For people who aren't yet in closed beta, be grateful.  Early phases of closed beta in games are rife with bugs and horrid-to-the-point-of-being-almost-unplayable performance.  Do you really think STO would be any different?  If so, could I interest you in this cute little tribble?  He's perfectly harmless.  I promise.

 While such a class can be a lot of fun in a single player game, I have serious misgivings about it in an MMO.  Yeah, it's really cool that the player is able to clear an entire level without triggering an alarm, but what are his friends doing in the meantime?  Alt+tabbing so that they can play hearts while they wait?

Originally posted by artemisentr4

Originally posted by junzo316

Originally posted by qombi

Everyone has pets now to do skirmishes? What is this a solo game? Why not grab another person playing instead? I don't think I want any part of this solo MSO (Massively Solo Player Online)

 

You can also group if you wish.  Apparently, you haven't played because there is a lot of group content and more is being added with the expansion.

 

I see no problem with options. Solo, 3, 6, 12 man for skirmishes is fine. You can also increase the difficulty as well. The 12 man will have the most rewards and easy solo the least. What is wrong with that?

Grouping and interaction is always the best way to play MMO's. The problem is that your friends may not be on or you don't have a lot of time and you would just like the option to try skirmishes. Or any other option available. Just because you can play solo doesn't have to mean everyone will play solo and never group.

What's more, if you do go on a 12 man raid version, each person will still have his or her own follower.  That means that the developers are able to craft the challenge of a 24 man raid, without requiring players to deal with the massive headaches involved with trying to get such large raiding parties together and organized.  And a small group of friends can also enjoy the challenge of a 12 man raid.

Originally posted by dreamscaper

Originally posted by Mrbloodworth

Originally posted by dreamscaper

I'll admit that I'm looking forward to this expansion. However, the one thing I'm not looking forward to are skirmishes. Everyone seems to be horribly overestimating how dynamic these are going to be. Let me bold this for emphasis.

The only thing dynamic about skirmishes are which monsters you'll be facing, which scale to the size of your party.

That's it. The areas are static. The objectives are static.  Just the monsters. All in all, I've seen nothing that separates this system from the crafting instances, other than the scaling. Which is nice, but at the end of the day, I still have the same problem with it - I don't want to run the same stuff over, and over, and over, and over. I don't care how dynamic you think it is, it's simply not as good as fresh content.

Granted, I'd rather have it than not have it in the game - more stuff is always better. But I wish they'd focus less how much they can make us grind the same content and focus more on the content that really makes the game (the book quests).

I'll receive the expansion automatically, so I'll definitely be playing. But if it proves to be more of the asinine hamster wheel they put us on in Moria, I'll be canceling my subscription very quickly.

<3

 

Developer Diary: SoM Skirmishes: Randomization and Scaling

 

I've read that dev diary, yes. It basically just confirms what I said above?

Which is less monotonous and predictable?  This skirmish system, or every WoW dungeon ever made?

Turbine is taking things in the right direction.  Why bash them for it?

I'm really mystified by all the haters on the skirmish system.  One of the biggest complaints that I see from people who say they don't want to play LotRO is that "there's nothing to do at the end game".   This system helps to remedy that.  It also goes farther than that in many ways.  Let's compare LotRO to the WoW juggernaut.  I will compare apples to apples by only looking at the PvE side of things.  (Yes, WoW has way more PvP options than LotRO -- although I find that most of it amounts to repeatedly grinding the same battlegrounds or arenas, or getting ganked while you're trying to quest.)

While leveling your character, WoW provides two types of content:  quests  and the occasional dungeon.  LotRO now provides three types:  quests, book quests, and skirmishes.  There is more overall quest content in WoW, which means that you can play a couple characters to max level without repeating much.  LotRO has taken steps with this, but there are still stretches where you'll repeat a fair amount of content.  But questing is still questing.  The LotRO book quests are much like WoW's dungeons.  They just happen to be spread across multiple instances, breaking the content up into bite-sized chunks.  Total time investment if you run the whole thing from start to finish is about the same as a WoW dungeon.  Rewards are also similar -- a step up from standard quest rewards.  Both games also have achievement systems, although in LotRO these result in actual gameplay benefits for your character.  Then LotRO also has the skirmishes, which are mini-dungeons that anyone can access because they do not require full parties.  WoW lacks this, which means that LotRO has one more type of PvE leveling content than WoW does.

Now let's look at end game.  Once you're at end game in WoW, what's left?  You can go back and pick up various achievements.  Ditto for LotRO, but again the LotRO deeds actually mean something for your character.  Or you can repeat the same full party dungeons.  Ditto for LotRO, which does have fewer of these.  But LotRO also adds small party dungeons and the solo (crafting) dungeons.  In other words, LotRO may have less of this kind of content, but they have tried to make the content more accessible to different types of players.  Both games also have raids, which represent the major gear grind.  Again, WoW has more of this type of content -- but there are a large number of players in both games that absolutely hate raids because they are a massive grind.  And now LotRO also has skirmishes.  These provide additional solo, small group, full group, or raid content so that they can appeal to all types of players.  For the raiding crowd, they also provide an alternative way to get geared up for the big raids.  

The upshot is that of the two games, WoW has more of each type of content and will continue to do so for some time.   However, LotRO has the greatest diversity of content and does a far better job of reaching out to the solo or small party type of player.  Once at max level, WoW basically ignores these important player types.  I think that's a mistake on WoW's part.  A large percentage of their player base is basically told, "change what you like, or re-roll."   LotRO appreciates those players.  And even the most hard-core raider can't do that all the time.  LotRO recognizes that sometimes a raider is on his own or only has a few friends on.  It's now providing content that you can jump into when that happens.  And because this content can be used to get raid entry gear, it also provides a way to nudge the solo/small group crowd into maybe trying some content that they wouldn't otherwise give a chance.

The "nothing to do at end game" argument can now finally be thrown out.  And everyone wins in the process.

Originally posted by Aramanu2

been a while since ive played lotro, like before moria came out.

but is this siege of mirkwood pvmp? or is it still.. only ettenmoors?

For now the Ettenmoors will remain the only PvMP zone.  SoM raises the level cap by 5, leading to the massive dungeon you see in the pics.

It makes perfect sense that they can't open the servers at maximum capacity. Not only do they need to encourage balance across all servers, there's also the matter of player density. At launch, EVERYONE is packed into two starter zones. Remember Ironforge when WoW first launched? There's only so much that any server and engine can manage. So at launch, the server cap needs to be the lowest it will ever be. As people move out of the starting zone, they can raise the cap without overtaxing the starter zone density.

I believe that NCSoft played it right here.  For one thing, we are seeing the queues fade.  Yesterday was launch day, and I still only had a 25 minute queue -- similar to what I experienced on my server when WoW first launched.  That's much better than the 2 hours that people were seeing on the same server during head start.  

What good would opening up more servers now do?  Would you leave your current server to jump to whatever new one opened?  If not, why do you think anyone else would?  We've already got friends and legions that we're running with, to say nothing of the time invested in our characters so far.  Would another server stop someone's friend from rolling on a high population server so they could play together?  Really, the only people who would be affected by new servers opening are those who are just rolling up new characters today.  But there are already lower population servers with no queues, so it's not like new players don't have someplace to go.

We've seen other games launch and then add new servers too quickly.   Most notably, AoC and WAR.  Now look at them.  One of the reasons many people quit those games was the complaint that the games' key areas were ghost towns.  What fun is a PvP-focused game if there's nobody to fight?  NCSoft clearly recognizes that there will be attrition after the first month.  There always is.  It's better for the game's long term to suffer through some queues at the start than to lose people later thanks to empty servers.

 Very good guide with great info.  Thanks for sharing!

 I can understand why Sony created EQ2.  It's actually very simple:

All games run on an engine.  There is only so much that any given engine can support.  No matter how cutting edge that engine may be to begin with, there will come a time when it just can't be pushed any farther.  The graphics look dated.  New mechanics can't be added.  And on top of that, the original programmers moved on to other things, their replacements since moved on, and maybe even THEIR replacements as well.  Which leads to a point where nobody even understands the code enough anymore to change things without requiring a complete overhaul from top to bottom -- something that would actually take less time and money starting from scratch with a new engine.

SOE wanted to update the look of EQ with bleeding edge graphics.  Unfortunately, in the process they actually pushed it too far and reached a level where most computers couldn't even begin to dream of running max settings.  Even today -- five years later -- most machines can't max out EQ2.  The reason for this is actually due to the dead ends that they  forced themselves into by trying to do too much to begin with.  For example, we now have multi-core computers being commonplace, but SOE can't implement support into EQ2 without completely rewriting the engine.  They put themselves in too much of a corner.  Ironically, EQ2's graphics look way, way more dated than WoW's even though WoW runs great on almost every computer out there.  

That's an example of where Blizzard did it right, actually.  They set the entry threshold for the engine very low, relying more on style than on gee-whiz features to make the game look how it does.  Over time they have been making tweaks to the engine to make the game better looking.  WotLK included a new ice shader.  Cataclysm will have a new water shader.  We've also seen blob shadows give way to real shadows and even ambient occlusion.  Where EQ2 went berzerk with bump mapping (at a time when most computers didn't even have enough video RAM to handle twice as many texture maps), WoW has waited.  Now they not only have the option of bump but also normal mapping or even parallax mapping.  I'm honestly shocked that they've never added normal or parallax as it would make the game look so much better.  But that's not the point of this post.

What I meant to say from the start is that over time player expectations rise to a point where a game's developers can no longer meet those expectations with the original technology.  At that point they have no choice but to release a new engine.  Most of the time, a sequel makes the most sense for this.  If done right it could bring new customers into the fold without losing old customers.  Sony messed up by pushing too far.  Square and ArenaNet will hopefully learn from what SOE did wrong.  It's very, very rare for a developer to do what we saw with EVE Online, releasing a whole new engine as a free update.

Bill Roper:  The recent change in the game's experience curve during open beta is a great example of this. A group of very vocal and passionate players became enflamed over the changes. The experience shift was indeed dramatic, but we quickly worked to inform players that this was not the last change, and that we were going to be moving things back the other direction. The passionate discourse began, and while some people were willing to see what was going to happen with the next course correction, others would not be swayed from their belief that we had utterly destroyed their game and wouldn't be doing anything to make it better.

Describable:   listening my ass... or the wouldn't have screwed up the XP in the last few days of Open Beta, i mean you could kill Black Talon easily at level 4, but since he's dropping level 5 items, it makes it a bit weird with balance.

There's irony for you...  

Originally posted by Khalathwyr

Sanya, if you think that Vulcan image is something the ST license holders wouldn't approve, well, sister, you don't know jack about Star Trek.

From the Original Series:

To Enterprise (and trust me, there are some shots of T'Pol here that are way more revealing; search "mirror T'Pol...and yes, they are shots from the series)

 

and we'd be remiss to forget Voyager's Seven:

 

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm a red-blooded heterosexual male. I'm not going to find offense with any of those pictures there. That said, an attractive woman on the cover of a product won't blind me to the flaws of said product. Understandable the vast majority of my gender doesn't work that way. If anything putting a scantily clad woman on a video game to me is a warning that what's in the box isn't all it's cracked up to be most times.

Actually, the original Star Trek was forced to abide by the studio's very strict moral guidelines.  In truth, they wanted to push the limits a lot more than they were able to.  For example, they were stuck with rules preventing a woman's belly button from being seen.  (Maybe lint gathers there?)  The underside of breasts was equally taboo.

All of this ultimately lead to one of the earliest ST:NG episodes (Justice, if I remember right) where the costume designer seemingly delighted in breaking EVERY taboo from the original series.  Among other things, the women wore outfits that revealed both belly buttons and the undersides of their breasts.  

Anyway, thanks Sonya for another great read.  This one was a hoot!

 Very nice read, and I enjoyed seeing the results of your efforts during beta.

That being said, you made one big mistake during the pre-ascension quests:  There are many times when the NPC's call you a Daeva.  They're not supposed to know that yet.  Heck, even YOU aren't supposed to know it.  (Or at least, your character's not.)  Any places that make that kind of reference damage the great work you've put into immersion.  Hopefully you can find and edit those out soon!  (Of course, this also negates the "I can die, but you can't" excuse that any NPC's might give for asking you to do something during those first 10 levels.)

Just a minor observation.  :)  Great work, overall!

 One of the coolest things is that in many cases you know it's a place you've seen before and even adventured in, but has changed so much that you can't quite be sure where it is.

I'm really glad that Blizzard has chosen to advance the world.  One of the big downfalls of persistent world games is that the worlds are just a bit too persistent.  Nothing ever changes.   This is going to mix that up a bit.

I also have to say that this expansion has excited me in a way that previous ones haven't.  The other two had new locations, but it was all merely interesting.  I couldn't really get excited about them because there was no sense of attachment to it.  This expansion is taking places we know and love -- places we've spent five years of our lives in -- and trashing them.  This time, it's personal!

Thanks for the write up.  Overall, I agree with you.  I don't know how well either game will hold up for me long term since I only reached 20 during Aion's beta and 13 in CO so far.  

One thing I should point out is that while Aion is gorgeous, it's not without its graphical flaws.  There have been many places where I have spotted really crappy low-res textures in Aion.  This is usually on hillsides.  For example, in the Elyos starting area as you're moving in toward where all the mushrooms are (I forget the name of the quest giver who stands right there).  Go only a few feet up any of those hillsides and you'll see the horrible texturing.  With Champions I really hated the art style in the screen shots.  But now that I've been playing it I've come to really like it.  Neither game is without flaws in this department.  Which is better really comes to personal preference.  Overall, though, it's like comparing apples to oranges since the styles are so radically different.

Regarding your review, I would like to make a suggestion.  Please pay close attention when writing to your use of the word "now".  You used that word to start 19 sentences in this very short review; sometimes more than once in the same paragraph.  Not only is it poor grammar to use the word in that particular manner, but it grows extremely tiresome for the reader.  I started getting to a point where I was being distracted from the content of what you were writing thanks to the style in which you wrote it.  Please don't take this the wrong way.  I'm pointing it out simply as constructive criticism.  :)

 Sorry for the all-caps in the thread title, but I wanted to help people as much as I can which meant getting their attention.

I finally got fed up with restarting the patcher when it hung and then got distracted.  When I looked back, I noticed that the "Received" had progressed even though the title bar's % figure hadn't changed.  So I've been paying it attention on and off for the last half hour and have learned that it's best to simply do nothing.

Occasionally the received speed will drop to nothing and it seems like the patcher has stalled.  But as long as the dots are moving under the progress bar that means it's still trying to get the data.  I'm now up to 7% patched, and still going.

So don't panic, and don't restart the patcher unless it actually locks up. (Which would require a force quit  -- as long as the "close" button in the title bar still highlights when you mouse over it, the patcher isn't locked.)  It may take forever, but it will get there.

8.7% now...

See you in the game!  Maybe.  :)

Originally posted by Ozmodan

Originally posted by Richijefe

Originally posted by Ozmodan

These asian games with the set up shops anywhere mentality make me wince.  I just hate when they do that, all it does is create a lag fest on the main streets of the towns.  It would be so easy to set up a market area and only allow shops in those areas.  Of course a simple solution like that is beyond the intelligence of the typical developer, NCSoft's included.

 

Obviously you have no bothered to even play the game before making such statement. Aion does not lag even if there is hundreds of people sitting with their shops in the same spot, so your "problem" is already solved.

 

Well gee, I apologize for not having a supercomputer as a gaming machine.  It most certainly lags when I am in a major city and always around major shop keeping areas.   Sometimes I wonder about the ability of some of these posters to actually think before they write!

One handy tip for you:  If you do get in a situation that's lagging you out due to population, simply change the instance.  There are ten channels for each zone.  You can go to the Support button to find an option for changing channels.  Low channels have high populations because the engine fills them first.  High channels tend to be empty except for the occasional loner.  

It takes ten seconds to change to the new instance and then... lag gone!

Personally, I play in the higher channels because it's less competition for objectives and resources.  But I switch to channel 1 any time I want to set up shop (or see what shops are around) because I know that's where I'll find the most buyers and sellers.

Originally posted by Richijefe

Originally posted by Ozmodan

These asian games with the set up shops anywhere mentality make me wince.  I just hate when they do that, all it does is create a lag fest on the main streets of the towns.  It would be so easy to set up a market area and only allow shops in those areas.  Of course a simple solution like that is beyond the intelligence of the typical developer, NCSoft's included.

 

Obviously you have no bothered to even play the game before making such statement. Aion does not lag even if there is hundreds of people sitting with their shops in the same spot, so your "problem" is already solved.

I agree.  I've been in the popular shop areas when there were easily 50 shopkeepers sitting around.  There was no problem with performance.

That said, anyone who sets up shop where there are already more than three or four present is a total idiot.  Once more than a few players have set up, nobody bothers to even read your store message anymore to say nothing of actually looking at your wares.  You're much better off choosing a quest hub of the same level as the stuff you're selling.   You'll have fewer players come by, but they'll be much more likely to actually want what you have and also more likely to stop and look.

Another tip:  Don't be vague in your shop message.  You don't have all that many characters to work with, but "Miscellaneous stuff, cheap" gets much worse results than, "Lvl 7 greens and whites, 50% of default price" or, "Lvl 9 Greens:  spellbook, swords, and chain chest".  By being specific about what you're selling, you're pre-qualifying your customers.  People know they won't be wasting their time by checking your shop, and so will be much more likely to do so.

Originally posted by Cryptor

Everyone who pre-ordered will know if this is godo or not before it goes retail.  Anyone else who wants to will also get into open beta.   So anyone who might be interested in lifetime sub can easily find out if it is worth it.

I assume that at least those who pre-ordered willk always have the option to purchase a lifetime sub.

Everyone who preordered will know if the beginning of the game is good or not before launch.  We won't have a clue about its staying power yet.

I remember AoC, where my guild had a blast for the first couple months before the horrible later game became apparent.  Then there was WAR, which wasn't as bad but still didn't have enough staying power to keep us.  It's just two big of a gamble to make such decisions with only two weeks of play to decide with.

IF I enjoy the open beta for the two weeks, I may decide to buy a six month subscription.  Odds are good that the lifetime sub won't disappear after September 1.  They'd be crazy to do that.  It's only the extra perks that will be taken off the table.  

Originally posted by Comnitus

I've seen the game, and it doesn't particularly impress me. That might be because I've seen it, but haven't played it. Many things look mediocre or lame when you're watching, but when you get to play, your opinion changes rather quickly. I'm not a huge fan of the art style (ballerina combat and having to asking whether that's a dude or a girl is how I see it... nevermind ridiculously unrealistic armor and weapons) but I can get over it if the game's good enough.

I'm sorry, but this part of your post really cracked me up.

Blood Elves, anyone?  Those are hands-down the most effeminate men ever to grace a gamer's screen.  And having played Aion and worked with its character creator it's clear to me that you really haven't seen anything other than the stock footage.  You can make the men girly, but you can also make them extremely masculine.  It's a matter of personal taste, rather than a game limitation. 

As for the armor - when has WoW's armor EVER been realistic?  Especially at the higher levels, when you get into the various raid sets? 

 I still think that the ideal solution would be to have exactly what they have described here -- but also have the option of rotating players into any of the bridge crew slots.  This would give those who want a shared bridge crew experience exactly what they want without ever forcing anyone to group.  None of your friends available right now?  Use the NPC crew.  A couple friends on?  Play with them.  There is even precedent in canon for this.  Several times throughout all the series there have been people temporarily added to the bridge crew or away team.

The catch, as some people have mentioned before, is that Cryptic would have to come up with things for these players to do.  I don't think that's so impossible.  I still have many fond memories of playing the Star Trek Starship Tactical Combat Simulator, which had an option for using a crew of players.  It worked well and was a lot of fun.