Soulstitch Approves

Guild Wars 2 Announces Account Wide Guild Join: My Fix

2011-08-28T08:24:00.000-07:00

Yesterday during a Pax 2011 panel the developers from Arenanet announced some news about guilds. The developer proposed that when you join a guild, it's account wide and you can join multiple guilds.

The way the system appears to work is your account can be a member of multiple guilds but you can only be tagged with one at a time. You can change this on the fly, although the exact mechanic is not known.

I personally think this is a horrible idea. Guild pride means something. I am a Council Member of and a very proud member at that. I will never join another guild, and I can't see how this system will benefit guilds at all.

What I propose is that guild leaders be given the option of joining Alliances with other guilds. Where if two guild leaders discuss it, they can together both go and form and alliance. As they see fit they can invite other guilds into the alliance, and when it comes time for raiding, or whenever the members see fit they can tag UP to the alliance, and tag back down to their guild.

This way guilds keep their guild pride, and strong alliances are formed allowing for an even greater in-game community. When WvWvW starts, guilds can tag up to alliance, and use their alliance to take over the same objectives that guilds can.

The Obvious Pride in a Game: ArenaNet Developers on Guild Wars 2

2011-08-25T10:56:00.000-07:00

Recently I read an article from Arenanet on The Battle of Khylo for the upcoming MMO Guild Wars 2.

One has impressed me so much about the development team for GW2 as opposed to the developers of Rift and SWTOR, is that they actually play the hell out of their own game.

Reading through that blog is like reading pvp strategy from a pro player. They play their game, love their game and it shows in the way they write about it.

Watching the blogs and developers of other games they don't appear to love their game the way the developers of GW2 do. While you'll see publicity type excitement when they are being interviewed, it's how the developers conduct themselves outside of those interviews that matter.

You can see the excitement in the twitter feeds. You can recognize the skill in the way they write about their games. The developers sound like they love their game in a way a gamer likes their game, and it has shown in everything they have done so far.

I am expecting great things from Arenanet and Guild Wars 2. Keep up the good work thus far.

How many hours a day can we expect from our MMO?

2011-08-23T10:21:00.000-07:00

I'm possibly too old school. I have been playing MMO for as long as there was a genre. Since the first one 15 years ago. I was playing MUDS and MOOS before then. I have been online gaming since there was an online game to play.

Having started in UO and EQ, those were games where you could play all day long doing something.

Camping rare spawns, getting rare resources, pvp'ing or hanging out with friends in some meaningful way in game. In player made towns in UO, or out farming some rare something or other, or just exploring in EQ.

Back when MMO started you could literally play all day long, all night long, and you always felt like you were doing something useful, you wanted to stay logged in.

Then came world of warcraft. A game that took all of that and condensed it more than it was. It made doing things a little easier. Of course it could still take hours to do a dungeon. From first manually finding groups for hours, then travelling to the dungeon, then completing the dungeon. You invested a lot of time into the game.

Over the years, they simplified everything. Made everything more accessible. They trimmed all time that was spent doing "other things" taking out the travel time to dungeons, taking out the having to manually find groups in cities. They took all of the extra time out of the genre.

This of course made all the content more accessible to the average, casual user but gave me more down time as everything was being done much faster, it was easier to get bored.

This is the state of the genre now and I wonder if it's time for a perception change. How many hours a day can I expect to be entertained by SWTOR, GW2, TSW, Wildstar, Firefall, or any other MMO being released soon?

I'm old school in that I am loyal to the one game that I am playing, but I am seeing more people who maintain several subscriptions and usually just log in to raid and then log out the rest of the time except for character maintenance. These people spend the same amount per month for a few hours a week and I expect to be entertained for a few hours a day per game I'm playing.

Is the way of the future multiple subscriptions? Or is there a per day amount of time that one can be expect to be entertained?

Can same spec for pvp/pve work in SWTOR?

2011-08-04T10:35:00.000-07:00

Developers have kept in mind the different needs players have during their gameplay experience – leveling, PvP, raids, etc. Different builds should be viable in more than one context. Companions will help offset some of the disparities players feel taking their characters into different situations with different requirements (although companions are still not allowed in warzones).
Fansite Summit: CRR Interview with Georg Zoeller

Having such experience in World of Warcraft and many other MMO with both PVP and PVE elements, that quote has caused me plenty of disbelief.

How could a developer possibly develop a game that balanced both aspects of pvp and pve so that players could use the same spec for both? Having not seen the way the skill trees are laid out it is impossible to know for sure but I believe I have theory crafted a way that both could work.

Spec matters to players. There are always optimal specs for every job a player can do. What most average players do not realize is that your optimal spec is more often than not gear dependent and you really don't notice the difference between optimal specs until certain gear levels are reached, or until certain challenges are presented.

The optimal specs, are normally only needed in pve to make up for imperfect gear, and for pvp optimal specs are more often than not actually not noticed until max level competition. I believe SWTOR has set up their skill trees so that your one spec is usable in pve and pvp, and the actual optimal specs won't be needed unless you're on the bleeding edge of progression raiding, or fighting against opponents where the subtle difference and point distribution will matter.

Did Eric Brown mislead investors at the EA Earnings Conference Call?

2011-08-02T18:16:00.000-07:00

At the latest EA Earnings Conference Call (transcript):

Brian Karimzad - Goldman Sachs - Analyst
One on The Old Republic, can you help us understand how the capacity management is going to work at launch? What kind of leadtimes you have to add capacity? And how do you plan to manage the effect of people wanting to level up, put their friends together if demand starts to
significantly exceed the capacity out of the gate?

Eric Brown - Electronic Arts Inc. - CFO
Yes, I think we're in pretty good shape to do that. We've got a very aggressive plan to be able to scale multiple millions of users coming into the STAR WARS franchise in service this fall.
We're looking at pre-order campaigns and telemetry coming in from retail as well as online to get a sense of the overall base and it's very strong. We're pretty relaxed about what we're going to be able to achieve there.
We'll be able to scale up and light up new servers on a fairly quick base. We've got a plan to do that over the months following ship and we have a lot of capacity built into that.

But is EA really ready "to scale multiple millions of users coming into the Star Wars franchise" when they have such a limited release?

Stephen Reid recently addressed the "red zone" issue to the fans on the forums:

To all of our fans outside of North America and Europe:

Today we've announced the pre-order details for the initial launch of Star Wars: The Old Republic. BioWare and LucasArts are completely focused on building an exceptional game and an exceptional game service to go with it. Unfortunately, to achieve the goal of an exceptional game service certain territories could not be serviced at launch. This decision was undertaken with a quality player experience as the primary goal.

We are humbled by that level of excitement and anticipation around the world for The Old Republic. As soon as we have more information about additional launches in more territories, we’ll let you know.

We are committed to delivering Star Wars: The Old Republic to BioWare and Star Wars fans around the world, and to growing a truly global community.

It appears that these two statements contradict one another. We have Eric Brown telling investors that EA is ready to handle millions of customers and quickly scale up to meet demand, and then we have Stephen Reid telling customers that because they can't handle the demand, they are going to stagger launch.

Which is it?

Will non-pvp'ers enjoy pvp in swtor?

2011-07-31T08:23:00.000-07:00

One of the biggest draw backs to pvp for a lot of people, is that instead of pvp being like chess, pvp in games like Blizzard's World of Warcraft is more like extreme speed chess. You must react instantly to all moves made and if you falter once you lose. Wins happening in less then 10 seconds hardly give people time to react. Fighting in a system like this this a lot of potential pvpers get very overwhelmed and just quit trying. The Learning Curve was so harsh, that it was hardly worth putting forth the effort for such a short fight.

Then comes along Bioware's Star Wars: The Old Republic and again will be changing the way pvp has worked in WOW, and it's subsequent knock-offs (Rift).

Georg Zoeller, Principal Lead Combat Designer recently said in a post:

Ultimately, for PvE and PvP, we're concerned with classes amortizing their utility, survivability and damage potential over a certain amount time and making player skill and tactical choices the deciding elements in a confrontation. You don't do that by giving everyone the same short term burst potential - that'd be boring.

It is my opinion that this slow down of the pace of combat will actually open up the possibility and fun factor for veteran pkers as well as give all of those that were previously pve oriented a chance to participate, and possibly learn to enjoy the challenge of combat between players.

If you've never pvp'ed in a game previous to SW:TOR, this will probably your best chance to learn to appreciate the rest of the game you've been missing.

I mean come on, it's your chance to be your favorite Jedi or Bounty Hunter or even Sith Lord in the Star Wars Universe!

Thanks to @BraxKedren for the article idea.

The Death of DKP

2011-07-30T16:25:00.000-07:00

Bioware has officially killed DKP with it's new amazing raid reward system currently called 'Loot Containers'.

'Loot containers' (name is still a work in progress!) do indeed exist and are designed to alleviate the frustration some feel around high-level loot drops.

As it's currently implemented, at the end of a key encounter within an Operation, upon looting a high-level opponent, everyone in the Operations group will get an individual container which has a chance to give you a random piece of loot that's specific to your class. It could be part of an armor set, a weapon, and so on. If you don't get loot, you'll get commendations which can be used to purchase gear.

Please note, this feature is currently in Game Testing and may well be modified before launch.

-- Stephen Reid (Dev Tracker)

This system will solve pretty much all of the loot drama ever had while raiding. No longer will players have to deal with Loot Council, or DKP, or Random Rolls. No longer will pugs have to deal with Ninja Looting raid leaders.

Players will be rewarded for getting through the encounter, and eventually will be able to get all of the items they are after in a reasonable amount of time.

This will allow guilds to progress further into raiding systems than any other MMO so far, and lower the gap between the haves and the have nots.

Of all the systems introduced by Bioware into the MMO Genre, this is by far one of the greatest game changers I've seen yet.

Stephen Reid (@rockjaw) Confirms "Traditional" Tuesday Launch

2011-07-30T11:47:00.000-07:00

Stephen Reid today confirmed Mr. Alejandro141614 that SWTOR will be going the traditional route for release. Now keep in mind he isn't necessarily saying 'yes to Tuesday' but this above exchange could very well be interpreted in this fashion.

An Education from Georg Zoeller

2011-07-29T21:41:00.000-07:00

Michael

Let me give you a generalized overview of why I disagree with your statement ("the only other way...")

Today, there's plenty of feedback additional feedback venues for game developers. Forums are no longer the only major place we can go to get information. They are still relevant, but only a part of the big picture.

The industry has moved bounds beyond what it was even a few years ago with a heavy focus not only to proper market research and feedback solicitation but also metrics and behavioral analytics (e.g. here is something I presented at last year's GDC on that topic - the industry leaders have moved well beyond that already: http://gdc.gulbsoft.org ).

To give you an idea of what kind of feedback venues exist for most major players at this point (not specific to any actual game. Projects may use one, all, or many of these venues):

- Passive metrics (very important since all other venues actually require active participation, something a lot of people don't do. Chat log analysis, etc.).
- Testing forums.
- In active game feedback solicitation (e.g. popup surveys)
- Out of game feedback solicitation, sometimes based on in game behaviors or events (we noticed you did this...)
- In game user submitted feedback (with contextual information)
- Out of game active feedback solicitation (surveys, mail, etc.)
- Market Research focus groups and face to face discussions groups (you know, the stuff with the 1 way mirror)
- External Market Research / Trend Analysis
- Chat/Voice/Video Chat between developers and testers
- Social Media Feedback or Engagement (twitter, g+ like right here, facebook, etc.)
- Customer service interaction data
- Social Media Analysis or direct user engagement.
- Community Solicitation (General Forums) and Analytics (e.g. how many unique people actually get engaged about a topic / loundness vs. quantity filters. Hell, modern forum software has some pretty cool built in trend analysis functionality if you look around in the open source area)
- Personal engagement of players and fans at industry events and shows.

The key is being willing to listen and being able to filter, analyze and contextualize. Metrics are very powerful but notoriously easy to misread - did so many players abandon a quest because it sucked? or because it was too hard? or because they couldn't find the objective? It takes time and effort to identify such things. Solicited feedback is prone to creating a false impression of demographics, it takes effort to analyze and understand as well. If you get 1 feedback item every 5 seconds, you also need the ability to filter, aggregate and prioritize.

I think even a few years ago, most of the industry wasn't very professional about this . Metrics were used to support gut feelings or agendas or often just misread because of simple mistakes when it comes to statistics and understanding them. I remember dealing with publisher issues early in my games career (almost a decade ago) where I had to explain over and over that player death is not always a bad thing and that just because there were 70 death in one spot, that wasn't a problem because it was the same one guy generating all of them.

Unprofessional use of metrics in the early years have created animosity and fears both with developers (where will the creativity go?) and fans (They used metrics to justify a decision that broke my favorite game), which is sad. Today, major players have their own analytics groups to support business operations. Just look at the schedules for industry events like GDC to get an idea just how much of a part of the industry this has become. Quite similar to working in a large bank actually (from experience) - you have professional departments to supply your needs for decisions.

Maybe 5 years ago the primary way of getting feedback was forums. Today, the major players in this industry are a lot closer to the pulse of the (prospective) consumer, generally equipped with better and more professional market research (half a decade ago, you were lucky if your publisher was willing to share sales numbers on comparable titles) and the strongly connected world of social media has created a much more transparent consumer, which, in this case, isn't all that bad. Mistakes are still made, of course, because after all, this is a creative industry and taking risks means risking mistakes and not making only sequels.

I would argue that this change in the industry has been mostly invisible to the general forum population and the less sophisticated troll. The going assumption is still that game developers create things on paper, in a vacuum and are jolted by great feature ideas from various sources.The thing is, games have become as expensive as large scale movie productions and the garage developer mentality can't work for such setups - there are long term plans, projections, budgets, etc. all bound to those features and decisions that are made and that means there's a lot at stake with most of them - so when a major decision is made, due diligence, research and testing are a must.

If you create a really cool feature for a service based game, but it increases customer service interactions by 5 per 100 player, you need to think about how you control that. If you can't, the feature is much more expensive than the few days of implementation cost. This data was hard to measure before putting these things live, but large scale professional testing efforts (not glorified 'try for free beta') allow you to do just that. And then make business decisions based on it.

Summary: When major decisions are made, they are supported by research and validated by testing. Forums are an important way of gathering feedback and still the primary way of interfacing and understanding the sentiment and desires of your most loyal potential customers, but there are many more additional venues available to developers to get data for decision making.

Still, even with all market research and data, there are no certainties. Creative projects need to take risks and risks mean mistakes will happen. If you're lucky, you can catch these mistakes before they affect your service, but there is no guarantee. The marketplace can change underneath you while you work, public interest can change, or you may have been simply wrong all along and your target audience wasn't there. Look at movies like 'Cat Woman' and ask yourself ... did they plan for it to be a flop? Not sure what the answer is to this one though :)

The Illusion of Choice

2011-07-29T13:54:00.000-07:00

Bioware has a history of some of the greatest RPG's of all time. A company who has prided itself on choice since it's first game back in 1996 (Shattered Steel) all the way through to it's current blockbuster titles such as the Mass Effect Series, Dragon Series, and Knights of the Old Republic series.

Bioware brought choice to the gaming genre. Where decisions made by your character played out right through the end. If you killed a companion, your companions were gone. If you chose to kill someone then that person was no longer in your story and the rest of the story reflected this right through to the end. Your choices mattered as you leveled, because the story was the game, and it had a beginning, a middle and more importantly an end.

An end. A concept that doesn't exist in an MMO. The story doesn't end and your character continues on for as long as the game world exists. Bioware is about to introduce it's very first attempt in the MMO genre by expanding it's Knights of the Old Republic game in to Star Wars: The Old Republic.

There were so few choices in the game? I didn't know there were so few. No, wait... there still are.

-- Georg Zoeller (full quote)

The developers are very proud of the choices characters will make in SWTOR. Watch any panel from any recent public appearance and you'll see developers go on and on about how choice in SWTOR will matter, but does it really?

From everything learned both officially and unofficially the only choice that will ever matter to your character will be the choice of which class to start your character as. After that, the choices are purely cosmetic at best. The choices while leveling in SWTOR will be about the same as choosing where to level in World of Warcraft.

It's not as if SWTOR will be a 'choose your own adventure' with branching stories and alternate endings. It's not as if the choices you make will severly shape the way your character will be treated by the universe over time. This is an MMO with no ending ever, and choices just don't work like that in an MMO. The developers have already said they won't allow their game to be set up so that a player can 'gimp' themselves for the rest of their character's life (hence the choice to take away companion death and allow AC switching).

The fact is that you have as much choice when leveling in WOW as you do when leveling in SWTOR. The true difference between the games, will be how Bioware decides to treat it's end game, which is where the majority of players will be spending their time.

MMO Need to put the Competition Back into PVP

2011-07-28T20:26:00.000-07:00

There was a time in MMO where when you died your enemy could cut your corpse up, use your individual pieces as trophies in his house, take all your gear and inventory, and if you were stupid enough to have your house keys on you he could go into your house, and take all your items (UO)

There have been epic MMO games where players have been able to fight for territory, control, where loses meant something (Shadowbane, Lineage 2, DAOC).

And then we have the mother of all MMO, World of Warcraft, that for a time killed this vision of pvp. It took the massive scale world battles of old, and shoved them into tiny little instances where your loses meant nothing. Where you could log in whenever and have instant access to your pvp itch which was amazing at first, but eventually become like the rest of the game, a grind.

Blizzard knew this, and they introduced Arena's to try and bring back that competition into pvp. They have even taken this arena a step further, understanding that players want competitive pvp, and introduced rated battlegrounds.

There is a popular myth, that pvp'ers only with to gank.The fact is that players who actively engage in pvp, do so for the sake of winning/losing. The competition that comes from fighting others that are equal, or better skilled than you. A fact that the current trend in MMO's is taking away from the genre, even when claiming to follow the successful formula presented by Blizzard.

Take the two latest to come out, Rift and Star Wars: The Old Republic. Both games claiming to follow Blizzard's WoW formula of success, but both failing to understand the formula. Like a fumbling chemist trying to reverse engineer the formula to red bull, missing the 'wings factor'.

While we do not know all of pvp announcements yet for SWTOR, we can at least look to Rift as an example of the worst pvp game to ever be introduced to the genre. A game whose world pvp meant absolutely nothing to the server or the game as a whole, killing or dieing literally did nothing other than satisfy a momentary itch, and whose instanced pvp was even worse.

No rating system, no, veteran max level's in full pvp gear being faced off against fresh 50s with no gear. Reducing the entire pvp system to a grind of epic boredom.

What Rift failed to understand, and that SWTOR needs to understand is that players need to be matched against other same skilled players.

Metrics need to be in place to measure skill. Casuals need to fight casuals, and veterans need to fight veterans. Veterans do not want to just steam roll over casuals, and vice versa casuals do not want to be steamed rolled by the Veterans.

Also Veterans want their world pvp to matter. We want things to take over. We want things to be taken from us so that we may defend them or win them back. We want our wars to be wars, and not mere senseless skirmishes that amount to nothing.

On the horizon we have Guild Wars 2 coming out, that appears to be the savior of the MMO world. A game with massive meaningful open world pvp. A game that has removed the instanced pvp, and given players something to fight about in their server vs server vs server battles. Giving meaning, and competition back to the pvps. The sense of accomplishment when you are done, not just a kill count.

I have hopes for SWTOR, with Gabe Amatangelo at the helm of pvp I have agreed with most everything in his vision of pvp for SWTOR (darthhater.com for interviews), but if SWTOR is the next game in a line of games that misses the mark for pvp and pve, then the pvp community will at least have Guild Wars 2 to look forward to, and possibly The Secret World if Funcom goes through with the Agartha system.

Bioware to release first anti-lgbt(glbt) MMORPG?

2011-07-24T14:49:00.000-07:00

Bioware is a company that has a history of telling some of the best stories in the video game world. From it's Mass Effect, Jade Empire, Dragon Age, and Knights of the Old Republic series, video gamers have been entertained by their fantastic brand of immersive game play complete with companions to play with and even romance.

With the exception of KOTOR, their games have been genre breaking and boundary breaking. Introducing same-sex relationships in all of their other story heavy games, with the exception of KOTOR.

Bioware has a fantastic record in it's previous games in being open minded about how it's stories develop taking into account it's entire audience.

A recent article from The Globe and Mail wrote:

"Liberal-minded gamers, meanwhile, have generally applauded BioWare’s efforts to provide more inclusive romance options. However, the precedent of offering homosexual relationships in some games has led to criticisms of other BioWare games that don’t include same-sex couplings. Mass Effect 2 didn’t offer gay relationships (though, it's worth noting, players could flirt with characters of the same gender), which forced the studio into a defensive position, explaining that different games have different needs and different character focus. But that didn’t stop some from speculating that BioWare had been forced into adhering to more “mainstream” notions concerning sexuality thanks to its new owner, Electronic Arts.

But is Star Wars: The Old Republic going to be one of those games adhering to more "mainstream" notions concerning sexuality?

SWTOR is the first attempt at a MMORPG. It is the next evolution in Bioware's KOTOR series of games. Taking the Bioware brand of story telling to the next level.

As all Bioware games, companions will play a huge role in your characters development:

While traveling the galaxy, your Companion Characters will provide commentary, information on plots and directions to points of interest-- all from their own unique perspectives. Companion Characters may act as your conscience, and try to influence your decisions. In turn, you will influence them, and change how they develop as the story progresses. Based on your choices, some Companions will become your closest friends, others may become your lovers, and a few may even become your enemies!
(Companions Overview)

"Others may become your lovers." But are all lovers equal access? This is a question that has come up again and again in the official SWTOR forums including an official poll from Bioware's Donna Prior. We know the game will have the flirt options, and that you can buy your companions gifts, but what is not publicly known is whether or not you will be able to flirt with your same-sex companions.

Why this is important, is that being able to romance through game mechanics is unprecedented in the MMO world. While no other mainstream MMO has ever encouraged LGBT relationships in game, there has never been a mechanic in place to prevent it. Even in Everquest where players were allowed to marry, same-sex marriages were happening as early as 2001. But the question that has still not officially been answered is if Bioware will allow players of the same sex as a companion "flirt" with and carry out in game romance arcs, or will Bioware prevent characters from even flirting with their companions if the companion is the same sex.

Time will tell, and the current state of the game, is in flux. We will see when Bioware officially answers the question, or when the game launches and the first time a player tries to flirt with their same sex character.

Stephen Reid (@rockjaw) Confirms There was a 6d/3d Plan in Place

2011-07-23T12:54:00.000-07:00

Source: Torwars.com

Starting at 2:32 Stephen Reid confirms that there was plan in place to base your head start on the edition of the game you purchased.

He then goes on to state that this idea was scrapped in favor of the current "first come first server" system that we now have.

Now you might be asking yourself "Stitch why is this a big deal why should I care?" and the answer is that this entire launch has started off with an incredibly bad decision on Bioware/EA's part.

It appears as if the decision was made very last minute as it was only days, even hours before the launch that pre-order sites from across the internet had leaked the pre-order information, some players even reporting that Bioware customer service had sent them emails verifying the information.

This entire plan seems to have last minute changed which accounts for the confusion in so many retailers. If this "first come first queued" plan had been in place with any significant time, companies would have had time to prepare for the time sensitive requirement of the preorder codes. But it appears Bioware/EA did not make this as clear as they should have.

The blame for people getting late access to the pre-order code rests squarely on the shoulders of EA/Bioware and coupled with the changes to companions dying and ac switching players should be vigilant and hold Bioware/EA accountable for massive last minute game changing choices.

Edit:
Stephen Reid recently had an interview with Darth Hater and further explains the issue with retailers:

Pre-orders seem to be going pretty well to the point that certain retailers are having problems keeping up with demand. Any advice or things that fans should take note of regarding receiving and redeeming their pre-order code?

Stephen Reid: Fans are not having a problem getting their pre-order code redeemed because when they redeem it, they redeem it on swtor.com and we haven't had any problems there so far that I'm aware of. Some retailers like Amazon.com sold out of the Collector's Edition but they are actually getting re-allocated with extra stock so they will have stock later on.

We had a few issues with retailers in a number of territories where they didn't necessarily understand the idea of giving out a pre-order code. The difficulty for us is... everyone was briefed at the regional or corporate level, but that doesn't necessarily make it down to every single store clerk in every single store. Unfortunately, if you went in and did a pre-order, and they didn't give you a code, you should basically ask them to give you a code. And if they won't give you a code, then feel free to pre-order somewhere else or take it up with a higher chain of command. We're certainly trying to reinforce that as much as we possibly can down the chain. In addition, some retailers are a little slow in terms of sending out their codes, especially via email. We're working with them to accelerate that process as well.

Something that people are concerned about is when they redeem their code, and if it will affect their Early Game Access. The truth is that right now -- even though we had a lot of codes redeemed -- we're not even at a point yet where people wouldn't be more than a day one or day two. It really is not that bad. The incentive for us to get people to redeem their codes is obviously so we can keep track of how many people are getting ready for pre-order. But at the same time, we're trying to prevent a situation where people pre-order and they actually redeem their code months later, and at that point they would be at the back of the line. That is the reason why we are pushing people to redeem their codes, but there really isn't any reason to panic.

For the full interview and to see the original please check out the full Darth Hater interview

Lakes Confirmed Via Rockjaw

2011-07-22T12:32:00.000-07:00

Last night there was a glimmer of hope from the twitter verse as Stephen Reid, community manager of SWTOR confirmed that more the information will be coming concerning the "pvp lakes" earlier discussed by Gabe Amatangelo, Lead PVP Design at Bioware.

While it is popular for players to dismiss any pvp in a game. The fact remains that there is no such thing as a pve only game, and developers neglecting the pvp side of their games do so at their peril.

I believe in recent years developers have fallen for the myth that people who love pvp are a vocal minority because this is a popular myth in "the forums". This is not the case by any stretch of the imagination. While pvp centric games have not had any success, this is not because pvp is unimportant it's because you can't have a game that does not balance both pve and pvp well.

Take the game of World of Warcraft. A game that has both play a major role at end game. The standard by which the rest of the MMO industry is judged, developers who have tried to emulate the success have repeatedly neglected the pvp side of this.

There is no clearer example of the complete failure in recognizing why WOW was so successful than the recent WOW clone Rift. A game that basically directly copied all of the systems in WOW but did not truly understand them. Putting in the basics of pvp, but not understanding them at all, and ultimately failing to deliver a pvp end game to it's players who have since mostly moved on.

Rift which had the potential to be a true contender, neglected it's pvp fan base, and their game became nothing more than a place holder for SWTOR.

SWTOR can not make this mistake. Bioware and EA can not not afford to fall for the myth that "pvp is a vocal minority". They must give proper attention to all of their game, to keep all of their players or suffer the fate of Rift.

PVP players need and end game to be complete, and competitive. Whether it's competitive instances, or meaningful battles for world objectives the players must be properly challenged. I honestly hope SWTOR fulfills the dream of a complete end game MMORPG, that gives the proper attention due both the PVP and the PVE aspects of it's game.

The Future of MMO: The Theme-Park/Sandbox Fusion (ThemeBox?)

2011-07-20T20:02:00.000-07:00

The first MMORPG ever, was Ultima Online(1997). This game brought what had been previously nothing but pen and paper rpg and multi-user dungeons(MUDS) to a wider audience by introducing graphics. Giving players a setting or "sandbox" to play in. The term sandbox refers more to the mechanics of a game and how, as in a physical sandbox, the user is entertained by his ability to play creatively, boundless of artificial structural constraints, and with there being "no right way" of playing the game. This is what Ultima Online brought us. Taking the untold adventures of our previous years, and giving us a brand new way of doing them.

Then came Everquest, which took the same magic of those previous fantasy years, and gave us adventures in 3D. The magic of my first moment in EQ I will remember for the rest of my life. Running through this fantastical land in 3D. The difference that EQ brought, was instead of being a Sandbox it brought us the Theme-Park MMO. It brought us a game where instead of the player being their own Gamemaster, the game itself became the Gamemaster.

In UO, the player was given no direction. Only the world in which to live. EQ gave players direction, and became wildly popular for it. So popular in fact a company named Blizzard came along and decided to replicate that success. It took the same Theme-Park formula, simplified it, and gave us World of Warcraft.

WOW went on to become the most popular MMO in the history of the genre. It defined the genre, and defined what an entire generation of players thought an RPG should be. It defined for players what an MMORPG should be. Many players today have no other frame of reference outside of WOW and so don't know the difference between Theme-Park, and MMO.

Since WOW's unprecedented success, there have been many attempts to replicate it. After all if WOW could do this to EQ, there have been many development companies who have tried to take this established successful model and replicate it.

The fact is that no company since Blizzard has been able to replicate what Blizzard did with WOW. There have been many an attempt, and some companies are still doing profitable business with their attempts. LOTRO, Rift, AOC, WAR all MMO that tried to copy the theme-park success, but never hit the right combination.

Why? Because players actually do get tired of being told what to do all the time, and there is already a game that does that. Blizzard had success with WOW, because it took the epic grind that was EQ, and simplified it. Made the rewards come faster with less effort, and found a pretty great balance between time/reward.

The fact remains though, that at max level in all these new MMO there is nothing to do that is different from WOW. The player is still told how to play the game and this is why I believe the next big evolution in the genre will need to incorporate sandbox elements back into the genre. Giving players some control back, something to do other than grind various elements.

The next attempt to create Blizzards success is going to be coming from a game company called Bioware with it's upcoming title Star Wars: The Old Republic. A game that has admittedly copied Blizzard's MMO formula trying to be the first company since Blizzard to capture the MMO market.

Now while the game itself is helping to popularize certain mechanics, like voice overs, the game isn't actually changing a lot of genre because:
"It [World of Warcraft] is a touchstone. It has established standards, it's established how you play an MMO. Every MMO that comes out, I play and look at it. And if they break any of the WoW rules, in my book that's pretty dumb."
- Bioware Co-Founder Greg Zeschuk

I think this is a mistake. Now while the game should launch as is, there will be a time when players get bored of the same formula they've already gotten bored with. Players need freedom back in their game. This can be seen in the migratory nature of players tired of WOW, but that don't know why they are tired of WOW. This population of nomads who travel from game to game, not really understanding that what they seek is in fact the lost art of the sandbox.

Games will need to have this in them. Areas that players can go into and establish themselves and their guilds. SWTOR in my opinion has the perfect mechanisms in place for this wonderful new evolution in gaming. From the many moons/planets in the Star Wars IP one of them can be set up to allow players to roam free, explore the planet, and build a civilization, or culture, or empire.

WOW, as successful as it is already established how it could incorporate a new area into an expansion via the Burning Crusade mechanic. TBC brought us a new planet, that already had an established history on it. WOW could incorporate an expansion to where instead of their being a history there, the players are the ones that go in and establish the history. Building the towns, building up the areas and establishing footholds for the Horde and the Alliance.

There is a new game also in development from EA that is looking to launch with this Fusion of Sandbox/Theme-park from Funcom called The Secret World. With the introduction of Agartha gamers will have the option of either playing theme-park, or going sandbox on a whim.

I will be watching the way SWTOR and TSW both move on from here. Seeing if SWTOR can be the first game since WOW to captivate the market, or will The Secret World with it's vision of meshing both types into one game can be the one that saves us all. The one thing I know for sure, is that no game up until now has ever been able to replicate what WOW did to EQ, and I believe it's because of the need to merge and evolve the genre into the Themebox style of gameplay of the future.

The Importance of the Beta Leaker

2011-07-20T10:58:00.000-07:00

The non-disclosure agreement. An agreement that binds those in testing to secrecy so that they will not reveal any information to the general public. The bane of the fan, hungry for any pieces of information, a bastion for developers who wish to control the development of public perception.

A topic that has recently consumed the development of Star Wars: The Old Republic. An MMO produced by the Bioware division of EA that has held a very tight grip on the information that was being released to a fan base that has been stewing in hype since the announcement of Beta in September of 2009.

A company whose grip has been so tight, it has inevitably forced information to squeeze through it's fingers. Driving the demand from the official website to sources beyond it's control as the demand for information drowned out the need to adhere to the NDA.

With social media giving players across many platforms the instant availability of information players have turned from official forums and news outlets to the most direct means of satiating their appetite for new swtor information; the #swtor twitter feed.

The anonymity of Social Media has given birth to the means of the Beta Leaker to get their information quickly to the masses of hungry fans. Fans who will have their thirst quenched, ethics be damned.

Bioware has done away with the need for an open beta, citing "too many testers signed up" opting to keep the majority of their fans in the dark when it comes to what exactly the game will be like keeping a hands off approach, and a trickle down of information.

Because of this the unethical process of #swtor leaks has skyrocketed. Players streaming their play sessions, recording and sending off screenshots, and divulging every single piece of information that is possible to give out. At this point there is nothing about SWTOR that is available to be known that is not public knowledge. Even sites leaking information about Collector's Editions and pricing, either intentionally or unintentionally, the moment there is something new to be known about SWTOR, #swtor lets us know.

Beta Leakers are an important part of the hype. Giving fans outside of the beta, inside knowledge. Allowing the discussion of topics to continue outside of the closed beta forums. Giving voice to concerns and issues, actually helping the development process by thinking of ways to help with systems that are in the game and by holding accountable a company for decisions that could hurt or harm the outcome of the launch.

The Beta Leaker although not condoned by the publishers and even some of the more ardent fans is a necessary evil and outlet of information. Without whom a large portion of the gaming community would simply grow to frustrated or tired with the slower pace of information. The Beta Leaker allows a company to get information out, behind the blanket of "denial".

Whether you support or condemn them, The Beta Leaker will always exist, for SWTOR and beyond, and I for one am thankful for their existence.

What is your stance on Beta Leakers? Leave your comments, tips, tricks below :)