Profile: Kindelnol
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• • The 13 year old WoW player myth

  • Of course the WoW player base is not made up of kids anymore. The game is four years old - they all grew up into "big kids" or young adults... <.< >.>

    Seriously though, I think people are referring to mental age. I have met my fair share of mature and immature players. WoW seems to have a community filled with both, which is expected because of its number of subscriptions.

  • Posted: 9/18/08 12:55 PM
    General Discussion
• • Stuff that an AC3 must and must not have

  • Originally posted by Random_mage
    

    I'm starting to think a of poeple on this thread haven't played AC in a while..

     

    First off: Buff levels based on player level.

    BS. At level 9 with spec life magic, I could cast level 5's.  This was self buffed. I should not be penalized becase someone who doesn't spec life magic can't.

    Next: Buff bots. -- Re-introducing spell reasearch is a great idea.  Also, eliminating third party apps would get rid of buff bots.  Third party apps are what spoiled the game.  Not buff bots.

    Lastly, you talk about it being a pain in the ass to have to buff each piece of armor individually.   this was fixed.  You now click on your avatar and cast the spell.  It will cast it on all available pieces at 50 mana + each additional piece. A full buff cycle now takes LESS THAN 4 minutes for ONE HOUR buffs.  This is on a melee with trained life/item/creature.

     

    If you want to limit the total amount of buffs a player can have, go play AO.  It's an old school game. Quite a bit of fun..  and it has buff restrctions.

    
     

    Not sure how much of this post was directed at me. I know I made a suggestion about buff restrictions, but it was not based on level, instead it was based on a skill. That way mages would get the better end of the stick and others hopefully wouldn't be as reliant on buffs as they were.

    I know I suggested a fix to item magic. Wasn't aware they had changed it at all.

    I don't think it is a secret that many of us haven't played AC in quite some time o_O

    For your last comment, I have played AO and I did not like it. Funny thing is, even with ACs obvious problems, it was the best MMO out there, even to the current MMO standards. That's my opinion at least.

  • Posted: 8/22/08 4:52 PM
    Asheron's Call
• • Fleshing out penalties

  • As I mentioned in my post, I am in favor of item loss upon death. Like Illius said, it added an element of danger. One can call these type of moments simple nostalgia, but I would say there is a reason I remembered it in the first place.

    I never played EQ, but I think I could take the death penalty it offered. As has been established, those days are gone. Games need to cater to crowds with different tastes.

    I understand your problem with death penalties, Mylon. In an effort to moderate my playtime, I restricted myself to only one night of play in one MMOG (I still eventually got addicted to it and quit in order to fight that addiction). This night only consisted of a few hours. One might think that I would not want to waste anymore time than I had to on corpse runs, but I still enjoyed it immensely. My father is another example, he could only play about an hour a day. He did lose equipment. Even today he wishes the current MMOGs offered some sort of penalty/risk to one's actions.

    Really, it boils down to the type of person, I suppose. Some people want it to be easier so they do not have to fight the game with such inconveniences. Some people do not want to risk much for their rewards.

    That is why I am asking what other options of penalties there might be. It is also why I think loss of something like level or loot should be (unfortunately) avoided.

    I don't think games should be easy. For me, it diminishes the rewards and feats I attain into nothing but fleeting goals that feel meaningless after I accomplish them (many times while in the process of accomplishing them). I hate this. People talk about how penalties are a waste of time. I find unimportant "accomplishments" an even greater waste of time.

  • Posted: 8/15/08 8:25 PM
    General Discussion
• • Fleshing out penalties

  • Today, most players do not want much of a penalty for anything they might do.

    Psychologically speaking, punishment and positive reinforcement can actually propel addiction and enjoyment. Take gambling, for instance, where the majority of the time people lose, yet, they persist, hoping for the jackpot or that next minimal win.

    In MMOGs the ideas that form penalties are conceptualized in Risk vs. Reward.

     

    Should there be any penalties? What is the right mix? What are alternative penalties? Should the player be risking anything at all?

     

    I do not believe that penalties (like the player death penalty) are out-of-date, as some have proclaimed. It seems that the right mix has yet to be found. I understand the issues. If the penalty is too great, it may detour players from playing, finishing a dungeon, risking anything, or simply enjoying the game.

     

    This does not mean penalties should not be added. It simply means that a new approach should be taken. Penalties like major experience, item, stat, or character loss are generally intolerable. Some do not mind some of these types (I can deal with item loss). Others cannot stand any one of them.

     

    So, the main question is: what then should be risked and furthermore be lost?

     

    I mainly speak in terms of death, but this is not the only area that might receive some form of invested risk and potential penalty.

     

    My own idea does not promote any of these intolerable features listed before to the penalty. Upon death, the player returns to his home point, whatever that might be. He loses nothing. He may want to retrieve his remnants though, because by doing so, he “erases” the occurrence of the death. Essentially, the death will no longer register for him.

     

    Perhaps, by surviving longer (by always retrieving your remnants), the player will find that certain things increase. Maybe experience potential will increase. Maybe luck of loot drop will increase. It can even favor PvP as a player can go a period of time, collecting kills, yet not completely dying himself  (the question here would be whether or not the number of kills should continue to register even after the deceased retrieves his remnants). In the latter possibility, an obvious concern would be corpse-camping. There are means to stop this, but it may also add a new risk/danger in retrieving the remnants.

     

    I want to hear your ideas. What are the alternatives that might please a wide range of players?
  • Posted: 8/15/08 5:53 PM
    General Discussion
• • Anyone else miss group grinding?

  • I have played a few quest-based games, and while my primary reference is WoW, the others seemed to pose similar problems with grouping for quests. For almost all of these games, quests are used in order to hide the grind by providing objective-guided grinds. In WoW, I have tested it, and I move way slower questing with a group. In LotR, I find that it depends on the quest. I liked how LotR had quests that were simply better to do with a group. Others seemed to be better to do alone.

    One of my main complaints is that there is not much of a bonus that could greatly improve the levelling. In addition, players are not very loyal with group quests and primarily aim at completing the quest for them and them alone.

    In group-grind based games, I find there is far more interaction. You care about other players because it makes a difference as to how well you will do. This is true for games that encourage both the divide-and-conquer method (Asheron's Call) and the one-at-a-time method (FFXI). The players are typically more loyal in my experience, though, if another player is casting a major weight toward the group, that player may be discharged. I even find that I make more friends this way.

    In WoW, I have played the entire levelling aspect of the game and made no friends whatsoever (I eventually made temporary friends at endgame). Also, with random PUGs, you can meet very unique people which might even become good friends later down the road. Though, this might be true for instancing in other games, it has never happened to me because most people are their for gear and that is all. The only place you tend to meet people will be in guilds.

    Another aspect that I like about group-grinds is the flucuation. It sucks to enter a group that does not even remotely impress you. On the other hand, it is absolutely unbelievable when the group does impress you. It is enough that I personally do not get bored. I am inspired to do my best for better levelling.

    I question how many of the newer gamers have truly tried the style of group games we are talking about. Many claim to but it seems hard to believe sometimes. Oh well, it seems players that like group levelling, and the related content, are in the minority.

  • Posted: 8/15/08 5:11 PM
    General Discussion