The Social Hub

When we last looked at the topic of WoW token for World of Warcraft, Blizzard hadn’t yet unleashed the new subscription option onto the market. Now, after more than a week of availability in North America, the option has seen a rollercoaster in the market as those looking to make some cash came up on the demand for the first time. With the tokens costing $20, does this really provide a good service, giving players more options?

While you can often pick up a first person shooter again a while after stopping, changes to a MOBA’s itemization/passives, abilities, hero remakes, and even simply a frequently changing meta can make returning to a MOBA a daunting task. Read on for this week's Social Hub as to what could be done about this problem.

With crowdfunding, it’s important that a game appeal to the potential audience, but also that the developers are able to deliver the most complete project in a reasonable fashion. Yet, with a game like Crowfall, riding a successful Kickstarter campaign as of this writing of over $1.3 million with days to go, one of my biggest pet peeves in the genre has popped up again, and is a huge disappointment: gender locked classes.

Blizzard is heading back into real money trading with the introduction of the WoW Token for World of Warcraft. The recent announcement that players would be able to trade gold or real money for a token worth 30 days of game time in the shop or auction house. Predictably, the sky began falling to some players, while others saw the new option as logical.

With over $72 million in funding raised from crowdfunding, Star Citizen is no doubt an ambitious project that has grown over time. That hasn’t happened without its share of criticism. People wonder where the game is by now. Others criticize the developers for consistently releasing new ships to buy for a game that, as yet, isn’t out. These ships aren’t cheap, either.

Free to play MMOs are in a significant position in the market today, as things have shifted toward a fewer strings attached model over time. First mostly limited to imported, cheaper games funded entirely through cash shops, today' s free to play game may be from a AAA developer or a small, independent one. A new report released last week looks at player retention---how many players continue to play a given game—in free to play MMOs and features some important numbers.

When a game’s payment model shifts, as happened last week with The Elder Scrolls Online becoming the latest game to undergo such a change, there’s always a pattern. The conversation almost always turns to the concept of value in comments flung around the internet like “That game wasn’t worth $15 a month” and “The game wasn’t worth a subscription”.

I’ve spent a good number of hours in Dragon Age: Inquisition since that game’s release. By now, many players have gotten enough of a taste to criticize some of the game’s flaws. By far, some of the more prevalent criticism is in how the game’s vast, open areas, and sidequest types make it feel like an MMO. Contrast that to how many MMO players feel like MMOs have now veered over and feel too much like single player games.

When people talk about their experiences gaming online, especially in MMORPGs, it can often feel overwhelmingly negative. It’s not uncommon to hear that MMOs are irrelevant, too expensive, cash grabs, superficial, and at worst, have ‘communities’ in name only, full of either apathy or trolling. Take your pick. Yet, while the genre has seen shifts over time, there is still something about MMORPGs that remains unique, and brings out the best in online community.

Just over a year ago, in December of 2013, a little game known as DayZ was released to the public on Steam Early Access. Just last week, an anniversary notice, video, and a 2015 roadmap were released to show where the game has been and indicate where it is going. Along with that came an update to the experimental build. Altogether, the game has sold 2,830,000 copies as of December 16th, 2014.

It’s a very common sentiment to hear from people that they want more complex, hardcore MMOs. This is something that even though the age of the hardcore, demanding MMO, where things took forever to happen, where fast travel wasn’t happening, and where lines built up around other players or in-game areas for buffs or completion, is mostly locked in player nostalgia these days.

With the announcement of games like Grass Simulator, and I Am Bread, it seemed like the horse that is the quirky, physics-based simulator game was about to be getting its proverbial execution and subsequent beating. Yet, Coffee Stain Studios, developer of Goat Simulator, unleashed Goat MMO Simulator update upon gamers last week, showing that you can invigorate a game in an unexpected way. The best part may also be that it’s free DLC for the original game’s owners.

WildStar is going through a time of transition. There’s no way around it. Server populations have been on the decline. Key Carbine team members like Jeremy Gaffney, Chris Lynch, and Stephan Frost left for various reasons and that was before NC Soft let roughly 70 people go. The update timeline was officially stretched. About a month ago, the Shade’s Eve Halloween event and the Christmas event, Winterfest, would not be held at all. Megaservers were announced and implemented.

With Warlords of Draenor almost upon us, World of Warcraft is riding a bit higher these days. Player numbers are up, and the hype is kicking in for the release in just a couple of weeks. Yet, Warlords of Draenor is being released in a different MMORPG mood and market this time around, even for Blizzard. Warlords promises a mix of advancement and nostalgia, and it really couldn’t come at a better time.

With changes coming to several games, and the release of others like ArcheAge, I’ve been thinking about player-driven systems and the space a game’s story leaves for players in between. Do things like story, scripted elements, and even predetermined politics necessarily stifle player involvement and fun? Is a sandbox the only way to give players room to feel in charge of their own destinies, or are there alternate paths to make this happen?