Lowered Expectations

Moving out...

2011-06-22T09:14:00.000-04:00

But, not moving on.

I wanted a way to micro-manage my thoughts, while still semi blogging. Seems my brain cannot work well with the thought of sitting down and having to write so many words to form thoughts I have, which fit within 140 characters on Twitter. Whether this is a concern of Graves Disease...or just my overall business in my life (Work, Family, RIFT!!!)

So, may I introduce my Posterous blog - Simple-N-Complex

A more fitting name could not be welcomed in respects to how I will post on the new site.

So, I will be looking to play with this for a while and see if I can continue to write, and keep my commentary within reach of my capabilities at this time...

Make sure to bookmark, and of course, follow me on Twitter at Elementalistly!

Cheers

X-Fire Game: Raptr has left the building...

2011-05-30T09:41:00.000-04:00

So it is, with glee, that I say goodbye today to Raptr.

Thanks to a new system in place this past week converting Raptr into a news style RSS feed service, data for games has been lost in the shuffle. But, as I said...happiness ensues. The numbers have been a thorn in my foot due to calculations showing oddities not matching the norm. Like when a game has anecdotal evidence, like free play time or trials and then having losses on Sunday, while Saturdays being higher in player counts; Raptr just fell apart.

So, using X-Fire's data, hopefully we can take time to discuss why games are changing in numbers. Better commentary on the state of the current MMO's should help us understand why the game is ranking where it is.

So, lets get to this weeks numbers. Previous rating comparisons are from 5/16/2011.

Rift - 2835 ( 3325 ↓ )
EvE Online - 2159 ( 2005 ↑ )
Aion - 2039 ( 1988 ↑ )
Lord of the Rings Online - 1623 ( 1800 ↓ )
Age of Conan - 402 ( 287 ↑ )
Dungeons & Dragons Online - 288 ( 277 ↑ )
Star Trek Online - 279 ( 327 ↓ )
Champions Online - 182 ( 217 ↓ )
Warhammer Online - 139 ( 133 ↑ )
Final Fantasy XIV - 119 ( 112 ↑ )
DC Universe - 32 ( 57 ↓ )

Lets start with our mover shaker award this week.

Age of Conan takes a major jump and lands in the top 5 this week. Thanks to promotions about the movie tie ins, free account restoration for older players and the final piece of free to play coming down the pipe...AoC may just start to look good on the charts and become a winner.

Rift took a small plunge, but as has been happening...week by week Rift fluctuates. The numbers are still tops to make it our number 1 game.

EvE had some major movement in numbers this week. One report though is CCP is fighting a bot infestation, so not sure if the major jump is real. The fact they were at around 1900 last weekend is suspect. Still good to hold number 2.

Aion continues to climb. Patch 2.5 is here with the graphical upgrades, and reactivations were also key here. As a side note, I did get an email from Nvidia offering me a FREE copy of the game AND 15 days (odd, I know). So, not sure how many will try that offer.

Lord of the Rings Online has been showing some losses the last few X-Fire games, so not sure what is happening. Maybe the koolaid is wearing off? A recent update should have shown growth here, so it is confusing. Of course it could be a client issue, and the game runs like crap with X-Fire on...hard to say. I will continue to watch this one, as this has proven to be of interest.

Star Trek Online and Champions Online both fell. Wonder if this has anything to do with the news about Cryptic being flushed by Atari? We will continue to watch this and see if any repercussions are to be felt.

This weeks big loser is DC Universe. How SOE can even recover from the damage of their hacks is beyond me. I for example would never touch another of their products. But, people are odd...especially MMO players, so we will see if DCUO can recover.

*****

It was a holiday weekend, but seems numbers did not move that much. Overall steadiness in most titles, but a few surprises as well.

Lest we forget...the elephant in the room, lets see how Blizzards monkey on everyones back is doing.

World of Warcraft X-Fire chart May 30th - players 31,533 (33,787 ↓ )

That is a bit of a drop. Again, may be the weekend or is the behemoth finally showing signs? Hard to say. The fact growth was shown after the initial Rift launch, this may just be a holiday fluke.

Overall, our main games hold strong. Rift still rocking the new launch, Aion and Eve both growing and Age of Conan showing that it could still have life.

Can't wait to see how this all plays out over the summer.

Cheers for now.

The X-Fire Game: Trial (s) and Errors

2011-05-16T10:57:00.000-04:00

What a great title for this weeks X-Fire game.

Trials due to Rift's push to be the best #2 MMO out there, and SOE's error and their progress to be the lowest dev on the totem pole.

The previous results we're comparing are from the weekend of 5/1/2011 - Lets see how the 2 weeks have changed.

Rift - 3325 ( 2973 ↑ )
EvE Online - 2005 ( 1928 ↑ )
Aion - 1988 ( 1929 ↑ )
Lord of the Rings Online - 1800 ( 1859 ↓ )
Star Trek Online - 327 ( 345 ↓ )
Age of Conan - 287 ( 280 ↑ )
Dungeons & Dragons Online - 277 ( 324 ↓ )
Champions Online - 217 ( 235 ↓ )
Warhammer Online - 133 ( 155 ↓ )
Final Fantasy XIV -112 ( 122 ↓ )
DC Universe - 57 ( 25 ↑ )

First off, nice job to Rift. The upswing this week is something most of the MMO's from the last few years have NOT been able to do. New content, new updates, new trials all add up to a game that is flourishing.

Looking at the graph for Rift, we can see the standard drop most MMO's experience. But, we also see a stabilization there. Then the upswing toward the end. Will see how this looks in two weeks.

Other games of note: EVE broke 2000. First time in a while. Aion over takes Lord of the Rings Online to become this weeks #3. Excitement must be building for Aion thanks to the paid transfer service and the upcoming patch 2.5 with major graphics enhancements and new content.

I really need to note here: Sub games are NOT dead, and Free to play, though a help to games suffering, is not the panacea of sub-dom some believe it to be. Just IMO.

Age of Conan has also moved up the charts. Major buzz is going on with this game, with the upcoming movie reboot, discussion of new land masses and overall satisfaction with the new engine changes. We will watch this one in the coming months.

SOE games are back, but of course, DC Universe still trails the bottom. But, note more players. I assume that free time is helping. Not going to help much when someones ID is stolen though.

Overall quite a few games down this week.

****

Rift - 2366 ( 2394 ↓ ) players
EvE Online - 803 ( 1010 ↓ )
Lord of the Rings Online - 771 ( 766 ↑ )
Aion - 418 ( 530 ↓ )
Champions Online - 232 ( 192 ↑ )
DC Universe - 182 ( 136 ↑ )
Dungeons & Dragons Online - 167 ( 173 ↓ )
Final Fantasy XIV - 142 ( 191 ↓ )
Star Trek Online - 110 ( 96 ↑ )
Age of Conan - 83 ( 89 ↓ )
Warhammer Online - 56 ( 86 ↓ )

What drives me nuts right off the bat...Raptr has Rift with MORE players on a Saturday (2426)...I mean, WTH? Raptr and reliability of stats is really starting to irritate me. But, I will still post them....just expect me to bitch about them EVERY time also.

Ah well, lets take a look at what else is happening.

As we can see, Raptr still plays "Opposites" day of X-Fire with their stats. EVE and Aion are both down, yet LOTRO is up. Of note, like Rift, Aion is UP on Saturday...just down on Sunday, which has not been par for course for ANY game.

Champions is up? LOL. And look at how many slots DC Universe moved up. Interesting bunch of users, these Raptr players.

The biggest travesty here is Age of Conan. All anecdotal evidence points to a rise in activity, yet in Raptr it still runs at the bottom of the pack, with even a LOSS this week. Raptr is just not telling the full story here.

****

Before I forget, lets take a look at Blizzard and their beast of an MMO.

World of Warcraft X-Fire chart May 15th - players 33,787 (33,611 ↑ )

So, WoW is still on the rise back up. People just cannot let this game go, and it is truly sad to see no other game even has a chance.

Nuff' said here

****

So, some good numbers for several games, with Rift really showing it can hold on, and could be our number two game in MMO's for a while.

Raptr though is becoming suspect in tracking, and I am about ready to throw it out. It keeps having strikes against it in regards to how their numbers work. When games we know show anecdotal evidence of upswings, yet fall on Raptr...I have to question their systems. Time is ticking down for Raptr stats.

Until next time...Cheers.

Rift: CON-TENT

2011-05-04T11:39:00.000-04:00

Continuing this series of articles on how Rift approaches aspects of gameplay compared to other MMO's. Today I am touching on content. What is it? Does Rift offer enough?

Like yesterday, I wanted to get an idea of what "content" means, so lets start with our Dictionary term. Note, this one is hard, as several terms could be used here...

"something that is contained: the contents of a box."

This first description is interesting, as it basically means ALL inclusion of items. If a box has a manual, a DVD, a map, etc...for an MMO, this is the boxes "contents". Does this work for what is IN the actual gameplay? What does content equal?

The BIG Twitter discussion of quite a few MMO heads had some variations on this topic.

Rowanblaze - "Yes I say "content" is the reason for doing something in-game. IOW, the story. Everything else is grind."

Adarel -"I think story is just one form of content though. The world is full of activities, all of which are content."

Ardwulf -"Even social tools can be content. Depends on the game."

Three different perspectives right off the bat. How does one player look at content as one item, yet another player requires differences in their game for it to equal "content"?

I had remarked how Rift had about as much content as WoW...after it's first expansion, which some would disagree with. Why is that? What MORE did WoW have at that time? A larger world? More "quests" and "dungeons"? I do not remember invasions on a regular basis in WoW. I do not remember Guild Leveling or Guild quests, shinies hunting...the list goes on.

But to me, this is a form of content.

If a player logs into the game, decides to shop on the Auction House, then will craft, then logs off....did they do content? Or did they do something else....features? mechanics?

Again, another perspective. What if the word meant something different...

How about we look at the meaning of "content" as another form of it's definition...

"satisfied with what one is or has; not wanting more or anything else."

Here is where the game changer is. Is the player "content" with what the game offers. This I think describes our MMO's more than what the game gives you to do.

If there is not enough "content" (whats inside the box) then the player is not "content" (happy?). But, this is perspective. What one player will see as con-tent, another will not be cun-tent with.

Phentari stated "I dont know I think they are nuts, that means they ran out of new things to do including features"

"Features" was one word that was used to describe everything that had no "story" to it. Was it then that the player exhausted the "story" and the "features" would not make this player cun-tent?

A slippery slope here.

Lets use the latest news for Rift as our example of new "content" (according to Trion). A new event coming called "Spoils of War" prelude will be offering daily quests to gather various items to purchase unique items, etc.

Is that content?

"As the name implies, the Spoils of War is related to the River of Souls event. Telarans and the Ascended successfully overcame Alsbeth and her minions and now the rewards have arrived. The prelude offers players four new daily quests centered on the mysterious treasure-like items literally falling from the sky in some cases."

What is interesting here is it seems to be a standard "stuff to do" type of event, or features if you will...but also is a continuation of the story from the first big event Rift had, River of Souls. So, we have a story, but it is just "daily" questing to get items to get more items.

Content?

mythokia "Producers think they can get away with disguising dailies as new content."

Ouch, clearly mythokia thinks adding in dailies...even for a reason...is NOT new content.

Do we see the pattern? We can note that each player has their own opinion on what content is. Just look to that link about "Spoils" (and try not to burn your eyes out, thanks to the MMORPG readers commentary) and see what is being said...

"Just dumping a couple daily repeatable collection quests in the game you need to do a horrible amount of times and increasing the frequency of Rifts and call it a Live Event is not what I call original nor very attractive in my book.

Rift was great at launch. Very polished and fun to play for a short while.

But so far these so called live events just end up being nothing more than an ordinary boring grindfest!"

Yet...

"It sure beats other games. You don't have to wait, sometimes years, for content."

Within the first few postings, we see two varying viewpoints.

So, is Rift lacking in content? Or is a specific player not "cun-tent" to play what is offered.

As I saw on twitter, there was not an end to the conversation, and so many roads were taken by various players. But, it is clear...one mans junk is another's treasure. To even think there is not enough content in specific MMO's...especially Rift, is subjective to each players outlook.

I will use my family of an example of how Rift is approached each day.

My wife is the one who does the daily "shinies" hunt and craft runs. My son will login and is working on leveling, and feels questing is where the game is at. Myself, I feel running zone wide invasions, rifts and dungeons are fun (but, I try to do a little of EVERYTHING).

We are CONTENT to play with the CONTENT as it is...and just see another patch with more to do as even more fun to be had.

If only others could do the same.

Rift: DY-NA-MIC

2011-05-03T09:38:00.000-04:00

After spending an awesome weekend running massive events in the various zones of Rift, I started to wonder about an issue. Several of us in the community (of bloggers) and, of course, the infamous "forums for haters" have had an ongoing discussion about Dynamics.

Does Rift really have dynamics?

I think mostly people are expecting something different from the actual word, and are not using it in proper context. Lets take a look at the word itself, and see where THAT leads us. If we head to Dictionary.com, I find this little bit of information.

"pertaining to or characterized by energy or effective action; vigorously active or forceful"

This is interesting. When we look upon the complaints of most, dynamics is suppose to harbor change. Nothing is indicating that "change" must take place. The actual meaning of the word describes Rift more readily, and shows just how dynamic the game can feel.

So, for something to be "dynamic" it is not that it has to change, or be UNIQUE or DIFFERENT...it must be an effective action. When an EVENT takes place zone wide, this is "forceful" and needs "effective action" to take care of or else it causes issues in the zone. When invasions happen a player must become "vigorously active" to take care of it. I could go on and on (for example, thanks to mob density in Rift compared to most MMO's, there is more vigorous activity than most games).

The facts remain. Rift is a more dynamic MMO than we have normally dealt with.

So, how did the concept of dynamics come down to something affecting the world we play in and must equal change to happen? When we look upon the descriptions for Guild Wars 2, a game being touted for it's changing world dynamics, we see...

"Dynamic events evolve and cascade across the world in response to how you, the player, interact with them,"

So, somehow, Arenanets description looks to "evolving", but not "changing".

Yet, Guild Wars 2 is one of the games most people look to for "Dynamic" events, because somehow it can "change" how the world works. But, GW2 does not really say major or even minor change is the key. It is the ripple effect. Something happens that leads to another...thus causing the dynamic gameplay.

Rift does have the same effect. The "ripple" from an event leads to hubs being shut down, roads overrun, specific quest areas being inaccessible due to rifts. These may happen regularly and may even be the same event from yesterday...but, is still "dynamic" enough to cause the "ripple" effect.

So, what about "scipting". This was one argument I read that really led me here...

"Yeah, really? DYNAMIC.....where is the dynamism? Is it those mushrooms that randomly pops here and there spewing out scripted npcs? "

Can a movie not be dynamic? Is it because a movie has a script that it is not dynamic? I would beg to differ on this and would see how a movie can be vigorously active. One sequence may be a car chase....but another may appear later on that has a different aspect to it (example: Bourne Movies - thanks Matt!). Is this not dynamic because it is the same thing; a car chase?

We need to look over all of the MMO's released to this day and see...How dynamic have they been? And just how dynamic is Rift compared to them?

When a game makes me drop everything and run to defend a hub, take down a major colossi or forces me to make a decision about the area I am questing in due to being blocked by a rift or foothold...this feels dynamic, to me. If I must do something that is NOT scheduled, how can that not be dynamic?

So, maybe the next time you wonder what is dynamic about Rift, lets look to what "dynamic" really means....and then we can see that Rift is truly (and hopefully) the first in a line of dynamic MMO's.

X-Fire Game: The one week reprieve

2011-05-02T10:10:00.000-04:00

So, I am back with another installment of our much loved (hated?) game of statistics (voodoo?) using our all time favorite (reviled?) tools...X-Fire and Raptr.

From this point, I will pull back reporting these to maybe every two weeks. This should allow us to see if any drastic changes are happening in the market...and lets me try and write a bit more "commentary" (arguments) on a regular basis.

Lets get started. First off, all data listed is from two weeks ago and will be versus this Sunday's numbers.

(KEY: Click the logos to understand what X-Fire or Raptr is. For the symbols...↓ Means the game had a loss; ↑ and the game is in green text, means it had more players. Thank you.)

Rift - 2973 ( 3982 ↓ )
EvE Online - 1928 ( 2017 ↑ )
Lord of the Rings Online - 1859 ( 1892 ↑ )
Aion - 1929 ( 1878 ↑ )
Star Trek Online - 345 ( 287 ↑ )
Dungeons & Dragons Online - 324 ( 326 ↓ )
Age of Conan - 280 ( 245 ↑ )
Champions Online - 235 ( ?? ↑ )
Warhammer Online - 155 ( 130 ↑ )
Final Fantasy XIV - 122 ( 131 ↓ )
DC Universe - 25 ( 41 ↓ )

So, as we can see here, Rift still has not found the floor. What will it's actual ceiling be?

We could look at how drastic this loss is and do this little bit of fun...

World of Warcraft X-Fire chart April 18th - players 33,611 (32,822 ↑ )

And of course find out where most everyone went.

Rift does still have a large lead over the number 2 game, and with patch 1.2 coming in less than 2 weeks, I expect my next report to see some added player action.

The rise of players in other games were minimal (except for a few stand outs)...

Aion had a big jump. I could look at this as the bonus of "paid transfers". I also think accounts were activated over the weekend too (I got an email about it). So, this may most likely be temporary. Or is this a sign that the game may hold a few new subs?

Star Trek rocked some nice numbers, with a great leap, making it our #5 game on the chart.

Several; other small triumphs was Warhammer, who has been patching their screw ups recently, Champions client was fixed and is reporting again (last report, CO was broken and reporting ZERO players) and Age of Conan also seeing some numbers increasing.

A pretty good week for the games considered failures by a contingent of players.

****

Rift - 2394 ( 2705 ↓ ) players
EvE Online - 1010 ( 967 ↑ )
Lord of the Rings Online - 766 ( 751 ↑ )
Aion - 530 ( 457 ↑ )
Champions Online - 192 ( 225 ↓ )
Final Fantasy XIV - 191 ( 152 ↑ )
Dungeons & Dragons Online - 173 ( 159 ↑ )
DC Universe - 136 ( 179 ↓ )
Star Trek Online - 96 ( 101 ↓ )
Age of Conan - 89 ( 94 ↑ )
Warhammer Online - 86 ( 84 ↑ )

And as is normally the case, Raptr tells us a different story.

Rift's drop is not as harsh as for X-Fire. And if we look around we can see where some of these players are heading to.

Of course, Raptr is also BIZARRO world, where Final Fantasy XIV...probably the worst rated MMO in a long time, has a huge jump. Oddities indeed.

The one thing we can always count on here is our top 4 though. Rift, EvE, LOTRO and Aion seem to hardly budge from their respective slots. Rift as we can see here has over double what EvE is showing and EvE is almost doubling Aion's numbers.

I think we can safely say that players having such an abundance of MMO's have more places to go and play around in to try various new worlds.

****

Whats clear here is the hold World of Warcraft has over it's player base. Hard to pull players out and into other MMO's. With the news that most of the newer MMO's coming down the pipe, specifically Star Wars, a noted WoW killer, being too much like WoW...where does this leave the genre?

This report is pretty much a statement on the sad affairs of our market. We have quite a few good games here, but WoW truly holds sway over all of this domain, and could color the future of every MMO until someone decides "Lets give up".

For now, players need to accept that the genre has been built, thanks to WoW ingenuity (/snicker) and that all MMO's to come will try their best to mimic it until they get one that has all 7 years of content, can be 100% polished and ready at launch with a whole new endgame that no one can describe, but REALLY want to be meaningful.

I'm out...

Rift: The Rebuttal (or who mentioned "Jesus"?)

2011-04-27T12:03:00.000-04:00

Seems the discussion about my posting on Rift and why I am let down by the MMO community is making the rounds. My favorite remark in one post has been used several times, and I think we need some rebuttal here...

Rift: No, it’s not the “Jesus” game

If I may...myself, I have never noted Rift as the "Jesus" game. First, the remark makes no sense.

Jesus died....MMO's have not died (at least not yet)...Jesus was resurrected...uh, doesn't something have to die to be resurrected. Jesus is our savior (according to the Christians!)...

So, is it the savior part? Is Rift here to SAVE us?

It could be. But, only for those who are willing to help this market grow.

But, I digress on this point...maybe on another post? Lets get to the nitty gritty of this debate though.

Some of the commentary on this particular posting has a few concerns that I think we should look into. (Check out this link to Massively Multiverse for more on this story).

"Apparently, if I have loved WoW at any point in WoW’s history but haven’t fallen head-over-heels in love with Rift in the same fashion, then I should leave the MMO genre entirely because I am nothing more than a burnt out, jaded gamer who has simply played far too many MMOs in his day. Come to think of it, I am a burnt out and jaded gamer during these, my MMO twilight years….*snickers*…but that’s beside the point!"

Not entirely true. But, to instead look upon Rift as just "copying" WoW is where the main issue lies. If you cannot look at Rift with an open mind and either like it or leave it alone, is where it causes concern.

Again, I must refer to the infamous Metacritic rating by a standard user who felt the need to give Rift a ZERO ...and why?

"There is really nothing NEW here that hasn't been done before."

Fair enough. I have no issue with this. People will find a lot to not like in other MMO's. I can clearly point out EVERY issue with Lord of the Rings Online and why I feel this is an inadequately made game. But, I would never give it a ZERO, because it still has some things going for it, like a company who cares, a community who rocks. This would be a FAIR rating.

A lot of what I read about Rift is NOT fair. Again at Multiverse...

"There are only two things in Rift that are somewhat unique. The Invasions and the Soul system are the two features that should be touted by Rift fans everywhere."

So, the AOE looting, map transparencies, instant change loadouts for class skills between specs, hover over healing,...all the background workings that advance the way we play don't count because you can't see them?

This I think is the main issue in that Rift has advanced a lot of game mechanics that we normally do not think about (like the invasion mechanic...though not entirely new, used a different way here makes even quest hubs a danger zone... or how about the quick change soul specs, though mainly seen in Guild Wars, has the added option of being able to use it ANYWHERE).

Lets talk about the off-healing mechanic. What game has a smart heal system that looks at all players in a group and decides who needs the most healing when group heals take effect?

No, these are not innovative, because they are not TANGIBLE to the player. These are not NEW.

Multiverse goes on to say...

"As for the Soul System, it was probably the key ingredient that I enjoyed the most while playing Rift. It is a step in the right direction for MMOs, and I am more than happy to applaud Trion for its creation. But at the end of the day, it has two things working against it. First of all, that many souls will prove to be horribly difficult to balance over time, especially for PvP. I’m not sure if Trion will ever be able to get the balance right. Secondly, just like the talent system in WoW or EQ 2, certain flavor of the month builds will emerge and dominate as they always do, proving once and for all that we don’t really need a better class based system."

Good point. Yet, no one has done it yet. What MMO is 100% balanced and ready to play? What MMO does not get some type of balance change on a regular basis?

WoW is still not balanced to this day. Why should this be a strike? Instead it should be noted as ongoing development...because isn't that really what MMO's are about? A never-ending cycle of patching and balancing, content addition, etc.

What about a "better class based system"? As I discussed in my *Futura* post yesterday, only one of many MMO's releasing will have it. How will it work? And will the current MMO player of course find a way to ruin it?

Moving on...

"The bar has been raised and developers need to adjust their ambitions accordingly."

This one says it all. Who raised that bar? Who said that the genre MUST be 100% different to be a GOOD game? This is where the "jaded" gamer comes in.

My constant example is the "Halo/CoD" argument. Even though in different settings, they are basically the same play style, same gameplay...gun, run, don't get killed or be killed. THAT's IT. These games continue to thrive...yet, the MMO genre must make a whole new change.

Better yet, lets use our current market. LOTRO, EQ2, WAR, AoC (lets even go ahead and leave WoW out of this). What unique features does each of these games offer that the other does not? Out of all these, WAR is the most different of the lot. Tiered gameplay, Realm vs Realm....actual crafting that requires the player to really be involved...

Yet, it is one of the lowest populated games on that list. Can we blame the bugs? Maybe. But, DEDICATED players will look beyond this and wait for development to take place. Instead everyone gave up as the game was not READY yet.

Rift is ready though. Trion is committed to listening to their customer base. Talk about your concerns with the devs and support a growing game. But the outright slamming it for trying to appease a large audience who wants similarities to begin with (heck, look at all the posts on the forums for those who WANT the LFD tool...you know, what another game has), seems out of hand.

That has been my main issue all along. The growing need of a "jaded" MMO community who want things to be different from WoW, but cannot see it if it hit them in the face leads to bickering about a game that should be able to let itself grow.

Finally...and in line with what has been said...

"Rift offers little in the way of true advancement. And just because it does its job well, does not mean we should all conform to hailing it as the greatest MMO on the planet."

Again, as I have said before. The background technology, the emergent gameplay (even though it is something YOU do not like, does not mean it is not an advancement), the willingness to ask the player what they want and ADD it (that alone is the single most advanced feature, thanks to so many devs of other MMO's ignoring their playerbase), already is a step up.

Rift is NOT the greatest MMO. But, it is what other MMO developers and games should aspire to be. Great at launch, fully fleshed out and ready to play.

The bar has been raised...by Trion actually. It is not JUST about the gameplay and features, but about the company. If we as a playerbase decide that because the game has similarities to another game, it should not be supported, then maybe we need to accept that all future games will be like WAR and AoC.

As well, until proven to me otherwise, I do not believe players want a NEW experience anyways. Otherwise they would support titles who are trying to make changes to the genre (Age of Conan was a perfect example of a game that had skill be the single most important requirement...yet players cried until it was revamped 6 months later to be a standard MMO).

So, is this market the way it is because of WoW? Sure is. Is the playerbase largely responsible? Yes...

But, is Rift "Jesus"? No. But, it sure is a damn fine game, well made..and if you can just let go of your preconceived notions of WoW and the "been there, done that", you could enjoy it more.

Psalm 69!

Crystal Ball-ing: Futura MMO-itis

2011-04-26T10:44:00.001-04:00

Some appreciated linkage took place yesterday on my post about Rift and the difficulties of the current MMO gamer to just let go of the WoW mentality. (Thanks Common Sense Gamer)

Reading through the comments on his post got me thinking...especially one specific posting.

SmakenDahed said: “Guys, what do you want?” Something different.

This got me, of course, looking at my Crystal Balls for our future in MMO land. Can the genre really offer enough change that everyone really wants? The major complaint is how Rift is so much like the old MMO's, why would anyone want to play it?

But, will the new generation be that different?

Lets take a gander while I do a reach around and look at our future in MMO's...

Star Wars: The Old Republic Online

This one has my ire up. The spectating I have done on this game has so many looking to Bioware for their next gen relief. Can the supposed "story" pillar really offer the change in this genre the MMO player craves?

Hell, all I need to do is go to my previous post and look at comments to see how "story" will be to the standard (WoW) MMO player...

Allen said "MMOs are about the gameplay. That's what makes people pay money every month to play. People aren't going to shell out $15 a month for a story, no matter how good, once they've completed that story. The gameplay is the hook."

So, is that how you feel? Rift has a unique IP and original story, but according to this player...who cares? But, is it the fact that so many are attached to the Star Wars IP and the legendary story, that it will be the key to their enjoyment?

Even though discussion has been rampant on some unique gameplay styles, SWToR will still have various issues that have plagued our MMO's since WoW began. Talk is there will be dual faction RvR...uh, everyone complains that true factional RvR needs three to survive. Dual factioning equals imbalance. What about the standards? Kill 10x? Gonna be in at launch. Raids? Sure thing.

What is unique? How about the companions...oh crud, DDO and Guild Wars have these....

Ok, will graphics...oh, fudge...NVM.

Again, next gen? Where?

Why will Star Wars be your MMO nirvana?

The Secret World

Ok, this one is easy. Right off the bat, we have Funcom at the helm. Yes, Ragnar, the man who supposedly can do no wrong is in charge. BUT...two launches of an MMO, both gone horribly wrong...Can the third time be the charm?

This issue alone will most likely turn away a good bit of audience.

Right off the bat though, gameplay is unique in respect to no "levels" per se, but a skills based system. The setting is also unique (modern day instead of renfaire fun). So, where could it possibly go wrong?

First off, the main push is the "story"... Yep, another game that believes players want story. I know I do. Age of Conan was awesome in respects to that first 20 level run. Story was incredible. then they pulled it out from under our feet and the game fell on it's ass. It has since been polished up quite a bit, but is still a sore spot.

What about progress? We do not know much in that respect. Here is what the website says...

"The Secret World does not force you down a set path of progression. You are free to do anything you want at any time. If you ever get tired of doing missions or slaughtering demons, why not return to your secret society and perform tasks for them so you can rise up in their order? Do so, and you will unlock even more powers, weapons, and even unique uniforms. And, of course, untold secrets!"

Lets check our words...Tasks? QUESTS. Missions? DUNGEONS. Slaughtering? GRIND.

Did I get them all? As you can see, anyone can take any part of the "hype" a game developer builds and see that even our next gen games cannot escape the routines we have grown accustomed to.

Out of any game I will discuss today, Secret World has the most chance to offer a unique experience. The fact the developer is frowned upon and the mechanics still have that "similarity" feel...it will be hard for the game to escape the discussion that surrounds all MMO's.

Tera

Why this is on ANYONE's radar, is a mystery to me. With it's Aion like graphics, why does it appeal to the MMO gamer?

Boobies.

Ok, well, there is also action based combat, but still....Vindictus does that already.

So, what does it offer? Quests? yes....Raids?...yep, yep. Story....meh, who cares, right? Most likely a lot of text boxes based on the videos I have seen. Hey, WoW does that too.

So, the game engine is definitely next gen, using Unreal 3. But, this is another issue. The game will hardly run on the hardware most gamers use (especially with the complaints so many give Rift of FPS issues, yet a friend of mine runs on a laptop with built in graphics, adequately, ...)

No, what we have here is another Korean MMO. Though they are popular to a large audience of manga/anime lovers, the derision most of these games receive due to poor westernization and shoddy UI's, etc...all add up to another game that will be reamed on a regular basis...(again, looking at Aion as our example).

Next?

Guild Wars 2

This one I saved for last.

Though still stuck in Fantasy tropes and using some standards, GW2 is set to try and change the MMO genre as we know it. No quest markers? No grind? No Holy Trinity of Tank/DPS/Heal?

What could possibly go wrong?

First is the requirement of "story". Guild Wars, the original, did this well. But, people were not that interested in this aspect. But, the game DID sell 6 million copies, so that built in audience who cares about the story will exist.

Even though there are no true "quest" markers or this feeling of "following the path", there is still a need to somehow notify players of what is happening, so some type of system will be used to say "Hey, come here and kill 10 of these...", etc.

But, guess what? Dungeons? Still there. Raids? Still exist. Those same features that EVERY MMO HAS is still in GW2. Also, PvP, which is notorious in the realm of balance hell, will of course lead to the inevitable nerf, which is the purview of the MMO complainer.

Guild Wars 2 should be my choice for most innovative here, and it will be huge. But, I can smell the rampant MMO player waiting in the wings to take each NEW element, and turn it on it's nose and make us believe it has all been done before.

****

Basically, our future, though bright, is fraught with the MMO burnout. That player who, jacked up so much on MMO gameplay, is crashing when it comes to the newest innovations in this market.

Though we have a list of games that each offer something to advance the genre...just like Rift did.. they will be frowned upon. I mean, if I can find the issues (and two of those games on that list are my most wanteds), what will prevent that burnout from doing the same?

Though Rift is a really great game, the player feels the need to attach themselves to the "similarities" and not let go. I feel each of these upcoming games, no matter how hyped our MMO player is, will offer that "same old" feeling.

My suggestion right now is that if Rift is too much like your old MMO to let that feeling of sameness go...then let MMO's go in general until one of these launch.

Maybe by then you will remember what you loved about MMO gaming.

Rift: This is where the MMO community let me down...

2011-04-25T10:04:00.001-04:00

As I log in to my server now, though still quite busy, I can feel it.

It is somewhat emptier than it usually is.

The city still bustles with people during prime time hours. The guild fills up a bit late Saturday and mostly Sunday. But, the feeling that the game is emptier than it has been, is palpable.

I started to really think about this after reading the article...5 Reasons Rift is the New WoW.

His points are precise and spot on. Rift, though familiar, is as well, a very good game. Why it now is emptying out is beyond me...besides the fact that probably most who are leaving are MMO burn outs.

Lets look at each point and see why I think the MMO community is starting to disappoint me and why there are those who just need to stop playing MMO's altogether.

1. Rift is a finished product.

"Unlike just about every MMO released in the last five years, Rift isn't half-assed or half-finished. The game has PvP, PvE, and a large diverse world for questing."

Which is true. Just most people wish to see it as EXACTLY like WoW. And to a degree it is. YET, there is so much that could make the game different if a player put in the effort. This I think is the main reason people leave.

WoW did not launch to such a glorious lead off. It took time to get there. The patience of todays player is ludicrous though. If it was a year into Rift's game and they had hit a roadblock of no new content, no fixes, no balancing...then I could see the players point. But, it's not...it is barely two months in.

Effort, people...effort.

I will talk about this more later...

2. There's an endgame.

"Taking a page from WoW, there's a lot of loot to work for in Rift."

Loot. We love it, but then we sneer at it, thanks to so many factors.

Grind...Gear Scores...repeated dailies...just a few of the reasons people look at this factor as a letdown in most MMO's.

But, I try to figure out this elusive "endgame" nirvana that most MMO's supposedly do not offer that some players continue to ask for...and wonder "WTF do you want then?". I see the term "meaningful" endgame mentioned, but never explained. Do YOU want to tell me what you expect? What does that mean? Yet, I never see anyone flesh this out. Some throw out expectations of huge sieges and what not...but, really, expectations are set too high for what our current technology can do. It has been proven time and again.

This is why I think what players REALLY want....they can't have for another 10 or 15 years. So, for my own benefit, just quit playing MMO's for that amount of time and leave the forum punditry to those who still enjoy this genre.

Oh, and that effort thing I mentioned? Applies here as well....more soon.

3. The game isn't buggy.

"Bugs have killed off more than a few MMOs. Age of Conan and Warhammer were both decent MMOs and both of them were so fraught with bugs they brought about their own too early demise."

This is the one that kills me. Every time I see another "I'm right forumite" spout off verbal diarrhea stating "Rift will be just like WAR, and fail over" "I expect Rift to fall to as many subs as Age of Conan", I want to slap someone (and my Wife is STILL pissed about that to this day...sorry Hon, did it sting a little?).

I have yet to have ANYTHING in this game stop me from completing a quest or asking a GM for help. I expect they may be there...but, the consensus has been through my guild and a lot of people writing about Rift, that we have been playing a well made game. PERIOD.

This is huge. To this day, Age of Conan, Warhammer, heck...even EQ2, all have existing issues that I am FORCED to communicate with their tech support to help me out of a jam. This is ridiculous.

Rift is just a well made game, that will progress...if people would just shut up and play.

4. There's a lot to do.

"Rift has something for everyone."

This one is important...and true. So much exists in Rift to keep you occupied. The problem is ...a lot of it existed in other games, thus this makes Rift an instant bore for those who have played MMO's to death.

This is why I think a lot of MMO players need to just leave this genre behind and go do something else for a while. Anyone crying they have nothing to do in Rift is either not looking, has no friends, or is done with MMO's in general.

Every time I log in, I instantly have plans, or at least can look at my roster of alts and decide...today is a good day for..."____" (you fill in the blank, as I already decided...and I can't make that decision for you.)

Now, if you will excuse me...I need to go take a break as I already thought of something else I want to do in Rift.

/AFK

5. Rift is the cure for your WoW ennui

Rift doesn't suck. Rift rocks. It's addictive and fun. It's what an MMO should be. There's nothing fancy about, but what it does it does well. Rift is the excuse players have been waiting for, the excuse they needed to leave the comfort of WoW for something new."

Yes it does rock. But, the issue continues to be WoW. It is like saying Crack can be replaced with crocheting.

Whats funny is, that is what WoW is. Just like Crack. The problem is most MMO players have been "users" for so long, they cannot understand what it would mean to leave that behind. This is where that EFFORT really pays off. Put an effort into not thinking about WoW. Put an effort into not playing Rift like WoW. Make a concerted effort to try and work through the soul system, find what you have not found, play the game like you have not played before.

Laziness is my only assumption here.

EFFORT is what Trion put into Rift. Why not do the same?

The one way it shows the most effort is the lore.

For the first time in quite a while, we have a unique IP. A new story, a new world ...something that is NOT WoW's warcraftian world. Something not based on a released novel, movie, comic book, etc.

Yet, no one puts in the effort to look upon this aspect...and instead are banking all their chips on... you guessed it... another non-original IP (Star Wars: ToR will be our Saviour...blah, blah).

This is why movies like "Scream 4" (though still not "too bad", is still regurgitated material) are made, and sell quite well...while critical and well written movies like "Source Code" fall over.

The McDonald's consumptive world ruins our MMO's.

And for the first time, I want to just hang up my hat for my fellow players. I want to leave them behind because they let me down. They want pre-existing IP crapola on a stick, and want it to be unique and interesting.

It won't be though.

I guarantee we will be in the same boat come launch of SW:ToR. Players will complain about features that Star Wars has that are unique. Yet, the base will be full of players who will pry open the gem that is SW:ToR and note how "It is just like WoW".

And it will be.

No matter how good the story, no matter what unique aspects they add to the game...there will be that contingent that state.."It's like WoW".

Well, I will continue to log into another brilliant game, that will most likely be watered down in the hopes the masses will return. It has happened to so many good games who had great ideas, but due to the buggy nature of their release and the need to balance based on desk jockey programmers who want THEIR class and playstyle to be "meaningful", plummeted in subs and could never get back up.

Rift is a damn fine game...just no one will know it because WoW has already ruined their perception of what a good game is.

I feel let down by my fellow gamers.

Rift: Oh the troubles YOU have seen...

2011-04-20T11:43:00.000-04:00

"Nobody knows the whining I've seen..."

Yes, a spiritual to describe the dire nature of the current MMO market. Especially when it deals with a game I am really enjoying. I try my best to find the awful issues most seem to be experiencing as I read their blogs and forum posts of "Whaaa". I just can't do it.

Rift: Planes of Telara feels like a true world I can inhabit for a long time.

It has been a while since I have talked about my gaming habits, and Longasc was kind enough to remind me of what I am doing.

Playing an MMO I enjoy.

Though small, our guild of family and friends has been moving along at a decent pace. Most are in their low 40's, and we have already started to discuss endgame. The set grouping levels mechanic I have used in previous games has worked out well, though not as we planned. Instead of choosing specific days, we just noted levels and tried to play together when we could...but, hold up leveling until others arrived at that juncture.

As I continue to enjoy my travels in Telara, I note all sorts of little items that really help me enjoy this game above most.

When we journey together, finding the highest peaks and grabbing that snapshot for the memories is just one pleasure. The fact the game has so many of these "climbing" areas is a fun little side note in my overall trudge to max level. While climbing, finding little goodies like the "shinies" or more resources just adds to it.

Another measure I have taken to in Rift that I have not done much in previous games is avoiding that level grind by trying out different ways to play. Jumping into vent, chatting away while killing mobs for mats, dungeon runs with various group sizes and combinations (2 heals, 2 tanks, etc.), or straight rift running.

Rift has opened this new playstyle and helps me through what most consider standard play.

One of the major complaints I keep reading is about mob density. Too much and it keeps you from getting to your objectives too many times. Is this the "easy mode" mentality of most players kicking in? Or is it this need to speed through and crush the roses (sniff those roses buddy or get a thorn in your....)?

I still have to wonder if it is because I avoided World of Warcraft that I can enjoy even the simplest things in my MMO of choice? Has WoW really ruined so many?

As Tipa wrote at West Karana "I really like Rift, I do. But then, I really liked World of Warcraft, too. I was an absolute fanatic about that game for a long time. Thing is, I’ve DONE WoW. All I want from Rift is stuff I couldn’t do in WoW. "

Did this kill Rift's pleasure for so many?

Well, I will keep moving along. I have plans. Fun plans...BIG plans to enjoy every moment of a game that has really made every effort to try and be great.

They have succeeded for MY book.

Now, quit causing trouble and go play.

The rise and fall of western MMO civilization as we know It...

2011-04-19T10:42:00.000-04:00

In a previous post, I had taken note of how the market for the MMO has changed. We cannot look back at how MMO launches use to be, and compare the genre today to that happier, simpler time.

Luckily, a comment from that post goes so far as to prove my point even further. (Props to Carson 63000 of Eldergoth, who had this to say...)

"Successful monthly sub games, like EverQuest, Ultima Online, Asheron's Call, Final Fantasy XI, Eve and WoW, do not steadily increase over the first month and then drop off as a proportion of players decide not to pay more to continue.

Successful monthly sub games have more new players coming in than they have players deciding not to continue. Successful monthly sub games have more players after a year than they did after a month.

I agree that Rift seems to be following the predictable curve set by virtually every MMO in the last five years. But this really isn't the only direction a game can go, and it's not one to aspire to, even if a bunch of box sales and a one month "churn and burn" is enough to pay for your development"

I think we can look upon his comment and really note the issue with this comment...

Ultima Online, EverQuest, Asheron's Call, Final Fantasy XI, Eve Online and WoW

1997, 1999, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2004

What do we see here? Mainly, these are the launch dates for each of these games. Each MMO listed is 7 years of age or older. Why use games that were in a market dominated by RTS's, Diablo style RPG's or turn based roleplay (Final Fantasy) as a comparison of todays MMO market? If we look at these titles, each was a unique in the field; heck, console games were not even the norm at that time. If an MMO launched, it was something of interest.

Now, we have a world dominated by million sellers being straight console, FPS styled shooters and World of Warcraft or the "churn and burn" MMO, as he calls them.

All MMO's since WoW have not garnered any success beyond several hundred thousand subs, with EvE being the last on that list (besides WoW) to hold on and bring in more subs since launch (that we have any real data for).

No matter the situation, this genre is toasted thanks to WoW. Every MMO from this point on will be compared to WoW. Every game (MMO, I should say) that launches without as much product content as WoW has will be criticized and ostracized for not having WoW's gameplay...period.

Comparing this market now to the market of 7 years ago does not help any argument that "This MMO is fail" due to retention not being WoW sized. Name one MMO since WoW that has continued to grow and is bigger now, than it was at launch (without going free to play...*cough* LOTRO who did NOT expand further until they changed *cough*) and THEN we can talk.

Please note, we never touch on discussions of Asian grinders or Free to Plays, as we cannot get a real data read out of how many are true revenue generators, etc. We are strictly talking the western market and the syndrome of the launch of a AAA title.

For now, just like the console FPS shooters, the PC is flooded with so many MMO's still running or in development...I mean, head to MMORPG.com and just look at their game list. So many to choose from AND many more to come.

Personally, I think any developer that launches an MMO now has several objectives.

First, lets sell the box. We make back our development costs and can continue to develop. Next, retain a good number of subs (as keeps being proven to us by low end games like Age of Conan, Warhammer Online or any other title in the last 5 years). 100k sounds good, but if you have more, why ....thats just peachy keen. Now, work your sales mojo, offer free trials, return trials, develop, fix, stabilize, add content....and hope that as players leave, others come in to replace the slack. If you get lucky, you could get out an expansion and then start the whole cycle again.

Now, as the player, you can, as I keep seeing on every blog, twitter or forum post...try to enjoy the market and games as they are and pray to whatever God, Gods or Spirit you follow that Star Wars: The Old Republic is that savior you hope it is.

Well, why shouldn't it be...so many other IP based MMO's have been major successes in the last 5 years (/snark).

Truly, we need to understand that the words "WoW Killer" is just not a reality, and until something unique and awe inspiring happens in this genre, shaking the very foundation the MMO stands on, we need to look at each MMO release critically without the added..."Is it like WoW?".

If Halo, Gears of War, Crysis, Call of Duty...and...(damn, don't have enough fingers or toes to count the FPS's available) can all co-exist, why can't the MMO market live the same way.

X-Fire Game: Brought to you by the letters F-A-I-L

2011-04-18T08:24:00.000-04:00

At least if you were to read all the commentary around the web about Event 2.0 in Rift.

This weekend took a bit of a dive for our beleaguered new game, as their special world event entered phase 2. This went to phase 3 and ended faster than a sitcom episode... yet no one was laughing. Disgruntled players abound across the blogosphere (NSFW posting)(Thats it?)(Queuetastic) and forums. Guess it really did depend on if you were there though, or queued to hell (I was in, and enjoyed it...but, it was short).

How much did this event affect numbers, and how did the weekend go overall for our other MMO's? Lets find out...

(KEY: Click the logos to understand what X-Fire or Raptr is. ↓ Means the game had a loss; ↑ and the game is in green text, means it had more players. Thank you.)

Rift - 3982 ( 4317 ↓ )
EvE Online - 2017 ( 2087 ↑ )
Lord of the Rings Online - 1892 ( 2042 ↑ )
Aion -1878 ( 1961 ↑ )
Dungeons & Dragons Online - 326 ( 358 ↓ )
Star Trek Online - 287 ( 324 ↑ )
Age of Conan - 245 ( 274 ↓ )
Champions Online - ?? ( 245 ↓ )
Final Fantasy XIV - 131 ( 122 ↑ )
Warhammer Online - 130 ( 163 ↓ )
DC Universe - 41 ( 52 ↓ )

Looking at the chart, you get to see something I have seen before. A mass exodus of X-Fire players. Thats right, when we see loss across the board like this, we pretty much have people uninstalling X-Fire, and moving on. Now, sometimes this can also mean a change in season, like right now is Spring Break...thus less players.

Makes it hard to do our charts.

But, we can garner some things from how big the loss is. Rift DID have a big chunk taken out, but with so many players, this again is still not unexpected. The fact it was an event weekend with free trials though tells us that the normal playerbase IS shrinking. Again, expected (as I discussed in my article about decline). Until we see next week, we cannot comment on this...for now. Just know that Rift STILL has the largest population of players behind WoW, quite easily.

Looking at our normal top 5, we see no major drops for these games, so this mainly is a readjustment for the X-Fire playerbase. Again, it could take weeks or even a month before we see this rectify or stay down.

Champions Online must have updated the client again, as it was broken (this happened when it went free to play) and NO time or player pops are being noted.

Our big winner this week? FFXIV, who had a new patch over the past few days. Next week should tell us how Squeenix is doing and if the patch is fixing this mess of an MMO.

So, how do we know this big loss of numbers isn't all the MMO's sucking? Well, I usually will look at World of Warcraft and see how much loss we see there.

World of Warcraft X-Fire chart April 17th - players 32,882 (34,755 ↓)

Thats pretty big. And if it continues, well, we know X-Fire is in decline, and not our MMO's.

****

Rift - 2705 ( 3176 ↓ ) players
EvE Online - 967 ( 1006 ↓ )
Lord of the Rings Online - 751 ( 780 ↓ )
Aion - 457 ( 496 ↓ )
Champions Online - 225 ( 261 ↓ )
DC Universe - 179 ( 214 ↓ )
Dungeons & Dragons Online - 159 ( 140 ↑ )
Final Fantasy XIV - 152 ( 122 ↑ )
Star Trek Online - 101 ( 102 ↓ )
Age of Conan - 94 ( 83 ↑ )
Warhammer Online - 84 ( 71 ↑ )

Interesting. Another drop across the board. Spring Break in full swing?

The top 5 all had minor drops, except for Rift. The day after for The Event was kind of like the TV show of the same name (NBC Mondays, 9pm...but, don't look for it very long...cancellation is imminent). Dropping like a rock. Will continue to watch this and see if it stabilizes.

Surprises abound here though. DDO, Final Fantasy, AoC and WAR...all noted super failures, all having a rise on these charts. How odd. Again, as noted in my previous article on decline in the MMO market; players have such a wide choice now, that as long as these games continue to have audiences, they will stay open.

****
An interesting week. Several factors including loss of playerbase for the time tracking clients, Spring Break for schools...all equal lowered play times.

Rift really took a beating this week, and that is disappointing. The playerbase really has become jaded in regards to new MMO's thanks to so many years of flopped launches. No new game is given a chance. Of course Rift has a few strikes against it...familiar gameplay for those who are invested in the big momma MMO, security issues that is a product of a new tech savvy environment, and then shooting yourself in the foot with giving trials to players during a huge event.

I am unsure if it will recover. It will most likely be relegated to being another contender for the top 3 spot, and stabilize eventually.

For now, the X-Fire game is headed to the beach with numbers like these....time to go ogle some bikini clads until school is back in session.

Cheers

Spectating Rift:Is that a decline in your pocket or...

2011-04-13T10:05:00.000-04:00

So, reading a post on the MMORPG forum turned up this little ditty...

"XFire shows a 20% drop of played hours [on Rift] compared to the peak one month ago. So as predicted this latest "great" game is starting to lose ground.
How much you wanna bet that by next month it will be at 50% of peak?"

Why would you believe that? Unless you want it to be so.

It is almost like the players are ready to pounce at ANY bad news and turn it into the ultimate doom. Using any tool at their disposal, they can predict the closure of Rift within a years time. Sales? You bet (look at VGChartz...OH NOES, Rift only has sold less than 200k copies), X-Fire? Shard lists? You name it.

I would prefer to look at it differently.

Right now, the MMO market is flooded with good titles (and yes, some pretty bad ones), but the fact remains; you want to play an MMO, you have some choice now. Throw that stick, don't poke your eye out, and there...hit another MMO.

Of course, the overall "sales" or "success" situation is not helped by the elephant in the room (World of Warcraft) that has this horrible addiction issue for most players. When I hear that a person cannot leave WoW due to how much money and time they have invested into it, then yes...it will be hard to get this type of player to move on to a new title.

Why is it that a game is not allowed time to prosper and grow, and must be a huge success out of the gate. The market was never this way to begin with. Again, back to VGChartz and their WoW numbers. Note the steady decline of sales. Yet, it WAS persistent sales, but fell by volume week after week for it's 10 week first run.

But, then it happened. Word of mouth took the game to the next level. People wondered what the hubbub was about. What was this whole MMO "thang". The growth of WoW could be noted as the growth of the genre and not so much this one game.

Right now, Rift or ANY launch MMO will immediately be given to the WoW bear to eat, and players expect as much content, stability and playability as a six year old game. And we cannot change that mentality.

Really, is a 20% decline from a single gaming service like X-Fire indicative of the overall market share? The fact it is just one piece of the pie tells me no. Look at the Raptr numbers, which show a less than 10% loss. Look at the shard listings and see how a majority of servers are still at high...and even some queues.

Decline will really not be noted until we see merges or closure of servers.

But, can even servers being shut down announce the end of Rift? All we need to do is look at the anecdotal evidence to the contrary to see that Rift can stick around and have great success...if they just persist.

Lord of the Rings Online is our perfect example of a major success story. Indie style developer, went big time with LOTRO. But, if we would note LOTRO success, it was not hopping to begin with. When it launched in 2007, it did not get further than #24 on the X-Fire charts. By near the end of 2008 it was laying off staff and free to play was but a whispered secret that no one wanted their game to be. On launch, LOTRO only sold 172,000 copies in it's first quarter...THATS IT.

Yet, 4 years later, Turbine is lauded as a major progenitor of the Free to Play for Triple AAA products.

Now, if Rift was a major "wreck" of a game, then yes, I could clearly see them falling and tumbling. For that example, look to Age of Conan. This was the game everyone required to fail. Predictions were pasted all over the blogs, various websites, forums...aw, heck, Kotaku actually SHUT THEM DOWN due to posting a fluff piece by a hater.

"Suckered in by the newbie zone, 700,000 souls subscribed. Faced with the rest of the game after level 20, they unsubscribed. It all lasted a bit over two months."

Using this criteria, AoC should have been long gone in Year One. Three years later, and still moving along with another MMO in development.

Aion is another "hated" MMO. Many a player wrote the game off as the biggest failure of it's year. YET, the game still pops into our top 5 of listed MMO's, and even has times where it spikes higher on X-Fire and Raptr, due to returning players. NCSoft financials list the game as stable...and if anything, was the game that gave them help in moving Guild Wars 2 forward and money for NCSofts next development title, Blade and Soul.

The MMO market, if anything, has become like the music market. More artists, more songs, equal more players vying for the kids dollars. Why can't all MMO's co-exist?

Play the game you like, but if anything, if you feel Rift is on the downward spiral, maybe it is you the player that is actually done with the genre?

Let me tell you about Dragon Age and Consoles...

X-Fire Game: Whats the numbers there, Kenneth?

2011-04-11T10:23:00.002-04:00

This past Sundays stats show just a glimmer in how our MMO's are progressing. Some major anomalies still exist though between what X-Fire says and how Raptr is tracking. Luckily, the combination of the two give us some great insight into how the various games are holding up.

Stay tuned, as I also look at progression of the Rift charts near the end. For now, lets see how our services are ranking the MMO's.

(UPDATE: To help those who do not understand what X-Fire or Raptr is, each logo is a link. Thank you.)

Rift - 4317 ( 4493 ↓ )
EvE Online - 2087 ( 1938 ↑ )
Lord of the Rings Online - 2042 ( 1959 ↑ )
Aion -1961 ( 1919 ↑ )
Dungeons & Dragons Online - 358 ( 371 ↓ )
Star Trek Online - 324 ( 318 ↑ )
Age of Conan - 274 ( 281 ↓ )
Champions Online - 245 ( 257 ↓ )
Warhammer Online - 163 ( 168 ↓ )
Final Fantasy XIV - 122 ( 119 ↑ )
DC Universe - 52 ( 58 ↓ )

If we really look at this chart, we can clearly see what happened here. As people left Rift (in small amounts, mind you), they started to go back to their old MMO's. But, with such a small drop for Rift, I can only assume that like other BIG MMO's (you know the one), the numbers fluctuate as one leaves, another starts.

Rift is still rocking our charts with over double the number of players for the main MMO's we have been tracking. If I had to take a stab at numbers right now, I would put Rift at about 600 to 800k players (subs?). I do this strictly on how many players we have heard EVE Online has (WIKI notes 300k players back in 2009, and I have seen growth on the X-Fire charts, so that could be closer to 400k now). Now, lets say I used my infamous calc system I have discussed in the PAST, I could see Rift having roughly 930k players (4317 x 215.5). Close to the 1 million mark I keep noting as the "success point" that MMO's need to be considered a viable market. Using that same calc gives EVE 450k (right on my money prediction ...). So, wonder what they REALLY have?

I tell you what... I will save that for a new post later in the week...

Basically, EVE, LOTRO and Aion are all back up this week. Why leave an MMO you have invested so much time into if you were not bored in the first place...right? Rift is definitely for those who like their MMO kinda like the other guys...but, have been fed up with how those other games have been run. I can see, just by looking at this chart, that these 3 games will be around a long time (PS: And to all the Aion haters...sorry, but Aion IS a success story, no matter how much YOU hate it.)

Most of the usual low end MMO's took dips this week. FFXIV had a slight tweak upward though, and is back to the numbers it was showing before Japanaquake 2011. I am happy they at least are keeping this dedicated crowd. But, really; it's still free...why wouldn't they?

We have a new loser this week. DC Universe. I expected this. I also expect more SOE Free to Play action...especially for something that cost them so much...they really need to deliver here. These numbers are not cutting it. Hope the PS3 version is at least keeping people.

****

Rift - 3176 ( 3448 ↓ ) players
EvE Online - 1006 ( 945 ↑ )
Lord of the Rings Online - 780 ( 847 ↓ )
Aion - 496 ( 525 ↓ )
Champions Online - 261 ( 253 ↑ )
DC Universe - 214 ( 191 ↑ )
Dungeons & Dragons Online - 140 ( 232 ↓ )
Final Fantasy XIV - 122 ( 136 ↓ )
Star Trek Online - 102 ( 114 ↓ )
Age of Conan - 83 ( 123 ↓ )
Warhammer Online - 71 ( 59 ↑ )

Lets just report this as we see it. Raptr really has no rhyme or reason...so, I am just gonna deliver their mess...LOL.

As we saw with X-Fire, EVE is back up...yet, LOTRO and Aion fall. Confusing indeed.

Champions is up? Yea. Weird. But, even weirder??? DC Universe cranking so high on these charts. I often wonder if the numbers from the PS3 mix in with these results. When I look at the PS3 results...it says 6 players. LOL.

DDO had a very nasty drop here, and I plan to watch this and see if it continues. X-Fires drop was minor and was to be expected due to nothing event wise going on. Why DDO would drop so far on Raptr is a mystery.

Pretty much drops across the board here. So, X-Fire shows more risers this week, while Raptr shows droppers. Yet, last week X-Fire showed drops, and Raptr showed risers...

So confusing. One can only assume either demographics or region with these services. Wish I could get more data out of them to find out.

****

Now, this week, I want to take a trip down memory lane...and do the Rift charts from Riftideas (riftideas.com). I had used these previously while we watched how servers progressed through time. I decided to get some relative charts from various prime time Sunday's for both the EU and US markets.

Lets see how this went.

3/27 - Germany 8PM

4/3 - Germany 8PM

4/10 - Germany 9PM

So, note the progression of the EU servers (Right hand side) as we went through the weeks. The start had quite a few full (queued) servers on 3/27. As time went on, less servers were queued, but then we noted, no low servers. Finally at this week, we have mostly medium and high servers, with just one queued now.

Some comments had been made about tweaking server sizes. But, I also wonder if players moved around and joined alternate servers? Hard to say. The one thing we can see most is that no server is low now...and that is kind of cool.

3/27 - USA 8:30PM EST

4/3 - USA 9PM EST

4/10 - USA 9PM EST

We can note the decline of the servers as time progressed. Quite a few noted as highs went to mediums. But, some swapping took place (I can look and immediately see one medium going to high). Again...new players joining, while old players leave...about a two to one drop (two leave; one enters).

The most disturbing part is how fast the EU servers went from a few lows to mostly lows at this off peak schedule. Alarming changes...but, maybe not unprecedented.

Keeping most of these servers will be the key to how well Rift is doing. If all servers can stay up or at least most with minimal merges, then Rift will be rocking.

****
So, as we come to a close, I just want to throw in the final World of Warcraft chart from X-Fire. Maybe I might check back in on them on a monthly basis, but this final number will be it.

World of Warcraft X-Fire chart April 10th - players 34,755 ( 34,325 ↑)

Once you go crack, it makes you whack and then you go back. So, yes people....players decided that old graphics and gameplay that calls for dedication (et, al; addiction) keeps em coming back. Anecdotally, a guildie in Rift noted to me that their friend REALLY wants to try Rift...but, they have so much time and money invested into WoW, they just can't do it.

And yet, that persons dedication could be all wiped out by just one hack or drive failure. SCARY.

But, as expected. Rift HAS made a dent, but, WoW will hold the crown for a long time to come. When it comes to MMO's...there is WoW...then there are the other guys who combined STILL don't have enough players to outdo WoW (unless your an Asian grinder....and that is a whole other story).

Next contender please...

The X-Fire Game: So, who is sticking around?

2011-04-04T12:15:00.000-04:00

I think this is a great theme for todays posting. As we look at the games on the charts, while 30+ days wind down for a new MMO launch; who is going back to their old games? And who is sticking around for the newbie on the block?

A concern with todays numbers deals with the fact that Trion threw me a whiffle ball out of left field called a "Free Trial Weekend for Friends". So, when we look at todays chart, we get what should have been the Sunday where we should see the real stats for subs, taking us into...well, crap, what are the REAL numbers?

April 3rd was the renewal date for subs in the US market for Rift (not sure for EU due to their later starting date), but, Trion decided to do something no other MMO has done, and give all members codes to hand out to friends to try the game during it's 30 days free for buyers.

I guess all I can say is stay tuned, and hopefully NEXT week we will get some fun data to look at.

On with the show. (NOTE: Except for Rift, the numbers we'll be comparing are from two weeks ago, as last week was a special solo edition. This will be interesting to see how a weeks hiatus stacks the games on the charts).

Rift - 4493 ( 4730 ↓ )
EvE Online - 1938 ( 1988 ↓ )
Lord of the Rings Online - 1959 ( 1977 ↓ )
Aion -1919 ( 1948 ↓ )
Dungeons & Dragons Online - 371 ( 401 ↓ )
Star Trek Online - 318 ( 304 ↑ )
Age of Conan - 281 ( 275 ↑ )
Champions Online - 257 ( 304 ↓ )
Warhammer Online - 168 ( 164 ↑ )
DC Universe - 58 ( 75 ↓ )
Final Fantasy XIV - 119 ( 0 ↑ )

Well, lets see...

First up is Rift. A large drop. I expected this though. People's subs would expire, players would leave...so, it is inevitable. But, lets really look at these numbers carefully. Even with the drop, Rift still garners more than double the amount of players of the #2 MMO, EVE. That is nothing to sneeze at. But, of course, next week the "free trial" will be gone (I assume...Trion is a savvy marketer, and I think they deserve kudos for that), and then we may see some real stats.

Across the board, most Fantasy MMO's are down. Lord of the Rings, Aion, yet, two surprises. Age of Conan and Warhammer Online. Both are of course rolling along the bottom of the barrel here. But, AoC actually moved up in the ranks to overtake Champions Online, which has continued it's downward fall. WAR added a few back...I assume those who left for Rift, and saw it's PvP will never be RvR (even though forum posts pleaded for such a move by Trion).

Final Fantasy XIV is back, but lower than when it left. About 128 players were on the last time I did the report (about a month ago, since the Japan Earthquake). I am not sure how they can really recover, and FFXIV may be the new bottom feeder on our charts. Time will tell if any of the upcoming changes will affect populations.

***

Rift - 3448 ( 3430 ↑ ) players
EvE Online - 945 ( 958 ↓ )
Lord of the Rings Online - 847 ( 949 ↓ )
Aion - 525 ( 532 ↓ )
Champions Online - 253 ( 285 ↓ )
Dungeons & Dragons Online - 232 ( 296 ↓ )
DC Universe - 191 ( 212 ↓ )
Star Trek Online - 114 ( 113 ↑ )
Age of Conan - 123 ( 89 ↑ )
Warhammer Online - 59 ( 67 ↓ )
Final Fantasy XIV - 136 ( 0 ↓ )

Lets see what took place this weekend...

As I continue to state...Raptr is just odd right now in how games track here compared to X-Fire. But, in all honesty, as I continue to watch Raptr, I wonder if the continued fall of players in all games on X-Fire is due to the fact so many are leaving the service. Some may actually be coming to Raptr. All I know is Raptr never jives with X-Fire...but, hey, thats ok. Lets just check the stats, shall we?

Rift is actually up here. I assume this would be a by-product of that free time this weekend. Next week will be the kicker. But, as I keep saying, Rift numbers are exponentially higher than most other MMO's (besides that one behemoth). I still think Rift is riding success for now...and time will be the key if they can keep up their momentum.

Games continue to tumble here, except for Star Trek who released Foundry recently and if I am not mistaken, a new update. Age of Conan is also up. they have been in MMO news quite heavy the last couple of weeks thanks to an update to the game engine. The game just runs better and looks better for everyone. I expect this is translating well into more players. I hope they keep going and can put more work into this title.

FFXIV returns...but is down quite a bit. The last Raptr numbers was 178 players; so, down a bit. We will continue to watch this and see if these can go up. Raptr seems to like FFXIV much more than X-Fire (or Metacritic, or...any other number of MMO bloggers, websites, etc)

***

Now, whether the month of April has anything to do with changes on our charts (warmth has come, the ball of orange death is out and spring break cometh) or it is a true effect of the Rift in place in MMO land...most MMO's continue a downward move.

But, how does the monster in the room stack up this past week?

World of Warcraft X-Fire chart April 3rd - players 34,325 ( 34,976 ↓)

Hmm. Still a small step for mankind leaving behind the huge addiction known as WoW. But, it is happening. Now, again...this could be the X-Fire loss effect. But, to see a down note for WoW is pretty good. Not that I hate WoW, but for this market to move forward, we need to see people be willing to leave this game behind.

I hope this is true is all I can say.

And thats it for this weeks X-Fire game. Stay tuned, as (hopefully this time) next week should be the REAL stats and how Rift held up after the 30 days.

Cheers.

Rift: 30 Days and 30 Nights

2011-03-30T09:56:00.000-04:00

And so we come to a milestone as the final days of the first 30 of free play for Rift: Plane of Telara ends.

I wanted to take a moment and discuss why I will continue to keep my subscription to Rift.

I could do the whole rundown most review sites do. But, hey, they have already done all this. What I want to give you is how I have been playing and what I feel as I play. So, my language may be too familiar with Rift, and could turn away some readers. Hope you can follow along as this stream of consciousness only happens to me in a blue moon now!!

First off, I have made sure to try each calling (general class) in the game. I have a Mage, Warrior, Cleric, Rogue. I then attempted to fit those characters into my playstyle of being the Healer. Thanks to the "Family who MMO's", I have built up this persona of being main heals, or having classes who heal. From Reaver/Paladin for Warrior, Bard in the Rogue calling, Chloromancer in Mage and of course Sentinel/Warden in Cleric...they all work. This was a great experiment, and led me to enjoying the "Soul" system of Rift.

This was my first clue I would stick this out. All classes have proven to be enjoyable, thus having four alts really helps create an environment for me to play in and stay interested. I have my main grouping class with my Cleric, my alt who hunts and resources (Rogue solo Bard is just plain fun), and my damager...Chloro with Warlock and DOT's is fantastic, and will eventually play with groups. The only class that trails the others in likability is the Warrior calling. But, that is ok, as I have never really been much of a Warrior player.

So, with classes playing a major role in my happiness, what then about the game experience.

The tutorial areas really are not entertaining. Once through and I am good. But, to get each calling out of that zone was truly difficult. The game suffers in this way of forcing this tutorial area on you. Of course, each calling got easier...as I could run through and be done in less than an hour. But I could not enjoy the little things the game offers (searching for books, collectibles, etc), as I wanted to leave that beginning.

Once I am out, then the true playing begins.

Questing in Rift is too standardized. Lets get that straight. Do not get me wrong...there are quite a few fun little quests, but a majority of the time I keep thinking "Been there, done that". Thus, as I played, I started to avoid this requirement. I would start chasing Rifts as much as possible. I would drop green or gray quests. But, I tried my best to at least head to the area where questing was taking place, and play how I wanted. If a quest was completed, then awesome.

When I started in Rift, the quests were the main goal, as it seemed this is what we always do in our MMO's. Luckily, Rift offered a way out, by metagaming outside that norm..searching for "sparklies" (those little artifacts), spelunking and mountain climbing and a sense of wandering and exploring led to a new way to play. Yes, I may not level as fast, but of course, when I am ready to ding, I will just go back, finish a quest or two and do some turn ins.

Honestly, the Rifts are where the fun is at for me though. When I played in Warhammer Online, I attempted all of the Public Quests, and that to me was more fun than the standard form of "kill me those rats boy-ee". The Rift's are fun in certain aspects of figuring out how to approach them. Some had certain ways to finish them quickly, while others were a race to find the mobs and get done before the timer expired. Almost like a mini-game within the game. And of course, getting to the Rifts was its own mini-game.

My Bard is currently in his 30's, and has been working his way through Scarlet Gorge and Scarwood Reach. I love the way these zones look (I guess I should finally add at this time..I am Guardian BTW). KillTenRats notes "Still, I am thankful to go. Scarlet Gorge seems like an experiment gone wrong...I have to say, the zone feels poorly designed for a mid-level zone." I could not disagree more. But, maybe it has to do with being able to do the "quest avoidance" that I have been working on. I keep my Bard at rested XP through his adventures. I then work my way through various mines, mountains and resources along the way. I create this little adventure for myself as I travel in search of new areas to explore. Of course, invasions and Rifts are not as plentiful, and this could be KTR's issue. I do miss them.

My Cleric, also in his 30's works with a small group in this zone, and we will do the basic quests, and they are done quickly and efficiently. This could be how Rift was meant to be played. Trion made every effort to build in a social tool like the Public Groups. Thus, I feel when Rift is played with others, it works much better than solo'ing through quests...which can become a bore. This team also works on dungeons and invasions if there, but we do not Rift chase. This group is all about heading to endgame.

My Cleric has hit the dungeons for each zone. Realm of the Fae, Darkening Deeps, Foul Cascade. Each have the basics of dungeons that we expect. Luckily, they are not easy. They have proven to be a challenge with how to avoid patrols, boss fights....and thats what we enjoy in our MMO's...right?

Basically, you can see that I am not deterred by the "same ole, same ole" that most people attribute to Rift. Maybe it is because I have strayed so much from that norm in my MMO stable (just never really got into World of Warcraft...and there you have it; the mention of the game most everyone mentions...just did it to get a rise out of ya).

Overall, Rift is a good stable game, and plays well.

Combat feels like it connects, mobs are not pushovers, spawn rates are quick and traveling is dangerous. Many a time I need to catch my breath as I have swamped through massive amounts of critters and humanoids, cutting a swathe through their entrails as I look to get to my next point. Some have complained about the spawn rates or their proximity to each other. I say too bad. Suck it up, as danger should be the criteria for my play world.

Crafting feels useful (finally, an MMO that gets it) yet, not exciting. Creating mats and repetitious creation of the items to level is annoying. Luckily, gathering is it's own mini quest for materials needed, collecting shinies while doing this is its own amusing past time.

Guilds add a special reason to complete objectives in game, as you will add special bonuses to various items. Combat, crafting, Rifting all can be enhanced due to "perks". But, honestly, the PvE based leveling of the guilds is slow and cumbersome, while PvP'ing is fast...and for a straight PvE guild, that gets annoying. But, when you are as casual as we are in our guild, we are not that worried about it. (But, hey, it could be improved Trion).

I like these features about Rift.

Do not get me wrong, Rift is not without it's faults (the latest being a massive lag spike weekend...but, come to find out was a router issue in Texas). But, that is not much in the way of problems, and has not taken me out of the game due to concerns of questing or broken gameplay. If anything, I can play on a regular basis without a hiccup, and enjoy each login.

Rift feels like a game I want to get to endgame with. Trion is making a major effort to keep this game intact and running great. It runs well on my hardware. It looks beautiful. Updates come fast and quick. Bugginess is minimal or non-existent at times. The new content after 30 days is a boon. How can that be a bad thing? Oh yes, the inevitable nerf, which I had hoped would not happen. But, at the same time, buffs are going in. We will see how that goes. But, at least I can say...I hope they can keep this momentum.

I guess if we need to complain, it is to the fact that the "cloned" feeling we get is there. The game is familiar to our standard MMO, but is helped with a great system of non-structure. Busy work and off the beaten path adventuring lends a hand in making the game fun. Add more fluff, like cosmetic changes, housing, achievements, and you will have a happy, busy household like mine still playing.

Thus, dedication by a great developer, awesome gameplay styles, great combat, and gorgeous looking graphics have all led to me sticking it out for the next six months. Really, what else could I be doing? Playing those other games with their low populations? Buggy gameplay and broken systems? Or the game with no name?

Lets see how this goes instead, eh?

Cheers

X-Fire Game: Solo Edition - Rift

2011-03-28T10:29:00.001-04:00

With this past weekend being the crucial last weekend for the "30 day window" in Rift, I am dedicating this post to a very fun MMO.

Does everyone else think it is as fun?

First up, lets go ahead and preview the X-Fire and Raptr stats for Rift and do some comparisons to launch
week.

Rift - 4730 ( 4968 - LAUNCH )

The X-Fire data is actually from one week past launch...but, due to the broken stats reading, we missed the first day. How accurate this may be, I am unsure. But, I at least wanted some good comparison data.

****

Rift - 3430 ( 3856 - LAUNCH )

The Raptr numbers are from the first Sunday of launch. This was to be it's 2nd busiest day, as the following week hit upward of 4000 players.

****

So, what do we see so far? The basic trend for most MMO's. The slow drop off from the players who found either Rift was not their game, or other concerns which have popped up (from security issues to the infamous "nerf after pay" patch).

But, when we look at this, we do note a VERY good retention rate as well. These numbers look pretty good, and if it can hold this spot after the 30 days are reached, then we will have a successful MMO.

Just to give a reference point, I looked back to find a previous top 5 X-Fire game and see how their numbers were...Warhammer Online.

2008

Launched in September of 2008, note the trend of the game as time progressed. The downward spiral was quite extreme. This is what we do NOT want to see in Rift. If you do, then we can add Rift to the pile of games that includes Age of Conan, WAR, and other non-starters that WoW eats for breakfast. (As another note on this little chart. See how many players there are? This gives an idea of how many people USE to use X-Fire in the past. Launch numbers had WAR at 12,000+ players per day back in 2008. So, not only did WAR fall, X-Fire has also lost a lot of users).

****
Moving on, I wanted to show how trends have been looking in Rift. Here are several views of the X-Fire and Raptr data.

This is the chart for Raptr. You can see the overall Metacritic score and how many hours have been played. But, what we want to see is the 7 day outlook scaling for time played. Big spikes are of course the weekend. But, note how there is a drop off. To be expected. The next 7 days will fix that...unless this falls even more, as players leave after the 30 days. What we WANT to see is this even out, and not drop massively.

Since we did not have complete data for Rift for X-Fire, there was a mass upsweep when they fixed how the X-Fire client read the games played hours. At that point though, we do see a steady view. I have noted in the past that Raptr seems weird to me at times, and can fluctuate freely, while X-Fire seems to hold steadier (unless there is an outage of the game or of course, players leave the game noted).

Both of these will be good reference come next weekend.

Moving on...if you remember, we also were tracking a new site that had images of shard status. The chart gave us a single eyes view of how all servers were doing in specific time periods. Here are the final reports from Riftideas/Shardwatch.

This first chart is Sunday March 27th at 8PM in Germany. We have six servers with queues. But, we also have two at low. This is interesting, as we NEVER see low on the weekends on the US servers. So, this is an oddity.

Lets compare the first image I had for Germany and Shardwatch.

This was taken on March 13th. 7PM German time. Notice a difference? Right off the bat, no lows. Twelve queued servers also. Dang it was busy. Drop off of course IS to be expected, so, overall it was not massive. But, I see EU servers being the first to merge here.

Moving on to the US of A.

So, right off the bat, we see two things. Only one queued server. March 27th at 8:30 EST. I worry about this, as I had noted my own issues on Twitter this morning. Massive lag spikes leading to either DC's or being stuck not moving or anything...yet everything else around you was moving normally (characters, quest updates, etc.). Very Bizarre. That could lead to lowered servers.....maybe. Next, if we look at the EU servers, the number of low servers is quite large still.

What the heck, lets look at the older chart and see just how bad it makes this past weekend look.

Need I say more? Six queued servers down to one? This could be changes to queue sizes or population sizes...we do not know which. Again.....drop off is to be expected, but there is no way Rift can compete with World of Warcraft when we see charts like this. I would prefer they hold on to the number two position at least...

****

We have a lot of data here. Most of it shows the common trend in most launched MMO's in the Age of WoW.

Hard to keep players when a polished, long running title still exists.

Eventually most of these MMO's will syphon off players from WoW, but at what cost? This is not a cheap business...and I can only hope the box sales held up for Trion. With the normal issues that surround MMO's from security and gold sellers, lag and engine issues, broken quests and what not...Trion is a bit ahead in getting it fixed. Just is it good enough to keep them afloat?

BTW, here is your final Moment of Zen to help you understand what is happening with Rift.

World of Warcraft X-Fire chart March 27th - 34,976 players (36,248 ↓)

Yea....that feels good to see.

The X-Fire Game: Charts for March 20th

2011-03-21T10:52:00.000-04:00

Not much to say as we get this weeks numbers underway.

The only thing I can note is that Final Fantasy XIV will be hurting pretty bad due to a shutdown that took place this past week because of the Japanese disaster. Rift has been smacked this past week with a pretty nasty authentication and hacking bug which could affect numbers as well. Otherwise, good weather and several major sport events on TV may also have some effect on gaming time.

Lets get started then and see the results...

Rift - 4912 ( 4968 ↓ )
EvE Online - 1988 ( 2090 ↓ )
Lord of the Rings Online - 1977 ( 2003 ↓ )
Aion - 1948 ( 1995 ↓ )
Dungeons & Dragons Online - 401 ( 415 ↓ )
Star Trek Online - 304 ( 350 ↓ )
Champions Online - 304 ( 349 ↓ )
Age of Conan - 275 ( 297 ↓ )
Warhammer Online - 164 ( 178 ↓ )
DC Universe - 75 ( 100 ↓ )
Final Fantasy XIV - 0 ( <28> 129 ↓ )

I think this chart deserves a quote I read on the Rift forums which explains how much people will enjoy Rift...

"There seems to only be two kinds of people that don't like Rift.
Those that think it is too much like WoW
And those that think it is not enough like WoW.
Everyone else loves it =D"

I think we can see how that is still holding up as we wind down into the final week of the free 30 days for Rift. Numbers are still high (though down a touch), and when I look at the Shard population charts, the servers still hit queues during peak play times. Like I said, one more week and we should then be able to see how successful Rift is in retention.

As I noted at the beginning, typical of warmer weather and event driven weekends...EVERYONE was down a bit. This always happens. As a matter of fact, all the numbers were so minimally impacted, there is nothing much to say here.

Of course, looking at FFXIV, we can see what happens when you shut off ALL game access. I kept their last week numbers and then the numbers from last full operations. This way come next week, hopefully servers will be back and we can note any major impact (I have not read any reports yet of when we may see the servers come back yet as well.)

...

Rift - 3764 ( 4015 ↓ ) players
EvE Online - 958 ( 1092 ↓ )
Lord of the Rings Online - 949 ( 918 ↑ )
Aion - 532 ( 535 ↓ )
Champions Online - 285 ( 293 ↓ )
DC Universe - 212 ( 203 ↑ )
Dungeons & Dragons Online - 296 ( 258 ↑ )
Star Trek Online - 113 ( 100 ↑ )
Age of Conan - 89 ( 99 ↓ )
Warhammer Online - 67 ( 85 ↓ )
Final Fantasy XIV - 0 ( <35>178 ↓ )

Raptr likes to play with my charts in a most "sucky" way (yea, thats official chart lingo...EAT IT). It is bizarre how the numbers go up and down for games in a way that makes following games difficult. I can only assume either new players jump into Raptr or the average player who uses Raptr jumps from game to game...hard to say.

Lets see what took place this weekend.

Rift takes a bizarre dive here. While X-Fire shows a minimal drop, which is perfectly normal...Raptr says "screw it" and has a downward spiral, that would normally look ugly. I will see how next week fares. But, like I said...Raptr is bizarro land in stats.

As an example of Bizarro, LOTRO has a spike. Uh...why? No major event, or anything happening to explain it (especially when most games were down). Or how about DDO and DCUO being up? How weird. And even Star Trek Online shows a minor boost. Raptr is just all over the map.

FFXIV....at least shows Zero. Never know...

...

Ok, on to our game of the week special. As noted previously, our game is World of Warcraft until the 30 day free time is up for Rift. How did they fare yesterday?

WoW = Xfire 36248 (36510 ↓)

Still going down? Not a lot, but a bit of a small nudge that makes me wonder how WoW will fare after the 30 days are up.

The downward move has been consistent, and it could be a sign, or just a blip. Still tracking and reporting how this pans out.

...
And thus, another week. This time around, we see the effects of better weather and sporting events on TV, etc having an effect on our games.

I am still leery about Raptr as a tracking service. Today really stands out to me, as the bizarre turn of numbers has me questioning the results. Why would games that should be looking downward or at least stable be spiking like they are? As to Rift, it could be a client versus client issue. Raptr could be giving issues for people running it? Hard to say. I mean, I expect drops...but, when X-Fire shows the gradual change, while Raptr has a bizarre loss...It seems weird.

I will keep an eye on it.

Anyways, that is it for today. Stay tuned, as next week the wrecking ball called "30 days are up" will be hitting. How much of Rift will be left standing?

Cheers

Rift - Entitlement? Service? or Nightmare.

2011-03-17T09:53:00.000-04:00

As part of this continued stream of thought on Rift, I wish to take up another part of the puzzle with todays MMO market and the player.

Entitlement.

As we noted yesterday (and believe me, reading forums can get pretty nasty in regards to this issue), hackings are taking place as quick as you can read these words. Trion has taken it upon themselves to add a special in game tool to help alleviate concerns.

The "coin lock" will be a way that the game client itself will snoop on where you log in from on a regular basis. If your login then takes place from another region or IP range, it will lock down any selling of gear, trade of monies, etc. You can buy as much as you want...you just cannot sell anything until you unlock the account through a code sent by email.

Service. That is the key word here. I am unaware of any developer offering a tool such as this in any other MMO. The only other MMO developer that even comes close to offering any sort of special security measure is Blizzard. And that you have to PAY FOR.

So, how does the community feel?

"Coin Lock only makes it so that once your chars are logged into the game, they cannot lose money, gear or contents of your bag. It does not change that fact that these people can log into your accounts on both the web and the game, up to the character screen and potentially cause damage." (Coin Lock doesn't change the fact that you can still be hacked)

"everyone i know has been hacked and tis gettign to the point there more people trying tog et there stuff back then are playing this game due to hackors and gold farmers . this game needs a good security system it lacks one now hardcore about everyone i know including me has been hacked and this aint even been live a month it will fix alot of hacking and your company can sell them and i will gladly buy one and can also sell a app for this for the phones and etc cause this is something that needs fixed before anything else whats point of playing a game if everyday you or one ur friends has everything taken alot people i know quit over this alone and it shoulda never hapened in first place" (Please make a authenticator for this game)

Though valid points, the issue is this feeling of entitlement. But, the hacking is not the only issue in regards to this feeling that Trion "owes" them.

With forum titles like...

"Trion we demand feedback from You regarding major issues."
"Any information out there on up coming fixes?"
"same ******** with every faction game"

And many more.

This must be Trions Nightmare.

But, this leads to the final part of this conversation.

Service.

What is expected of an MMO developer. We pay each month for various "services". What SHOULD we expect from our MMO of choice developers?

What is too soon? What should be happening now? Do we as players demand too much?

Initially Rift started with regular rolling restarts and patching. The complaints came in heavy. "Why are they doing this every day?" Now Trion has pulled back on the regular patching, restarts...and now people demand to know what is being fixed.

When you purchase a single player game, how much do you demand from the developer? Do you expect your game to be down for patches all the time? Is it because we pay monthly for these games that we expect more?

If you could wish for a specific time frame for concerns, what would you ask? 1 week? 10 days? 30 days?

Right now, we as an MMO community need to decide what is really expected. When the next set of launches come, what will we be bitching about when The Secret World hits. What will be our concerns over Star Wars: The Old Republic? Will Arenanet keep our stuff secure in Guild Wars 2 or will we be in the same boat as the GW original players...that when we lose our stuff, it is gone. PERMANENTLY.

We are entitled to have certain things when we pay these developers for our monthly fee. We just need to decide how much is too much and how much is just enough.

Rift - Entertainment? Service? or Nightmare REDUX

2011-03-16T09:54:00.000-04:00

Previously I had written about being hacked in my MMO of choice, Guild Wars. It was a devastating blow due to how the issue was handled, and the outcome (which was "too bad buddy, you get nothing back"). It made me feel like I did not want to ever touch the game again...

I felt violated, like a rape victim.

Read more on that story...HERE.

In case you have not paid attention to the forums for Rift, the outcome has been a mess. It seems that many a player has been hacked, and of course all of them cannot understand why. We can look through and see how people seem to be very careful with their PC's, and have all sorts of adware, spyware and virus scanners running.

So, how could they be affected?

Is Trion at fault here? Has their database been compromised? This is hard to say...and of course, Trion will be the last to tell us such.

Lets take a clear look at what some issues may be, and learn how to protect ourselves from mayhem... (after my abject lesson, this stuff came in handy).

The most obvious seems to have been done by these users who were hacked. Installed a program to log combat data, or some mapping system to find nodes...etc, etc. Of course, these players think they are safe as they use all sorts of tools to watch for trouble. To me, this also screams going overboard. A really good virus scanner ran monthly with full scans and daily with quick scans (takes about 1-2 minutes of your time) is the best protection. I currently use Avast which has a small memory footprint, and is free. I have used it, and found many a problem, especially visiting certain websites. Want to run a malware tool? Cool...but, it is just a bit too much. Just use other safety protocols and you can run a cleaner system.

Websites...ah yes. There are so many no-no's here, that I just cannot begin to share the misery. I do not care just how good that site may be in sharing information on the game...looking for the secrets of those shinies and achievements, playing with builds on Zams Soul Builder....but, guess what? These sites leave cookies, that are suspicious and have been flagged by Avast as bad. I cannot find one to blame.

All I know is IF you must use these sites, here are several tips to help.

If the site requires a user name, pass or email...well, please don't use your Rift login data. After visiting said sites, why not be safe and run a quick scan with your virus protection (malware tool..whatever) before logging into Rift or the Rift account management. Finally, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER leave a web browser running in the background when playing. You just cannot do this anymore. Flash ads with scripting tools and cross server access leads to hidden keyloggers watching you.

Paranoid? Yes. But, you will be too when you lose 5 years of goods, and a company refuses to restore those items.

Now, how about that email account? This has been a sore issue with me. Using an email address as your login is the suck. I feel this was a mistake from Blizzard and Trion. We as a society fall into "habits". We also like familiarity. So, we will use the same email address we always use and the same passwords (remembering gets hard...especially as you get older).

Straight up...use a new and unique email address. Use gmail as the preference. Whatever you do, just be unique. Speaking of unique, passwords, should be bizarre. Do not use the name of anything (people, objects, etc)...use upper and lower case letters and include numbers (at least two numbers). AND make sure it does not exist ANYWHERE ELSE. Write this down and live with the fact that you must have more information that you are use to.

Finally, any forums you need to use...just stick to the basics. Use your original email, but please make sure this email is not the one for game logins.

If you follow these guidelines...like for real (not saying "Hey, I didn't visit any websites....but ZAM")...you should be good to go. If you get hacked after that, then we will know who the culprit is. The company will have to accept their issues and man up.

Luckily, Trion is taking some measures with the new coin lock system, which sets your client to a region. If they see you login from another region, your coin and gear get locked. You cannot sell anything, send any money or items through mail and armor cannot be removed...etc. You can buy, just not sell or give away cash in any manner, until you type in a code sent to your account email address; you know, the unique one you made just for the game?

This is an impressive step being taken by an MMO developer, and I hope this works.

So, did I miss anything? Why not tell me about your experiences of being hacked.

Just stay safe, put some rubber on it (unique passwords), slather some disinfectant (new emails)...and all will be good and toasty (uh, ok...hope not).

Cheers

The X-Fire Game: SUB-stantial data for Rifting

2011-03-14T10:39:00.003-04:00

I am going to state this now.

Rift will prove to be a MMO that can at least compete in this market without all of the issues exhibited by the previous years offerings.

All indications are leaning toward customer satisfaction (except for a few concerns, which as they appear, are squashed immediately) and at least a major amount of servers sticking around after the 30 day mark.

I have quite a few reams of data here, so lets get to the numbers...shall we?

Rift - 4968 ( OB 3962 ↑ )
EvE Online - 2090 ( 2073 ↑ )
Lord of the Rings Online - 2003 ( 2108 ↓ )
Aion - 1995 ( 2047 ↓ )
Dungeons & Dragons Online - 415 ( 448 ↓ )
Star Trek Online - 350 ( 427 ↓ )
Champions Online - 349 ( 424 ↓ )
Age of Conan - 297 ( 253 ↑ )
Warhammer Online - 178 ( 163 ↑ )
DC Universe - 100 ( 141 ↓ )
Final Fantasy XIV - 28 ( 129 ↓ )

Still a small tumble going on with a few games. To be expected.

It is quite clear that Rift has some great numbers, and they are not falling yet. I kept the Open Beta numbers as comparison this week, as previous X-Fire stats were still not tracking Rift data properly. Luckily, the issue has been fixed, and we can start getting a better compare for the coming months. But, it is pretty clear that having a higher set of numbers for launch compared to an open beta says a lot. Time will tell if this holds though.

Lord of the Rings and Aion both have continued to see a drop. But, EvE Online was back up this week and taking back the number two spot.

Star Trek and Champions both fell this week, but still show up well here.

Shocking was the two big launch fail titles...Age of Conan and Warhammer Online... having some upward trending. AoC had a major update this past week and WAR also had a new patch. Whether this placebo will wear off...only time will tell.

Now, please don't look at FFXIV badly here. Due to the disaster in Japan this past weekend, the servers felt major upheavals which have affected overall stats. I will keep an eye on this, and lets hope it is not a permanent down. (UPDATE: As no one understands the wording of my sentence...by "permanent down" I mean the numbers for players...not the servers themselves. I know they have a planned outage, but seems not everyone understands what I am saying here. I hope that AFTER the servers are back online that these numbers will go up. But, based on the fact that this particular game is not doing well, I expect this to be a hard hit, and may stay down quite a bit).

As to the big drop for DC Universe? Yea, I expected that. I have stated many times that the Fantasy genre owns the MMO world, and superhero games just do not have the staying power of elves, dwarves and magic. I hope another game...say The Secret World...can finally push this genre into other realms of enjoyment.

...

Rift - 4015 ( 3856 ↑ ) players
EvE Online - 1092 ( 1006 ↑ )
Lord of the Rings Online - 918 ( 993 ↓ )
Aion - 535 ( 508 ↑ )
Champions Online - 293 ( 485 ↓ )
DC Universe - 203 ( 338 ↓ )
Dungeons & Dragons Online - 258 ( 285 ↓ )
Star Trek Online - 100 ( 171 ↓ )
Age of Conan - 99 ( 84 ↑ )
Warhammer Online - 85 ( 65 ↑ )
Final Fantasy XIV - 35 ( 178 ↓ )

Rift still holding out for #1. As well, adding a few players in the process. Continuing to impress here.

Standard MMO fare falling. LOTRO, DDO feeling the squeeze. Yet, Aion shows an upward swing.

Champions tumbles, DC Universe drops. Both took major falls. Star Trek also felt the bruises of getting slapped around.

Age of Conan and WAR both exhibit the Vicodin high associated with new patches. Now, can the players keep popping the pills?

And of course, my prayers with the people of Japan, and sadness for the FFXIV fall.

...

As announced last week, World of Warcraft is our game of the week for the next 30 days of Rift-mania. Lets see how WoW charted.

WoW = Xfire 36510 ( 36972 players ↓ )

WoW continued to tumble. Now, we must note that due to the Japan disaster, the shock-waves could be felt in WoW as well. So, whether this is Rift oriented...hard to say. We will continue to watch these numbers and see if next week fixes the problems.
...

As a final add here, I wanted to report on the new "charts" system for Rift I am tracking (you can read about this more...HERE).

As I have noted from previous X-Fire games...Sunday is the busiest day of the week for MMO's. So, here are yesterdays charts for Rift.

German schedule - 7PM

USA EST schedule 7:45 PM

I tried to grab the charts when I could (hey, I was playing Rift, DAMMIT)...but, I think we have a pretty clear picture of how things are looking here.

Germany's prime time really shows some full servers and quite a few high's as well. ZERO lows here. And looking at those charts and seeing that none of the US servers are low either, really says a lot.

When we switch to US based servers and schedules, we still have 6 servers with queues, a majority are at high, and there are even medium servers with no lows...things are looking good.

Now, this will be the last set of these charts I will post until after the 30 days are up. I want to see how many servers stay at least semi-full or even queue'd after that time limit.

***

Whew...lots going on here. I am really excited for the next few months of charts and X-Fire/Raptr data. Stay tuned, as this roller-coaster has just started.

Cheers

Rift: Charting a course for success

2011-03-11T12:59:00.003-05:00

Thanks to the fine work of some bloke who has tons of time...we now have a semi-population tracker for Rift.

You can view the main chart here (SOURCE).

I am adding this post for posterity sake, so we may begin to watch how the game progresses and what happens to the servers as time rolls on.

Of course, the main SUCK of this chart is that they have "powerlevel" and gold seller ads. I will attempt to block these as I snapshot them for posting. Otherwise...at times...I can avoid them with an F5 refresh.

Anyways, I am taking this first snapshot to get the EU listing. Later tonight I will add the US shard listings.

You can click the image to get a larger view. Note that each server is color coded to represent how full the server is.

First off, we can already see that some of the PvP servers are quite low at this time of day in the US (and several in the EU also). But, at the same time, the EU had queues on PvP servers. Really telling how fickle PvP can be at times.

The best part of the image though is just how many servers in the US are at medium at mid-day. Impressive. I expect that to change though...downward. By how much will be the true way of telling how well Rift is doing though by the end of the 30 day free time.

I will update again later with the US primetime schedule. For now, enjoy a look at Rift servers at a glance.

UPDATE: Evening chart around 8:30 EST

Note...quite a few servers with queues or high on the US side. I am also impressed with so many being at medium also.

Next set will be on Sunday, considered the busiest day.

The X-Fire Game: A "Tear" in the Stats

2011-03-07T11:06:00.001-05:00

This week, even though I have some initial stats, they are not truly complete. Like a "rip" in the fabric of the statistics plane of existence.

X-Fire finally fixed their tracking bug for Rift...to an extent. It seems there are still TOO MANY missing clients from their database. Using Raptr as a source...Raptr feeds data into X-Fire. Yet, Raptrs numbers are almost TRIPLE what X-Fire is.

That is not right.

So, I want to be able to keep track until X-Fire picks up more clients. So, just note this weeks #'s will be off for them. Raptr looks good though.

Lets get this started. (Note, the comparison numbers are from two weeks ago from Rift OB time. This will be a good comparison to see how purchase is viewed versus an open beta).

Lord of the Rings Online - 2108 ( 2493 ↓ )
EvE Online - 2073 ( 2263 ↓ )
Aion - 2047 ( 2339 ↓ )
Rift - (Launch 1150 (OB 3962))
Star Trek Online - 427 ( 450 ↓ )
Champions Online - 424 ( 722 ↓ )
Dungeons & Dragons Online - 448 ( 443 ↑ )
Age of Conan - 253 ( 292 ↓ )
DC Universe - 141 ( 265 ↓ )
Warhammer Online - 163 ( 168 ↓ )
Final Fantasy XIV - 129 ( 139 ↓ )

Need we say more. A veritable across the board loss for most games. Several took it on the chin harder than I thought...while others just languished. And one major surprise.

Lets start with the Rift discrepancy. First off, how can the numbers be half? Like I stated previously, the clients location had been changed for launch. But, then you ask (or foolishly say)..."Well, that is all that bought the game"...where I reply "NO!"

There are more servers for one. there are more FULL servers than Open Beta also. Even this Sunday, my personal server which has not had a queue, had a queue on Sunday.

So, needless to say, those numbers are bogus until the client recognition is fixed.

Now, look at LOTRO and Aion as two games who got hit hard. Now, gaze upon those numbers knowing that the "previous" numbers were Rift Open Beta weekend numbers. Double ouch. Lets go back in time to the weekend after the Super Bowl (SOURCE). LOTRO had 2597 players and Aion had 2458. Now, we can see just how extreme these two MMO's were hit.

EvE also took it down a notch...just not as bad.

But, wow, look at Champions Online. As the Free to Play phenom starts to die down, the numbers are getting lower. Are they still going to drop?

One shocker is that WAR hardly moved. It is down, but not by much. Same for AoC.

This weeks winner is definitely DDO. They seem to be weathering the Rift effect. Congrats to Turbine as always.

Overall, this is a really good comparison to see how most MMO's were hurt after Rift "launched". Trion has to be happy with the purchase mania!

...

Rift - 3856 (365 ↑ )
EvE Online - 1006 ( 1219 ↓ ) players
Lord of the Rings Online - 993 ( 995 ↓ )
Aion - 508 ( 606 ↓ )
Champions Online - 485 ( 539 ↓ )
DC Universe - 338 ( 630 ↓ )
Dungeons & Dragons Online - 285 ( 337 ↓ )
Final Fantasy XIV - 178 ( 160 ↑ )
Star Trek Online - 171 ( 157 ↑ )
Age of Conan - 84 ( 140 ↓ )
Warhammer Online - 65 ( 95 ↓ )

Raptr's tracking is working much better in this situation. Rift is recognized and some of their data feeds to X-Fire.

As continues to be the case...Raptr always has some oddballs when it comes to play time being up versus down. But, we can definitely see the Rift effect now.

While X-Fire was tracking high for Open Beta and Rift, Raptr always had very low numbers. Not this go round. Each weekend has been pumping out almost 4000 players in Raptr. Rift has become number one with a bullet here. Tripling on our previous #1...Rift is rocking.

Can it hold up?

Oddities abound here. Like DDO taking a big dive here...opposite of X-Fire. FFXIV is actually up during this time.

And look at DC Universe, who is finally feeling the 30 day crunch. Talk about falling down hard. Age of Conan also took it down quite a bit here. And as always (and with much lower numbers to boot), WAR tails.

...

There we have it. The Rift effect is being felt still. But, time will tell.

I will say this much. I expect Rift to hold up after the thirty day window, as the game is good. Not anything "new" per se, but offers something we have not seen in years. A great launch with a game that has no major game breaking bugs. Content is stable, and people are taking their time and enjoying the view.

Enjoy the numbers and cheers.

UPDATE: By special request, we will be watching numbers on X-Fire for World of Warcraft for a couple of weeks to see if the Rift effect is causing any concerns. So, this weeks SPECIAL game is...

WoW = Xfire (36972 players)

CYA next week.

Spectator Sports: The "Rift" dent

2011-03-04T09:07:00.000-05:00

Well, Friday arrives...my health improves, and with that, some fun little commentary on how Rift is progressing.

Yea, yea...we can read it on the blogs, in the forums, or playing the game. Success you say? Sure, people can state it as such. But, what we need are some measuring tools. Not only is talk been above the norm for Rift, with the smattering or "Queue QQ" and "WoW Wannabe" blather, but overall the sense of happiness is more alive within the blogosphere and forums, than most previous launches from the last several years.

"It’s bringing to my mind the age old question of “If all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you?” Well, to be honest, I know if I’d hated Rift, felt no connection to the game at all and didn’t feel it was worth money, I probably would have uninstalled after beta testing and never looked back. Time and money are too important to waste on something you don’t like.
But as I recall, I did like Rift,"
MMOGamerchick

"I’m trying not to go on and on about Rift; in fact I have decided to hardly mention it at all. It’s one thing if it’s a game few people play, but that’s not Rift’s problem.
Just wanted to share this screenshot of my Bard/Ranger/Assassin taking down the boss of an earth rift in the Stonefields. Yummy."
WestKarana

This is pretty typical across the board, with the usual suspects calling fail (Keen and Graev). But, looking to Twitter, the Forums and across the blogosphere, the consensus is more of a "like" for Rift than some of our previous launches like Age of Conan, Aion or Warhammer Online (with that final one having a massive battle over love versus hate....with hate finally winning).

Talk is of people who see what Trion did. Making a stable polished game that people can play if they are bored with their other title or need new environs. For myself, I had been on break from the standard DIKU MMO and coming fresh to Rift feels fresh for me. I have fallen into my patterns, and I am enjoying myself very much.

But, lets talk REAL visual success. Lets take a gander at what a GOOD game launch can do.

First off, Raptr numbers have been pretty impressive. I hope to see next weeks X-Fire game in full swing. Until then lets see how Rift sits as of today...
3149 players were playing Rift...ON A THURSDAY! Just to give a comparison, our normal #1 game for Raptr, EvE Online on a Sunday rakes in about 1200+ players. So, over double that. Todays numbers for EvE? 1035 players.

How about also looking at Raptrs REVIEW page for Rift. You can see a fair consensus there of people who are for the most part happy or accepting of Rift's sameness.

For X-Fire, an issue (as always seems to be the case, due to support being pretty bad for X-Fire right now), is preventing the game from being recognized. A patch has gone out though, and my hopes are that by Sunday, all clients should be recognized and we can do the game come Monday.

But, lets look at what I call the "Dent".

Please take a close look at the drop near the end of that chart. Can you guess what game this is?

That is World of Warcraft.

Now, note, you can see another "dip" in that chart, from earlier last month when a patch was applied and they had some major downtime. But, for the most part it would climb back up almost immediately. This time the "dent" stuck. What day is that huge dip? March 1st - Rift Launch Day.

I will watch this chart again on Monday and see if this is just an anomaly or if we have a REAL WoW denter in Rift.

Who else felt the heat?

LOTRO

Again, the same thing. A noted outage from last month struck LOTRO over the weekend (and also for Rift betas)...But, the huge dent near the end, thanks to Rift launch.

EvE Online

This one I did NOT expect. Eve took a dive also. I expect it will go back up....but, the pain was felt even in Space!

AION

This includes the marker showing the day of the drop. March 1st took a chunk from Aion as well.

Now, of course time will tell how well Rift has done say in 3 - 6 months. Progress on stability, fixes and thinking of new content needs to be paramount to Rift's success.

I personally feel Rift COULD be the first million subber game, if they keep their cool, work on the games strong points and hold on tight to their player base they have created. I know I am a 6 monther subber (and I rarely do that for MMO's). So, the formula is there...lets see what you got Trion. And Good job!

Cheers

HIATUS - Illness got me down

2011-03-01T09:48:00.000-05:00

Being a little personal for the moment...

It has been a while since I have posted. I have been under the weather due to being diagnosed with Graves Disease. I do not think the disease is the cause of my "under the weather" feeling...as I was not even aware of the problem. I did not have many of the symptoms...or if I did I just notched it up to getting "older". If anything, the medicine I am taking for the issue has made me feel blah even more.

Four weeks into being on medication and I get a severe cold. Now, not flu per se...at least that I was aware of. But, the doctor called it as sinusitis...meaning just a bunch of crud build up, that makes you feel crappy. I am on an antibiotic for it.

Now, of course, it should be over by now (going on 7 days)...but, back to my disease...or should I say the medicine itself... is what hurts. I am not generating enough white blood cells to smack it hard. While I was not on the medicine, one of the side effects of Graves is a TON of white blood cells...so many that they start attacking muscle and bone structure as they have nothing to attack otherwise (thus it has been a while since I have been sick with anything like this cold). Now, it feels like an eternity to get rid of a silly cold.

I miss feeling "good", and thus, I have not had it in me to write anything until today. Overall though, my focus is off. I want to write about how the Rift launch is going, what I perceive in it's success at this time, and of course chat about those idiots who feel they deserve the world from an MMO developer.

But, I can't muster the feeling to wrap up my thoughts cohesively. Basically, what you are reading now is just train of thought...so, I can share what has been happening.

According to the Doctors, I EVENTUALLY will feel better, as the disease was "supposedly" destroying me...yet, I wish I felt like I did the day before my diagnosis...as it was SO MUCH BETTER.

Guess time will tell. For now, bear with me, as I WILL get back to the game and writing some of that scathing commentary that keeps the kids happy...

You've been warned...