Knights Of The Online Republic

One simple quote has brought the Internet to its collective knees:

“We’ve got two of the most compelling MMOs in the industry in development,” said Riccitiello. The first title, based on the Warhammer property, will launch soon. “And the one that people are dying for us to talk to them about — in partnership with Lucas, coming out of BioWare, which is, I think, quite possibly the most anticipated game, full stop, for the industry at the point when we get closer to telling you about it.”

Does Riccitiello mean the oft rumored Knights of the Old Republic Online? “Yes,” he said.

MMO gaming has NEVER looked better. Anyone that thought that the industry died with World of Warcraft was dead, dead wrong.

Busted Punk

It never fails. Every time I talk up a piece of software, such as Punkbuster becoming part of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (WAR), it comes back and kicks me in the balls. Since Mark Jacobs announced that WAR would be using Punkbuster, I've been out on the message boards giving my side of the argument. Punkbuster has never really given me problems, aside from an issue with Quake Wars: Enemy Territory's second demo and a brief stint with a Call of Duty 4 patch. I've dealt with Punkbuster on both the client and server side.

My argument all fell apart when I went to play Call of Duty 4 yesterday.

Punkbuster Failed to Initialize.
Punkbuster Failed to Initialize.
Punkbuster Failed to Initialize.
Punkbuster Failed to Initialize.
You were kicked for PB INIT FAILURE.

No amount of firewall finagling or anti-virus witchery did the trick. All the changes and tweaks suggested by the official Punkbuster support team didn't help. In the end, I was left doing what I always do with computer problems that befuddle me: Google.

A few clicks through Google in search of PB INIT FAILURE fixes and I came across a posting including a download for a new, and supposedly working, PB folder. I downloaded the folder, deleted my old PB folder, and replaced it with the new one. Problem solved. No re-installs, no updating, no nothing. Just a working Punkbuster.

Now I'm curious what Punkbuster support will say about my fix.

Happiness Doesn't Last Forever

When I was a child, I remember watching "The Majik Hour", a local Wisconsin TV show featuring Don Majkowski, the starting quarterback for the Green Bay Packers at the time. I was a bit sad, as Don Majkowski had been injured in a game, and the show was going off the air. Some young quarterback, named Brett Favre, was going to take over as the starter. Seventeen years later, I'm the biggest Brett Favre fan most people will ever meet.

Brett Favre has given the Packers and their fans sixteen great years. Last year, against most predictions, the Packers came within inches of the Super Bowl. So, it was a big surprise that Favre called it quits and retired. However, I don't think many believed that he was actually retiring. The Packers needed an answer from him, and Brett gave them the one that fit the moment: retirement.

The Packers are in a transition period and moves have been made for years to ensure the club could stay a float when Favre did retire. Those moves came to fruition after Favre announced retirement. Up until that point, the Packers team belonged to Brett Favre. Sadly, it is clear that is no longer the case. Favre didn't just retire from the Packers, he retired any claim to leadership within the organization that he had gained over the past two decades.

In the entirety of the Favre retirement saga, Favre NEVER lost the fans. However, as more revelations come to light and Brett fleshes out more of the troubles he has had with the Ted Thompson Packers, Brett is losing ground. Favre is going to be gone at some point no matter what, so it is natural for fans to stick with the team. Too many fans are Packers' fans first, Favre fans second.

Favre has handled his career with grace and tact. He has been a role model, not just for NFL quarterbacks, but for sports stars of all games. But not being happy, and facing the possibility of not playing the game he loves, Brett's hand has been forced. He is going to throw his weight around and try to get what he wants. I don't blame him, but it is not going to look good in the eyes of those that have supported him for so long. They want Favre's legacy to end as honorably as possible, and the current saga is anything but.

I caution Brett Favre. The fans booed you on the way in, they can and will boo you on the way out.

Without the Packers organization and fans, he is going to find the landscape far colder to him than last year's NFC championship game at Lambeau Field. History is a great teacher, and it has taught us that Favre's comeback is going to fail. However, if there is one guy that can make history, it is Favre.

Go Mythic, Go!

Not resting on their laurels, Mythic is firing back against the naysayers claiming that 2/3 of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning's (WAR) content has been cut. They went even as far as putting it all into an Official Capital Cities FAQ.

So you cut 4 of the 6 cities, does this mean I will be enjoying WAR with only 1/3 of its original content?

We did not cut 2/3 of our content; far from it. Before, when our goal was to do six of them, WAR cities were the typical places to go for player services and to just hang out. By focusing all of our energy and effort into two capitals, we have managed to add so much more content than we would have if we had continued pushing to launch all six. Our capital cities are now packed with content and places to explore including: Guild taverns, dungeons, quests, PQs, King encounters, player services, and the most exciting thing of all--now they act as battlegrounds to fight over and protect when under attack. Beyond this, the list goes on and on. WAR now has more content than ever before, and by focusing our efforts we have been able to create a unique experience far beyond our plans when we first set out to make a great game.

Grab a drink and some snacks, this is not a short read.

Also, a great quote out of the FAQ about the platform for future content that Mythic is building.

Do you think you’ll ever revisit the other four capital cities?

Of course! One of the most exciting things about WAR is that while creating a great game for launch, we have also built a solid foundation to expand on for years to come. This foundation has provided us with a perfect canvas for future live content and expansions just as we did for Dark Age of Camelot. We want to see how players handle our first two capital cities worth of content and iterate on that feedback for future cities.

Incomplete, Content

Incomplete

Prior to the Lord of the Rings movies launching, back during filming, word leaked out that the core story was being altered to include a love story between Arogorn and Arwen. Nerd rage ensued, as this was blasphemy to the Lord of the Rings faithful. Peter Jackson, director of the trilogy, eventually made the decision to cut most of the love story that had been added to the script, because it wasn't working out. The love story remained part of the movie, but no where near as involved as it was originally scripted. Guess what, no one screamed that the films were "incomplete". Actually, most people would agree that they were pretty damn good movies, even with just a third of the love story included.

Fast forward to this week's announcements from Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (WAR). People are screaming that what is being left on the cutting room floor will now make the end product "incomplete". Really? Just like the Lord of the Rings movies were left incomplete in the wake of a major plot theme being cut? Peter Jackson had a great saying for the pre-release fans: "Don't worry, it'll be in the Collector's Edition DVDs!". Same as Mark Jacobs saying; "Folks, we'll work on it, and if we get it right, we'll put it in."

Fortunately for WAR fans, an MMO has far more luxury to add in major additions later down the line. However, like movies, MMOs have to come out of the gates swinging to capture an audience before another movie does. There are plenty of people looking for a new movie this year and they will only be satisfied by a movie that makes it to the credits.

Content

It really enrages me to hear people claim that 2/6 of WAR's content will now be missing, so I want to take a few moments to talk about content.

Starting off, capital cities in WAR will be broken down into five different stages and grow with the playerbase. Yes, cities in WAR will level. A major point to this argument is that each new city level will increase the amount of content available to players of BOTH realms, because once captured, enemies gain access to that content as well. In reality, there will actually be ten different capital cities worth of content to explore in WAR. With the announcements, Mythic clarified that they will be adding even more content to the cities now that there is only two, on top of polishing what was already there. How that message is being translated into a loss of 2/6 of the games content is beyond me.

World of Warcraft's guild system is nothing more than a chat channel and a members panel. WAR's guild system will have forty levels, guild standards, a shared guild tavern, guild-claimable keeps, in-game guild calendars, and both of the items mentioned for WoW.

WoW has nine player classes. WAR will have twenty. The "classes are just mirrors of each other in WAR" argument falls flat. If classes were simply mirrors, none of them would be getting cut from release. WAR's classes will have similarities, but all will be unique within themselves, with their own flavor.

WoW's player skill system has three paths available per class, as will WARs. However, in WAR players will be able to gain additional skills from the Tome of Knowledge and Realm vs. Realm ranks.

Oh, and WAR will have the Tome of Knowledge, which Blizzard is trying to match with an achievement system in Wrath of the Lich King. However, we've seen the Tome of Knowledge and it houses ten times the potential of an achievement system being tacked onto an aging game.

WoW has Arena rankings, which followed a failed and abandoned Honor Rank system. WAR will have eighty planned levels of RvR ranks. a system Mythic has perfected over a decade of game development.

WoW has four PvP battlegrounds. WAR will have some as well, rumored to be several more than that available in WoW.

WAR has a Campaign System, culminating in a Capital City siege and capture phase. WoW will have one zone in Wrath of Lich King designed to be an open world siege.

I could go on and continue this vane argument, but what I'm trying to get at, is that we should be standing here and asking if WoW is "complete", because by the measuring stick being leveled at WAR, it sure the hell isn't. It isn't even close. Of course that can't be possible for the Holy Grail of MMOs, so the measuring stick is obviously flawed. I actually agree with that assessment, because the measuring stick is broken. However, as broken as it is, it will be used to measure WAR while WoW sits idly by, immune to the same criticism.

If WAR pulls off what has been SHOWN already, it will be launching on a content platform far more diverse and unified than anything offered by WoW. It will take time to grow that content in quantity, but that is fine when Mythic sticks to quality first. In the end, that approach to quality will keep players interested, just as it has kept players interested in WoW for four years.

What these cuts for WAR tell me is that Mythic is dedicated to sticking to what works and making sure it s done as best as possible, just as Blizzard does. Last I checked, that worked out pretty damn well for Blizzard.