The question, "What game would you unmake?", is floating around the gaming blogosphere currently, and in true form I'm here to chime in with my opinion. As I am fairly narrow minded at times, I'm going to look at the MMOG genre by default.
The game I would unmake? Everquest.
Everything I despise and loathe about MMOGs is epitomized in Everquest. Grinding? Check. Leveling? Check. Harsh death penalty? Check. l33tn3ss? Check. Housing? No. Role-playing? Limited. Player cities? No. Anything other than just playing whack-a-mole? Not really.
Don't get me wrong, Everquest is not the first game to use these mechanics or commit these sins, but it was truly the first large-scale commercial success of the graphical MMOGs. Which in turn spawned the Everquest-clone syndrome that has doomed a hundred projects since. Every developer thought Everquest had it all figured out and subsequently tried to cash in with a game just like Everquest.
Some people will try and argue that World of Warcraft copied Everquest and is now the king of the MMOG hill. Therefore Everquest obviously did something right. But I would argue that WoW took it's ideas from the Diku text-MUDs that inspired Everquest, not from Everquest directly.
In my jaded-gamer view, Everquest also copied the Diku style, but did it in an absolutely horrible way. Everquest was complete and utter trash in comparison to the original Diku style. It added inordinate tedium and frustration to a system that truly worked best in text form over an infant Internet.
Not until WoW launched was the Diku style actually realized properly in a graphical MMOG, and even then it is fairly limited to the leveling portion of the game. The one concession I will ever make for WoW as an EQ-clone, is in the end-game raiding which was heavily lifted whole-sale from EQ (Blizzard just executed it better) and has been fairly directed at the EQ-type of player. However, that is Blizzard's fault for not controlling the former EQers on the WoW development team.
Erase Everquest from the history books and the MMOG genre might actually be at an innovation flood instead of an innovation standstill. Ultima Online, The Realm, Meridian 59, all had better approaches to the online space. All have been ignored.
Don't like my opinion? Comment.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Thursday, March 06, 2008
BREAKING NEWS: Blizzard Hates Shamans
BREAKING NEWS: Shaman's Flame Tongue Weapon buff and Warlock's Life Tap nerf have been reverted on World of Warcraft's public test realm. Show no signs of return. Blizzard cites Arena participation numbers as key determinant. Details at noon.
Ok, I'm not that surprised by the rollback. Blizzard is notorious for announcing big changes, only to baulk on implementation and pull them before patches go live. It is just a bit irritating to see Blizzard quoting "Arena participation numbers", of the top few percent of players, as their reason.
Just a cursory glance at the numbers they provided clearly shows some issues for certain classes. Not to mention, an easily noticed abundance of Warlocks in all brackets. However, I am not going to take the time to poke all the obvious holes in the data provided. I'll just hope Blizzard has someone with a brain looking at more than just what was posted.
I truly hope that Arenas are not the deciding factor in everything that is class balance in WoW.
If anything is true of Patch 2.4, it's been a hell of a roller coaster for Shamans! The patch notes started off quiet, but then Blizzard spilled the beans on their plans to "progressively patch the test realm". Instead of releasing a big list of changes, they decided to slowly roll out various changes to the test realm, announcing them as the test realm updated.
I have to admit, the "progressive" approach is turning out to be one hell of a soap opera. One second Warlocks are finally getting nerfed, the next, its another sad joke on the part of Enhancement Shamans everywhere!
Patch 2.4 isn't as bad as I'm squealing about right now for Shamans. Shamans still receive meaningful updates to Ghost Wolf, Totem cooldown, and the Toughness talent. Shamans only lost an anti-healing buff to Flame Tongue weapon, which would have forced Shamans to lose some burst damage in favor of some anti-heal. Sadly, there is no real change to make non-Restoration (healing) Shamans viable in Arenas.
Oh well, at least Blizzard built the Shamans up a bit this time, before crushing them. At least now, I don't have to get a new offhand weapon for my Shaman, and I can stick with the status quo: WINDFURY OR DIE!!!
Ok, I'm not that surprised by the rollback. Blizzard is notorious for announcing big changes, only to baulk on implementation and pull them before patches go live. It is just a bit irritating to see Blizzard quoting "Arena participation numbers", of the top few percent of players, as their reason.
Just a cursory glance at the numbers they provided clearly shows some issues for certain classes. Not to mention, an easily noticed abundance of Warlocks in all brackets. However, I am not going to take the time to poke all the obvious holes in the data provided. I'll just hope Blizzard has someone with a brain looking at more than just what was posted.
I truly hope that Arenas are not the deciding factor in everything that is class balance in WoW.
If anything is true of Patch 2.4, it's been a hell of a roller coaster for Shamans! The patch notes started off quiet, but then Blizzard spilled the beans on their plans to "progressively patch the test realm". Instead of releasing a big list of changes, they decided to slowly roll out various changes to the test realm, announcing them as the test realm updated.
I have to admit, the "progressive" approach is turning out to be one hell of a soap opera. One second Warlocks are finally getting nerfed, the next, its another sad joke on the part of Enhancement Shamans everywhere!
Patch 2.4 isn't as bad as I'm squealing about right now for Shamans. Shamans still receive meaningful updates to Ghost Wolf, Totem cooldown, and the Toughness talent. Shamans only lost an anti-healing buff to Flame Tongue weapon, which would have forced Shamans to lose some burst damage in favor of some anti-heal. Sadly, there is no real change to make non-Restoration (healing) Shamans viable in Arenas.
Oh well, at least Blizzard built the Shamans up a bit this time, before crushing them. At least now, I don't have to get a new offhand weapon for my Shaman, and I can stick with the status quo: WINDFURY OR DIE!!!
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Favre Retires
Thanks Brett. As a Green Bay Packers fan, born and raised in the heart of Wisconsin, there is not a more iconic character than Brett Favre. He was a superhero, someone I thought I would find in one of my favorite comic books, not on the football field. There he was though, every Football Sunday for the past sixteen years, his #4 hovering over center, poised to strike at any moment.
He set records, won games, lost games, made big plays, but most of all, he played the game the way it was meant to be played. He defined toughness and perseverance, while reminding us that yes, he was still human.
Packers fans lived and died by Brett Favre, watching him match brilliant plays with bad. However, Favre always seemed to come up on top. Broken thumb? Give him a band aid. Bloody puke? Its time for him to throw a touchdown pass. Interception on one of the biggest stages in sports? He's thrown more of them than anyone else, but he's also played more consecutive games, thrown for more touchdowns, won more games, and the list goes on.
Brett Favre, described often as a grizzled gunslinger, never passed up an opportunity at glory. Even in the depths of a losing season, he came to play and fight. In his mind, a win was never more than a gunshot away.
Favre steps down after a year of surprises. The Packers were supposed to be on the bottom this year, they came out a step away from the Super Bowl. Just as opposing defenses often looked on in amazement as Favre threw into triple coverage, the 2007 Packer season amazed everyone that watched.
In my opinion, it is fitting that Favre's last pass, possibly, at Lambeau Field was an interception that cost the 2007 Packers a trip to the Super Bowl. After all, he is only human and was playing in a game that NO ONE expected him to be in. Maybe that is why it is so easy for Favre fans to question whether this really is the end.
Update: 15 July, 2008 - Edited labels and last paragraph in anticiaption of Brett Favre potentially making a comeback.
He set records, won games, lost games, made big plays, but most of all, he played the game the way it was meant to be played. He defined toughness and perseverance, while reminding us that yes, he was still human.
Packers fans lived and died by Brett Favre, watching him match brilliant plays with bad. However, Favre always seemed to come up on top. Broken thumb? Give him a band aid. Bloody puke? Its time for him to throw a touchdown pass. Interception on one of the biggest stages in sports? He's thrown more of them than anyone else, but he's also played more consecutive games, thrown for more touchdowns, won more games, and the list goes on.
Brett Favre, described often as a grizzled gunslinger, never passed up an opportunity at glory. Even in the depths of a losing season, he came to play and fight. In his mind, a win was never more than a gunshot away.
Favre steps down after a year of surprises. The Packers were supposed to be on the bottom this year, they came out a step away from the Super Bowl. Just as opposing defenses often looked on in amazement as Favre threw into triple coverage, the 2007 Packer season amazed everyone that watched.
In my opinion, it is fitting that Favre's last pass, possibly, at Lambeau Field was an interception that cost the 2007 Packers a trip to the Super Bowl. After all, he is only human and was playing in a game that NO ONE expected him to be in. Maybe that is why it is so easy for Favre fans to question whether this really is the end.
Update: 15 July, 2008 - Edited labels and last paragraph in anticiaption of Brett Favre potentially making a comeback.
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
WINDFURY OR DIE!!! World of Warcraft's PvE-PvP Break
A post over at WoWInsider details a bit of frustration coming from World of Warcraft players recently in regards to class changes made by Blizzard in an attempt to balance Arena matches.
Unfortunately, this policy has changed as Blizzard begins a series of directed class and game changes with Patch 2.4 that are aimed squarely at fixing specific Arena problems with little regard to the game as a whole. Enhancement Shamans are getting a semi-overhaul aimed at making them competitive in 3vs3 arenas (quote from dev needed). Drinking is getting nerfed, but only while in an Arena. The Warlock ability life tap, is being significantly scaled back since it is a bit overpowering in Arena matches.
I want to focus on the Shaman changes, because I have played an Enhancement Shaman since late beta. The Shaman changes to the Ghost Wolf, Totem global cooldown, and Toughness help give a little more utility to skills that sparingly see use in PvP and normal play. The totem change will assist greatly in boosting PvE for all Shamans.
One of the main Enhancement Shaman changes, the addition of an anti-healing de-buff to the Flame-Tongue weapon skill, is pin-pointed at improving Enhancement Shamans in only a very specific instance: 3vs3 arenas. In my honest opinion, that is an asinine move on Blizzard's part.
Three out of the four weapon buffs available to Shamans have been all but useless since the game was released. Shamans have pleaded for changes to make them more equally balanced instead of the current standard of WINDFURY OR DIE!!! Instead of admitting that there might be an issue, Blizzard simply tacks on an unneeded addition to Flame Tongue to fix a very specific problem in a very specific instance for a very specific spec.
This just drives me mad. The Enhancement spec is completely pigeon-holed to start with, and now Blizzard makes changes to pigeon-hole them even further in a specific role. I'm not a game designer, but it makes sense to me that class design changes should be aimed at the overall experience of the class, not just a specific instanced problem. For whatever reason, Blizzard has abandoned this approach.
Which brings me to the whole point of this post. World of Warcraft needs to be divided into World of Warcraft: The Game Everyone Enjoys and World of Warcraft Arenas: Serious Business Only. This would allow Blizzard to take far more drastic measures to balance classes for e-Sport competitiveness. Also, it eliminates the gear inflation occurring with the current Arena system. Most of all, it allows those of us who actually enjoy the other aspects of WoW without the hindrance of class changes meant to fix Arenas only (which in turn screws the rest of the game over).
Maybe then, Blizzard could get around to fixing the other weapon buffs for Shamans.
Are we really ready to split the game into World of Warcraft and Warcraft Arena? There will no doubt be a lot of players who want to continue to play their characters in both PvE and PvP, balance be damned. But if Blizzard is as committed as they seem to be to balance Arena as precisely as it needs to be balanced to turn it into a real e-sport, they may have to eventually make the jump and separate the two games completely.I couldn't agree more. Blizzard has reworked classes, rebuilt talent trees, and tweaked classes in the past. Minor changes were often held back and packaged with other changes to ensure a more comprehensive change for the intended class. Also, past changes had a much broader focus intended to fix problems in PvE and PvP. Most of all, they were never aimed at fixing one specific problem in one specific instance.
Unfortunately, this policy has changed as Blizzard begins a series of directed class and game changes with Patch 2.4 that are aimed squarely at fixing specific Arena problems with little regard to the game as a whole. Enhancement Shamans are getting a semi-overhaul aimed at making them competitive in 3vs3 arenas (quote from dev needed). Drinking is getting nerfed, but only while in an Arena. The Warlock ability life tap, is being significantly scaled back since it is a bit overpowering in Arena matches.
I want to focus on the Shaman changes, because I have played an Enhancement Shaman since late beta. The Shaman changes to the Ghost Wolf, Totem global cooldown, and Toughness help give a little more utility to skills that sparingly see use in PvP and normal play. The totem change will assist greatly in boosting PvE for all Shamans.
One of the main Enhancement Shaman changes, the addition of an anti-healing de-buff to the Flame-Tongue weapon skill, is pin-pointed at improving Enhancement Shamans in only a very specific instance: 3vs3 arenas. In my honest opinion, that is an asinine move on Blizzard's part.
Three out of the four weapon buffs available to Shamans have been all but useless since the game was released. Shamans have pleaded for changes to make them more equally balanced instead of the current standard of WINDFURY OR DIE!!! Instead of admitting that there might be an issue, Blizzard simply tacks on an unneeded addition to Flame Tongue to fix a very specific problem in a very specific instance for a very specific spec.
This just drives me mad. The Enhancement spec is completely pigeon-holed to start with, and now Blizzard makes changes to pigeon-hole them even further in a specific role. I'm not a game designer, but it makes sense to me that class design changes should be aimed at the overall experience of the class, not just a specific instanced problem. For whatever reason, Blizzard has abandoned this approach.
Which brings me to the whole point of this post. World of Warcraft needs to be divided into World of Warcraft: The Game Everyone Enjoys and World of Warcraft Arenas: Serious Business Only. This would allow Blizzard to take far more drastic measures to balance classes for e-Sport competitiveness. Also, it eliminates the gear inflation occurring with the current Arena system. Most of all, it allows those of us who actually enjoy the other aspects of WoW without the hindrance of class changes meant to fix Arenas only (which in turn screws the rest of the game over).
Maybe then, Blizzard could get around to fixing the other weapon buffs for Shamans.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
I Can See!
Today is my first day with my first-ever pair of glasses and all I can say is: "wow". I honestly did not realize how bad my vision had gotten. When I sat down in my car after picking up the glasses, I looked at the building and noticed all these little details I could not see without my glasses. There were cracks on the side of the window panes, there was a definite stucco finish to the walls, and I could actually read the sign that said: "Hours: M-F 9am - 6pm".
I am very excited and can't wait to play a game with my glasses on. I can't even imagine what I've been missing. Unfortunately, that may have to wait as my new motherboard isn't arriving until later today and I have a group project to work on tonight. Plus, I will be out of town all weekend :(
Oh well, eventually I will get to see the real World of Warcraft, Team Fortress 2, and Call of Duty 4 I've been missing all this time.
I am very excited and can't wait to play a game with my glasses on. I can't even imagine what I've been missing. Unfortunately, that may have to wait as my new motherboard isn't arriving until later today and I have a group project to work on tonight. Plus, I will be out of town all weekend :(
Oh well, eventually I will get to see the real World of Warcraft, Team Fortress 2, and Call of Duty 4 I've been missing all this time.
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