The new Everquest 2 : Trial of the Isle

So as I stated a while back I was going to play the Everquest 2 : Trial of the Isle after the new changes were made to it. The boat ride is gone, the old isle is gone, and the class system has been rebuilt.

What I immediately noticed was the change to the classes. Instead of picking a base class you get to select your final class upon creation. This opens 16 different unique classes for you to try instead of the old four base classes. This means you actually get to use every last drop of EQ2's Trial of the Isle instead of running out of classes to try in a few hours!

The next big change that I noticed was the removal of the "introduction". Instead of learning how to move and interact via a voice guided tour on the boat you are just dropped into the world in front of an NPC. This is a change for the worse. The boat was a great introduction to the game and the voice acting really got you into the mood to adventure! This wasn't a big problem for me, but a new player could be turned off if they can't figure out to click on the NPC in front of them.

To learn about various features in the new TotI question boxes appear in the upper right. You are never directed to click them, but if you do you get a quick blurb of information about something that may have just happened. It is a poor system to introduce the player to the interface.

Another detracting point; the Isle is void of all voice overs on quests. This is a huge negative change. EQ2 prided itself on the voice overs! The voice overs added a lot to the game in the original TotI. This is EQ2's big show to win over new players and the removal of such a key feature is a huge mistake. Maybe the voice overs are being reworked?

Aside from the removal of voice overs and the tutorial introduction the changes to TotI are all positive. There are actually two Isles now; one for the good side and one for the bad side. Both isles offer different quest lines doubling the content of the trial. The map however is the same as the old TotI, but that is nothing major as its the content within that map that counts!

The new quests offer a better variety of quest types. There are kill quests, collection quests, escort quests, and even some good item interaction quests available. This familiarizes the new player with various NPC quest interactions that will be vital later in the game.

The quests also seem to make more sense to the world at large. You come into the world understanding there is a war between the good side and bad side. The new quest lines will have you learning a little bit more about the world events that have occurred. While there is events that strictly limited to the isles you still get the feeling that you are preparing for something bigger by the time you leave the isle.

Stay tuned for my commentary on a few of the classes I’ve tried and even hear about the little bit of role-playing I just may have done.

Why letting Star Wars Galaxies die is the best thing that could happen... for Star Wars fans

On the heels of some pretty bad press coverage (Washington Post, CBS, etc.) and the cold hard facts that focus groups just don't like the changes to Star Wars Galaxies I have something to say. Letting SWG die is the best thing that could happen if you are a Star Wars (and MMORPG) fan.

It is unlikely that SOE would let SWG die, but it is very possible that they will rollback the NGE. Rolling back the NGE would be a toss up to whether the game could survive. My guess would be that any major change would completely alienate any remaining fan base and possibly push Lucas Arts to pull the license.

I am not an expert on licensing, but I couldn't imagine Lucas Arts letting the Star Wars name be dragged through the mud by the national media much longer. Lucas Arts was a driving force behind the changes to make the game more "Star Warsy" and I doubt they are pleased with the results. So I will blame both SOE and Lucas Arts for the current state of the game. After all we know Lucas Arts had to sign off on moving the time line forward and allowing Jedi to appear all over the place.

So what does this all mean for the Star Wars fan that is still looking for the game where they can experience the Star Wars universe in all its glory? If SWG was to die it would be very possible that the license for a Star Wars themed MMORPG could be up for grabs. That is a tempting prospect for any MMORPG developer with the current state of the market.

World of Warcraft has proven there is a market for MMORPGs that extends beyond just Everquest's 500,000 subscribers. In fact it extends far beyond that. The market is global for MMORPGs that want to support a huge development cost. While Star Wars is a global name it is unknown what sort of following a Star Wars game would have in the heavy gaming countries of China or Korea. World of Warcraft is one of the only games to really succeed in both the East and West.

What I do know is that a new Star Wars MMORPG would generate a ton of buzz. First of all there is SWG that has a few years under its belt that has taught us a lot about what the gaming and Star Wars communities want out of a game. We know that space flight and combat, action inspired game play, and Star Warsy"ness" are all required. We know there isn't people lining up to be Moisture Farmers. We also know there is plenty of wannabe Jedi in the galaxy.

A new Star Wars MMORPG should have a pretty solid understanding of what to build. It would be an exciting development period as SWG critics, SWG fanbois, Star Wars fans & critics, and MMORPG fans all battle to get a game that will bring the excitement that the Star Wars films and MMORPGs have brought to millions of fans. Star Wars galaxies is better dead than alive.

Update: 29 Nov, 2009 - Edited post, corrected spelling, and applied labels.

World of Warcraft patch 1.10 Test Realm notes

Click here for the World of Warcraft patch 1.10 Test Realm patch notes.

Comments:

Weather has been added to several areas of Azeroth. Good change that add to an already immersive graphical style.

"Along with the new Armor Sets, the high-level 5-10 man dungeons have received some changes regarding loot. Many items have been improved in quality and use. In addition, several epic items, such as Headmaster's Charge and the Runeblade of Baron Rivendare, have had their drop rates significantly increased. In order to preserve the challenge of these dungeons, they have had their instance caps lowered. Stratholme, Scholomance, and Blackrock Depths now allow a maximum of five players inside, and Blackrock Spire allows a maximum of ten."

Finally Blizzard is getting a clue that challenge should rewarded instead of the number of people in the group. Just because a raid group has 40 people does not mean they should be rewarded for an easy jaunt through Molten Core. A hard five man dungeon should reward the player just as well (if not better) than a raid instance.

"Previously, quest experience was wasted if one completed a quest at level 60. In this patch, any quests done at maximum level will have their experience reward converted to a healthy amount of gold, thus adding additional incentive to completing those quests in your log once you hit 60."

Great way to reward veteran players... oh wait... whats that? You already did most of the quests? Oh sorry you are SOL. Great for the long run after the Burning Crusade expansion and people begin hitting level 70.

"You will no longer lose your current target when affected by a crowd control spell (e.g. Fear, Polymorph etc...)"

A change I had requested long ago! Sometimes it's the little changes that count!

"Frostwolf and Stormpike faction will now be gained by killing players of the opposite faction. Reputation will no longer be split up among the entire raid group."

Bye bye stupid collection quests and bye bye reputation gain in Alterac Valley for just sitting AFK. You actually have to kill people to get rewarded with reputation. Really sucks for the players that avoid fighting to complete objectives, but Alterac Valley was never really a worthwhile fight to actually care about winning.

I'm going to skip over the class changes as I realize Blizzard is going to do what they are going to do with class balance. Maybe in a few years they will have them balanced? Got me.

Overall the patch is looking good, but it is lacking any major content additions. Understandable with the Burning Crusade expansion they are building, but still disappointing since the patch took three months. Three months seems to be the rate at which Blizzard is going to patch and that is a slow down from right after launch. Most likely again due to the expansion they are working on. Hopefully we can expect a pick up on patch speed after the expansion release.

Update: 29 Nov, 2009 - Edited post, corrected spelling, and applied labels.

Raph Koster steals my hits!

Raph Koster has his monthly break down of website statistics.

In the search terms section one of the search phrases that lead to Raph's site was "heartless blog" to which Raph replied "Sniff. Meanie."

So I must conclude that Raph is paying Google to steal my hits.

Mob Spawning and Immersion

Darniaq has a good post up entitled "Mob Spawning and Immersion".(bad link removed) I put some actual thought into a response that is shared below. Enjoy!

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Encounters in MMORPGs are for the most part a small puzzle. It reminds me of the arguments of the "dumb" enemies in the "brilliant" Metal Gear series for consoles. The guards are completely stupid, can't see 10 feet in front of them, and fall for the dumbest tricks in the book (moving box anyone). The game has always been about a complex visual puzzle that you complete via an advanced tool also know as Snake. The story is dramatic and driven by movie like plots, but the gameplay will never be "movielike". Still the MG games are still IMMERSIVE! Read on to find out why.

Back to MMORPGs where you have dungeons ala Everquest 1 where it was more about being in the right places at the right time to "finish" the dungeon. You had to camp out the "boss" which lead to fair bit of "PvP" group/guild social dynamics.

WoW dungeons play the "everything is setup when you enter". You have to start at the beginning of the puzzle and get to the end for the "cheese". While the dungeons all aren't linear there is definite "fast" and "better" ways to do them... the difference between a veteran sodoku and a novice. After some experience you can do them relatively fast and move on to the next "harder" set.

A random encounter in the outdoors in WoW or EQ though is a puzzle in itself also. There is defined rules that you have to follow. Is it linked? Is the target out of "call for help range of others"? Is this something I can take? Then add in a group. Pull this... CC this... kill this... offtank that... etc.

So what we have is a bunch of puzzles with tools to complete them. How can you make a puzzle immersive? Variables! The more you toss into the puzzle the more the player has to manage. The more they have to manage the less they have to think about where or what this monster is doing in front of them.

By having monsters that are just there... standing like numb nuts without a purpose removes a lot of variables. Players have few "unknowns" because they can see what is going to happen before they pull. While you need a certain level of this to maintain a game aspect you don't need a lot of it. Players need to know they can go kill a few Orcs without having 1,000 Orcs charging out of the fortress and hunting them down.

Putting unknowns into the fight makes it a better experience IMHO. Instead of having a room with pirates just standing there waiting to be pulled you could have a trigger that has a half dozen more pirates drop in from a hidden upper ledge.

But lets try to get away from triggered events because that is another big block towards immersion. Well they won't attack me here, but I know if I move another foot they will start coming. This is essentially how most FPS games operate. As you advance to a new "room" (throwback to MUDs baby) you trigger the next set of baddies to fight. Now you could have a Doom 3 like experience (few variables) or a Half Life 2 experience (lots of variables), but still its setup on triggered events. Great for advancing story plots... bad for immersive multiplayer.

Randomness in encounters is key. Another key is removing static spawns. Dynamic spawning will be the future and Vanguard shows some promise of this in their "NPCs will fight each other". Its a method seen in WoW a little and some other games where a wolf chases a rabbit, but nothing on a large scale.

I am talking about something like the once planned Strongholds in Star Wars Galaxies. Structures that would "spawn" in the world and the NPCs would start building them up. If players did nothing about them then they kept growing until the players would have to deal with them. Sadly it never happened.

You can take that concept and work a bit with it having multiple factions of NPCs building. Each faction reacts differently to each other. So a Jawa Faction Stronghold would war with a Tusken Raider Stronghold that has grown to large right next door. Then from these strongholds you start spawning "layers". All NPCs would actually appear from a building until it was destroyed so in a way you have a visual key of where they are coming from. Don't want more Jawa Sandcrawlers spawning? Distract the Jawa Guards and send a crack team in to destroy the Sandcrawler factory. Every layer offers easier to defeat "groups" that are dispatched out like scouting teams, harvesting groups, trading groups, social groups (meant to give quests to players), etc. As you gain more layers the inner layers grow in difficulty.

Now players can go in and destroy it, perform diplomacy, trade, and all sorts of things. You can build up faction to get into a stronghold here or there while risking out right war with others. This is really all inspired by Will Wright's upcoming Spore (which will be one of; if not the best game ever). The whole game operates in this degree somehow, but much more advanced. A simpler system will come to an MMORPG soon enough.

I don't think "spawning" will ever die because after all players need something to kill and nothing breaks FUN worse than having nothing to kill. There is still ideas out there to make it much more immersive. I just provided one I've built from enjoying games and game design ideas I've experienced. There are much smarter people in actual positions to achieve such things in a game.

Update: 15 Nov, 2009 - Edited spelling, applied label, and removed broken link.