes in.
My constant example is the "Halo/CoD" argument. Even though in different settings, they are basically the same play style, same gameplay...gun, run, don't get killed or be killed. THAT's IT. These games continue to thrive...yet, the MMO genre must make a whole new change.
Better yet, lets use our current market. LOTRO, EQ2, WAR, AoC (lets even go ahead and leave WoW out of this). What unique features does each of these games offer that the other does not? Out of all these, WAR is the most different of the lot. Tiered gameplay, Realm vs Realm....actual crafting that requires the player to really be involved...
Yet, it is one of the lowest populated games on that list. Can we blame the bugs? Maybe. But, DEDICATED players will look beyond this and wait for development to take place. Instead everyone gave up as the game was not READY yet.
Rift is ready though. Trion is committed to listening to their customer base. Talk about your concerns with the devs and support a growing game. But the outright slamming it for trying to appease a large audience who wants similarities to begin with (heck, look at all the posts on the forums for those who WANT the LFD tool...you know, what another game has), seems out of hand.
That has been my main issue all along. The growing need of a "jaded" MMO community who want things to be different from WoW, but cannot see it if it hit them in the face leads to bickering about a game that should be able to let itself grow.
Finally...and in line with what has been said...
"Rift offers little in the way of true advancement. And just because it does its job well, does not mean we should all conform to hailing it as the greatest MMO on the planet."
Again, as I have said before. The background technology, the emergent gameplay (even though it is something YOU do not like, does not mean it is not an advancement), the willingness to ask the player what they want and ADD it (that alone is the single most advanced feature, thanks to so many devs of other MMO's ignoring their playerbase), already is a step up.
Rift is NOT the greatest MMO. But, it is what other MMO developers and games should aspire to be. Great at launch, fully fleshed out and ready to play.
The bar has been raised...by Trion actually. It is not JUST about the gameplay and features, but about the company. If we as a playerbase decide that because the game has similarities to another game, it should not be supported, then maybe we need to accept that all future games will be like WAR and AoC.
As well, until proven to me otherwise, I do not believe players want a NEW experience anyways. Otherwise they would support titles who are trying to make changes to the genre (Age of Conan was a perfect example of a game that had skill be the single most important requirement...yet players cried until it was revamped 6 months later to be a standard MMO).
So, is this market the way it is because of WoW? Sure is. Is the playerbase largely responsible? Yes...
But, is Rift "Jesus"? No. But, it sure is a damn fine game, well made..and if you can just let go of your preconceived notions of WoW and the "been there, done that", you could enjoy it more.
Psalm 69!
Showing posts with label Warhammer Online. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Warhammer Online. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Monday, April 25, 2011
Rift: This is where the MMO community let me down...
As I log in to my server now, though still quite busy, I can feel it.
It is somewhat emptier than it usually is.
The city still bustles with people during prime time hours. The guild fills up a bit late Saturday and mostly Sunday. But, the feeling that the game is emptier than it has been, is palpable.
I started to really think about this after reading the article...5 Reasons Rift is the New WoW.
His points are precise and spot on. Rift, though familiar, is as well, a very good game. Why it now is emptying out is beyond me...besides the fact that probably most who are leaving are MMO burn outs.
Lets look at each point and see why I think the MMO community is starting to disappoint me and why there are those who just need to stop playing MMO's altogether.
1. Rift is a finished product.
"Unlike just about every MMO released in the last five years, Rift isn't half-assed or half-finished. The game has PvP, PvE, and a large diverse world for questing."
Which is true. Just most people wish to see it as EXACTLY like WoW. And to a degree it is. YET, there is so much that could make the game different if a player put in the effort. This I think is the main reason people leave.
WoW did not launch to such a glorious lead off. It took time to get there. The patience of todays player is ludicrous though. If it was a year into Rift's game and they had hit a roadblock of no new content, no fixes, no balancing...then I could see the players point. But, it's not...it is barely two months in.
Effort, people...effort.
I will talk about this more later...
2. There's an endgame.
"Taking a page from WoW, there's a lot of loot to work for in Rift."
Loot. We love it, but then we sneer at it, thanks to so many factors.
Grind...Gear Scores...repeated dailies...just a few of the reasons people look at this factor as a letdown in most MMO's.
But, I try to figure out this elusive "endgame" nirvana that most MMO's supposedly do not offer that some players continue to ask for...and wonder "WTF do you want then?". I see the term "meaningful" endgame mentioned, but never explained. Do YOU want to tell me what you expect? What does that mean? Yet, I never see anyone flesh this out. Some throw out expectations of huge sieges and what not...but, really, expectations are set too high for what our current technology can do. It has been proven time and again.
This is why I think what players REALLY want....they can't have for another 10 or 15 years. So, for my own benefit, just quit playing MMO's for that amount of time and leave the forum punditry to those who still enjoy this genre.
Oh, and that effort thing I mentioned? Applies here as well....more soon.
3. The game isn't buggy.
"Bugs have killed off more than a few MMOs. Age of Conan and Warhammer were both decent MMOs and both of them were so fraught with bugs they brought about their own too early demise."
This is the one that kills me. Every time I see another "I'm right forumite" spout off verbal diarrhea stating "Rift will be just like WAR, and fail over" "I expect Rift to fall to as many subs as Age of Conan", I want to slap someone (and my Wife is STILL pissed about that to this day...sorry Hon, did it sting a little?).
"Rift has something for everyone."
This one is important...and true. So much exists in Rift to keep you occupied. The problem is ...a lot of it existed in other games, thus this makes Rift an instant bore for those who have played MMO's to death.
This is why I think a lot of MMO players need to just leave this genre behind and go do something else for a while. Anyone crying they have nothing to do in Rift is either not looking, has no friends, or is done with MMO's in general.
Every time I log in, I instantly have plans, or at least can look at my roster of alts and decide...today is a good day for..."____" (you fill in the blank, as I already decided...and I can't make that decision for you.)
Now, if you will excuse me...I need to go take a break as I already thought of something else I want to do in Rift.
/AFK
Rift doesn't suck. Rift rocks. It's addictive and fun. It's what an MMO should be. There's nothing fancy about, but what it does it does well. Rift is the excuse players have been waiting for, the excuse they needed to leave the comfort of WoW for something new."
Yes it does rock. But, the issue continues to be WoW. It is like saying Crack can be replaced with crocheting.
Whats funny is, that is what WoW is. Just like Crack. The problem is most MMO players have been "users" for so long, they cannot understand what it would mean to leave that behind. This is where that EFFORT really pays off. Put an effort into not thinking about WoW. Put an effort into not playing Rift like WoW. Make a concerted effort to try and work through the soul system, find what you have not found, play the game like you have not played before.
Laziness is my only assumption here.
EFFORT is what Trion put into Rift. Why not do the same?
The one way it shows the most effort is the lore.
For the first time in quite a while, we have a unique IP. A new story, a new world ...something that is NOT WoW's warcraftian world. Something not based on a released novel, movie, comic book, etc.
Yet, no one puts in the effort to look upon this aspect...and instead are banking all their chips on... you guessed it... another non-original IP (Star Wars: ToR will be our Saviour...blah, blah).
This is why movies like "Scream 4" (though still not "too bad", is still regurgitated material) are made, and sell quite well...while critical and well written movies like "Source Code" fall over.
The McDonald's consumptive world ruins our MMO's.
And for the first time, I want to just hang up my hat for my fellow players. I want to leave them behind because they let me down. They want pre-existing IP crapola on a stick, and want it to be unique and interesting.
It won't be though.
I guarantee we will be in the same boat come launch of SW:ToR. Players will complain about features that Star Wars has that are unique. Yet, the base will be full of players who will pry open the gem that is SW:ToR and note how "It is just like WoW".
And it will be.
No matter how good the story, no matter what unique aspects they add to the game...there will be that contingent that state.."It's like WoW".
Well, I will continue to log into another brilliant game, that will most likely be watered down in the hopes the masses will return. It has happened to so many good games who had great ideas, but due to the buggy nature of their release and the need to balance based on desk jockey programmers who want THEIR class and playstyle to be "meaningful", plummeted in subs and could never get back up.
Rift is a damn fine game...just no one will know it because WoW has already ruined their perception of what a good game is.
I feel let down by my fellow gamers.
It is somewhat emptier than it usually is.
The city still bustles with people during prime time hours. The guild fills up a bit late Saturday and mostly Sunday. But, the feeling that the game is emptier than it has been, is palpable.
I started to really think about this after reading the article...5 Reasons Rift is the New WoW.
His points are precise and spot on. Rift, though familiar, is as well, a very good game. Why it now is emptying out is beyond me...besides the fact that probably most who are leaving are MMO burn outs.
Lets look at each point and see why I think the MMO community is starting to disappoint me and why there are those who just need to stop playing MMO's altogether.
1. Rift is a finished product.
"Unlike just about every MMO released in the last five years, Rift isn't half-assed or half-finished. The game has PvP, PvE, and a large diverse world for questing."
Which is true. Just most people wish to see it as EXACTLY like WoW. And to a degree it is. YET, there is so much that could make the game different if a player put in the effort. This I think is the main reason people leave.
WoW did not launch to such a glorious lead off. It took time to get there. The patience of todays player is ludicrous though. If it was a year into Rift's game and they had hit a roadblock of no new content, no fixes, no balancing...then I could see the players point. But, it's not...it is barely two months in.
Effort, people...effort.
I will talk about this more later...
2. There's an endgame.
"Taking a page from WoW, there's a lot of loot to work for in Rift."
Loot. We love it, but then we sneer at it, thanks to so many factors.
Grind...Gear Scores...repeated dailies...just a few of the reasons people look at this factor as a letdown in most MMO's.
But, I try to figure out this elusive "endgame" nirvana that most MMO's supposedly do not offer that some players continue to ask for...and wonder "WTF do you want then?". I see the term "meaningful" endgame mentioned, but never explained. Do YOU want to tell me what you expect? What does that mean? Yet, I never see anyone flesh this out. Some throw out expectations of huge sieges and what not...but, really, expectations are set too high for what our current technology can do. It has been proven time and again.
This is why I think what players REALLY want....they can't have for another 10 or 15 years. So, for my own benefit, just quit playing MMO's for that amount of time and leave the forum punditry to those who still enjoy this genre.
Oh, and that effort thing I mentioned? Applies here as well....more soon.
3. The game isn't buggy.
"Bugs have killed off more than a few MMOs. Age of Conan and Warhammer were both decent MMOs and both of them were so fraught with bugs they brought about their own too early demise."
This is the one that kills me. Every time I see another "I'm right forumite" spout off verbal diarrhea stating "Rift will be just like WAR, and fail over" "I expect Rift to fall to as many subs as Age of Conan", I want to slap someone (and my Wife is STILL pissed about that to this day...sorry Hon, did it sting a little?).
I have yet to have ANYTHING in this game stop me from completing a quest or asking a GM for help. I expect they may be there...but, the consensus has been through my guild and a lot of people writing about Rift, that we have been playing a well made game. PERIOD.
This is huge. To this day, Age of Conan, Warhammer, heck...even EQ2, all have existing issues that I am FORCED to communicate with their tech support to help me out of a jam. This is ridiculous.
Rift is just a well made game, that will progress...if people would just shut up and play.
4. There's a lot to do."Rift has something for everyone."
This one is important...and true. So much exists in Rift to keep you occupied. The problem is ...a lot of it existed in other games, thus this makes Rift an instant bore for those who have played MMO's to death.
This is why I think a lot of MMO players need to just leave this genre behind and go do something else for a while. Anyone crying they have nothing to do in Rift is either not looking, has no friends, or is done with MMO's in general.
Every time I log in, I instantly have plans, or at least can look at my roster of alts and decide...today is a good day for..."____" (you fill in the blank, as I already decided...and I can't make that decision for you.)
Now, if you will excuse me...I need to go take a break as I already thought of something else I want to do in Rift.
/AFK
5. Rift is the cure for your WoW ennui
Rift doesn't suck. Rift rocks. It's addictive and fun. It's what an MMO should be. There's nothing fancy about, but what it does it does well. Rift is the excuse players have been waiting for, the excuse they needed to leave the comfort of WoW for something new."
Yes it does rock. But, the issue continues to be WoW. It is like saying Crack can be replaced with crocheting.
Whats funny is, that is what WoW is. Just like Crack. The problem is most MMO players have been "users" for so long, they cannot understand what it would mean to leave that behind. This is where that EFFORT really pays off. Put an effort into not thinking about WoW. Put an effort into not playing Rift like WoW. Make a concerted effort to try and work through the soul system, find what you have not found, play the game like you have not played before.
Laziness is my only assumption here.
EFFORT is what Trion put into Rift. Why not do the same?
The one way it shows the most effort is the lore.
For the first time in quite a while, we have a unique IP. A new story, a new world ...something that is NOT WoW's warcraftian world. Something not based on a released novel, movie, comic book, etc.
Yet, no one puts in the effort to look upon this aspect...and instead are banking all their chips on... you guessed it... another non-original IP (Star Wars: ToR will be our Saviour...blah, blah).
This is why movies like "Scream 4" (though still not "too bad", is still regurgitated material) are made, and sell quite well...while critical and well written movies like "Source Code" fall over.
The McDonald's consumptive world ruins our MMO's.
And for the first time, I want to just hang up my hat for my fellow players. I want to leave them behind because they let me down. They want pre-existing IP crapola on a stick, and want it to be unique and interesting.
It won't be though.
I guarantee we will be in the same boat come launch of SW:ToR. Players will complain about features that Star Wars has that are unique. Yet, the base will be full of players who will pry open the gem that is SW:ToR and note how "It is just like WoW".
And it will be.
No matter how good the story, no matter what unique aspects they add to the game...there will be that contingent that state.."It's like WoW".
Well, I will continue to log into another brilliant game, that will most likely be watered down in the hopes the masses will return. It has happened to so many good games who had great ideas, but due to the buggy nature of their release and the need to balance based on desk jockey programmers who want THEIR class and playstyle to be "meaningful", plummeted in subs and could never get back up.
Rift is a damn fine game...just no one will know it because WoW has already ruined their perception of what a good game is.
I feel let down by my fellow gamers.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Spectator Sport: Warhammer Online
Due to the nature of watching the rankings on MMO's, I have what I like to call "speed dial" for the various forums and blogs of the MMO's I track. It is interesting to see the views of different players as I rank their games on the tracking services. Whether they be a standard supporter, forum troll, or fanboi blog, the discussion is ripe for commentary.
Today I will be starting a small series called "Spectator Sports" and present a rundown on what is happening in the forum/bloggo land of various MMO's.
My first victim is: Warhammer Online.
Personally, I think this is the most needed game discussion we should start with.
Something happened in 2010 for WAR and the Mythic/Bioware based team. It was simple at first. Talk of hacked accounts, which happens in most MMO's, started the wheels turning. Then a massive billing issue which lead to a large fiasco for almost 3 months. Players were hurt by large charges applied to their credit cards...even players who were not subbed were struck by large charges and overdraft issues.
Time went on and then news struck of people being let go, including Josh Drescher (who seemed thorougly surprised by this, stating on Twitter "Not EXACTLY how I expected the day to start: As of 11:00 AM today, I am no longer an employee of EA Mythic."
This continued as news that Games Workshop was suing a fan site, Warhammer Alliance for misuse of their logos and product...(which is fine, as the site was using the IP to make money, but does not look good to a standard player).
Then came EALouse. Truth? Fiction? Hard to say. What we do know is in the consumers eye, it creates a disturbance. I will let you read the blog, on the off chance you actually missed this and make up your own mind.
Around two months ago, Mythic released patch 1.4. A much discussed, but controversial patch for WAR. Due to the fact that at the same time as this patch hit, RvR packs were introduced. RvR packs were "Micro-transaction" items like extra levels and more.
Riots ensued. Talk of "buying level ups" and using an items style store while still charging full price caused a clamor in the community. Based on the various tracking services, player retention fell. Discussion of empty servers was bandied about on the forums.
The domino effect was felt throughout the community. The standard monthly producers letter disappeared. The chatter and excitement felt by the Game Director, Carrie Gouskos, and Community Manager Andy Belford disappeared from their Twitter, to the point that WAR is not even mentioned anymore by them.
Fan blogs, a huge staple for the Mythic community, started to close up shop. The rhetoric by various blog posters seem to ask; "Where is Mythic?"
This leads us to today. How is WAR holding up?
If we look at the forums, we see many a disgruntled player and troll. When your largest thread is about another game (Rift vs Warhammer) or posts ask "What is Mythic doing" or Why doesn't your Game Director ever post on the forum (Why Doesn't Carrie ever post here), something must be amiss.
Don't even think to head to an offsite forum (like MMORPG.com)...scary.
Lets see how bloggers are talking...
VAN HEMLOCK writes "All in all, I get a feel that the Warhammer Online forums are a somewhat darker place than the other forums I’ve visited so far, and complaints of being ignored and poor communication seem commonplace."
Bootae notes "You just have to look at all the WAR bloggers that are just treading water (if they’re posting about WAR at all) because there is quite simply nothing to write about other than concerns or total flights of fancy. Those flights of fancy these days are just asking to be laughed at and it gets boring writing negative stuff; we want to have exciting things to ponder on, clues and gossip to debate. Unfortunately at the moment it’s a bit flat and the only people that can change that are Mythic."
backseatdev says "The game no longer appears to be growing in content and hasn’t really in a long time. Very small updates released many months apart are mainly just fixes and everything seems to point towards nothing even remotely subtantial in the works.... don’t know what Mythic’s answer will be, but as a player, I feel like I need to help manage their expectations that people will keep paying subscription fees for a game that isn’t living up to a subscription fee model. Hands up, how many people feel like they got a full $45 boxed games worth of features every 3 months from Warhammer Online? It is time for a change."
So, as we "Spectate" here, how is Mythic managing their expectations of their audience? Where is WAR headed?
Comment away!!!
Today I will be starting a small series called "Spectator Sports" and present a rundown on what is happening in the forum/bloggo land of various MMO's.
My first victim is: Warhammer Online.
Personally, I think this is the most needed game discussion we should start with.
Something happened in 2010 for WAR and the Mythic/Bioware based team. It was simple at first. Talk of hacked accounts, which happens in most MMO's, started the wheels turning. Then a massive billing issue which lead to a large fiasco for almost 3 months. Players were hurt by large charges applied to their credit cards...even players who were not subbed were struck by large charges and overdraft issues.
Time went on and then news struck of people being let go, including Josh Drescher (who seemed thorougly surprised by this, stating on Twitter "Not EXACTLY how I expected the day to start: As of 11:00 AM today, I am no longer an employee of EA Mythic."
This continued as news that Games Workshop was suing a fan site, Warhammer Alliance for misuse of their logos and product...(which is fine, as the site was using the IP to make money, but does not look good to a standard player).
Then came EALouse. Truth? Fiction? Hard to say. What we do know is in the consumers eye, it creates a disturbance. I will let you read the blog, on the off chance you actually missed this and make up your own mind.
Around two months ago, Mythic released patch 1.4. A much discussed, but controversial patch for WAR. Due to the fact that at the same time as this patch hit, RvR packs were introduced. RvR packs were "Micro-transaction" items like extra levels and more.
Riots ensued. Talk of "buying level ups" and using an items style store while still charging full price caused a clamor in the community. Based on the various tracking services, player retention fell. Discussion of empty servers was bandied about on the forums.
The domino effect was felt throughout the community. The standard monthly producers letter disappeared. The chatter and excitement felt by the Game Director, Carrie Gouskos, and Community Manager Andy Belford disappeared from their Twitter, to the point that WAR is not even mentioned anymore by them.
Fan blogs, a huge staple for the Mythic community, started to close up shop. The rhetoric by various blog posters seem to ask; "Where is Mythic?"
This leads us to today. How is WAR holding up?
If we look at the forums, we see many a disgruntled player and troll. When your largest thread is about another game (Rift vs Warhammer) or posts ask "What is Mythic doing" or Why doesn't your Game Director ever post on the forum (Why Doesn't Carrie ever post here), something must be amiss.
Don't even think to head to an offsite forum (like MMORPG.com)...scary.
Lets see how bloggers are talking...
VAN HEMLOCK writes "All in all, I get a feel that the Warhammer Online forums are a somewhat darker place than the other forums I’ve visited so far, and complaints of being ignored and poor communication seem commonplace."
Bootae notes "You just have to look at all the WAR bloggers that are just treading water (if they’re posting about WAR at all) because there is quite simply nothing to write about other than concerns or total flights of fancy. Those flights of fancy these days are just asking to be laughed at and it gets boring writing negative stuff; we want to have exciting things to ponder on, clues and gossip to debate. Unfortunately at the moment it’s a bit flat and the only people that can change that are Mythic."
backseatdev says "The game no longer appears to be growing in content and hasn’t really in a long time. Very small updates released many months apart are mainly just fixes and everything seems to point towards nothing even remotely subtantial in the works.... don’t know what Mythic’s answer will be, but as a player, I feel like I need to help manage their expectations that people will keep paying subscription fees for a game that isn’t living up to a subscription fee model. Hands up, how many people feel like they got a full $45 boxed games worth of features every 3 months from Warhammer Online? It is time for a change."
So, as we "Spectate" here, how is Mythic managing their expectations of their audience? Where is WAR headed?
Comment away!!!
Friday, October 8, 2010
Good Openedge - The Free 2 Play Model Can Work
Just read the report on the GDCO 2010 conference for Turbines report. You can catch the news here.
Turbine GDCO Report
"At GDCO, the studio [Turbine] announced that revenues from Lord of the Rings Online have doubled in the past month since switching to a free-to-play hybrid model."
Everyone knows how I feel about LOTRO, as I have stated in the past...the game is just not that good. Period. I could sit and point out the many flaws in gameplay and style, and most would even agree.
But, when it came to them changing to Free 2 Play, I was on onboard, and had even stated I could see their business doubling thanks to this change. Looks like I was spot on for that.
If Turbine has one thing right, it is how to treat their customers and how to make a game profitable. They pulled a rabbit out of their hat with DDO, and took a chance with a grade A (according to many) MMO and converting it to a less popular style of monetary arrangement in many MMO circles.
Most associate Free 2 Play with low quality. But, LOTRO is not too low quality wise (just in the aspect of character models and UI...which I understand has been tweaked some, but still needs work) , and Turbine took a big chance. Especially with the type of community that LOTRO exhibits, the belief was going F2P would be it's downfall. If anything, I applaud their move and am glad they have made headway. I hope they use this money wisely and apply it to a better animation engine and model designers, along with UI creators who understand DPI.
This leaves the window open now. Can this model succeed if done right? Want an example of NOT doing it right? Head on over to EQ2X and take a look.
You can't inundate your customer base with charges left and right. Also, there has to be a way to earn the same goods that can be bought in your store. Do this or alienate a large audience.
SOE's move to place the new "free" audience on other servers was genius...until they saw that their core audience wanted more people to play with, and saw an emptying of their pay servers...ouch. In so many words, don't separate your audience if you don't have a large audience to begin with.
So, is Free 2 Play the way to go all the time? I still feel some games cannot work like this.
Take Warhammer Online. So many think it needs to go Free due to it's low populations. I disagree. The niche it inhabits does not bode well for a cash shop. Buying into a PvP oriented game is a big no-no to me.
But, the game could do with some price "tweaking". Changes to pricing structures for their "Tiers" is a start. Then charge for aspects that can be earned. Horses and Mounts could be one piece. New addons like their upcoming RvR packs is another.
The fact that PvE is taking a back seat to their PvP also means F2P would be disastrous. To top it off, their PvE is so broken to begin with...more work would have to be done in that arena before a F2P model could even look WAR in the eye.
PvE gameplay is 100% congruent to Free 2 Play in my opinion. People will be willing to buy what they need or want. But, you must offer some way to have the player gain these same items...just make sure it takes them a long time.
I welcome our new pricing models and hope it leads to more innovative ways to pay and play.
Turbine GDCO Report
"At GDCO, the studio [Turbine] announced that revenues from Lord of the Rings Online have doubled in the past month since switching to a free-to-play hybrid model."
Everyone knows how I feel about LOTRO, as I have stated in the past...the game is just not that good. Period. I could sit and point out the many flaws in gameplay and style, and most would even agree.
But, when it came to them changing to Free 2 Play, I was on onboard, and had even stated I could see their business doubling thanks to this change. Looks like I was spot on for that.
If Turbine has one thing right, it is how to treat their customers and how to make a game profitable. They pulled a rabbit out of their hat with DDO, and took a chance with a grade A (according to many) MMO and converting it to a less popular style of monetary arrangement in many MMO circles.
Most associate Free 2 Play with low quality. But, LOTRO is not too low quality wise (just in the aspect of character models and UI...which I understand has been tweaked some, but still needs work) , and Turbine took a big chance. Especially with the type of community that LOTRO exhibits, the belief was going F2P would be it's downfall. If anything, I applaud their move and am glad they have made headway. I hope they use this money wisely and apply it to a better animation engine and model designers, along with UI creators who understand DPI.
This leaves the window open now. Can this model succeed if done right? Want an example of NOT doing it right? Head on over to EQ2X and take a look.
You can't inundate your customer base with charges left and right. Also, there has to be a way to earn the same goods that can be bought in your store. Do this or alienate a large audience.
SOE's move to place the new "free" audience on other servers was genius...until they saw that their core audience wanted more people to play with, and saw an emptying of their pay servers...ouch. In so many words, don't separate your audience if you don't have a large audience to begin with.
So, is Free 2 Play the way to go all the time? I still feel some games cannot work like this.
Take Warhammer Online. So many think it needs to go Free due to it's low populations. I disagree. The niche it inhabits does not bode well for a cash shop. Buying into a PvP oriented game is a big no-no to me.
But, the game could do with some price "tweaking". Changes to pricing structures for their "Tiers" is a start. Then charge for aspects that can be earned. Horses and Mounts could be one piece. New addons like their upcoming RvR packs is another.
The fact that PvE is taking a back seat to their PvP also means F2P would be disastrous. To top it off, their PvE is so broken to begin with...more work would have to be done in that arena before a F2P model could even look WAR in the eye.
PvE gameplay is 100% congruent to Free 2 Play in my opinion. People will be willing to buy what they need or want. But, you must offer some way to have the player gain these same items...just make sure it takes them a long time.
I welcome our new pricing models and hope it leads to more innovative ways to pay and play.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Warhammer Online: Rank and VILE!
Something that interests me in Warhammer Online is the multiple ways to level the character. You not only have a main "rank" (your level in most other MMO's), but you have the RR or Renown Rank, and Influence.
Influence is not too important to your character as it just tracks progress through the TIER system. In PvE, influence is gained by completing Chapters of stories in the Public Quest system. The RvR Influence is by completing Tiers in Open RvR (you gain no influence for Scenarios...or not enough to really care about).
You get some ok gear, but that is about all the Influence meter offers (that I know of...anyone want to enlighten me on this?)
So, my two focuses have been Renown and standard Rank.
Now, here is an example of how my character looks in the "rankings" system (on the Realm War system from Mythic, which allows you to track characters, not unlike the Armory for WoW).
The true definition of grind...THAT is Vile.
ORvR consists of several measures to gain Renown points (RR). You take Battle Objectives (BO) and Keeps. The keeps can garner the most points, as not only will you take the keep, but will be in combat with a lot of the opposite faction. You can also defend keeps, but only gain major points in either style of gameplay by winning.
Order was definitely on the short end of the stick the whole weekend. Destruction could field two or even three Warbands of 24 players each...while Order had...One.
Now, mind you, this is Tier 3. This tier has been known to bring grown men to tears, and as such, most players head to the Land of the Dead (LoTD) (this all has been discussed in my previous post) to quick level to Tier 4, where balance is somewhat restored. But, during this time, you gain no Renown, as LoTD is PvE, which goes towards standard Rank.
Another way I could gain this RR faster is through Scenarios. But, thanks to the new patch this weekend, it seems Scenarios were NOT going off. I was able to compete in TWO Scenarios the whole weekend.
And do not start me on population issues.
But, back to the difference between the Renown Rank and the standard Rank.
How competitive can a player be if that Renown rank has not increased when they enter Tier 4? And why is it that the main style of play that is the most enjoyable is so unforgivable to the player who wishes to PvP.
Isn't WAR a PVP GAME?
To play what I want though, I must endure hours of long, hard work to stay competitive, and that may be an issue going forward.
I have mentioned many a time that I am strictly a "Casual" player. But, WAR seems to need more than I can offer it. 18 hours is just a little to much, no matter how much fun I had. Definitely adds up to cause home issues, that I do not need.
When I saw my Xfire times (a good reason to use Xfire, so I can babysit myself), and had played as many hours as I work a full time job, I was dumbstruck.
Warhammer is extremely fun, but is turning into a job more than an enjoyment...and that may have consequences down the road.
This week, I plan to pull back that focus on the RR, and instead play some PvE with my wife, and maybe some scenarios if we can get them. The wife had already seen the effects of ORvR, and lost taste for it pretty fast. She loves the PvP, but the "siege" style system of takeovers and major battles were not for her. I understand, as for her to even like PvP to begin with is major, as she truly hates it in other MMO's. The fact she is willing to do some Scenarios is great.
Time is ticking, and I am unsure if I can reach max level (let alone crank up that RR), so, I may have to go back to "enjoying" WAR and not working a second job for the Empire.
Influence is not too important to your character as it just tracks progress through the TIER system. In PvE, influence is gained by completing Chapters of stories in the Public Quest system. The RvR Influence is by completing Tiers in Open RvR (you gain no influence for Scenarios...or not enough to really care about).
You get some ok gear, but that is about all the Influence meter offers (that I know of...anyone want to enlighten me on this?)
So, my two focuses have been Renown and standard Rank.
Now, here is an example of how my character looks in the "rankings" system (on the Realm War system from Mythic, which allows you to track characters, not unlike the Armory for WoW).
Note my RANK and then you see RENOWN.
This post is all about that smaller number...the Renown. Renown basically tracks your "PvP" level. The higher it is, the more you have PvP'd (RvR) and of course, you have gear to show for those levels, as some of the best stuff is Renown gear.
This past weekend I racked up an amazing 18 hours of gameplay working on this Renown (if not more...it all became a blur on my 7th siege of a keep). All of that gameplay consisted of one type of RvR; the Open RvR (ORvR).
Awesome you say?
Well, the fact that I was at the end of RENOWN 20 when I started...is not so awesome. I basically gained a level and two bars...in 18 hours of play.
The true definition of grind...THAT is Vile.
ORvR consists of several measures to gain Renown points (RR). You take Battle Objectives (BO) and Keeps. The keeps can garner the most points, as not only will you take the keep, but will be in combat with a lot of the opposite faction. You can also defend keeps, but only gain major points in either style of gameplay by winning.
Order was definitely on the short end of the stick the whole weekend. Destruction could field two or even three Warbands of 24 players each...while Order had...One.
Now, mind you, this is Tier 3. This tier has been known to bring grown men to tears, and as such, most players head to the Land of the Dead (LoTD) (this all has been discussed in my previous post) to quick level to Tier 4, where balance is somewhat restored. But, during this time, you gain no Renown, as LoTD is PvE, which goes towards standard Rank.
Another way I could gain this RR faster is through Scenarios. But, thanks to the new patch this weekend, it seems Scenarios were NOT going off. I was able to compete in TWO Scenarios the whole weekend.
And do not start me on population issues.
But, back to the difference between the Renown Rank and the standard Rank.
How competitive can a player be if that Renown rank has not increased when they enter Tier 4? And why is it that the main style of play that is the most enjoyable is so unforgivable to the player who wishes to PvP.
Isn't WAR a PVP GAME?
To play what I want though, I must endure hours of long, hard work to stay competitive, and that may be an issue going forward.
I have mentioned many a time that I am strictly a "Casual" player. But, WAR seems to need more than I can offer it. 18 hours is just a little to much, no matter how much fun I had. Definitely adds up to cause home issues, that I do not need.
When I saw my Xfire times (a good reason to use Xfire, so I can babysit myself), and had played as many hours as I work a full time job, I was dumbstruck.
Warhammer is extremely fun, but is turning into a job more than an enjoyment...and that may have consequences down the road.
This week, I plan to pull back that focus on the RR, and instead play some PvE with my wife, and maybe some scenarios if we can get them. The wife had already seen the effects of ORvR, and lost taste for it pretty fast. She loves the PvP, but the "siege" style system of takeovers and major battles were not for her. I understand, as for her to even like PvP to begin with is major, as she truly hates it in other MMO's. The fact she is willing to do some Scenarios is great.
Time is ticking, and I am unsure if I can reach max level (let alone crank up that RR), so, I may have to go back to "enjoying" WAR and not working a second job for the Empire.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Warhammer Online: Wrong Server? I choose you...
I have been pretty quiet here as I have been playing like a loon in Warhammer Online. The game really has me captivated, and I enjoy the RvR. Being I am NOT a PvP'er, this has really become a major change of pace.
But, there comes a time in every game where you find out (especially being new to the game) that you made a bad decision.
That Decision? Choosing the wrong server.
Of course, at the time I started, the game was bustling. Numbers were up compared to previous months (even the last year). I had no issues getting into groups, and RvR was prevalent and meaningful.
Several things happened. Billing errors, down times and other concerns like websites being sued, etc. all bringing down populations.
Then I also hit Tier 3.
I am currently on the Iron Rock server. To get an idea of population there, head to Warhammer Census. Though not a perfect tool, it DOES show an alarming difference between Iron Rock and the other servers that are active. To be precise, the most active is Badlands. In the tier I am in, there is almost double the number of players on Badlands than on Iron Rock.
The Tier 3 Scenario's (SC) and Open RvR (ORvR) have been slim pickings for me. I can never get an SC to pop when I play in T3 (but, this is of course me not playing in Prime Time either). If I can play evenings, I join Warbands. But, they are never quite full. When that happens, Destruction comes through and steam rolls those teams when Order attempts to take over a keep.
This had been noted by many players of the game about the Tier 2 and 3 doldrums, but I did not think it would hit such a wall. They lured me in with the super fun PvP, and then finally took it away from me at that next to final tier. When I am playing, if I do not mix up PvE with RvR, then WAR becomes a major drag. All PvE = snooze fest.
Now, it has been told to me through the forums that I should move on, grind PvE and get out of T3 as fast as possible through the last content update WAR had, Land of the Dead (LoTD). But, as I said, PvE could get boring. LoTD luckily is more fun than standard PvE due to so many areas to fight in, dangerous mobs to contend with and a neat looking zone to boot. But, this also leads to a gear discrepancy when I do hit T4. But, I can hide in RvR lakes, and hope I can muster some Renown levels to get my RvR score up and get the gear.
I am at a crossroads. I do not have much longer before I take a break from WAR and head to Age of Conan. Mythic offers no character transfers for new players...so I sit stuck on Iron Rock. I could start anew on Badlands...but that then puts me back to square one again.
Do I take it on the chin and just muddle through until time is up, or do I have another avenue I do not see here?
Cheers
But, there comes a time in every game where you find out (especially being new to the game) that you made a bad decision.
That Decision? Choosing the wrong server.
Of course, at the time I started, the game was bustling. Numbers were up compared to previous months (even the last year). I had no issues getting into groups, and RvR was prevalent and meaningful.
Several things happened. Billing errors, down times and other concerns like websites being sued, etc. all bringing down populations.
Then I also hit Tier 3.
I am currently on the Iron Rock server. To get an idea of population there, head to Warhammer Census. Though not a perfect tool, it DOES show an alarming difference between Iron Rock and the other servers that are active. To be precise, the most active is Badlands. In the tier I am in, there is almost double the number of players on Badlands than on Iron Rock.
The Tier 3 Scenario's (SC) and Open RvR (ORvR) have been slim pickings for me. I can never get an SC to pop when I play in T3 (but, this is of course me not playing in Prime Time either). If I can play evenings, I join Warbands. But, they are never quite full. When that happens, Destruction comes through and steam rolls those teams when Order attempts to take over a keep.
This had been noted by many players of the game about the Tier 2 and 3 doldrums, but I did not think it would hit such a wall. They lured me in with the super fun PvP, and then finally took it away from me at that next to final tier. When I am playing, if I do not mix up PvE with RvR, then WAR becomes a major drag. All PvE = snooze fest.
Now, it has been told to me through the forums that I should move on, grind PvE and get out of T3 as fast as possible through the last content update WAR had, Land of the Dead (LoTD). But, as I said, PvE could get boring. LoTD luckily is more fun than standard PvE due to so many areas to fight in, dangerous mobs to contend with and a neat looking zone to boot. But, this also leads to a gear discrepancy when I do hit T4. But, I can hide in RvR lakes, and hope I can muster some Renown levels to get my RvR score up and get the gear.
I am at a crossroads. I do not have much longer before I take a break from WAR and head to Age of Conan. Mythic offers no character transfers for new players...so I sit stuck on Iron Rock. I could start anew on Badlands...but that then puts me back to square one again.
Do I take it on the chin and just muddle through until time is up, or do I have another avenue I do not see here?
Cheers
Monday, May 10, 2010
Gaming the Xfire - Latest Update
Wow. What a weekend. Major disturbances in the force of the charts really made me feel that we needed a post to discuss the latest movers and shakers on the Xfire charts.
I will be referencing an article I did at the end of March, thanks to a press release from Cryptic and their newest MMO, Star Trek Online - STO (SOURCE). The data was sound, and we had something to base some numbers off of. The Xfire charts hit a home run, and calculated almost precisely the number of subs STO had, compared to the statement by Cryptic.
As I make notes and do the calcs, just refer to the previous article if you have any questions in how it relates.
The reason I wanted to do the new numbers is that starting this week is, of course, the Age of Conan expansion launch; Rise of the Godslayer. I think this will have a major impact on a lot of MMO's. And as you will see, it really made some adjustments. This will also allow us to see how people are feeling about the new expansion, and how subs "could" be affected.
As well, several other news tidbits made some changes to sub counts. For example, STO had a free return for old subs and introduced a new free trial.
Warhammer Online had another blow struck against it as well, thanks to a set of court papers being filed by Games Workshop against the fan site Warhammer Alliance.GW really has nothing to do with Mythic and WAR, but it is the same IP. The issue is that so many think it DOES relate to WAR and EA/Mythic...and thus, we see what the outcome is of this latest wound. Watch them bleed...
Lets start with some OTHER surprises first.
I will be referencing an article I did at the end of March, thanks to a press release from Cryptic and their newest MMO, Star Trek Online - STO (SOURCE). The data was sound, and we had something to base some numbers off of. The Xfire charts hit a home run, and calculated almost precisely the number of subs STO had, compared to the statement by Cryptic.
As I make notes and do the calcs, just refer to the previous article if you have any questions in how it relates.
The reason I wanted to do the new numbers is that starting this week is, of course, the Age of Conan expansion launch; Rise of the Godslayer. I think this will have a major impact on a lot of MMO's. And as you will see, it really made some adjustments. This will also allow us to see how people are feeling about the new expansion, and how subs "could" be affected.
As well, several other news tidbits made some changes to sub counts. For example, STO had a free return for old subs and introduced a new free trial.
Warhammer Online had another blow struck against it as well, thanks to a set of court papers being filed by Games Workshop against the fan site Warhammer Alliance.GW really has nothing to do with Mythic and WAR, but it is the same IP. The issue is that so many think it DOES relate to WAR and EA/Mythic...and thus, we see what the outcome is of this latest wound. Watch them bleed...
Lets start with some OTHER surprises first.
Lord of the Rings Online
This was really interesting. Especially seeing that Codemasters was offering a "Free Return Weekend". But, it looks like other games are in the spotlight and took the stage away from this critical darling and fan favorite.
Calcs show that subs dropped a bit. 1518 x 120.05 = 182,235 subs. Previously LOTRO had 213,689. This is a considerable drop. I will keep track of this, and see if it is ongoing or just a fluke. For now, looks like age is catching up to LOTRO.
Aion
Another interesting change here. Now, mind you, Aion is STILL a top 10 game, so it does not affect it too much. But, it is also a bit of a drop.
If we do the Calcs, we get - 3662 x 120.05 = 439,623 subs. Last check we had 463,873.
Again, a sizable change. But, I also know that some numbers will be down. Why? HELLO, summer on the way, warm weather. We are bound to see these types of lower numbers. But, it is still interesting.Age of Conan
Not so surprising. But, I am assured that Funcom has to be one happy camper right now. The numbers continue to rise. Lets take a look.
Very nice. 994 x120.05 = 119, 329 subs. This not only is above the previous articles numbers (81,274), but as well, I did a post discussing the rise May 3rd, and they had roughly 110k players (War of the Failures).
If Funcom can launch Rise of the Godslayer tomorrow, and not have any MAJOR concerns, they could be the comeback kid of 2010.
Warhammer Online
While Funcom may be the "Comeback Kid", WAR and Mythic are the kid being bullied on every corner. Talk about several weeks of pain for these guys. And this past week culminating in another hit with the Games Workshop court order against WHA (Warhammer Alliance), it looks like things are growing worse. Talk about being put on "life support".
These are actually some of the worse numbers for WAR since I started watching Xfire several years ago with Age of Conan's launch. 535 x 120.05 = 64,226. That is a drop from the previous article (74,551) and as well from last weeks post (War of the Failures, calc'd at 70k).
All I can say is if the new patch does not hit by at least next week, servers will be critically empty. Since I am still playing, I saw a weekend of a low number of scenario's being done and as well, we started some alts in the Elf region, and was able to flip the whole zone in Tier 1 to Order with just the 3 of us. Yes, 3 people took a whole zone....
Here is a prayer for ya WAR...I hardly knew ye'
Dungeons & Dragons Online
Well, this could only last so long. We see a minor drop in numbers here.
The calcs say 766 x 120.05 = 91,958. Not too bad. But, last post had DDO at 111,647. So it looks like interest is waning a bit. But, there is no doubt that Turbine still has to be enjoying some great cash flow off this title. Those kinda stats are not anything to laugh about. And having two games doing decent numbers probably doesn't hurt either.
Star Trek Online
Give something away and they will come. Free time for old subs, new free trial...all adding up to a small rise in numbers.
Mind you, this is NOT a rise from my last post, but a rise from what happened after the first 30 days. STO had fallen to close to 200 to 300 players and was in the low #100's and had even fallen at one point into the low #200's on the charts.
Todays calcs put them at 527 x 120.05 = 63,266. And as we can even see on the charting, it was at #92 previously, but shot up to #88. I expect this to rise a little bit more. But, overall, STO did not do well, and that is too bad. It looks gorgeous thanks to screenshots from @Longasc (on Twitter), but must be missing some appeal to a majority of MMO players.
Like I said, this was quite a bit of a change for a lot of titles. Not sure what is up yet, and as the summer progresses, I expect more drops. But, some titles I think are hurting (WAR, STO), but we may see a return on Age of Conan. I wish them luck tomorrow.
Ok, thats it for this week. Watch my Twitter account if you want more info.
Cheers
Monday, May 3, 2010
War of the Failures
Lately I have come to the realization that two of the biggest failures of 2008 are now two of my all time favorite games.
Age of Conan and Warhammer Online.
But, a battle royale is coming next week between these two newer generation MMO's. Age of Conan will be releasing their new expansion, Rise of the Godslayer. May 11th to be precise. Why does this create a field of war, when these two games are not so much like each other?
Originally both games were heavily PvP oriented. But, Warhammer took a different approach by making it all about the large open Realm vs Realm combat. Age of Conan went for a guild based "siege" mechanic (I do not want to argue semantics here either. We all know WAR has sieging, but AoC definitely does not have factional PvP...yet.) and one on one dueling. WAR had scenarios and AoC had CTF style arena based 6vs6 style combat.
Age of Conan took a different direction eventually in late 2009, focusing more on a gear grind based PvE system, but still having PvP. Just, it seems to me that PvP really has no "purpose" when you kill for the sake of killing. WAR though has always focused on a "sides" based system. When a particular "faction" has won the day, rewards for all in that "faction" or realm was included. Age of Conan is the every man for himself or his guild fight. WAR is for Order or Destruction being in control.
Differences abound, but the similarities of these two games could not be more adequate.
These games were truly failures of their time.
Both games were hyped beyond compare from their respective game directors, and were not quite up to what was stated about them. Both games opened to acclaim by many and sold as man copies as to try and compete with that powerhouse known as WoW. Both though slowly degraded and were denigrated for many broken systems they had in place.
Eventually the mighty two toppled to where today they each struggle to keep themselves alive.
But, a sea change is on the horizon for one game. Age of Conan has started to gain a larger following. Reviewers of games and many a blog have touted the games turn around. Sales of the expansion have been brisk. And as noted on Xfire, growth is hitting the game before the expansion launch.
Recent numbers show Age of Conan at roughly about 908 players on Xfire. In a previous post from last month, ( The Xfire Game ), AoC was at 677 players. This is important, as using the calc system I discuss in that post, Age of Conan is hitting around 110k players / subs per month. (As I must always note, these estimates are part of a game, using the Xfire tracking system, and are not 100% accurate, but do give a good glimpse of popularity).
WAR had made progress as well with the game, but continues to live with setbacks. Servers were closed overseas. A Large billing fiasco made Mythic the brunt of bad news. And finally a most recent newsletter makes mention of a mechanic that has not existed in the game since launch, having Order and Destruction characters on the same server...which has led to speculation of more server merges.
Using the same Xfire gaming system for sub counts, we also see what effect this news is having on Warhammer Online. The previous count (from March 29th) had WAR at roughly 621 players. This converts to about 75k subs. The game is now hitting 590 Xfire players, or around 70k subs. (Note, this number is interesting, as many a quote has suggested that roughly this many were affected by the billing fiasco...but, that is speculation. I may discuss that more on Twitter later).
Seeing I am playing WAR, I can also feel the difference from when I launched to now. Less Scenarios opening up, less full ORvR groups...basically a feeling of more emptiness.
My thoughts are that when Rise of the Godlsayer launches, that even though WAR and AoC have been neck and neck on Xfire...it will start a larger tumble for WAR. The number of players will fall, and unless something drastic happens soon, WAR could see an end to it's glorious rebound.
What are your thoughts? Leave me a comment. I will be opening wide the comment floodgates today as well, so feel free to "express yourself".
Age of Conan and Warhammer Online.
But, a battle royale is coming next week between these two newer generation MMO's. Age of Conan will be releasing their new expansion, Rise of the Godslayer. May 11th to be precise. Why does this create a field of war, when these two games are not so much like each other?
Originally both games were heavily PvP oriented. But, Warhammer took a different approach by making it all about the large open Realm vs Realm combat. Age of Conan went for a guild based "siege" mechanic (I do not want to argue semantics here either. We all know WAR has sieging, but AoC definitely does not have factional PvP...yet.) and one on one dueling. WAR had scenarios and AoC had CTF style arena based 6vs6 style combat.
Age of Conan took a different direction eventually in late 2009, focusing more on a gear grind based PvE system, but still having PvP. Just, it seems to me that PvP really has no "purpose" when you kill for the sake of killing. WAR though has always focused on a "sides" based system. When a particular "faction" has won the day, rewards for all in that "faction" or realm was included. Age of Conan is the every man for himself or his guild fight. WAR is for Order or Destruction being in control.
Differences abound, but the similarities of these two games could not be more adequate.
These games were truly failures of their time.
Both games were hyped beyond compare from their respective game directors, and were not quite up to what was stated about them. Both games opened to acclaim by many and sold as man copies as to try and compete with that powerhouse known as WoW. Both though slowly degraded and were denigrated for many broken systems they had in place.
Eventually the mighty two toppled to where today they each struggle to keep themselves alive.
But, a sea change is on the horizon for one game. Age of Conan has started to gain a larger following. Reviewers of games and many a blog have touted the games turn around. Sales of the expansion have been brisk. And as noted on Xfire, growth is hitting the game before the expansion launch.
Recent numbers show Age of Conan at roughly about 908 players on Xfire. In a previous post from last month, ( The Xfire Game ), AoC was at 677 players. This is important, as using the calc system I discuss in that post, Age of Conan is hitting around 110k players / subs per month. (As I must always note, these estimates are part of a game, using the Xfire tracking system, and are not 100% accurate, but do give a good glimpse of popularity).
WAR had made progress as well with the game, but continues to live with setbacks. Servers were closed overseas. A Large billing fiasco made Mythic the brunt of bad news. And finally a most recent newsletter makes mention of a mechanic that has not existed in the game since launch, having Order and Destruction characters on the same server...which has led to speculation of more server merges.
Using the same Xfire gaming system for sub counts, we also see what effect this news is having on Warhammer Online. The previous count (from March 29th) had WAR at roughly 621 players. This converts to about 75k subs. The game is now hitting 590 Xfire players, or around 70k subs. (Note, this number is interesting, as many a quote has suggested that roughly this many were affected by the billing fiasco...but, that is speculation. I may discuss that more on Twitter later).
Seeing I am playing WAR, I can also feel the difference from when I launched to now. Less Scenarios opening up, less full ORvR groups...basically a feeling of more emptiness.
My thoughts are that when Rise of the Godlsayer launches, that even though WAR and AoC have been neck and neck on Xfire...it will start a larger tumble for WAR. The number of players will fall, and unless something drastic happens soon, WAR could see an end to it's glorious rebound.
What are your thoughts? Leave me a comment. I will be opening wide the comment floodgates today as well, so feel free to "express yourself".
Monday, April 26, 2010
I just gotta tell ya...
When the urge to write comes upon me, I just have to get it out...get it out of my head and onto the web.
As I am doing a writing project for work, I feel the need to intersperse those moments of thought with what has been happening in the household for the "Family who MMO's" (I think that is a permanent tagline now, and I had better trademark it!).
As well, it will give me a chance to talk about my two favorite MMO's and the latest news for them.
First up is Age of Conan.
We still have it on our schedule, so that when the expansion hits, we would get back into the game. News just arrived that it is finally on its way. Age of Conan: Rise of the Godslayer will launch on May 11th.
A great way to celebrate their anniversary as well for AoC, as it launched in May two years ago.
We plan to play it smart though. There will be no reason to jump right in, as we all know how Funcom is when it comes to launches. They have proven that they really cannot get anything off the ground without some major hiccups. I would prefer not to be a 30 day hater like I was two years ago. So, we will wait and see how this rolls. The bonus is thanks to the "endless trial" we can at least see how the game is performing and what discussions are taking place in Global about how others feel before buying.
Based on my Xfire watching though, I can see a bit of excitement for Age of Conan and the expansion as people are logging in more. This past Sundays performance shows an increase in players in the game using my calc systems. Close to 90k players actually.
Quite good for AoC.
There are quite a few deals, including a pre-order directly through Funcom and your account if active. You get a discount (the package is touted as $29.99, but 5 bucks off if purchased now). You also get a special pet and some other goodies. They also have various other packs including mounts, points to use in the game (token system) and more. Log in HERE to see information on these specials.
Next up; Warhammer Online.
I need to say this. I LOVE this game, and I am having a blast.
I was actually gone for several days and we missed some game time last week. As well, I missed the news that Mythic did a formal apology for the screw ups on billing.
For those who did not hear (all two of ya), Mythic had several problems where people were billed multiple times (some up to 20 times) for their sub.
Anyways, I will not go into the details, so here is the letter of apology. This basically explains what they will do for those affected by this error. The rewards are really incredible. And not just that, but for all players, they have a huge jump in XP for PvE and RvR renown. This really has helped, as we logged in this weekend and gained 3 LEVELS. We reached level 20 and bought our horses. Excellent.
Now, all news was not good. Warhammer servers are being shut down in Taiwan, Hong Kong and other locations in Asian countries. What does this mean? Hard to say. I have the theory still that a rough population of 65-75k players can keep a game running (look at EQ2 or Star Wars for examples of games still running with low pops). Will this affect WAR? Hard to say right now. Progress is being made on the next update which will enhance RvR, and will have quite a few changes which is almost a mini-expansion.
I will hold my thoughts on this for now. From the looks of it, the billing fiasco did not hurt WAR on Xfire (the calcs have put the game back where it was before the fiasco).
Now...playing WAR and why it works for the "Family who MMO's"?
We are just not an end game kind of group. We like the journey, pure and simple. Many complaints have been lodged at WAR on the end game becoming a huge grind for no particular reason. I.E: Like ALL MMO's.
For the Family, we just enjoy the variety of things we can do. We will cue up for Scenarios, go questing and doing the Public Quests for the rewards. It all adds up to doing something all the time. So far, we LOVE to login and play, and that is the key.
One of the nice things about WAR compared to most MMO's...less wildlife and more humanoid based mobs. I really felt this while playing this morning. As I moved from one zone to the next, I was always fighting something human like. As I am Order, it would be Chaos, Orcs, or even demons like the Blue Horrors, etc. If i had to kill boars ad nauseum (looks at LOTRO and sneers), I would kill myself.
Spawn rates is another nice feature...especially in some of the Public Quests. You have barely enough time to recoup, and the next spawn is in. Keeps you moving. And speaking of the recoup...management of health and action points works quite well. Combat is faster than say WoW or LOTRO or especially EQ2 (the last time the family went into EQ2, the slow combat REALLY ruined the game for us).
Will this fun continue? I think it will, as we all have a feeling that getting to 40 will be a goal. We want to do it, and it helps us feel like we have accomplished something. If I could count how many games disappoint before we finish or get to max, it makes me happy to then realize games like WAR or AoC exists.
We purchased another 60 days (time cards), and will see how we feel when that time is up. For now, the time in game has went over a 160 hours, and we keep racking it up.
There. Have I told ya enough now? Ok...better get back to work now. Cheers to ya and Game on!
As I am doing a writing project for work, I feel the need to intersperse those moments of thought with what has been happening in the household for the "Family who MMO's" (I think that is a permanent tagline now, and I had better trademark it!).
As well, it will give me a chance to talk about my two favorite MMO's and the latest news for them.
First up is Age of Conan.
We still have it on our schedule, so that when the expansion hits, we would get back into the game. News just arrived that it is finally on its way. Age of Conan: Rise of the Godslayer will launch on May 11th.
A great way to celebrate their anniversary as well for AoC, as it launched in May two years ago.
We plan to play it smart though. There will be no reason to jump right in, as we all know how Funcom is when it comes to launches. They have proven that they really cannot get anything off the ground without some major hiccups. I would prefer not to be a 30 day hater like I was two years ago. So, we will wait and see how this rolls. The bonus is thanks to the "endless trial" we can at least see how the game is performing and what discussions are taking place in Global about how others feel before buying.
Based on my Xfire watching though, I can see a bit of excitement for Age of Conan and the expansion as people are logging in more. This past Sundays performance shows an increase in players in the game using my calc systems. Close to 90k players actually.
Quite good for AoC.
There are quite a few deals, including a pre-order directly through Funcom and your account if active. You get a discount (the package is touted as $29.99, but 5 bucks off if purchased now). You also get a special pet and some other goodies. They also have various other packs including mounts, points to use in the game (token system) and more. Log in HERE to see information on these specials.
Next up; Warhammer Online.
I need to say this. I LOVE this game, and I am having a blast.
I was actually gone for several days and we missed some game time last week. As well, I missed the news that Mythic did a formal apology for the screw ups on billing.
For those who did not hear (all two of ya), Mythic had several problems where people were billed multiple times (some up to 20 times) for their sub.
Anyways, I will not go into the details, so here is the letter of apology. This basically explains what they will do for those affected by this error. The rewards are really incredible. And not just that, but for all players, they have a huge jump in XP for PvE and RvR renown. This really has helped, as we logged in this weekend and gained 3 LEVELS. We reached level 20 and bought our horses. Excellent.
Now, all news was not good. Warhammer servers are being shut down in Taiwan, Hong Kong and other locations in Asian countries. What does this mean? Hard to say. I have the theory still that a rough population of 65-75k players can keep a game running (look at EQ2 or Star Wars for examples of games still running with low pops). Will this affect WAR? Hard to say right now. Progress is being made on the next update which will enhance RvR, and will have quite a few changes which is almost a mini-expansion.
I will hold my thoughts on this for now. From the looks of it, the billing fiasco did not hurt WAR on Xfire (the calcs have put the game back where it was before the fiasco).
Now...playing WAR and why it works for the "Family who MMO's"?
We are just not an end game kind of group. We like the journey, pure and simple. Many complaints have been lodged at WAR on the end game becoming a huge grind for no particular reason. I.E: Like ALL MMO's.
For the Family, we just enjoy the variety of things we can do. We will cue up for Scenarios, go questing and doing the Public Quests for the rewards. It all adds up to doing something all the time. So far, we LOVE to login and play, and that is the key.
One of the nice things about WAR compared to most MMO's...less wildlife and more humanoid based mobs. I really felt this while playing this morning. As I moved from one zone to the next, I was always fighting something human like. As I am Order, it would be Chaos, Orcs, or even demons like the Blue Horrors, etc. If i had to kill boars ad nauseum (looks at LOTRO and sneers), I would kill myself.
Spawn rates is another nice feature...especially in some of the Public Quests. You have barely enough time to recoup, and the next spawn is in. Keeps you moving. And speaking of the recoup...management of health and action points works quite well. Combat is faster than say WoW or LOTRO or especially EQ2 (the last time the family went into EQ2, the slow combat REALLY ruined the game for us).
Will this fun continue? I think it will, as we all have a feeling that getting to 40 will be a goal. We want to do it, and it helps us feel like we have accomplished something. If I could count how many games disappoint before we finish or get to max, it makes me happy to then realize games like WAR or AoC exists.
We purchased another 60 days (time cards), and will see how we feel when that time is up. For now, the time in game has went over a 160 hours, and we keep racking it up.
There. Have I told ya enough now? Ok...better get back to work now. Cheers to ya and Game on!
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Warhammer Online: Your money or your sub mister...
So, the days are winding down on the huge financial debacle from Mythic/EA/Bioware this past weekend.
I personally was NOT affected. I also took action and did not let them get me. I cancelled the credit card on file and cancelled my sub.
I WILL use time cards though.
Thats right. I am NOT leaving.
And really. Would I have left if this happened? There is no doubt it is upsetting when something like this takes place. Many people were hurt by this (bouncing checks, late bills, true embarrassment, like one story of a Father who could not pay for his kids lunch at Pizza Hut on Friday thanks to this). But, for myself, I know it is an "error". Companies make them, and at the same time, they can rectify them.
How many were truly affected?
Mythic was quick to try and get this fixed. It was not perfect. The payments did not get charged back until after the weekend, leaving some stranded, etc. But, the company DID make every effort to help.
They personally faxed banks, made calls, and did what was possible, for what I assume is a small team.
But, should they be forgiven? I, for example, am out 16 bucks for an overnight of a new Credit Card through my bank. I am 100% ATM/Debit carded. I do not use checks. Luckily, I also have a backup account. Many others were not so lucky. The pain and suffering is insurmountable for some.
If anything, the lesson here is to avoid giving Mythic your info, and using Time Cards. Now, Mythic needs to make a decision on what to do. They have been quite silent since this started. Will there be some type of "lets kiss and make up" situation at hand? Free game time maybe?
Eventually someone has to fess up, and something needs to be done. If my meal is bad at a restaurant, they make sure it is fixed. If my cable bill is screwed up, they make amends. Mythic is no different. They NEED to make those arrangements.
The silence right now to many is deafening. Should Mythic or EA be talking yet?
The next two weeks will help me decide though.
Can I enjoy a game from a company who has not decided just how important it's customer is yet?
I personally was NOT affected. I also took action and did not let them get me. I cancelled the credit card on file and cancelled my sub.
I WILL use time cards though.
Thats right. I am NOT leaving.
And really. Would I have left if this happened? There is no doubt it is upsetting when something like this takes place. Many people were hurt by this (bouncing checks, late bills, true embarrassment, like one story of a Father who could not pay for his kids lunch at Pizza Hut on Friday thanks to this). But, for myself, I know it is an "error". Companies make them, and at the same time, they can rectify them.
How many were truly affected?
Mythic was quick to try and get this fixed. It was not perfect. The payments did not get charged back until after the weekend, leaving some stranded, etc. But, the company DID make every effort to help.
They personally faxed banks, made calls, and did what was possible, for what I assume is a small team.
But, should they be forgiven? I, for example, am out 16 bucks for an overnight of a new Credit Card through my bank. I am 100% ATM/Debit carded. I do not use checks. Luckily, I also have a backup account. Many others were not so lucky. The pain and suffering is insurmountable for some.
If anything, the lesson here is to avoid giving Mythic your info, and using Time Cards. Now, Mythic needs to make a decision on what to do. They have been quite silent since this started. Will there be some type of "lets kiss and make up" situation at hand? Free game time maybe?
Eventually someone has to fess up, and something needs to be done. If my meal is bad at a restaurant, they make sure it is fixed. If my cable bill is screwed up, they make amends. Mythic is no different. They NEED to make those arrangements.
The silence right now to many is deafening. Should Mythic or EA be talking yet?
The next two weeks will help me decide though.
Can I enjoy a game from a company who has not decided just how important it's customer is yet?
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Warhammer Online: Class Act
Currently I have been messing around with the various classes on the Order side of Warhammer Online. Since I am relatively new, I figured I needed to gain an understanding of what I like.
I have several solo characters who I will use to grind when the "Family who MMO's" is not playing. For the family though, I seem to be the one who gets put in a particular role. During this playtime, one thing became abundantly clear.
I was attempting to play as I normally played most MMO's.
In choosing the classes, which I have a good variety of to pick from, I followed my hearts desire, and what I was most familiar with. The healer classes.
If anything, the Archmage should have been my opportune class. All previous MMO's had me as the healer type, the one who always kept the "Family who MMO's" safe. But, I had to redirect my efforts this time.
Last nights game session proved to me that maybe I should not always be looking out for them, and instead try to make it an overall system of defense. Maybe it is the fact that in WAR the heals are not powerful enough to heal both yourself AND the group. You either focus on one or the other. As well, if you follow the Archmage path, then you must have a strong group around you who can keep you safe.
This was not the case in scenarios last night. Lets just say I have never been dead so much in any MMO.
Maybe this was a one time deal? Maybe I could learn to work around this? But, I really feel if I am not twinked out in armor and talismans, I will spend more time kissing dirt than kissing the sky with the healing love.
Now, keep in mind, we started new characters, as we wanted to try an alternate group, and I already have other characters I could play. But, so far, my wife enjoys being a tank class (Swordmaster) moreso than a DPS and my son loves his DPS (Witch Hunter) more than tanking.
So, where does this leave me? This morning I decided to solo level a character up, a Warrior Priest. Now, this class is still heals based, but with an advantage.
ARMOR.
I spent time doing quests and after reaching level 4 (quite quickly I might add), I queued up for scenarios solo. Now, again, was it the group? This time I do not think so.
I watched as I was being pummeled by a Choppa, and was able to keep myself healed, and doing damage...massive damage...at the same time.
I then noticed they stopped attacking me, and went after the Archmage in the group. Maybe they thought they were not making headway with me (they were not...hehe). I started to heal the Archmage while still attacking that same Choppa (I wish to also note, he was rated "Challenging").
The Archmage lived. I got the kill. And I was happy again.
I guess I can still be the one who "helps" others. But, maybe I need to be able to do some of my own damage as well. I just could not get to grips with the concept of the Archmage. But, for the Warrior Priest, I truly felt like I could contribute.
Sometimes we need to step out of our norms and try new things. We may be surprised.
I have several solo characters who I will use to grind when the "Family who MMO's" is not playing. For the family though, I seem to be the one who gets put in a particular role. During this playtime, one thing became abundantly clear.
I was attempting to play as I normally played most MMO's.
In choosing the classes, which I have a good variety of to pick from, I followed my hearts desire, and what I was most familiar with. The healer classes.
If anything, the Archmage should have been my opportune class. All previous MMO's had me as the healer type, the one who always kept the "Family who MMO's" safe. But, I had to redirect my efforts this time.
Last nights game session proved to me that maybe I should not always be looking out for them, and instead try to make it an overall system of defense. Maybe it is the fact that in WAR the heals are not powerful enough to heal both yourself AND the group. You either focus on one or the other. As well, if you follow the Archmage path, then you must have a strong group around you who can keep you safe.
This was not the case in scenarios last night. Lets just say I have never been dead so much in any MMO.
Maybe this was a one time deal? Maybe I could learn to work around this? But, I really feel if I am not twinked out in armor and talismans, I will spend more time kissing dirt than kissing the sky with the healing love.
Now, keep in mind, we started new characters, as we wanted to try an alternate group, and I already have other characters I could play. But, so far, my wife enjoys being a tank class (Swordmaster) moreso than a DPS and my son loves his DPS (Witch Hunter) more than tanking.
So, where does this leave me? This morning I decided to solo level a character up, a Warrior Priest. Now, this class is still heals based, but with an advantage.
ARMOR.
I spent time doing quests and after reaching level 4 (quite quickly I might add), I queued up for scenarios solo. Now, again, was it the group? This time I do not think so.
I watched as I was being pummeled by a Choppa, and was able to keep myself healed, and doing damage...massive damage...at the same time.
I then noticed they stopped attacking me, and went after the Archmage in the group. Maybe they thought they were not making headway with me (they were not...hehe). I started to heal the Archmage while still attacking that same Choppa (I wish to also note, he was rated "Challenging").
The Archmage lived. I got the kill. And I was happy again.
I guess I can still be the one who "helps" others. But, maybe I need to be able to do some of my own damage as well. I just could not get to grips with the concept of the Archmage. But, for the Warrior Priest, I truly felt like I could contribute.
Sometimes we need to step out of our norms and try new things. We may be surprised.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Warhammer Online: WAR Report
What do these images have in common?
What is the one thing I find in Warhammer Online that I really do not see much of in other MMO's?
Why are these images important to understanding why I am really enjoying this game?
A constant "Grouping" factor.
I have played in more "group" based Scenarios, PVP and PVE than any other MMO since I first started playing MMO's.
The dread of LFG all hours of the day got to be an annoyance in most MMO's I have played. Of course, Guilds are one way to avoid this, yet the commitment needed is beyond compare. Then hours of the day that we play can cause concern. Or lets say someone has outleveled you, etc.
So many ways that grouping just does not seem to work in most average MMO's WORKS in Warhammer.
Some people complain about the PvE being plain in WAR. Some people complain about balance in RvR in WAR, or PVP in general. These do not seem to concern the "Family who MMO's", because, we are actually having fun doing what we do.
Ok, now that is out of the way, I guess you may have figured out how we feel as a group in WAR. Basically the balance of what to do has really shined for us.
One minute we can be grinding a PQ (Public Quest) with others to raise our Influence bar. The next, we have entered a scenario to work on Renown. Or we may stray into the Open RVR and get a bit of fun fighting Destruction, or taking a Keep. And if none of this is going on, we can still do kill quests, a bit of crafting or gathering, and still be having fun.
There is not a total bed of roses here, as some concerns still are glaring to say the least.
The server we are on seems to have a very dedicated group on the Destruction side, who seem to work well together, while the Order side can be a bit lame. But, we are learning how to work through this.
Issues with the lag on the servers can cause some weird issues. Floating players, mobs who disappear and reappear across the field from where they were killed, and skills not firing off immediately, causes a bit of..WTF??
Yet, each night, these seem to not cause concern, as we all will look at the clock and say.."Wow, it is past bedtime."
Did we get our moneys worth? Sure did. Will it last? Hard to say...
For now, I am savoring the fun. I am enjoying the deep lore of the game (so much so, that I bought a new Warhammer novel). As long as I am entertained, it is worth the meager amount I have paid.
What is the one thing I find in Warhammer Online that I really do not see much of in other MMO's?
Why are these images important to understanding why I am really enjoying this game?
A constant "Grouping" factor.
I have played in more "group" based Scenarios, PVP and PVE than any other MMO since I first started playing MMO's.
The dread of LFG all hours of the day got to be an annoyance in most MMO's I have played. Of course, Guilds are one way to avoid this, yet the commitment needed is beyond compare. Then hours of the day that we play can cause concern. Or lets say someone has outleveled you, etc.
So many ways that grouping just does not seem to work in most average MMO's WORKS in Warhammer.
Some people complain about the PvE being plain in WAR. Some people complain about balance in RvR in WAR, or PVP in general. These do not seem to concern the "Family who MMO's", because, we are actually having fun doing what we do.
Ok, now that is out of the way, I guess you may have figured out how we feel as a group in WAR. Basically the balance of what to do has really shined for us.
One minute we can be grinding a PQ (Public Quest) with others to raise our Influence bar. The next, we have entered a scenario to work on Renown. Or we may stray into the Open RVR and get a bit of fun fighting Destruction, or taking a Keep. And if none of this is going on, we can still do kill quests, a bit of crafting or gathering, and still be having fun.
There is not a total bed of roses here, as some concerns still are glaring to say the least.
The server we are on seems to have a very dedicated group on the Destruction side, who seem to work well together, while the Order side can be a bit lame. But, we are learning how to work through this.
Issues with the lag on the servers can cause some weird issues. Floating players, mobs who disappear and reappear across the field from where they were killed, and skills not firing off immediately, causes a bit of..WTF??
Yet, each night, these seem to not cause concern, as we all will look at the clock and say.."Wow, it is past bedtime."
Did we get our moneys worth? Sure did. Will it last? Hard to say...
For now, I am savoring the fun. I am enjoying the deep lore of the game (so much so, that I bought a new Warhammer novel). As long as I am entertained, it is worth the meager amount I have paid.
Monday, March 29, 2010
The Xfire Game
Last week, a small group of us had a Twitter-scussion over the validity of Xfire as a tool beyond the mere use as a glorified chat program.
Xfire has the capability to track players time in games of their choice. Though not perfect, it does give a glimpse of these players (people who load Xfire) favorite games.
As far as MMO's are concerned, I feel it can be used to do more in respect to players and times.We can also track sub numbers for MMO's in a general capacity. This would be more in line of "paying" commercial based games, by either a large distributor or game developer.
So, a while back, I posted an article (2008) which took a noted news story about the current World of Warcraft population in the US and created a formula to help see how many players can be calculated in all other MMO's based on that formula. What happened is a pretty close and accurate picture of players in various MMO's, and since that time I still have been able to use that formula to this day. Check out the article to see a more in depth discussion of that calculation.
This really took flight when last week Cryptic noted just how many people were playing Star Trek Online. When I saw this, I thought it was time again to try the formula. What happened was a pretty scary comparison that was almost completely accurate to their posted numbers. Cryptic noted a 100k player base. I did my formula and got 96k almost 97k. This of course was based on a Wednesday reading. Sunday numbers are usually more accurate as this IS the busiest day for all MMO's. So, I thought, maybe we need to really do an in depth analysis using Sunday numbers.
Now, I never claimed that the numbers are 100%, accurate, They are a pretty close representation though of what has either been discussed by news pundits or forum goers for total subs of some MMO's. And if a company ever announces their numbers, as seen by the Cryptic count for STO, it can garner a pretty darn accurate calculation.
Since a lot of companies do not release this data, the "Xfire Game" has really become a good way to see just how well this works.
Today, I will do a run of the Sunday count for Xfire for several games being discussed lately. I pick these for the very reason we need a tool like Xfire and my calc. These companies have not, or do not release their numbers. If they do, it is rare.
As well, I will add Aion, as eventually we WILL get numbers (NCSoft does their numbers about once or twice a year), and of course STO, since we did get a report recently.
Lets see how they fare.
The calc rate is multiple the number of Xfire users x 120.05. Using the calc system we see - 980 x 120.05 = 117,649 subs. Over 100k. Interesting.
Our calc system states...3864 x 120.05 = 463,873 subs. Basically almost as much as Lineage 2 had been stated to have at one point and time (over 600k in 2007). And as always since it's launch, in the top 10 on Xfire. Now, I am sorry, but this does NOT take into account how many of those subs are gold sellers...
Calc says? 1780 x 120.05 = 213,689 subs. Still a good sub rate and steady. Wish Turbine would just come out and tell us. For me, I think a company should be proud of that many players in todays MMO market. Since I have been doing these calcs, LOTRO has consistently done this number of players...except when they release an expansion, then there is a jump.
677 x 120.05 = 81,274 subs.
If we read the report for Funcom in their financials, they state "stabilization". This Xfire data corroborates that. They continue to hold this area in the Xfire ratings AND have stabilized in subs if Xfire is to be trusted.
621 x 120.05 = 74,551 subs. Could it be possible that with 4 servers and 50k plus players, any MMO could be profitable? Seeing Age of Conan has held to this area and is still afloat, I may not doubt it now. Especially if we watch Age of Conan with the expansion and new financials report. How will these numbers increase? I will watch these two games closely. They are thought to be case studies of failures for their time. Yet, I also feel they are also the most improved games over time, unlike some others on this list.
If we read further into the press release this came from, we also see these words..."paid subscriber base has more than doubled"....AHA. DDO at one point...before the "Free to Play" model, was noted as either having 25k or 50k players subbing. What does Xfire say they have now?
930 x 120.05 = 111,647 subs. So, 1 million players, yes, but I still say 100k plus subscribers paying a monthly fee. Now, this also does not take into account how many people pay for extras (and are not subbed). I still will say it. This hybrid model that DDO has is truly the way other games with low subs should go. We are guaranteed that Turbine is turning some very nice profits right now.
293 x 120.05 = 35,175 subs. Now, is this really profitable? Has the game been out long enough to make back it's money? I guess it does help that they force players to repurchase EVERY expansion every time they launch a new one (almost 40 bucks a box every 6-8 months). Maybe all along EQ2 has made it's money off of the two-boxers and those who purchase new expansions at launch. For now, low player rates, but dedicated players keep EQ2 afloat.
The argument I keep hearing is Xfire cannot be used as a valid tool for these numbers. I will continue to disagree, as these numbers clearly show a lot of matching data with what we know about these games. We can never be 100% sure, but if I need to know how well a game is doing, I can look at Xfire and get a rough guesstimate.
The Calc I have continues to show some interesting data to this day, and as long as we have this tool, I will continue to try and use it to help me see how well these games are doing.
If you are ever worried about if you should play a game depending on if there are enough players to group with, etc, then try Xfire and see if it is doing well there.
Cheers
Xfire has the capability to track players time in games of their choice. Though not perfect, it does give a glimpse of these players (people who load Xfire) favorite games.
As far as MMO's are concerned, I feel it can be used to do more in respect to players and times.We can also track sub numbers for MMO's in a general capacity. This would be more in line of "paying" commercial based games, by either a large distributor or game developer.
So, a while back, I posted an article (2008) which took a noted news story about the current World of Warcraft population in the US and created a formula to help see how many players can be calculated in all other MMO's based on that formula. What happened is a pretty close and accurate picture of players in various MMO's, and since that time I still have been able to use that formula to this day. Check out the article to see a more in depth discussion of that calculation.
This really took flight when last week Cryptic noted just how many people were playing Star Trek Online. When I saw this, I thought it was time again to try the formula. What happened was a pretty scary comparison that was almost completely accurate to their posted numbers. Cryptic noted a 100k player base. I did my formula and got 96k almost 97k. This of course was based on a Wednesday reading. Sunday numbers are usually more accurate as this IS the busiest day for all MMO's. So, I thought, maybe we need to really do an in depth analysis using Sunday numbers.
Now, I never claimed that the numbers are 100%, accurate, They are a pretty close representation though of what has either been discussed by news pundits or forum goers for total subs of some MMO's. And if a company ever announces their numbers, as seen by the Cryptic count for STO, it can garner a pretty darn accurate calculation.
Since a lot of companies do not release this data, the "Xfire Game" has really become a good way to see just how well this works.
Today, I will do a run of the Sunday count for Xfire for several games being discussed lately. I pick these for the very reason we need a tool like Xfire and my calc. These companies have not, or do not release their numbers. If they do, it is rare.
As well, I will add Aion, as eventually we WILL get numbers (NCSoft does their numbers about once or twice a year), and of course STO, since we did get a report recently.
Lets see how they fare.
Star Trek Online
We will start here. As we KNOW how many are playing thanks to Cryptic's recent announcement of over 100k players, it will be a good jumping off point to see how our calc is working.
The calc rate is multiple the number of Xfire users x 120.05. Using the calc system we see - 980 x 120.05 = 117,649 subs. Over 100k. Interesting.
Aion
Next, I want to show a game that we know has a large population based on reports from NCSoft. Now, of course, most forum goers or blog gurus call this game a failure. I would beg to differ, and I believe Xfires data shows this.
Our calc system states...3864 x 120.05 = 463,873 subs. Basically almost as much as Lineage 2 had been stated to have at one point and time (over 600k in 2007). And as always since it's launch, in the top 10 on Xfire. Now, I am sorry, but this does NOT take into account how many of those subs are gold sellers...
Lord of the Rings Online
Over and over it has been stated that LOTRO is a good "200k" sub game. I for one believe it, and Xfire really corroborates this.
Calc says? 1780 x 120.05 = 213,689 subs. Still a good sub rate and steady. Wish Turbine would just come out and tell us. For me, I think a company should be proud of that many players in todays MMO market. Since I have been doing these calcs, LOTRO has consistently done this number of players...except when they release an expansion, then there is a jump.
Age of Conan
A lot of discussion has been traveling the blogosphere as well as the forums that AoC has progressed beyond the old days, and is a more stable game. Some servers look busy according to the forumites, and Funcom has been able to keep it afloat (though financials have said otherwise). How do the Xfire stats look?
677 x 120.05 = 81,274 subs.
If we read the report for Funcom in their financials, they state "stabilization". This Xfire data corroborates that. They continue to hold this area in the Xfire ratings AND have stabilized in subs if Xfire is to be trusted.
Warhammer Online
My new favorite. Recently Bioware has made comments about the Mythic division and how WAR is actually "profitable". How many subs does a profitable game need? What does Xfire say...
621 x 120.05 = 74,551 subs. Could it be possible that with 4 servers and 50k plus players, any MMO could be profitable? Seeing Age of Conan has held to this area and is still afloat, I may not doubt it now. Especially if we watch Age of Conan with the expansion and new financials report. How will these numbers increase? I will watch these two games closely. They are thought to be case studies of failures for their time. Yet, I also feel they are also the most improved games over time, unlike some others on this list.
Dungeons & Dragons Online
This is a unique case, and I want it here to show how Xfire can still help us figure out what is considered a paying customer, compared to a freebie player. Recently Turbine has stated that they have "1 Meeelllion players" (note the pinky held next to my cheek as I say this..). In so many words; Turbine. The leader of misleading statements.If we read further into the press release this came from, we also see these words..."paid subscriber base has more than doubled"....AHA. DDO at one point...before the "Free to Play" model, was noted as either having 25k or 50k players subbing. What does Xfire say they have now?
930 x 120.05 = 111,647 subs. So, 1 million players, yes, but I still say 100k plus subscribers paying a monthly fee. Now, this also does not take into account how many people pay for extras (and are not subbed). I still will say it. This hybrid model that DDO has is truly the way other games with low subs should go. We are guaranteed that Turbine is turning some very nice profits right now.
Everquest 2
I always wish to throw this one in there. This game is hard to pigeon hole, because we hardly see or hear about this game, and I always wonder what SOE needs to keep a game afloat. I always want to include Vanguard also (to show what a real failure looks like)...but, for now, EQ2 is good, as we know they have a dedicated playerbase, but not a huge sub lot (at least based on what we know and see).
293 x 120.05 = 35,175 subs. Now, is this really profitable? Has the game been out long enough to make back it's money? I guess it does help that they force players to repurchase EVERY expansion every time they launch a new one (almost 40 bucks a box every 6-8 months). Maybe all along EQ2 has made it's money off of the two-boxers and those who purchase new expansions at launch. For now, low player rates, but dedicated players keep EQ2 afloat.
The argument I keep hearing is Xfire cannot be used as a valid tool for these numbers. I will continue to disagree, as these numbers clearly show a lot of matching data with what we know about these games. We can never be 100% sure, but if I need to know how well a game is doing, I can look at Xfire and get a rough guesstimate.
The Calc I have continues to show some interesting data to this day, and as long as we have this tool, I will continue to try and use it to help me see how well these games are doing.
If you are ever worried about if you should play a game depending on if there are enough players to group with, etc, then try Xfire and see if it is doing well there.
Cheers
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Warhammer Online: SOLD!!!
Was it possible? Could the wife really enjoy killing others? Could the mobs that she wants to destroy actually be REAL people?
Yes, she could, they were and she did... kill a LOT.
Why would a game that offers PvP as the main gameplay sell the wife? A person who has played Lineage 2 and hated it, played Guild Wars PvP and had some fun, but got bored with it, and ever since has avoided ALL PvP aspects of MMO's.
Group PvP was the answer.
RvR as most of you know involves large groups of players in mass "lakes" (the term noted by most players), ebbing and flowing back and forth in battle.
Last night we entered combat for the first time within a Tier 1 RvR location (Festenplatz was our main objective). This was the make or break gameplay that would sell the game or not.
Confusion set in, as we entered a large battle (20+ players fighting like mad). The battle grew as we were accepted into a "Warband" and we had a full 24 players.
We took the main location, and the battle was furious, as we ran to different hotspots within the RvR region. The wife kept taking out various players and we were all yelling back and forth; "Look out for that Witch", "OMG, I am dead...gotta run back", "We are taking the main plaza".
As I looked at the clock, I saw it was already 15 minutes past my bed time (Old man's gotta get his sleep ya know). But, we did NOT want to quit out.
That was the secret.
Of course, other bits sold the wife though. Not just RvR.
The loot for completing RvR ranks was great to shop for. The items she was getting from drops are fun to figure out. Most of all, the combat itself has been notched up a bit. Skills fire off faster since my launch day trials, the quality of graphics have improved, and there is a lot to do gameplay wise, with things like RvR, Scenarios, PQ's and more.
So, I was asked to buy the game (actually found some cheap copies for 13.99 ea.) and we would stick it out for 30 days. What can it hurt?
Plus, with all the discussion out of Bioware about working on the game in respect to content and what not, I think this is a good time to inject our cash in anyways.
For all I know, this may not hold up. For now though, when we hear the wife asking us to login to play, the game must be doing something right.
Yes, she could, they were and she did... kill a LOT.
Why would a game that offers PvP as the main gameplay sell the wife? A person who has played Lineage 2 and hated it, played Guild Wars PvP and had some fun, but got bored with it, and ever since has avoided ALL PvP aspects of MMO's.
Group PvP was the answer.
RvR as most of you know involves large groups of players in mass "lakes" (the term noted by most players), ebbing and flowing back and forth in battle.
Last night we entered combat for the first time within a Tier 1 RvR location (Festenplatz was our main objective). This was the make or break gameplay that would sell the game or not.
Confusion set in, as we entered a large battle (20+ players fighting like mad). The battle grew as we were accepted into a "Warband" and we had a full 24 players.
We took the main location, and the battle was furious, as we ran to different hotspots within the RvR region. The wife kept taking out various players and we were all yelling back and forth; "Look out for that Witch", "OMG, I am dead...gotta run back", "We are taking the main plaza".
As I looked at the clock, I saw it was already 15 minutes past my bed time (Old man's gotta get his sleep ya know). But, we did NOT want to quit out.
That was the secret.
Of course, other bits sold the wife though. Not just RvR.
The loot for completing RvR ranks was great to shop for. The items she was getting from drops are fun to figure out. Most of all, the combat itself has been notched up a bit. Skills fire off faster since my launch day trials, the quality of graphics have improved, and there is a lot to do gameplay wise, with things like RvR, Scenarios, PQ's and more.
So, I was asked to buy the game (actually found some cheap copies for 13.99 ea.) and we would stick it out for 30 days. What can it hurt?
Plus, with all the discussion out of Bioware about working on the game in respect to content and what not, I think this is a good time to inject our cash in anyways.
For all I know, this may not hold up. For now though, when we hear the wife asking us to login to play, the game must be doing something right.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Warhammer Online: News from the front
Talk about a change of pace for the family.
It happened officially yesterday. The wife stepped into the WAR universe, and something interesting took place.
She had...FUN??
Now, I need to reiterate something here for the masses; We are NOT PvP'ers...PERIOD. We like to enjoy a challenge of a game without someone griefing our fun or making it so we cannot progress. We enjoy the little things. Killing AI mobs, playing in our small group and being anti-social unless we MUST progress with others, etc.
Now, a little history on the WAR front. Initially I started goofing off with the free trial (which I am still on, BTW) and had some problems at first. I had resolved these (though the client is not perfect, as we are finding WAR has the EQ2 client issue. Too much on the CPU and not enough on the GPU. This is causing a massive overheat on my OC'd CPU's). After solving the problem though, I focused on leveling up my main, a Witch Hunter.
I really do enjoy this class and the aesthetic as I previously mentioned. But, I also was interested in trying a heal class as well, and moved to War Priest.
WHAT a change. It felt more powerful, and seemed to really fit my style. I took it through RvR and felt what it was like to enjoy some massive PvP.
As to the RvR, I knew I had to try it, as it is what the game is built around. I did not realize how much of a blast this would be though. Now, whether it is the server I chose, or what expectations I had built up...I feel group based PvP really works compared to the FFA style, like in Age of Conan. It also has proven that in both Age of Conan AND Warhammer Online, the prevalent gameplay that is the most enjoyable is grouping.
So, how did the family get involved in this? I initially set out in WAR to just goof off in the mornings or the downtime for family gaming to run around and play. But, my son, coming from a stint in Aion (yes, I will post on that soon...), logged in and started playing different characters. Next thing I knew, he was NOT playing Aion anymore and was strictly playing WAR.
I honestly think his background in playing Halo, Battlefield, and Call of Duty (as a few choices) lend itself well for him to be involved in mass pvp styled combat. He is use to the "team" perspective of fighting in arenas to get points and gain renown. It really shows here as well.
The next thing I knew, we were teamed up and away we went. This weekend we joined our first warband. A large group all with one goal...protecting the realm of order. This did not leave the wifes attention, as she seemed interested in how much we wanted to get involved. We played RvR for over 3 hours.
The final blow of gaming came late Saturday when the wife and I logged in to play Guild Wars. The son joined in...but, soon was not interested. He grew bored, and apologized and said he did not want to play GW anymore.
We were disappointed. I told the wife I still wish to play, but she also lost interest at that point.
Game families...ARGH! There is no doubt we have built a synergy between the 3 of us. When one goes down, the other two are sure to follow.
So, after a lovely Indian meal Sunday, we convinced the wife to log in and give it a college try. Luckily, there were some bonuses. The Elven women in WAR actually look good (compared to another title with Elves - *Cough* LOTRO *Cough*). She also liked the idea of the Shadow Warrior, which would be a unique class for the wife (she has played Casters and Melee mostly...never a Ranger except shortly in Guild Wars).
So, after this, we were off.
She noted the mobs at the beginning seemed slightly "stupid", which of course, they are meant to be. She blew past this, and that is good (wait until I discuss Aion and her trial there...lol). She moved on, and then made it to the first PQ "Ravenhost Vanguard". She got the first taste of "Open Groups" and mass murder in a setting where a ton of players were involved (when we entered, there were about 12 other bodies there including us 3). What amazed both myself AND my son is she finished 2nd overall in the end, in their ranking system for ability of the player in regards to contributions.
Impressive.
As she gained new skills, she enjoyed the class more and more. By the end of our play schedule (we had about an hour to goof off), she noted that she will play again. Always a good sign for my EXTRA picky wife.
I am shocked she took to the game, yet, I see a lot of potential in the overall gameplay lending itself well to our 3 person team. Time will tell. RvR is still on the horizon, and who knows how she may react to dying over and over.
I am actually enjoying Warhammer Online. They seemed to have ironed out a lot of bugs, increased combat speed, and visually enhanced the game. WAR, along with Age of Conan were both games with horrible launches that led to games that are looked down upon in the long run. I find it pretty amazing that both of these games have made such turn around's...even without the revenue to back it up.
Now, is WAR good enough for us to BUY our copies? Time will tell.
It happened officially yesterday. The wife stepped into the WAR universe, and something interesting took place.
She had...FUN??
Now, I need to reiterate something here for the masses; We are NOT PvP'ers...PERIOD. We like to enjoy a challenge of a game without someone griefing our fun or making it so we cannot progress. We enjoy the little things. Killing AI mobs, playing in our small group and being anti-social unless we MUST progress with others, etc.
Now, a little history on the WAR front. Initially I started goofing off with the free trial (which I am still on, BTW) and had some problems at first. I had resolved these (though the client is not perfect, as we are finding WAR has the EQ2 client issue. Too much on the CPU and not enough on the GPU. This is causing a massive overheat on my OC'd CPU's). After solving the problem though, I focused on leveling up my main, a Witch Hunter.
I really do enjoy this class and the aesthetic as I previously mentioned. But, I also was interested in trying a heal class as well, and moved to War Priest.
WHAT a change. It felt more powerful, and seemed to really fit my style. I took it through RvR and felt what it was like to enjoy some massive PvP.
As to the RvR, I knew I had to try it, as it is what the game is built around. I did not realize how much of a blast this would be though. Now, whether it is the server I chose, or what expectations I had built up...I feel group based PvP really works compared to the FFA style, like in Age of Conan. It also has proven that in both Age of Conan AND Warhammer Online, the prevalent gameplay that is the most enjoyable is grouping.
So, how did the family get involved in this? I initially set out in WAR to just goof off in the mornings or the downtime for family gaming to run around and play. But, my son, coming from a stint in Aion (yes, I will post on that soon...), logged in and started playing different characters. Next thing I knew, he was NOT playing Aion anymore and was strictly playing WAR.
I honestly think his background in playing Halo, Battlefield, and Call of Duty (as a few choices) lend itself well for him to be involved in mass pvp styled combat. He is use to the "team" perspective of fighting in arenas to get points and gain renown. It really shows here as well.
The next thing I knew, we were teamed up and away we went. This weekend we joined our first warband. A large group all with one goal...protecting the realm of order. This did not leave the wifes attention, as she seemed interested in how much we wanted to get involved. We played RvR for over 3 hours.
The final blow of gaming came late Saturday when the wife and I logged in to play Guild Wars. The son joined in...but, soon was not interested. He grew bored, and apologized and said he did not want to play GW anymore.
We were disappointed. I told the wife I still wish to play, but she also lost interest at that point.
Game families...ARGH! There is no doubt we have built a synergy between the 3 of us. When one goes down, the other two are sure to follow.
So, after a lovely Indian meal Sunday, we convinced the wife to log in and give it a college try. Luckily, there were some bonuses. The Elven women in WAR actually look good (compared to another title with Elves - *Cough* LOTRO *Cough*). She also liked the idea of the Shadow Warrior, which would be a unique class for the wife (she has played Casters and Melee mostly...never a Ranger except shortly in Guild Wars).
So, after this, we were off.
She noted the mobs at the beginning seemed slightly "stupid", which of course, they are meant to be. She blew past this, and that is good (wait until I discuss Aion and her trial there...lol). She moved on, and then made it to the first PQ "Ravenhost Vanguard". She got the first taste of "Open Groups" and mass murder in a setting where a ton of players were involved (when we entered, there were about 12 other bodies there including us 3). What amazed both myself AND my son is she finished 2nd overall in the end, in their ranking system for ability of the player in regards to contributions.
Impressive.
As she gained new skills, she enjoyed the class more and more. By the end of our play schedule (we had about an hour to goof off), she noted that she will play again. Always a good sign for my EXTRA picky wife.
I am shocked she took to the game, yet, I see a lot of potential in the overall gameplay lending itself well to our 3 person team. Time will tell. RvR is still on the horizon, and who knows how she may react to dying over and over.
I am actually enjoying Warhammer Online. They seemed to have ironed out a lot of bugs, increased combat speed, and visually enhanced the game. WAR, along with Age of Conan were both games with horrible launches that led to games that are looked down upon in the long run. I find it pretty amazing that both of these games have made such turn around's...even without the revenue to back it up.
Now, is WAR good enough for us to BUY our copies? Time will tell.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Warhammer Online: WAR! What is it good for...(EDIT)
(EDIT: Ok, let me get this out of the way. I want to thank hardcorecasualgamer for his comment, which made me start thinking...
WAR has a new feature called "streaming content". I had turned off streaming content and did a full file check and download of the game, as the streaming really made the game feel laggy.
I thought this should be good enough.
It is NOT the case.
Seems that if "Streaming" is off, this causes the errors in gameplay, which I have noted further into my article. Turning Stream back on has fixed my issue. But, still, I will leave my post intact and hope it helps someone who has the same issues)
____________________________________________
Well, some things?
Ok, ok. Let me talk about my adventure into Warhammer Online. As part of my coverage of the games from the past year or more that were "WoW" killer wannabes, I step into the brink and enter the WAR.
The game has been out for over a year now. Having played in beta, I was not overly impressed with this MMO, and the game led to quite a few arguments on the web with certain "apologist" bloggers (*Cough* Keen, Heartless_, Bildo *Cough*) who believed WAR to be the next coming. Lets just say a Communist Bloc was formed in their names (especially thanks to Bildo ranting on my blog with personal attacks...hey, where is he anyways?), until one day my blog blew up thanks to being a "Casualty" of WAR (had a COW...hahaha...in-joke for those in the know.)
Lets just say, I was not that impressed and finally put it away. WAR was bad (not as bad as LOTRO or Vanguard is to me), but not what I enjoyed. Anyways...
Lately, as most of you may know, WAR is officially free to play for the first 10 ranks (levels). This gives you a good chance to really feel out the questing, RvR and PQ system. I took the opportunity to finally load it up due to changes in graphics and balancing of the realms system to see how they have come along.
How has it progressed in that past year?
Thanks to the server list being compressed so much, there was no doubt that quite a few people were playing within the server I was on. That made for certain parts of the game being quite fun. The PQ's or Public Quests System is really quite a blast (at least at first and for the first 10 levels...I have heard rumors of them getting worse...). Basically zones on the map, when entered, become open to a quest to be finished within certain constraints. Getting items, killing big bosses, etc. None of these are soloable from what I have seen (unless you are uber level I guess), but proved to be quite busy, so they were fun to enter and do. Questing was bland but not horrible, especially thanks to so much going on around you to lift any grind tedium.
The visual quality has also improved. They have added post processing and bloom to the visual mix, which helps improve landscapes, trees, buildings, etc. Characters also seem acceptable. But, man, talk about some ugly females in this game. Why are they all so ugly? WAR is hard on a woman I guess.
So, overall, seems like a fun enough game. Especially if I can get the full game for cheap (13 bucks is all...).
But, here is a major note. A rather buggy client has caused havoc while playing the game. I will not play anymore....period. I have tried to find why it does this, but no matter what I do; every time I log out, the game locks certain features.
For example.
After logging out, then logging back in later, my characters would be doing a paperdoll. All stuck in this funny looking pose and not moving. To fix it, you would need to do a file check and repair, which would then proceed to download a 4 GIG file to fix the game. I spent more time fixing the game than playing it seemed.
A second issue is after one of these "logouts" and trying to play without the repair, sound would become mucked up, and animations would be wonky.
Check out this video for an idea of the problem. Please note, there is not an issue with the video recording or from it being uploaded. The latency of sound (or missing sounds, like the gun not firing) AND animation (like mobs dying, and instantly lying on the ground) issue is actually what I would see and hear when playing.
Well, hey, I gave it my best shot, and maybe you may not have the same issue (for example, I have cutting edge gear in my PC, and who knows...maybe that is causing the problem?)
For now..WAR! What is it good for? Good for shelving next to my LOTRO, Vanguard and EQ2 boxes.
Stay tuned for more on the games that wanted it all, but just could not get there series as it continues.
(SECOND EDIT: I am working on having this clarified, but it seems that if you are on a trial account, you are not ALLOWED to play full client. You MUST stream. In so many words, the multiple times I downloaded the huge 4 gig patches to get the game to full has never worked, and maybe explains the issue above when Stream is turned off. More as I get the data on this.)
WAR has a new feature called "streaming content". I had turned off streaming content and did a full file check and download of the game, as the streaming really made the game feel laggy.
I thought this should be good enough.
It is NOT the case.
Seems that if "Streaming" is off, this causes the errors in gameplay, which I have noted further into my article. Turning Stream back on has fixed my issue. But, still, I will leave my post intact and hope it helps someone who has the same issues)
____________________________________________
Well, some things?
Ok, ok. Let me talk about my adventure into Warhammer Online. As part of my coverage of the games from the past year or more that were "WoW" killer wannabes, I step into the brink and enter the WAR.
The game has been out for over a year now. Having played in beta, I was not overly impressed with this MMO, and the game led to quite a few arguments on the web with certain "apologist" bloggers (*Cough* Keen, Heartless_, Bildo *Cough*) who believed WAR to be the next coming. Lets just say a Communist Bloc was formed in their names (especially thanks to Bildo ranting on my blog with personal attacks...hey, where is he anyways?), until one day my blog blew up thanks to being a "Casualty" of WAR (had a COW...hahaha...in-joke for those in the know.)
Lets just say, I was not that impressed and finally put it away. WAR was bad (not as bad as LOTRO or Vanguard is to me), but not what I enjoyed. Anyways...
Lately, as most of you may know, WAR is officially free to play for the first 10 ranks (levels). This gives you a good chance to really feel out the questing, RvR and PQ system. I took the opportunity to finally load it up due to changes in graphics and balancing of the realms system to see how they have come along.
How has it progressed in that past year?
Thanks to the server list being compressed so much, there was no doubt that quite a few people were playing within the server I was on. That made for certain parts of the game being quite fun. The PQ's or Public Quests System is really quite a blast (at least at first and for the first 10 levels...I have heard rumors of them getting worse...). Basically zones on the map, when entered, become open to a quest to be finished within certain constraints. Getting items, killing big bosses, etc. None of these are soloable from what I have seen (unless you are uber level I guess), but proved to be quite busy, so they were fun to enter and do. Questing was bland but not horrible, especially thanks to so much going on around you to lift any grind tedium.
The visual quality has also improved. They have added post processing and bloom to the visual mix, which helps improve landscapes, trees, buildings, etc. Characters also seem acceptable. But, man, talk about some ugly females in this game. Why are they all so ugly? WAR is hard on a woman I guess.
So, overall, seems like a fun enough game. Especially if I can get the full game for cheap (13 bucks is all...).
But, here is a major note. A rather buggy client has caused havoc while playing the game. I will not play anymore....period. I have tried to find why it does this, but no matter what I do; every time I log out, the game locks certain features.
For example.
A second issue is after one of these "logouts" and trying to play without the repair, sound would become mucked up, and animations would be wonky.
Check out this video for an idea of the problem. Please note, there is not an issue with the video recording or from it being uploaded. The latency of sound (or missing sounds, like the gun not firing) AND animation (like mobs dying, and instantly lying on the ground) issue is actually what I would see and hear when playing.
Well, hey, I gave it my best shot, and maybe you may not have the same issue (for example, I have cutting edge gear in my PC, and who knows...maybe that is causing the problem?)
For now..WAR! What is it good for? Good for shelving next to my LOTRO, Vanguard and EQ2 boxes.
Stay tuned for more on the games that wanted it all, but just could not get there series as it continues.
(SECOND EDIT: I am working on having this clarified, but it seems that if you are on a trial account, you are not ALLOWED to play full client. You MUST stream. In so many words, the multiple times I downloaded the huge 4 gig patches to get the game to full has never worked, and maybe explains the issue above when Stream is turned off. More as I get the data on this.)
Friday, March 12, 2010
Give "MMO's" a chance
Wow, is that a really bad way to segue into John Lennon's masterpiece...or what?
Well, as you can see, I have been the "strong" silent type for the last week as I have taken time to get to grips with several MMO's that had been on a back burner for me. How did this play time come about? As always, it boils down to my son's interests and helping him bloom in his fascination with MMO's.
About a little over a week ago he asked if I would buy Aion for him. Now, I try my best to help my son make good decisions about purchasing (my wife? not so much...as I look upon her Jimmy Choo's she just HAD to have, yet sit gathering dust).
I first remind him of a little fiasco a while back when Fallout 3 first came out. He played the game after buying it new (60 buckos) and about a couple of weeks after the learning curve, he started to die...a lot.
He wanted to sell it back to Gamestop. Hey, no issue. Find a better game buddy!
Several months passed. His friends kept talking about the game on Xbox live, and were still playing it themselves. He kept getting excited about it, and asked if he could buy it...
I did a double take.
I told him about what happened. He believed he had become a better gamer, and could do it.
He understood my thoughts, so, blew another 60 bucks again on Fallout. (Please note, all games my son buys, he has earned...through trash pickup, cleaning his room, good grades and Grandma's).
It was returned just less than a week after.
Same thing for Aion. While playing beta, he started to hit that "grind" wall after a while. He decided he did not want the game after all when it launched. Yet, here he is...asking to buy it now.
I guess I could rack it up to A.D.D? "Well, you will need to pay for it son." And he did. I also agreed on one condition. I would play as well. The final piece? The wife would also need to play it and see how she felt about the game. She would need to play for 5 levels, or SHE would pay for it.
(Please note: We are a VERY democratic household on all things gaming, food, TV...you name it. We also follow the "try it or pay out" rule...You must try all foods once, all games and all TV shows as well).
Here is something else to think about. Since we are a gamer family, if one gamer strays, it makes it difficult for the other two to play. So, we make these arrangements over the games to allow everyone something to do while the other plays another title.
The wife and I knew we would get less Guild Wars time while he played Aion, so we each took off to play other things while he played Aion.
So, my schedule has been mixed between - Guild Wars, Age of Conan (free trial), Warhammer Online and Aion.
So, how has this been going? Quite well actually. It gives me a chance to also blog a bit about these games. So, stay tuned, as several posts are being lined up to discuss my trials and tribulations of the supposed "Games losing subs" group.
Cheers
Well, as you can see, I have been the "strong" silent type for the last week as I have taken time to get to grips with several MMO's that had been on a back burner for me. How did this play time come about? As always, it boils down to my son's interests and helping him bloom in his fascination with MMO's.
About a little over a week ago he asked if I would buy Aion for him. Now, I try my best to help my son make good decisions about purchasing (my wife? not so much...as I look upon her Jimmy Choo's she just HAD to have, yet sit gathering dust).
I first remind him of a little fiasco a while back when Fallout 3 first came out. He played the game after buying it new (60 buckos) and about a couple of weeks after the learning curve, he started to die...a lot.
He wanted to sell it back to Gamestop. Hey, no issue. Find a better game buddy!
Several months passed. His friends kept talking about the game on Xbox live, and were still playing it themselves. He kept getting excited about it, and asked if he could buy it...
I did a double take.
I told him about what happened. He believed he had become a better gamer, and could do it.
He understood my thoughts, so, blew another 60 bucks again on Fallout. (Please note, all games my son buys, he has earned...through trash pickup, cleaning his room, good grades and Grandma's).
It was returned just less than a week after.
Same thing for Aion. While playing beta, he started to hit that "grind" wall after a while. He decided he did not want the game after all when it launched. Yet, here he is...asking to buy it now.
I guess I could rack it up to A.D.D? "Well, you will need to pay for it son." And he did. I also agreed on one condition. I would play as well. The final piece? The wife would also need to play it and see how she felt about the game. She would need to play for 5 levels, or SHE would pay for it.
(Please note: We are a VERY democratic household on all things gaming, food, TV...you name it. We also follow the "try it or pay out" rule...You must try all foods once, all games and all TV shows as well).
Here is something else to think about. Since we are a gamer family, if one gamer strays, it makes it difficult for the other two to play. So, we make these arrangements over the games to allow everyone something to do while the other plays another title.
The wife and I knew we would get less Guild Wars time while he played Aion, so we each took off to play other things while he played Aion.
So, my schedule has been mixed between - Guild Wars, Age of Conan (free trial), Warhammer Online and Aion.
So, how has this been going? Quite well actually. It gives me a chance to also blog a bit about these games. So, stay tuned, as several posts are being lined up to discuss my trials and tribulations of the supposed "Games losing subs" group.
Cheers
Friday, February 26, 2010
The Conundrum of Free To Play
An announcement today made me think on the subject of Free To Play.
"Dungeons & Dragons Online Reaches One Million Players"
(EDIT: Seems the correct wording should be "NEW" players...surpassing 1 million actually. Check the press release here...SOURCE)
Since switching to the Free play model, DDO has had a major increase in the number of players who log in, and are playing. But, how many actually shell out cash for either a sub or the various pay items? According to this news...the money sounds good.
"Dungeons & Dragons Online Revenues Up 500 Percent"
Most of all though; does it matter?
Think on this. Each person logged in is a potential customer; is that not true? When advertisers choose to show a promo for a product on certain TV shows, are they not just basing their theory on getting the most eyes to see the product in the hopes to sell more?
Same here for DDO. More eyes in the game equals more potential customers.
Now, lets look at some of the failing games (or games with smaller sub rates than I assume the company would like to see...) and how would they look with this model?
How about Warhammer Online, Age of Conan.. Would they have more subs or at least players with a potential to sell more? What about Hellgate: London or Tabula Rasa. Would they have survived under this setup.
Overall, could certain games benefit from this model?
Funcom is no newb to this type of setup for an MMO with Anarchy Online being a free to play...but with adverts (a little more bizarre, but still in that realm). Look how long they have been running now? Age of Conan is draining the revenues and finances of Funcom like a sieve. So, maybe for Funcom to succeed they may have to walk that fine line again and figure out a new way to make cash.
A lot of Free to play's are not looked upon very well. Games like Runes of Magic or Perfect World, etc, all have quality issues. The games are not as well made as the financial powerhouses like AoC or WAR. Thus, could these commercial flops pull away from those lower quality games by going free? Maybe even pull players from those games. Last I heard, a million people have logged in to Perfect World at some point.
Could you imagine one million eyes in Warhammer...and how that could change the overall structure of that game?
I think we need to see how other "commercial" style MMO's that are not doing well in the sub arena would fare under a Cash Shop model...no matter how much people hate it. I personally feel that if a game starts to flounder, then it is time to see how you can change your model to the free to play scheme, and see if you succeed.
Guild Wars 2 is set to be a buy once, free for life with special "purchases" later deal to pad costs. Even Star Wars The Old Republic has mentioned this method (though the audience is pushing for the monthly deal, which I still think is a detriment. SWToR poll on payment).
This much I can say. DDO has proven it can work, and quite well.
"Dungeons & Dragons Online Reaches One Million Players"
(EDIT: Seems the correct wording should be "NEW" players...surpassing 1 million actually. Check the press release here...SOURCE)
Since switching to the Free play model, DDO has had a major increase in the number of players who log in, and are playing. But, how many actually shell out cash for either a sub or the various pay items? According to this news...the money sounds good.
"Dungeons & Dragons Online Revenues Up 500 Percent"
Most of all though; does it matter?
Think on this. Each person logged in is a potential customer; is that not true? When advertisers choose to show a promo for a product on certain TV shows, are they not just basing their theory on getting the most eyes to see the product in the hopes to sell more?
Same here for DDO. More eyes in the game equals more potential customers.
Now, lets look at some of the failing games (or games with smaller sub rates than I assume the company would like to see...) and how would they look with this model?
How about Warhammer Online, Age of Conan.. Would they have more subs or at least players with a potential to sell more? What about Hellgate: London or Tabula Rasa. Would they have survived under this setup.
Overall, could certain games benefit from this model?
Funcom is no newb to this type of setup for an MMO with Anarchy Online being a free to play...but with adverts (a little more bizarre, but still in that realm). Look how long they have been running now? Age of Conan is draining the revenues and finances of Funcom like a sieve. So, maybe for Funcom to succeed they may have to walk that fine line again and figure out a new way to make cash.
A lot of Free to play's are not looked upon very well. Games like Runes of Magic or Perfect World, etc, all have quality issues. The games are not as well made as the financial powerhouses like AoC or WAR. Thus, could these commercial flops pull away from those lower quality games by going free? Maybe even pull players from those games. Last I heard, a million people have logged in to Perfect World at some point.
Could you imagine one million eyes in Warhammer...and how that could change the overall structure of that game?
I think we need to see how other "commercial" style MMO's that are not doing well in the sub arena would fare under a Cash Shop model...no matter how much people hate it. I personally feel that if a game starts to flounder, then it is time to see how you can change your model to the free to play scheme, and see if you succeed.
Guild Wars 2 is set to be a buy once, free for life with special "purchases" later deal to pad costs. Even Star Wars The Old Republic has mentioned this method (though the audience is pushing for the monthly deal, which I still think is a detriment. SWToR poll on payment).
This much I can say. DDO has proven it can work, and quite well.
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