Originally posted by Papadam

Im disgusted that Jon keeps on defending his article and keep flaming thoose of us who thinks this is a terrible move by Blizzard... When the leader of this site is telling everyone who doesnt agree with him to QQ then there is something very wrong going on here.

Its a sad day for MMOs and for mmorpg.com :(

I have never, in my life, ever told anyone to QQ. I have said, many, many times in this thread, that this is my opinion. That's why I wrote it. You're free to disagree. That's fine. So yes, I stand behind what I wrote. I don't know why that means to you that I'm telling everyone else they can QQ.

Originally posted by Bob_Blawblaw

Originally posted by guy232

Oh please..the Author of this Article can join BLizzard and  Eat a dick. 

Guy make some cheapshot article on the "overraction"  to news.  Basically insulting alot of the mmorpg members. Dont get all heated  when your  the only  one without the sense to  come in out of the rain. 

 

 

While I wouldn't exactly put it like that (in public anyways), I agree in principle. The subject of this article could have been any number of MMO Publisher created atrocities. The fact that he chose this particular one is trivial.

This article is nothing more than a vehicle for Jon to crap on mmorpg.coms readership and stir the pot. While he says he's leaving his own personal opinions out of the article, it's pretty plain to see he has no room for this sight's readers voicing their opinions and fears concerning MMO's, and also proves to me that Jon himself has either never truly invested himself in an MMO (and gotten screwed over because of it) or he has an alterior motive to confronting those who stand up for their rights as consumers by calling those of us who are vocal towards these publishers 'the boy who cried wolf'.

What this article really shows, since Jon is employed by mmorpg.com, and is thereby speaking FOR mmorpg.com here, is that this site itself sides with the publishers, and not the consumers (which is obviously not a shock when you simply look at all the advertising these companies do on this site) and is opting to take a stand AGAINST the MMO playing consumer as opposed to actually trying to be a place where a consumer might come to make an informed decision about a game.

Yes, Blizzard is a business, and RMT is there to make money... and so is mmorpg.com

Terrible, terrible journalism Jon.

Wrong.

You have either a) not fully read the article or b) did not understand the article or, I feel more likely c) deliberately misrepresenting what was said.

First, I said the opposite, this IS my opinion. Hence,the column, which is an opinion piece.

Second, I never told anyone not to confront companies that are legitimately taking advantage of players by using a subscription fee as well as charging for enhancement items and other more typical item shop fare. I simply said that this isn't the time, and complaining so loudly about something that many folks seem to think is trivial will lessen the impact of expressing their opinions when a line is actually crossed in a more concrete manner. This is the actual moral of the story: The boy who cried wolf.

Of course I'm on the side of the MMORPG readers and players. I'm a player myself. The entire point of this article is to protect players and protect the integrity of player concerns by trying to help to make sure that they are listened to and not summarily ignored by companies and CEOs who can simply say: "They complained about X, so they'll complain about anything."

You may not agree with me, and my philosophy. That's your right. But to take what I said so wildly out of context and run me down personally for having a differing opinion is... Well, silly.

But, carry on. you seem to be having a good time, don't let me stop you.

MMORPG.com Free Realms Correspondent Pamela Blalock writes this look at the new soccer mini-game and offers tips on how to become a "soccer star."

There's nothing quite like tripping avatars and scoring on their goalie. That is what I have learned from my time with the soccer mini-game in Free Realms. I like to trip dudes and take the ball right out from under them. It is a tactic you will become quite familiar with while on your way to becoming a soccer star in Free Realms.

Mechanically, you can play as a soccer star relatively well. The controls are awkward though and they take some time getting accustomed to. The scheme seems like it would be much more at home on a controller than a keyboard. If you like Free Realms you will learn to live with it. If Free Realms is more of a passing fancy you might not want to deal with the uncomfortable control scheme.

Read Becoming a Soccer Star.

MMORPG.com's Garrett Fuller recently had the opportunity to sit down and speak with Thomas Lee, the Senior Director of Gamepot USA about their most recent addition to our Game List, bright Shadow.

MMORPG.com:

Tell us about Bright Shadow and what it brings to the MMO space.

Thomas Lee:

Bright Shadow brings highly customizable characters, high-quality graphics, smooth gameplay, and a fairly deep combat system that combines group attacks, summons, transformations, Soul Power abilities, and Monster Card buffs as well as class-based skills to create fun, free experience for all players.

Ok, so that’s our standard answer. Getting more into it, Bright Shadow is a game that doesn’t take itself too seriously, and places an emphasis on the player customizing their gameplay with their friends. We have thousands of items, hundreds of monsters, a plethora of quests, party buffs, guild skills and a vast world for players to adventure in.

On top of that, we’re also adding new content from our side, so players can look forward to some exciting content we have planned.

Read the First Introductory Q&A.

Jaime Skelton returns this week with a look at loot systems in MMOs and their effectiveness amongst players.

World of Warcraft players are generally aware that the newest patch will introduce a new LFG tool, one that forces the Need Before Greed option on any pick-up groups put together through the tool. The Need Before Greed loot option is being changed accordingly to new rule sets, in which in order to roll need, it must be the primary armor type of the class (no mail for paladins, etc.) and must be appropriately statted (no spellpower gear for melee classes.) This naturally upset a portion of the player base, particularly hybrids.

In discussing the change, Ghostcrawler said, "Looting to some extent is always going to have a heavily social component. There's only so much we can do (or should do) to try and 'solve' that problem for players."

The crab is right. Ever since multi-player games have had treasure, loot has been a sensitive social issue among players. Thrust that delicate component into a massive game in which social interaction plays a huge part, and there is no denying that trouble will happen constantly. Feelings get hurt, and not only do personal reputations get hurt, but even the reputations of friends and guilds can get dragged into the mix. I doubt there's a single one of us that hasn't at one point or another been part of loot drama.

Read Player Perspectives: Every Man's Greed.

MMORPG.com's Garrett Fuller spoke with Mythic's Josh Drescher and Jeff Skalski about patch 1.3.2, how it went and what we can expect in the future of WAR.

Yesterday we sat down with Josh Drescher and Jeff Skalski to discuss Warhammer Online's changes after Patch 1.3.2 was put into effect. The game has seen its ups and downs in 2009 and looks to make a come back as we near 2010. Josh and Jeff explain some of the issues the game has had as well as offer solutions for the future.

In discussing Patch 1.3.2 Josh and Jeff explained that performance has been the biggest boost within the game. Many of the performance issues were solved with the patch and the game has been moving better than ever. Josh mentioned that they keep a close eye on performance and constantly look to improve it. They have the performance now at a good base line to be able to work on other areas and get them set up. The team admitted it was the performance that was holding them back from making certain changes, now that they have it in check, they can move forward with other ideas.

Read Looking Back on 1.3.2.

Originally posted by MMO_Doubter

To be fair, use of "QQ" was good enough for the paid writer of the original article.

So much for standards.

Did you even actually READ the article? Stop putting words in my mouth.

I told people to pick their battles, not QQ. I don't use slang like that in any of my articles. If I was going to tell someone to go cry about it. I would say it in plain English.

Originally posted by MMO_Doubter

Originally posted by Gyrus

Couple of points:

Jon Wood - I think you are out of touch with your audience.  

He didn't write it for his audience. He wrote it for his clients.

Gaming sites don't serve their members. Unless they are paying members.

*sigh* Ya know, Gyrus' statement, I personally believe to be incorrect, but at least the statement makes sense. MMO_Doubter, once again you're off base with a nice conspiracy theory. I honestly don't know what else to say to ya on that subject.

In the case of this article, I didn't write it because any advertiser told me to. I didn't write it because I thought it would reflect the opinions of the audience. I didn't write it because I thought it was the opposite opinion of the audience either. I took a subject that was in the news and wrote my opinion on it... Which is the point of a column.

Disagree with me, fine. That's cool. As much as I'd love for everyone to agree with every word I ever say, just because I say it, that just ain't how the world works. So yes, disagree. That's how it's supposed to work when it comes to opinion pieces. I wrote my opinions and backed them up with examples of why I believe them to be true. Some others in this thread have made some pretty good arguments on the other side. This creates a dialogue which, when it comes to disagreements, is the first step toward solving them. Understanding the other side's position is always a good idea.

I'm not trying to write what my audience wants to hear. Everyone wants an un-biased media, I hear that day in and day out. The thing is that someone being un-biased means that sometimes they are going to share your views and sometimes they won't.This is the reason that we have polarized left and right news outlets. Everyone wants to feel like their opinions are the "un-biased" truth, but all opinions are colored by the personal experiences of the opinion holder. Many people believe that if their opinions are unbiased than anyone disagreeing must be terribly biased.

Anyway, that's my rant on the subject. You may all continue beating me mercilessly with a stick.

The team from Quest Online, the folks developing the upcoming MMORPG, Alganon, have provided us with these four new screenshots.

Check out the exclusive screenshots.

Originally posted by Bob_Blawblaw

I hereby reserve the right to claim "I told you so" when things do go south Jon.

I never said things wouldn't ever go south. I just said that what happened yesterday isn't actually proof of anything and that if people keep losing their minds over things that prove nothing, when real proof emerges, and someone cries foul over it, no one will listen.

Originally posted by Khalathwyr

"By raising a gigantic stink about this particular move on Blizzard's part, the only thing that is going to happen is that next time, when a company actually does do something offensive like charge a subscription and offer game-enhancing items within a store, is that no one is going to listen to the horde of people that are crying foul."

For the record this is the first time I've commented on this specific recent topic. Disclosure out of the way, I understand your point but I think you too easily forget that with companies who see the bottom line constantly as you state in your article, it is very common practice to "start" such practices with somethings that seem harmless and "for a good cause". That way they lure people into complacency. Use the "non-essential" items as a test run and to setup the infrastructure needed. Then, after a while, add 1 or 2 items that affect gameplay and release statements downplaying the "degree" of effect they have.

It's a snowball effect. These companies want to justify their actions sometimes by claiming the majority of the customers want this or that. That's why themepark games are being made a dime a dozen. Well, the majority of Western gamers don't seem to want item malls.

They need to take the hint and investigate other ways to get money. Like adding premium servers that cater to various gameplay subsets. I know roleplayers would pay extra on monthly fees for the chance to have more systems that gave more depth and player control. PvPers would also for servers that offered up more options to them. These are things western gamers want! Yet they (companies) consistently ignore them and try to push and edge in things they don't want.

You're making pretty far reaching assumptions here. I mean, sure I suppose this COULD be leading to something more, but I don't think that just because that possibility exists that everyone should assume it to be the case. Looking rationally at this and the other RMT that Blizzard offers like the various change to character options that players have, a pattern seems to indicate that the company's plan is to offer aesthetic options only.

Your statements, said rationally and in an informed way as they were, about the possibility existing that companies might take advantage of something like this are perfectly valid. You said it, you backed it up and made people aware of a possibility. you didn't rage at the top of your virtual lungs.

using the boy who cried wolf analogy: You said - hey guys, there might be wolves in this area so watch out. You didn't say - Sweet jebus, a WOLF! RUUUNNNNN!!!!

I'm not saying that Blizzard won't turn around one day and open a full blown cash shop. I'm just saying that the time to bang on pots and pans, hit panic buttons and scream as loudly as possible hasn't come yet and the more often people do all of those things on this subject, the less effective it becomes.

Originally posted by Khaunshar

Actually, I am not aware of a single game that has yet REQUIRED you to buy something to advance in the game off their cash-shop. Sure, many things make it MUCH easier, make your character much more powerful or add a whole new dimension, but they are not REQUIRED.

That is going to be the basic argument for anyone defending their favorite company using double-dip revenue models. So, if Cataclysm (the next WoW expansion) should, just hypothetically, increase the time to level from 80-85 to a whooping 300 hours, but allow you to buy a potion which cuts it to 30 hours, you will still have plenty of reason to claim its not REQUIRED. Its merely a perk.

I think that might be a bit of a superficial argument, at best. I'm sorry, but there is a clear distinction between something that helps you in-game and something that simply provides aesthetic value.

In the case of your above example, people probably should complain... and loudly. That was the entire point of the article. If everyone screams at the top of their lungs over aesthetic sale items, it makes it less likely that anyone, game company or casual MMOer who doesn't frequent forums, is going to pay any attention if and when a company double dips in the way that you suggest above.

Look, I'm not giving Blizzard or any other company a free pass to screw people over, or to compromise the integrity of the subscription system in their game. I'm simply saying that context is very very important in this case.

Originally posted by streea

But no. Instead you spent all that time going "STOP QQING!" by... QQing. No insight into the industry aside from "the more you yell, the less they'll listen to you" (which is only true of companies that honestly don't care about their playerbase). Not actually adding anything to the massive 200+ string. Instead, it was a giant nerdrage where you're right and they're wrong and those against this should shut up.

Welcome to the world of columns and opinion pieces.

And for the record, the entire article revolves around the encroachment of a different revenue model into the Western MMO market, and how in some cases people over-react to them. This over-reaction to harmless additions is indeed making it easier and easier for those powers that be to ignore the voices of their players. This, in turn, will make it easier for companies to get away with less scrupulous behavior. Who's going to listen to the boy who cried wolf when a wolf actually appears if they've pointed at every house dog that's walked by and screamed bloody murder?

But yeah, it was probably just an un-thought out nerdrage.

MMORPG.com's Jon Wood uses his column this week to look at the recent announcement that Blizzard will be offering in-game pets for real life money and the fan reaction, or over-reaction to the news.

Yesterday, Blizzard announced that they would be adding an in-game shop where players could buy vanity pets, and in characteristic fashion, the MMO world went bat dung crazy. Even my Facebook, which is loaded with MMO folks, was taken over by posts about Blizzard moving to microtransactions.

I swear, the way people react to these things you'd think that item stores were Godzilla and Western players were the poor residents of Tokyo just trying to get away from the damned thing, wrecking everything they know and eating everyone they love.

For the record, they're not, but we'll leave my personal opinions about item mall based games for another rant entirely. Instead, we'll focus on this particular announcement. Comparing this announcement, by the way, with microtransaction revenue models games, is like comparing apples and zebras. It just doesn't make any sense.

Read Wood: WoW Pets and Boy Who Cried Wolf.

MMORPG.com Champions Online Correspondent C.A. Thomas writes this look at teaming and the roles that are required to do it effectively in Cryptic's new superhero MMO.

One of the biggest complaints among players of Champions Online is the strong focus on the solo element of the gameplay, along with the difficulty--or lack thereof. These concerns aren't unfounded, as the majority of the game's main content can be completed pretty easily without the aid of a team. That said, the social and teaming aspects of the game are there for people who wish to take advantage of them and like a bit of a challenge; it's just a matter of taking the initiative and using those features.

The core of effective team play in CO are the Builds and Roles system. With this, you can customize your role in a team and tailor your hero to your immediate needs.

Read A Guide to Teaming.

MMORPG.com writer Chris Higgins takes a look at the first 20 levels in SOE's classic MMORPG EverQuest II, focusing in on the game as someone completely unfamiliar with the EverQuest franchise.

Having never played either Everquest or Everquest 2, I decided to try this game and see how I liked it compared to other games on the market. I am not going to focus on the end game, but will instead focus my attention on the first 20 levels, more than enough for a new player to decide whether he or she likes the game over their first few weeks of play.

I logged into Everquest 2 and was presented with the character creation screen. You first have to select the race for your character. There are good, bad, and neutral races which consist of all your standard races from legends and lore. There are also a few in there that I had never seen before: a Frog race called the Frogloks, a rat race called Ratongas and others.

Read A Noob's Look at EQII.

KingsIsle Entertainment's Josef Hall writes this developer journal kicking off a series that compares Shadowbane, his last project and Wizard 101, his current project. While there are many differences between the two, there are also similarities.

From Shadowbane to Wizard101 - the lessons I've learned developing two MMOs and spending nearly a decade in the online game space. It may seem strange to compare two projects with such different visions and audiences, but as the co-creator of both MMOs, I've found that many of the lessons I learned were the same for both projects. I'm currently the Senior Director of Software Engineering at KingsIsle Entertainment, the independent developer behind the popular family MMO Wizard101. However, my role has never been confined to technology alone and I've been integrally involved in the design, story-telling, and production of the games. So, I'd like to discuss some of the more interesting and, hopefully, helpful lessons I've gleaned by comparing these two projects in their entirety. As I reflect on my experiences, I will delve into various stories and lessons learned from both Shadowbane and Wizard101. Some of the items I will cover include: Vision and Focus, Critical Technology Decisions (scalability, tools, middleware, etc), Limited Expectations, Marketing, Quality and Polish, Crunch, Funding, and more. This first installment will serve to set the stage, providing some background on both projects.

Read From Shadowbane to Wizard 101.

The team at Nexon has provided us with these screenshots and descriptions of a number of different weapons in the game.

Check out Launcher Skills.

MMORPG.com's Jon Wood had the chance to speak with Turbine's Jeffrey Steefel and Aaron Campbell about the upcoming Lord of the Rings Online expansion, Siege of Mirkwood.

MMORPG.com:

Presenting Siege of Mirkwood as a digital expansion is a fairly radical departure from the aggressive retail box release of LotRO's first expansion, Mines of Moria. Is this an indication that a second expansion couldn't hold up to a retail distribution, or are there other factors at work?

Turbine:

Players and the industry should look at this as another example of Turbine exploring more and more ways we can continue to bring quality entertainment to our customers, and provide choice and diversity of offerings. Mirkwood Digital distribution means neither the end of retail LOTRO releases nor the end of free content updates. We are simply doing something different for Mirkwood to bring significant new content to players just a year after Moria, and in the most appropriate way possible for this particular product, and time. We want to continue to provide serial entertainment to players through both free and paid content offerings and this will continue to be the backbone of the LOTRO experience.

Read the Siege of Mirkwood Interview.

MMORPG.com Istaria Correspondent Erin McManaway writes this look at the tight knit community that exists in Istaria, the MMORPG formerly known as Horizons.

What is it about MMORPGs that keep us logging in? Why do we choose to pay a monthly fee for a game when there’s the option of picking up a single player game with no fee at all? There has to be some draw, some magical force that pulls millions of players across the world to join in this genre of online gaming. That one thing is the feeling of connectedness with other people - the feeling of community.

There’s something about logging into a vast online virtual world, one that lives and moves around you, that you just can’t get from single player games. It’s a world that imitates our own in diversity, economics and dynamics. But exactly how important is the factor of community to an MMORPG? Can our connections to other players, guilds and factions be the glue that holds the online world together? The players of Istaria: Chronicles of the Gifted would tell you the answer is without question, “yes.”

Read When Community Really Counts.