We Fly Spitfires – MMORPG Blog

I wrote about Torchlight a while ago and have been meaning to follow it up with more news since. Although Syp over at BioBreak beat me to it, I’m still going to post an update anyway

I was really excited about Torchlight when I first read about it. A Diablo-esque MMOPRG by the original creators of Diablo? Sign me up! Unfortunately E3 saw a big announcement – Torchlight is going to first be released as a standard single player RPG and then become a Free2Play MMO in 2011. Yep, I have no idea how that’s going to work either. You can read the full article over at Massively.

Torchlight RPG Screenshot

Disappointing news for me, I must say. I was really hoping for a full-scale isometric hack ‘n slash MMORPG and instead we’ve getting a normal single player game and what appears to be a pretty vague MMO. Yeah, I know, I’m a cynic but MMORPGs are tough to get going so I prefer to restrain my excitement until things become a little more concrete. I’m also really in the mood right now for a casual, yet in-depth, fast paced and furious MMO and waiting 2 years is going to, as they say on the streets, suck.

In terms of how it will all actually work, apparently the MMORPG version will be a completely separate game, just made with the same tools. Seems like a pretty clever strategy for the developers actually as, if the game bombs, then they can pull out and save their pennies yet if it does well, they will have an established IP which they can use as a platform to promote sales and exposure. Sounds similar to the Warcraft franchise model.

The Runic Games forums are up and running if you want to find out more info or ask any questions. Volbard is a one of their staff members and appears to be very vocal and interactive which is absolutely fantastic. I’ll be keeping an eye on Torchlight although it’s slipped off my MMOdar (like a gaydar but for MMOs) a bit after this news.

Classes. Jobs. Professions. They’re in almost every MMORPG we play and are perhaps the single most important choice we make. They define who we are, what we do and how we do it. Everyone knows the classic Warriors, Rangers and Wizards but what about some of the more exotic or uncommon classes out there? Here’s a run down of some of my favourite MMO classes of all time (in no particular order).

Berserker

My Ogre Berserker, Crushinator

I adored my Everquest Berserker. There was just something so thrilling and exciting about playing a giant Ogre who crushed things with a two handed axe. Bersekers are probably my overall favourite class in any sort of RPG but surprisingly hard to find. They also tend to be the first class to get axed (ba-da-boom) from developer’s line-ups. Although I play a Berserker in EQ2 it’s not a patch on my original love, the Crushinator. The idea of a Berserker in plate armour just doesn’t sit right with me.

Beastlord

Oh how we love the Beastlord. You only need to check the ‘Expansions and Adventure Packs’ section of the EQ2 forums to see dozens of threads entitled ‘please bring back the Beastlord’. Unfortunately SOE have strongly resisted this request (I honestly don’t know why) and it’s a damn shame. Beastlords were unique and exotic and we’d never seen anything like them back in 2001. Monks with pets, what a combo.

Pikeman

I miss pre-NGE Star Wars: Galaxies. Anyone who reads my blog will be able to tell you that. One the reasons I miss it so much though is because of the Pikeman profession. There was just something so unique and exotic about them (perhaps because they were rubbish so very few people bothered to play them) and I loved it. To me, there was nothing more exhilarating then running into the middle of a huge group of Tuskens and performing my AoE sweep attack. Sure, I would get slaughtered the second they stood up but it was worth it every time.

Hero

DOAC Hero in Stag form

Celtic warriors who could turn into freakin’ stags. Stags, man, stags. I rest my case.

Bureaucrat

I signed back up to Anarchy Online not so long ago just because I missed the Bureaucrat class so much (unfortunately the terrible camera and movement controls put me off – I couldn’t manage to get it set up for the way I use my mouse now). I have no idea why, but for some reason the idea of playing a fat, bald old guy in a suit really appeals to me… wow, I think I’ve just admitted to desire to become a middle age Salaryman. I need a life.

So tell me, what classes do you love?

I’m not a big raider. I’ve done my fair share of raids in different MMORPGs – even had a very brief stint as a raid main tank – but it’s just not something I can do very often. Why not? Simple, time. Raiding requires a degree of time which I cannot (and don’t really want to) justify. Plus, serious raiding guilds tend to also have strict policies on attendance and commitment that I can’t stick to.

I’d love to raid more often and I genuinely respect the guys who do it frequently (I’m even a little jealous of them) but there’s a world of difference between being a raider and being a ‘hardcore snob or elitist’. The latter is purely a frame of mind that exists amongst MMORPG communities and I’ve encountered it all too often. These are the folks are like to argue the cause that ‘hardcore’ means ‘more challenging’ and that somehow they are ‘better’ players because of their achievements. I’m by no means saying all raiders are like that but many out there are and their opinion is often very vocal.

The fundamental flaw with any argument revolving around being ‘better’ at MMORPGs is that the word is abstract and cannot be easily measured. In fact, the way the word better is measured is by achievement (having item X, conquered dungeon Y, having stat Z) and anything can be accomplished in a MMO given enough time. MMOs are built upon the time = challenge principle and this places a heavy burden on any true skill related gain.

If we accept that grind is just a product of poor game design then we can understand why MMORPGs are leaning towards more accessible models. World of Warcraft is a great example of this and also the backlash it has caused amongst hardcore elitists who hate the idea of things becoming too ‘easy’. Of course, I can understand their reaction. If suddenly the time barrier is removed then it immediately diminishes any accomplishments these players have made and this is why hardcore snobs don’t want this to happen and why they want games to remain inaccessible in order to validate their achievements.

MMORPGs are very emotional things and we forget they’re just games. Players love to anthromorphise their avatars (which I suppose is part of the appeal of the escapism MMOs offer) and, just like in the real world, we like to feel superior to others. And, just like the real world, it’s often totally unfounded.

So, what’s my point? Hardcore elitism or snobbery should not exist because, the reality is there, there is actually nothing to feel elite about. Players should focus more on the social, community and fun aspect of raiding rather than any feeling of superiority that results from it and they should absolutely drops the terms of ‘casual’ or ‘hardcore’. They are meaningless after all.

Syncaine posted a good article about his return to Warhammer Online and how it’s casual PvP. It made me wonder exactly what the definitely of ‘casual’ or ‘hardcore’ is. Personally I believe they really don’t exist as concrete definitions but are rather abstract terms we use because of their implied connotations.

Time

Time is certainly a factor when we talk about casual or hardcore. Syncaine talks about it himself and the ability to enjoy a 30 minute PvP session in WAR. But where exactly is the line drawn? If I play a MMORPG for 1-2 hours every day the MMO community would call be a casual player yet all of my RL friends, who don’t play MMOs, would call me a hardcore gamer. It would be easy for me to switch to being hardcore too as all I have to do is remove an obstacle from my RL and create more game time. There is no challenge there.

Difficulty

MMORPGs are not hard to play. They aren’t Street Fighter or Unreal Tournament. The most challenging aspect is probably interacting with other players and organising a large number of them to tackle raids. That being said, any player, given enough time, can achieve anything because all they need to do is tag along for the ride. I’ve seen this a lot in raiding with DPS classes especially. Most guilds don’t hand out rewards based on skill (because it’s almost impossible to measure and, no, I don’t believe topping a DPS chart is a huge sign of talent), they hand them out based on attendance. Again, time wins over skill.

Design

MMORPG designers create elements of grind in order to achieve the illusion of challenge. They say it’s a challenge to get to level 80, I say it’s just an investment in time. Progressing through raid encounters and gearing up to take on higher tier raids is not skill, it’s time. The whole MMORPG philosophy revolves around this concept though. They longer you play and the longer it takes you to succeed, the more money the developers make.

Conclusion

MMORPGs revolve around time. They reward time over skill and the bottom line is that almost everything can be accomplished given enough time. ‘Hardcore’ players are reluctant to recognise this as it requires them relinquishing their status in the game world as the ‘best’ players. I believe this is why games like Darkfall create a stir because certain players want to feel elite and the only barrier between them and the ‘casual’ players is their investment of time. Games like World of Warcraft are trying desperately to remove this time barrier though and thus friction starts and the ‘carebear’ and ‘wellfare’ arguments occur.

Ultimately, there can be no such thing as casual or hardcore because, regardless of whether it takes a player 1 month or 1 year to hit max level and complete the top tier raids, the end outcome is always same. The connotation simply stems from the involvement of time which has been used to create the illusion of challenge.

Totally off topic but I found this on Boing Boing and it was so… well, awesomely freaky… I just had to repost it. Yep, it’s a zombie My Little Pony. Creepy.

Zombie My Little Pony

A few weeks ago I posted an article featuring some World of Warcraft music videos I found on the net, most by Nyhm, a pretty talented guy. Since then I’ve kept my eyes open for cool machinima videos and today I found quite an awesome one – MMOvie.

I get the feeling I’m always the last one to find out about these things so maybe you’ve all seen it before but I found it incredibly impressive (and funny) nonetheless. I imagine they are treading a few toes with copyright and Intellectual Property problems though.

Here’s another great one – The Internet Is For Pr0n!

The big thing that impresses me about these videos is the sheer quality of them. They are obviously labours of love spawned from many hours of development so my hat goes off to the creators. It also shows just how much influence and reach World of Warcraft has.

Perhaps the most impressive of any machinima I’ve seen though has to go to Percula for his video “The Craft of War: Blind”. It’s quite simply outstanding. Thanks to Andrew over at Of Teeth and Claws for pointing it out to me!

If you know of any other great MMORPG machinima, please let me know!

A few days ago I posted an article about MMORPGs I’d love to see and I briefly touched on Intellectual Property (IP) in MMORPGs. I realised pretty soon after writing it that a huge amount of MMOs are based upon already established IPs. It made me wonder – exactly how important is the IP to the success of a MMORPG?

I’ve been mulling over this question a lot the past couple of days (mainly whilst in the shower dreaming up my perfect MMORPG) and I’ve come to the conclusion that IP bares no real impact on the long term success of a MMO. The evidence for this is pretty strong. Not only is World of Warcraft by far the most successful MMORPG and yet not based on a particularly strong IP (or at least it wasn’t when it launched) but plenty of games which have had strong IPs have failed to meet their expectations. Age of Conan and Warhammer Online are two good examples of this and we only need to look at the Matrix Online shutting down to see how bad it can get.

Sure, you may argue that the stronger the IP, the more likely the long term success of the game. I can’t really argue against that because is a very subjective thing. Is Star Wars a stronger licence than Star Trek? I have no idea. I do know that if you look at subscription numbers though, very few MMORPGs have gotten past 500k regardless of their IP.

I do think however, that IP can play a very large part in the initial success of a MMORPG. Age of Conan, for example, had an astounding success in base sales (1 million units sold, I believe) but that failed to translate into long term subscriptions. Same goes for Warhammer Online.

Intellectual Properties and their franchises come with a lot of attractive benefits to MMORPG developers. Clearly defined worlds, recognisable content and, most import of all, large fan bases. Star Wars: The Old Republic is receiving a lot of attention purely because it’s a Star Wars game and this is obviously great for BioWare because they can cash in on that to drive initial interest and sales.

Capitalising on intitial sales for the longterm is a very different ballgame though and no IP will save a bad game. They can even compound the problem by increasing initial expectations to unachieveable levels. The bottom line, in my opinion, is that a MMOs IP can be potential very appealing ititially but it’s the gameplay and game mechanics that will ultimately determine its success.