Via Broken Toys and Slashdot, it seems that Mythic had a billing snafu of epic proportions. Hit the links to read up if you care to. The short version is that, due to a glitch in a new billing system, thousands of customers were hit with subscription charges sufficient to nearly empty an average mid-month checking account. In many cases this caused checks to bounce and overdraft fees to be incurred. This is the second time this has happened to Warhammer Online subscribers (apparently something similar happened around December 2008), though in this case the effects seem to have been more widespread.
The news makes me a bit sad, because I have grave doubts that Mythic will survive the shittstorm they are about to experience. At the very least, I expect that they are going to see a big drop in Warhammer Online subs from this. I know there is no way in hell I'd keep subbing to a game that charged me $600+ one month by accident. I think Warhammer Online is a pretty good game (at least 1-20), and I hate to see the legs knocked out from under it by something that was obviously a coding glitch [one that would never have gone live with remotely sane quality control, I will allow].
I suspect that heads are going to roll, the already somewhat meager subscriber base will flee in droves, and we will never know what one of the most interesting recent experiments in PvP focused MMO design could have become.
Showing posts with label Warhammer online. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Warhammer online. Show all posts
Friday, April 9, 2010
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Warhammer Online Expansion [that should have been] Announced
The new expansion is entitled "Rise of the Horned Rat." In addition to many other changes and additions, skaven are being added as third a playable faction. If you are any kind of fan of the Warhammer miniatures game, then you were likely disappointed that skaven weren't in WAR originally (I certainly was). The fact that they are being added at all has me pretty excited.
The addition of a third faction is even better. When there are only two factions, there is no real system of checks and balances and one side tends to get into a hole they can never climb out of. You can see this very clearly in modern WAR, when on the majority of servers either Destruction or Order pretty much completely dominates end game RvR. In some cases, even lower tier PvP is affected, and new players of the underdog faction tend to leave or change sides after a few evenings of getting their butts handed to them relentlessly.
To me this expansion signals to me the Mythic finally "gets" that they made a some major mistakes in their original design. In my opinion, the third faction really should have been launch WAR.
Edit: indeed, as Jaydub points out, the expansion announcement is completely fake. Hit the clarification link at the top of the page I linked. Sorry to get your hopes up :-)
The addition of a third faction is even better. When there are only two factions, there is no real system of checks and balances and one side tends to get into a hole they can never climb out of. You can see this very clearly in modern WAR, when on the majority of servers either Destruction or Order pretty much completely dominates end game RvR. In some cases, even lower tier PvP is affected, and new players of the underdog faction tend to leave or change sides after a few evenings of getting their butts handed to them relentlessly.
To me this expansion signals to me the Mythic finally "gets" that they made a some major mistakes in their original design. In my opinion, the third faction really should have been launch WAR.
Edit: indeed, as Jaydub points out, the expansion announcement is completely fake. Hit the clarification link at the top of the page I linked. Sorry to get your hopes up :-)
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Most MMO gamers like WoW more than your MMO: Deal with it
A lot of MMO commentators seem pretty hostile to World of Warcraft and the players that dig it. For example, Syncaine's popularization of the term "WoW tourist" to describe former WoW players that try out new MMOs, and then leave when they decide they don't like them as much as WoW. It sometimes feels as if the hardcore enthusiasts that have been playing since the glory days of EQ are at war those that came in on WoW and prefer it to other MMOs (newer or older). If there is indeed a war being waged, I would suggest that it is a futile one. The "sheep" have spoken, and they have won.
You can rant and rave and call WoW the "McDonald's/ Brittany Spears" of the MMO genre as much as you like. The fact of the matter is that the bulk of gamers that are willing to play $15 a month for a game like WoW better than any other MMO they've tried. The masses have spoken, and they like their MMOs easy, fast paced, relatively shallow, and with a very over the top design aesthetic. They don't care about the prose in quest text, they don't care about cohesive lore, they don't care how useful the crafting system is, and they don't care whether any attempt is made to blend zones together into a cohesive world.
What really brought this home to me was actually the most recent NPD chart. The number two selling MMO in North America in January was Warhammer Online, hanging in tough at number 14 more than two months after release. If these sales keep up, WAR will quite likely be the next sub based MMO to cross the 1 million threshold. Among the features it shares with WoW are (1) an over the top design aesthetic, (2) easy questing (red blobs on the map for cris sakes!), (3) fast paced leveling, (4) crafting system that yields many borderline useless items, (5) quest text that is (for the most part) utterly forgettable, (6) a world that sacrifices cohesion for playability.
I'm not saying that WoW or WAR bite (far from it), or that WAR is a clone of WoW (WAR actually has far superior PvP and very different class designs). What I'm saying is the features that they have in common seemingly embody what most MMO players want, at least based on sales. And I think it's about time we (i.e., the crusty MMO enthusiasts that have been playing since the glory days of EQ) all got over it and moved on. I'm really starting to get tired of MMO commentators that rail against the "mindless WoW masses" whenever the moderately-successful-to-niche MMOs they happen to like prove unappealling to the bulk of MMO gamers.
Most MMO players just don't like the same things as you. Deal with it.
You can rant and rave and call WoW the "McDonald's/ Brittany Spears" of the MMO genre as much as you like. The fact of the matter is that the bulk of gamers that are willing to play $15 a month for a game like WoW better than any other MMO they've tried. The masses have spoken, and they like their MMOs easy, fast paced, relatively shallow, and with a very over the top design aesthetic. They don't care about the prose in quest text, they don't care about cohesive lore, they don't care how useful the crafting system is, and they don't care whether any attempt is made to blend zones together into a cohesive world.
What really brought this home to me was actually the most recent NPD chart. The number two selling MMO in North America in January was Warhammer Online, hanging in tough at number 14 more than two months after release. If these sales keep up, WAR will quite likely be the next sub based MMO to cross the 1 million threshold. Among the features it shares with WoW are (1) an over the top design aesthetic, (2) easy questing (red blobs on the map for cris sakes!), (3) fast paced leveling, (4) crafting system that yields many borderline useless items, (5) quest text that is (for the most part) utterly forgettable, (6) a world that sacrifices cohesion for playability.
I'm not saying that WoW or WAR bite (far from it), or that WAR is a clone of WoW (WAR actually has far superior PvP and very different class designs). What I'm saying is the features that they have in common seemingly embody what most MMO players want, at least based on sales. And I think it's about time we (i.e., the crusty MMO enthusiasts that have been playing since the glory days of EQ) all got over it and moved on. I'm really starting to get tired of MMO commentators that rail against the "mindless WoW masses" whenever the moderately-successful-to-niche MMOs they happen to like prove unappealling to the bulk of MMO gamers.
Most MMO players just don't like the same things as you. Deal with it.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Is Mark Jacobs the Devil?
Much of the MMO blogosphere has been put off by the recent announcement that WAR is getting two new "free" classes in the next major update. The issue seems to be not so much with the message, but how it was delivered. Mark Jacobs, in typical MJ style, has been tooting his horn pretty hard. He's even bragging that WAR is the first sub based MMO in history to add new classes for free post launch. Regardless of whether MJ is fudging the truth, I find the reaction of some commentators to be a bit silly for several reasons.
1. What happens in closed beta stays in closed beta.
Some that have been following the game for a long time feel that the new classes, Slayer and Choppa, don't count as "new" because they were pulled during the closed beta. That is just silly. Stuff changes during development all the time. If something that had to be abandoned during development gets polished up and added post launch, it's still new post launch content. For example, the Shores of Evindim zone was actually in development pre-LoTRO launch, but no-one got their panties in a wad when Turbine called it free new content. In fact, the lack of the zone left a big hole in the solo options for that level range in launch LoTRO. Yet somehow Turbine is a hero and Mythic is the devil for adding items their game desperately needs post launch.
2. No-one cares if WAR is "really" the first sub based MMO to add new classes post launch for free.
Ok, yeah. CoH has added tons of power sets, and even a few archetypes over the years. EQOA added lycanthrope, were-hunter, and recently vampire subclasses to the game all 100% for free. I'm sure I could think of others. But that's not really the point. John Q. Public neither knows nor cares whether other MMOs have added classes for free. And MJ is reaching out to JQP with these announcements, not grizzled MMO vets. We are such a small portion of the market that we may as well not exist. Sad but true.
3. The real deal.
The lead developer of an MMO is in some ways a politician for their game. The purpose of any major announcement is to build some positive hype for a game in the gaming press. The more overblown the announcement, the more likely that it will get noticed. In the case of MJ's statements, they did just what they were supposed to do.
Is Mark Jacobs being a bit weasily? Sure. But is he a giant screaming hypocrite that puts every other MMO developer to shame? Not by a mile. When it comes to interactions with the community, lead devs are politicians first and foremost. Particularly in sucessful MMOs.
Don't get pissed at a duck every time it quacks.
Edit: for clarity let me reiterate....
PR is not the same thing as journalism (much less scholarship). When MJ opens his mouth and speaks to the public, it is mostly as a PR guy. It seems that some commentators were expecting something different, which I find boggling. Anyone that takes the word of someone speaking for a multi-million dollar MMO at face value is pretty naive.
Should we accept that? Who can say. However, that is a different debate, focused on deeper issues than whether MJ is The Devil. An inane semantic debate over whether the new classes in WAR are "really new" or not and whether WAR is "really the first" PtP MMO to offer free new classes does nothing to advance that discussion.
1. What happens in closed beta stays in closed beta.
Some that have been following the game for a long time feel that the new classes, Slayer and Choppa, don't count as "new" because they were pulled during the closed beta. That is just silly. Stuff changes during development all the time. If something that had to be abandoned during development gets polished up and added post launch, it's still new post launch content. For example, the Shores of Evindim zone was actually in development pre-LoTRO launch, but no-one got their panties in a wad when Turbine called it free new content. In fact, the lack of the zone left a big hole in the solo options for that level range in launch LoTRO. Yet somehow Turbine is a hero and Mythic is the devil for adding items their game desperately needs post launch.
2. No-one cares if WAR is "really" the first sub based MMO to add new classes post launch for free.
Ok, yeah. CoH has added tons of power sets, and even a few archetypes over the years. EQOA added lycanthrope, were-hunter, and recently vampire subclasses to the game all 100% for free. I'm sure I could think of others. But that's not really the point. John Q. Public neither knows nor cares whether other MMOs have added classes for free. And MJ is reaching out to JQP with these announcements, not grizzled MMO vets. We are such a small portion of the market that we may as well not exist. Sad but true.
3. The real deal.
The lead developer of an MMO is in some ways a politician for their game. The purpose of any major announcement is to build some positive hype for a game in the gaming press. The more overblown the announcement, the more likely that it will get noticed. In the case of MJ's statements, they did just what they were supposed to do.
Is Mark Jacobs being a bit weasily? Sure. But is he a giant screaming hypocrite that puts every other MMO developer to shame? Not by a mile. When it comes to interactions with the community, lead devs are politicians first and foremost. Particularly in sucessful MMOs.
Don't get pissed at a duck every time it quacks.
Edit: for clarity let me reiterate....
PR is not the same thing as journalism (much less scholarship). When MJ opens his mouth and speaks to the public, it is mostly as a PR guy. It seems that some commentators were expecting something different, which I find boggling. Anyone that takes the word of someone speaking for a multi-million dollar MMO at face value is pretty naive.
Should we accept that? Who can say. However, that is a different debate, focused on deeper issues than whether MJ is The Devil. An inane semantic debate over whether the new classes in WAR are "really new" or not and whether WAR is "really the first" PtP MMO to offer free new classes does nothing to advance that discussion.
Monday, January 12, 2009
WAR: give me decent PvE or give me a different MMO
As fun as the PvP in Warhammer Online is, I found that the sub-par PvE eventually killed the game for me. After having had some time to reflect, here are the three biggest issues I had and what I believe could be done to address them.
No sense of "place" (immersion)
The PvE zones provide very little sense of "place." They seem designed mainly with utility in mind rather than to immerse you in a virtual world. The fact that you can quest by running from red blob to red blob on your map, reading nary a bit of quest text, further reinforces this impression. The zones are laid out as a means to an end, and that end is guiding you through quest grinds so that you can level and get back to the PvP. Zones are simply a means of guiding your progression in nearly any MMO. However, this is masked much more poorly in WAR than in an average MMO.
How to fix it: Unfortunately, the zones are in place and it's really too late to fix this. A few things could help. One simple change would be to further encourage exploration. There are a lot of little secrets in each zone that exist for no other reason than unlock entries in your Book of Knowledge. Perhaps this system could be incentivised? Giving users the option to turn off the "quest blobs" might also help some players with immersion. Of course, the quests would have to be clear enough that you could find objectives based on the text for this to work (see below).
Mob density and respawn rates are too high
It is a serious pain in the butt to get anywhere in the PvE areas. When you are sent into an enemy area for a quest objective, you will be killing something nearly every step of the way. And when you get there, everything will have respawned behind you. If your swift travel isn't up or is set at a useless place, prepare to kill everything again. It makes the entire experience of questing incredibly tedious. This more than anything killed the PvE for me.
How to fix it: Lower respawn rates in areas outside of public quest zones. Lower the mob density to the point that you can expect to fight 2 or 3 adds getting to an objective (like most MMOs) rather than dozens.
Quest text is sub-par
I am a huge fan of lore in MMOs. I am one of those anal types that will hold up a party so I can read every bit of quest text in a chained group quest. Not so in Warhammer online. Save for the Greenskin quests most of the quests in WAR read like "bla, bla, bla...go kill some lizards" (or whatever). This is odd because the writing in the BoK is excellent. About the only part of the PvE I consistently enjoyed was unlocking new entries. The prose in many of the Greenskin quests is also excellent. There are obviously some good writers at Mythic.
Unfortunately, most of the quest text reads like a first or second draft. The prose is tends to be inefficient, and conveys little sense of the personality of the quest giver. The quest instructions are also generally vague. Without the red blobs on my map I doubt I could have found most quest objectives.
How to fix it: Pay whoever wrote the entries in the BoK to go through each zone streamlining and clarifying the quest text. Decide on what mood to convey in each zone, and make certain that every quest contributes to that goal. Either by reinforcing the mood, or by providing notable (and infrequent) exceptions to it. Rule of Thumb: any quest text much over two short paragraphs better be conveying one hell of a story, or you will lose your reader.
You may have noticed I said nothing about the PQ system. Mythic does seem to be aware of the current issues with them, and so I don't think much more needs to be said on the subject. And when you have enough players to get through a PQ, they are arguably brilliant.
No sense of "place" (immersion)
The PvE zones provide very little sense of "place." They seem designed mainly with utility in mind rather than to immerse you in a virtual world. The fact that you can quest by running from red blob to red blob on your map, reading nary a bit of quest text, further reinforces this impression. The zones are laid out as a means to an end, and that end is guiding you through quest grinds so that you can level and get back to the PvP. Zones are simply a means of guiding your progression in nearly any MMO. However, this is masked much more poorly in WAR than in an average MMO.
How to fix it: Unfortunately, the zones are in place and it's really too late to fix this. A few things could help. One simple change would be to further encourage exploration. There are a lot of little secrets in each zone that exist for no other reason than unlock entries in your Book of Knowledge. Perhaps this system could be incentivised? Giving users the option to turn off the "quest blobs" might also help some players with immersion. Of course, the quests would have to be clear enough that you could find objectives based on the text for this to work (see below).
Mob density and respawn rates are too high
It is a serious pain in the butt to get anywhere in the PvE areas. When you are sent into an enemy area for a quest objective, you will be killing something nearly every step of the way. And when you get there, everything will have respawned behind you. If your swift travel isn't up or is set at a useless place, prepare to kill everything again. It makes the entire experience of questing incredibly tedious. This more than anything killed the PvE for me.
How to fix it: Lower respawn rates in areas outside of public quest zones. Lower the mob density to the point that you can expect to fight 2 or 3 adds getting to an objective (like most MMOs) rather than dozens.
Quest text is sub-par
I am a huge fan of lore in MMOs. I am one of those anal types that will hold up a party so I can read every bit of quest text in a chained group quest. Not so in Warhammer online. Save for the Greenskin quests most of the quests in WAR read like "bla, bla, bla...go kill some lizards" (or whatever). This is odd because the writing in the BoK is excellent. About the only part of the PvE I consistently enjoyed was unlocking new entries. The prose in many of the Greenskin quests is also excellent. There are obviously some good writers at Mythic.
Unfortunately, most of the quest text reads like a first or second draft. The prose is tends to be inefficient, and conveys little sense of the personality of the quest giver. The quest instructions are also generally vague. Without the red blobs on my map I doubt I could have found most quest objectives.
How to fix it: Pay whoever wrote the entries in the BoK to go through each zone streamlining and clarifying the quest text. Decide on what mood to convey in each zone, and make certain that every quest contributes to that goal. Either by reinforcing the mood, or by providing notable (and infrequent) exceptions to it. Rule of Thumb: any quest text much over two short paragraphs better be conveying one hell of a story, or you will lose your reader.
You may have noticed I said nothing about the PQ system. Mythic does seem to be aware of the current issues with them, and so I don't think much more needs to be said on the subject. And when you have enough players to get through a PQ, they are arguably brilliant.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Update on WAR: 1.06
The PvE still slightly bites. However the PvP has become even more fun. And WAR had pretty damn good PvP to begin with. The new system for forcing all three scenarios in a tier to pop seems to be working really well. Running all three tier I scenarios is a lot more fun than doing Nordenwatch over and over again.
Tons of Order players are also rolling the new tank class. Speaking from a pure Destruction viewpoint, scenarios are much more balanced and fun than I am used to. I'm used to handing Order their asses practically as if they were AFK. They are putting up a good fight now. Scenarios were roughly 50/50 in the tier ones I joined tonight. And two of them ended in stalemates because players were actively defending objectives. Boggling!! 1.06 has improved the game more than I was willing to hope for, I'm very impressed.
Tons of Order players are also rolling the new tank class. Speaking from a pure Destruction viewpoint, scenarios are much more balanced and fun than I am used to. I'm used to handing Order their asses practically as if they were AFK. They are putting up a good fight now. Scenarios were roughly 50/50 in the tier ones I joined tonight. And two of them ended in stalemates because players were actively defending objectives. Boggling!! 1.06 has improved the game more than I was willing to hope for, I'm very impressed.
WAR on it's last legs for me
My WAR subscription is on it's last legs. I will very likely cancel at the end of the month. There are two main issues that I'm having with it.
1. Order sucks on most servers.
My favorite toon so far is easilly my Order Engineer. And he isn't any fun to play in PvP because Destruction is simply kicking our asses on his server. If you look at the top ten realm point earners per week on most servers, apart from the odd Runekeeper or Bright Wizard the top ten spots are nearly always destruction players. On the two servers I'm active on the top ten was 70% and 90% destruction the last time I checked. In scenarios I have yet to play on a server where Order wins more than maybe 1/3 of the time, regardless of which side I'm playing. And on the server that my Engineer is on, Order very rarely has even a single teir II keep.
Unfortunately, the server that he is on isn't low pop, so I can't transfer him off of it. I got up to level 17 near launch, got very frustrated and re-rolled destruction on a different server. That was fun for a while, but I have yet to find a class I enjoy as much as the Engineer (and yes, I've tried a Magus). I suppose I could find a server where Alliance is doing better and start over again, from scratch. However, at this point I'm pretty burned out on the teir I content. I've been through it at least six times on each side trying different classes.
I'm hoping that the introduction of the new tank classes will help out a bit with this. If things get even enough that I can start playing my engineer again without have my ass handed to me constantly, I'll likely keep playing regardless of the next issue. However if the real problem is that skilled players are more often attracted to Destruction than Order (this ceretainly seemed to be true of the Horde in WoW based on my experiences both in PuGs and Battle Grounds), I don't think it will help much.
2. PvE in WAR slightly bites.
There are several problems with the PvE in WAR that I don't think will ever be fixed. The mob density is too high in most zones, and the respawn rates are too high. This means that any character that can't handle mutiple mobs in melee range has a very tough time soloing. Good luck solo questing on a Sorceress, for example. It also means that to get anywhere you will have to kill dozens of mobs on the way, which gets to be very tedious. It makes the zones feel "crowded" and somewhat spoils the sense of immersion. What the hell sense does it make for a tiny forest patch that's jammed up with 100 hostiles to be 30 feet away from a quest hub?
This is compounded by the fact that the zones themsleves are somewhat small, and tend to be laid out linearly. I always feel like I'm in a ravine with invisible walls. More than any MMO I've ever played, the PvE zones in WAR are very obviously laid out with function in mind rather than to evoke a sense of being in a real place. The PVE in WAR is something you tolerate in betwen bouts of PvP, rather than something that is fun in it's own right.
WAR does have some of the most fun PvP around, but among the popular fantasy MMOs (EQ II, LoTRO, WoW, ect.) I'd also argue that it has the least engaging PvE. Public Quests are great fun if you can get a party together to do them. However, my experienc has been that no-one is running the PQs any more in most teirs. Even at launch, some off the beaten path PQs pretty much never got done. Now, even the ones that used to be popular are ghost towns. What we are left with is a system that lets a solo player grind through the first stage three or four times for an item. And it's tedious as hell. I'd rather just suit up in the PvP gear I earn in scenarious than mess around with that, even if some of the items you can earn are better than the PvP gear.
I'll be watching WAR until the end of the month. I'm hoping that things will change for the better with the X.06 and X.1 patches. However, I don't see how anything that's been talked about will make Order players suck less (in general) or the PvE improve drastically.
1. Order sucks on most servers.
My favorite toon so far is easilly my Order Engineer. And he isn't any fun to play in PvP because Destruction is simply kicking our asses on his server. If you look at the top ten realm point earners per week on most servers, apart from the odd Runekeeper or Bright Wizard the top ten spots are nearly always destruction players. On the two servers I'm active on the top ten was 70% and 90% destruction the last time I checked. In scenarios I have yet to play on a server where Order wins more than maybe 1/3 of the time, regardless of which side I'm playing. And on the server that my Engineer is on, Order very rarely has even a single teir II keep.
Unfortunately, the server that he is on isn't low pop, so I can't transfer him off of it. I got up to level 17 near launch, got very frustrated and re-rolled destruction on a different server. That was fun for a while, but I have yet to find a class I enjoy as much as the Engineer (and yes, I've tried a Magus). I suppose I could find a server where Alliance is doing better and start over again, from scratch. However, at this point I'm pretty burned out on the teir I content. I've been through it at least six times on each side trying different classes.
I'm hoping that the introduction of the new tank classes will help out a bit with this. If things get even enough that I can start playing my engineer again without have my ass handed to me constantly, I'll likely keep playing regardless of the next issue. However if the real problem is that skilled players are more often attracted to Destruction than Order (this ceretainly seemed to be true of the Horde in WoW based on my experiences both in PuGs and Battle Grounds), I don't think it will help much.
2. PvE in WAR slightly bites.
There are several problems with the PvE in WAR that I don't think will ever be fixed. The mob density is too high in most zones, and the respawn rates are too high. This means that any character that can't handle mutiple mobs in melee range has a very tough time soloing. Good luck solo questing on a Sorceress, for example. It also means that to get anywhere you will have to kill dozens of mobs on the way, which gets to be very tedious. It makes the zones feel "crowded" and somewhat spoils the sense of immersion. What the hell sense does it make for a tiny forest patch that's jammed up with 100 hostiles to be 30 feet away from a quest hub?
This is compounded by the fact that the zones themsleves are somewhat small, and tend to be laid out linearly. I always feel like I'm in a ravine with invisible walls. More than any MMO I've ever played, the PvE zones in WAR are very obviously laid out with function in mind rather than to evoke a sense of being in a real place. The PVE in WAR is something you tolerate in betwen bouts of PvP, rather than something that is fun in it's own right.
WAR does have some of the most fun PvP around, but among the popular fantasy MMOs (EQ II, LoTRO, WoW, ect.) I'd also argue that it has the least engaging PvE. Public Quests are great fun if you can get a party together to do them. However, my experienc has been that no-one is running the PQs any more in most teirs. Even at launch, some off the beaten path PQs pretty much never got done. Now, even the ones that used to be popular are ghost towns. What we are left with is a system that lets a solo player grind through the first stage three or four times for an item. And it's tedious as hell. I'd rather just suit up in the PvP gear I earn in scenarious than mess around with that, even if some of the items you can earn are better than the PvP gear.
I'll be watching WAR until the end of the month. I'm hoping that things will change for the better with the X.06 and X.1 patches. However, I don't see how anything that's been talked about will make Order players suck less (in general) or the PvE improve drastically.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
WAR: the clumping is getting worse
The server clumping in WAR seems to be getting worse. A lot of the servers are never getting past "low" population, and others servers have constant ques. I have three destruction characters on a low pop server between the levels of 5 and 8, and I may be forced to abandon them. It's getting harder and harder to get public quests done. At prime time there weren't enough players to do the first PQ in the Chaos starter area. We could get to the boss, who would promptly melt our faces.
Switched over to my high pop order server, and it was night and day. Rolled a new alt, and had a green bag and all my influence in the first PQ in less than 20 minutes. It was a total blast, and really made me think about ditching my existing destruction toons and restarting that faction on a high pop server. I can't be the only one that's feeling that way.
WAR's greatest strength is that it encourages you to group by making it painless, rewarding, and a hell of a lot of fun. It's begginning to look to me like that will also be the achilles heal of low pop servers, and perhaps the newbie game in a few months. The best parts of the game need a certain critical mass of players before they become accessible. It will be interesting to see what, if anything, Mythic does about this in the weeks ahead. I suspect that cloning servers isn't going to be nearly enough.
Switched over to my high pop order server, and it was night and day. Rolled a new alt, and had a green bag and all my influence in the first PQ in less than 20 minutes. It was a total blast, and really made me think about ditching my existing destruction toons and restarting that faction on a high pop server. I can't be the only one that's feeling that way.
WAR's greatest strength is that it encourages you to group by making it painless, rewarding, and a hell of a lot of fun. It's begginning to look to me like that will also be the achilles heal of low pop servers, and perhaps the newbie game in a few months. The best parts of the game need a certain critical mass of players before they become accessible. It will be interesting to see what, if anything, Mythic does about this in the weeks ahead. I suspect that cloning servers isn't going to be nearly enough.
Friday, September 19, 2008
It's good to be crowded: the quest for green bags
I finally got around to trying some public quests in Warhammer online, and I have to say I'm very impressed. It's been covered in detail elsewhere, so I won't bother reiterating how they work. I will say that the descriptions I read did not convey just how much fun they are. Competing with other players to try and get the highest score in a PQ is a serious blast. The random roll that gets added to your score at the end also gives it sort of a Vegas vibe.
One thing that's really striking about the PQs is how badly they need large number's of players to work. Solo, you can usually only do the first part of one. Even in a very solid small party, you absolutely are not going to be able to take down the final boss. Six mans can take some of them down, but a safe bet is more like ten players.
If you can't take down the boss, no score tallies and no green bags. Which is actually the most fun part of PQs, they aren't nearly as fun if you can't finish them. This means that you need to play on a reasonably crowded server in a reasonably popular PQ or you are missing out on one of WAR's greatest assets.
The effect I'm seeing this have in game are twofold. The server populations are very clumpy. The popular servers have nearly constant ques, the unpopular ones max out at medium even during prime time. And on the ground in game populations are very clumpy most of the time. For every "chapter" there can be up to three different PQs to choose from. From what I've seen so far usually one becomes the popular one (usually because it's near a road or a quest hub) and the other two are completely ignored.
Mythic is taking action to address the server imbalances (or at least overcrowding), using a pretty clever method. Mythic doesn't seem to have any plans to incentivize out-of-the-way PQs, however there is a good chance that the problem will take care of itself. There is an optimum PQ group size where performing well is nearly certain to net you a green bag. Groups that are too small can't finish the PQs, and it can be hard to come out on top in a really big group. I can see players eventually spreading out on their own to try and find "optimum" groups, particularly on crowded servers. Mythic may have created an online experiment in optimum foraging theory, whith green bags subbing in as resources.
One thing that's really striking about the PQs is how badly they need large number's of players to work. Solo, you can usually only do the first part of one. Even in a very solid small party, you absolutely are not going to be able to take down the final boss. Six mans can take some of them down, but a safe bet is more like ten players.
If you can't take down the boss, no score tallies and no green bags. Which is actually the most fun part of PQs, they aren't nearly as fun if you can't finish them. This means that you need to play on a reasonably crowded server in a reasonably popular PQ or you are missing out on one of WAR's greatest assets.
The effect I'm seeing this have in game are twofold. The server populations are very clumpy. The popular servers have nearly constant ques, the unpopular ones max out at medium even during prime time. And on the ground in game populations are very clumpy most of the time. For every "chapter" there can be up to three different PQs to choose from. From what I've seen so far usually one becomes the popular one (usually because it's near a road or a quest hub) and the other two are completely ignored.
Mythic is taking action to address the server imbalances (or at least overcrowding), using a pretty clever method. Mythic doesn't seem to have any plans to incentivize out-of-the-way PQs, however there is a good chance that the problem will take care of itself. There is an optimum PQ group size where performing well is nearly certain to net you a green bag. Groups that are too small can't finish the PQs, and it can be hard to come out on top in a really big group. I can see players eventually spreading out on their own to try and find "optimum" groups, particularly on crowded servers. Mythic may have created an online experiment in optimum foraging theory, whith green bags subbing in as resources.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Update on WAR...it's pretty good!
I did finally manage to play Warhammer Online for a few hours last week. Even if their beta program was a big pain in the butt, I have to say the game itself is impressive. Great variety in the look and feel of starting areas, and a lot of fairly polished classes to mess around with. I'm a big "explorer," so that is appealing to me. Learning the basics of different classes and seeing new zones is at least 70% of the fun for me in an MMO. The first few classes I tried didn't grab me until I stumbled on Shadow Warrior. Plays a lot like a LoTRO Hunter, which to me is a good thing. Surprisingly good performance considering that my machine is absolutely at the bottom of the system requirements. I wouldn't say that WAR has blown me away so far, but it's certainly the most solid new MMO I've tried since LoTRO came out.
I didn't pre-order the CE, so I'm not playing WAR currently. However I am looking forward to messing around more with it in a few days.
I didn't pre-order the CE, so I'm not playing WAR currently. However I am looking forward to messing around more with it in a few days.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
My impressions of WAR so far...or lack thereof
My PC is getting on in years, and I really need to see how the WAR client will perform on it before I commit to a box. Looked around at my options to get into the open beta, and they seem to consist of joining Fileplanet, or pre-ordering. If you have to pay money to get into the beta, it's not really what I would call "open." Oh well. Five dollars later I had a pre-order box from Gamestop and some sort of in game bonus item at launch if I decide to commit.
I get home and discover, to my horror, that there is no beta client in the box. Instead there is a starter pack and a set of rules for a collectible card game I will never play. Better than nothing I guess. Did my usual weekend of online and offline socializing, finally got around to trying to get the game started on Sunday.
In the box is a code to activate your beta account. Went to the Mythic WAR website and activated my code. Then followed the links to download the client. Those took me to Fileplanet, where I was asked to enter my beta key again. Entered my key again....and it had already been used...by me...because Mythic's beta website is a confusing POS.
When you get to the beta access website there are three bullet points in a box, labeled 1-3. If you click the link in the first bullet point you waste your beta key. If you click one of the two links in the third, you use it correctly and get to download the client. I didn't realize the website was a puzzle game . . .
It was too late to get a CS rep on the phone, and I don't have time to wast on something like that during the week. Looked around at my other options, and all I could come up with was a Bittorrent download for the client. OK, grand. Started up the download.....and discovered that it would take at least two solid days to get done. Nine gigs on Bittorrent sucks. Ok, whatever, I'm in no rush.
Three days later, get home from work horribly late. The download is done. Hooray! Install the client get it patched up, and supposedly I only have to wait an hour for the servers to come back up. An hour later they are still down. Hit the Herald, and the time has been pushed back an hour and a half. "Screw that" and I crash. Get up a little after noon, thinking foolishly that I might get to run around and at least see what my frame-rates are like before I run out the door. The servers are down again, indefinitely.
My impression of WAR so far? Mythic does not have it's shit together for this close to launch. Yes I know it's a beta. Maybe my impression will improve once I actually get to log. But their system for getting into the beta sucks (is it open or isn't it?) and their system for downloading the client sucks ("Oh sorry, looks like you wasted your key..."). Server downtime timed perfectly to keep me from logging for another day is only the straw.
I get home and discover, to my horror, that there is no beta client in the box. Instead there is a starter pack and a set of rules for a collectible card game I will never play. Better than nothing I guess. Did my usual weekend of online and offline socializing, finally got around to trying to get the game started on Sunday.
In the box is a code to activate your beta account. Went to the Mythic WAR website and activated my code. Then followed the links to download the client. Those took me to Fileplanet, where I was asked to enter my beta key again. Entered my key again....and it had already been used...by me...because Mythic's beta website is a confusing POS.
When you get to the beta access website there are three bullet points in a box, labeled 1-3. If you click the link in the first bullet point you waste your beta key. If you click one of the two links in the third, you use it correctly and get to download the client. I didn't realize the website was a puzzle game . . .
It was too late to get a CS rep on the phone, and I don't have time to wast on something like that during the week. Looked around at my other options, and all I could come up with was a Bittorrent download for the client. OK, grand. Started up the download.....and discovered that it would take at least two solid days to get done. Nine gigs on Bittorrent sucks. Ok, whatever, I'm in no rush.
Three days later, get home from work horribly late. The download is done. Hooray! Install the client get it patched up, and supposedly I only have to wait an hour for the servers to come back up. An hour later they are still down. Hit the Herald, and the time has been pushed back an hour and a half. "Screw that" and I crash. Get up a little after noon, thinking foolishly that I might get to run around and at least see what my frame-rates are like before I run out the door. The servers are down again, indefinitely.
My impression of WAR so far? Mythic does not have it's shit together for this close to launch. Yes I know it's a beta. Maybe my impression will improve once I actually get to log. But their system for getting into the beta sucks (is it open or isn't it?) and their system for downloading the client sucks ("Oh sorry, looks like you wasted your key..."). Server downtime timed perfectly to keep me from logging for another day is only the straw.
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