We Fly Spitfires – MMORPG Blog

I’m steadily running out of hard disk space and thinking about removing a MMORPG to free some up. Apart from Sins of a Solar Empire and a few small applications, MMOs are pretty much all I have installed on my PC. When I bought it last year I thought a 250GB drive would be plenty but apparently I underestimated MMO developer’s capacity for gobbling up those bytes. The worst offender by far is Age of Conan which takes us a whopping 28.3GB although Aion and World of Warcraft are still also 14GB each. Whatever happened to games coming on 5 floppy disks? Ah those were the days.

Anyway, I’ve certainly got a few MMOs installed, as can be witnessed by the screenshot of my desktop below. The funky wallpaper is from Marvel.com in case you’re wondering.

My Desktop

The two main reasons that I’m pretty slack at uninstalling MMOs is that firstly, I never know when I’m going to get a hankering to resubscribe to one and secondly, they are such an utter pain to reinstall and patch.

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Champions Online has just released and Aion is on the horizon but after that it’s going to be a pretty barren 12 to 18 months for new MMORPG releases. Star Trek Online, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Blizzard’s next MMO and 38 Studios’ game with all likelyhood won’t be out until 2011 which leaves us poor MMO gamers deprived of nutrition for quite a while. Of course there’s always something to keep sustained in these harsh times – expansions!

World of Waracraft – Cataclysm

Well, yeah, duh. I had to include this one on the list. Oddly enough though, considering how tight-lipped Blizzard usually are, we actually seem to have know more about this expansion than any other on my list. A huge content revamp, two new races, new class/race combinations and a small level cap increase are all exciting stuff and, personally, I think Blizzard are pushing the boat out with this in terms of innovation more than they’ve ever done before.

Website: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/cataclysm/

Release Date: Winter 2010 (estimate)

Hype Factor: Mega-Ultra

EVE Online – Dominion

I’m finding myself surprisingly excited about the next EVE Online expansion even though I barely know anything about it. CCP are being decisively cryptic and even the official website has no information on it. However, I do know that the expansion is focusing on EVE’s “end game” and, in particular, alliance warfare. They’re also offering an overhaul of the current soverienty mechanic and introducing some new epic arcs for pirate factions. Plus it’s hinted that we can expect some more graphic improvements, this time to planets. Sounds good to me.

Website: http://www.eveonline.com/dominion/

Release Date: Winter 2009

Hype Factor: High

Lord of the Rings – Siege of Mirkwood

Pretty disappointed with this expansion. LotRO is one of those games that it’s on my list to try “one day” and I just keep hoping for an expansion to come out and offer some exciting features to give me the excuse I’m looking for. Unfortunately Siege of Mirkwood sounds pretty dull to me. I’m sure it will be great for established players but an extra 5 levels and some randomised instances doesn’t exactly thrill me. Thumbs down.

Website: http://www.lotro.com/news/pressreleases/459-the-lord-of-the-rings-online-siege-of-mirkwood

Release Date: Early 2010

Hype Factor: Low

Age of Conan – Rise of the Godslayer

Finally, the expansion that we’ve been waiting for which might end up resurrecting Age of Conan. I always liked AoC and I’m so happy that they’ll be releasing some more content and, hopefully, depth. Funcom are very good at adapting and picking themselves up off the floor so I’ve got high hopes for this. Features look pretty good: new race, new starting area, new high level content, new armour, new mounts. Very promising. Plus the title is excellent. Turbine, start taking some pointers!

Website: http://www.riseofthegodslayer.com/

Release Date: 2010

Hype Factor: Moderate

Everquest – Underfoot

I stopped played Everquest about four years ago but it’s still great to see that SOE are supporting the game. Plus, Underfoot will mark EQ’s 16th expansion. Cripes! I don’t know much about it all apart from that it’s about giants, hence the name “under… foot”. Get it? Yeah, I didn’t either. What is interesting about EQ expansions though is how the developers have stopped adding new “features” and are now focusing more on content and events for the existing player base.

Website: http://everquest.station.sony.com/expansions/underfoot/index.vm

Release Date: November 2009

Hype Factor: “Meh”

Everquest 2 – Sentinels Fate

The first thing you’ll notice about the EQ2 expansion is utterly terrible their website it. When did SOE stop caring about important stuff like that? Anyway, apart from that, this expansion looks pretty tasty, offering the usual mix of revamped nostaliga. Apparently we’re going to get a whole new continent (Odus), a new starting area (Halas) and an increased level cap (90). They’re also delaying the release date from their usual month of November to February. Either that’s a move to make it more polished or it’s due to cutbacks in their development team. Either way, I’m kinda excited about the expansion and will more than likely pick it up.

Website: http://everquest2.station.sony.com/expansions/sentinelsfate/index.vm

Release Date: February 2010

Hype Factor: Warm

Warhammer Online

The only “big” game (unless I’ve missed one) that hasn’t made any expansion announcements yet, leaving us only to ponder it’s future. I’m pretty sure Mark Jacob’s guff about not having even started work on an expansion yet and focusing on free content first went out of the door with him and WAR’s declining subscription numbers. Expect an expansion mid to late 2010. My predictions? Two more cities, increased level cap, and more PvE content.

Any other big expansions that I’ve missed?

Syncaine over at Hardcore Casual posted an interesting article comparing World of Warcraft to Disney Land and McDonalds. Aside from the connotation of poor quality by comparing WoW to McD’s (which is ironic as Warcraft is probably the most high quality MMORPG there is) I think he’s actually quite spot on with the analogy and I agree with his thought process behind it. Still, it made me want to say something to everyone. You see folks, contrary to what others may have you believe, it’s actually OK to eat a hamburger.

I’m not claiming I’m Indian Jones but I’ve done my fair share of globe trotting and one of the places in the world that I visit fairly frequently now is Japan. I love Japanese cuisine. I love suishi, sashimi, tonkatsu, shabu-shabu, teppanyaki, misu, udon, soba, gohan, gyoza (you get the picture) but even so, sometimes when I’m there, I still find my stomach growling and my mouth-watering for nothing other than a big ass hamburger. Evidence below (and yes, I’m fully aware of how much of a dork I look like… call it a sacrifice I’m willing to make for my trade):

Tucking into a hamburger at Kua'Aina, Tokyo

The fact is no one in Japan (i.e. the Japanese) actually eats Japanese food 24/7/365. Even they love their hamburgers. So you see, there’s nothing wrong with eating a hamburger or going to Disney Land or even, shudder, getting a Grande Double Choc-Chip Skinny Extra Foam Double Shot Strawberry Frappuccino from Starbucks if that’s what you’re in to.

Just because someone likes hamburgers it doesn’t make them losers or drop-outs or hillbillies or trailer park trash, it just makes them human, like the rest of us.

Damn… I’m really hungry now.

I’ve got two confessions to make. One, I love EVE Online. Two, I barely play EVE Online.

I think I’m in love with the idea of EVE Online more than the actual day-to-day gameplay. This isn’t to say that I don’t like the gameplay mechanics, it’s just that they really aren’t as thrilling as the forces of nature that drive the game. The politics, the backstabbing, the huge intergalactic wars and they stories they tell. These are the things that inspire my love of EVE and what make me want to play it.

I think all MMORPGs are a little like this. Does anyone actually enjoy pressing a couple of buttons on a keyboard or moving a mouse around? I don’t think so, it’s not exactly thrilling stuff. I actually think the attraction of MMOs is not the gameplay, but the incentives of mental hubris they allow us to desire. If everyone was equal in World of Warcraft, would everyone play?

I don’t mind the fact that I don’t get to play EVE a lot. Sure, I play a few hours every week but that’s a drop in the pond compared to the gazillion of hours I pumped into Everquest and Everquest 2. But that’s OK. See, you don’t need to play EVE Online to love it. You can read about it, watch it, study it… it’s, quite literally, another world just waiting to be observed by MMO anthropologists.

To prove my point, here’s a series of great articles from Rock, Paper, Shotgun about life in EVE Online:

• The Five Year Spree, Part 1: Nova
• The Five Year Spree, Part 2: Rise & Fall
• The Five Year Spree, Part 3: Fountain
• The Five Year Spree, Part 4: The End

Or better yet, watch this:

Now if that doesn’t make you want to love EVE yet not play it, I don’t know what will.

Last week I got an email from Randolph Carter at Grinding to Valhalla asking me if I’d be interested in doing an interview with him. Being the egocentric chap that I am, I of course jumped at the chance! You can check out the interview here if you fancy discovering a bit more about me and deleving into my inner mind. Don’t worry, I promise I’m not just a total chauvinist who comes up with crazy theories about banned top secret MMOs… I’m actually only mildly chauvinistic

In all seriousness though, I was tremendously flattered to be interviewed by Randolph, someone who comes across as a very nice guy with lots of integrity. He’s site is also tremendous and a shrine to MMORPGs bloggers and podcasters from all over the world. I’d definitely urge you to check it out as you’ll find interviews with almost every MMO blogger you could imagine. I for one found it very interesting to read interviews with bloggers who I follow on a regular basis as it’s not often that they take an opportunity to talk about their motivations, history and future intentions.

So there you have it, my claim to fame. Thanks again to Randolph and good luck with the site. What he’s doing is amazing, like some sort of biographer for the MMO genre to last for the ages. Good show!

An interesting interview on Wired with Blizzard’s Chief Operating Officer Paul Sams (thanks to Tobold for the link) made me a little concerned about the subscription thought process behind Blizzard’s next MMORPG. Although the interview was likely designed to intrigue and encourage us about Blizzard’s next project (still unnamed, by the way), it had the opposite effect on me and made me wonder something – are Blizzard just digging their own grave for World of Warcraft?

To paraphrase the interview, Blizzard are essentially creating a new MMO which will be “significantly differentiated enough” as to not cannibalize existing players from WoW. Yes, it seems that Blizzard are actually under the impression that if they create a new MMORPG that is different enough from WoW, players will actually choose to subscribe to both. Now, I don’t know about you, but I don’t know anyone, aside from bloggers, who subscribes to more than MMO at a time and, if they do, actually has enough to time to actively play them all.

Now, that’s not to say that no one will opt to have two subscriptions or manage to maintain an active presence in both games but I do feel that they will be in the vast minority. I’m currently subscribed to two MMOs (EVE Online and World of Warcraft) and I don’t have enough time to play both in the quantities that I would like, so, ultimately my maintaining of multiple subscriptions falls down to the fact that I can afford it without strain and love the MMORPG genre so much. However, I think that most gamers – particularly WoW ones – are very unlikely to maintain two subscriptions for an extended period of time because they just aren’t hardcore MMO players. Whether Blizzard like it or not, ultimately they are going to lose a big chunk of their WoW player base to their next MMO and I just hope that they aren’t not counting on this fact. Apologies for the double negative there

You also have the Chinese issue. Wired (annoyingly) did the old “11.5 million” players routine when introducing WoW yet failed to mention that 2/3 or so of this number is actually made up by Asian gamers who pay to play by the hour. Of course they can’t play two games at once which means if Blizzard launch their MMO in China it’s highly unlikely that they will make any more money than they currently do – they’re profits will come from new gamers alone, not existing ones, and any player that switches won’t give them any more money other than the initial box purchase.

Perhaps we’ll see a Blizzard “all access subscription” like SOE’s and that wouldn’t be so bad but it would have to be at a reasonable price point to make it enticing. Regardless, Blizzard are certainly not going to make “11.5 million players x2″ with the release of their new MMO and, if they’re depending on this fact, then they might be naively putting the nails in their own coffin.

I’ve always considered the point of alternative advancement (Talents in WoW, AAs in EQ/EQ2, Feats in AoC, Masteries in WAR etc) to be to customise your avatar and let you have a more personalised roleplaying experienced. However, I’m starting to question if this sense of choice and personalisation is really just a big illusion.

Check out the forums of fan sites of any game that offers alternative advancement and you will see a slew of posts about strongly “recommended” builds. I don’t know how it happens or who does it, but at some point during a game’s release “other” people quickly find the optimum, and recommended, build for any situation and then that becomes the bible for everyone else. The result is that the entire decision process is removed from the player and we simply follow the molds laid out in front of us in order to achieve the best results.

My worst experience with this sort of thing was with my Berserker in Everquest 2. I had two completely seperate AA windows, each containing about four or five trees and a grand total of about 120 points to spend. Sounds great except for the fact that there was only one way to spec my character without utterly gimping myself. Although I tried to buck the trend – and God knows I spent hours pouring over DPS and mitigation calculations – I eventually had to follow suit and pick the same AAs as every other Berserker. To those that are familiar with EQ2, it was commonly called the Buckler Spec and to those of you who aren’t, it essentially meant I had to use 1h weapon and wield a tiny, silly little buckler shield instead of the gigantic 2h axe I so desired.

My quest to start a new character in World of Warcraft reignited these dormant thoughts within me when I was checking out the hunter forum. See, I really like the idea of playing a melee hunter but, apparently, that would make me a complete laughing stock. No, instead I have a single choice depending on my situation: Marksmanship for PvP, Beast Mastery for raiding and Survival for PvE.

I actually quite like the Talent system in WoW and it’s a better form of alternate advancement than most games, however I feel that again I’m forced to follow predefined patterns and micro-managing only a handful of “spare” points that probably have very little impact on my gameplay at all. Perhaps the classes would be better off just having easily selectable changeable modes of play (i.e. PvP/PvE/Raiding stances or similar) which immediately imbued the player with those appropriate abilities.

I guess what I’m saying is that if alternative advancement is either only offering “mandatory” selections or situational builds, then I don’t think we’re actually getting a whole lot of customisation (or purpose) out of them. If every Hunter in PvP is using a Marksmanship build, then where’s the uniqueness or variety? It makes me feel that it’s all just an illusion to keep us more engaged with number crunching or grinding.

What do you think? Has the whole meaning behind alternate advancement been lost or is it just a case of bad balance and the player’s desire to “ruleplay” instead of roleplay?