We Fly Spitfires – MMORPG Blog

Introducing your friends to the MMORPG genre isn’t particularly easy especially as they throw up a few obvious barriers to entry. “But it looks so boring” they complain; “But I don’t want to pay a subscription fee” they ironically whine as they leave the cinema having spent the same amount of money on a mere two hours of entertainment (or seven hours of torture if it’s a Kevin Costner film /meow). Trying to convert these naysayers is often difficult and no doubt you will get the urge at some point to pick up your 400 dungeon guide and smack them in the face with it but it’s definitely worth persevering as playing a MMO with your closet friends can be an incredibly rewarding experience.

Friendships are so much more meaningful online

I’ve been lucky enough to initiate a few folks into the Brotherhood Of The MMORPG and, although they don’t always stick around for more than a few months, I’ve learnt a few tricks of the trade that might help you out.

1. Gauge their interest.

There’s no point barking up the wrong tree. If your friend isn’t interested in gaming in the slightest then there’s probably no point wasting your breath trying to convince them otherwise. It’s all about picking your battles or something (if Sun Tzu played MMOs I’m sure he would’ve had a good expression for it).

2. Talk about your MMO experiences with them.

Once you’ve decided that your buddy is a potential MMO-gamer, slowly build up their fascination with the genre by telling them some of your favourite MMORPG stories. Make that time you got wiped during a raid a legendary battle for survival and the time a female Troll lent you 5 silver a delicate and unforgettable romance. Be careful not to over do it or come on too strong though but every so often just reminisce about a great experience you had in game. Trust me, it works.

3. Show them interesting posts or articles from the web.

A strategy I used with my friends to pique their interest was slowly trickling through great articles I’d found on the web. WoW and EVE Online are particularly good for this given the amount of exposure they get and the media frenzy they can generate. A few good articles about how popular WoW is or how stories from The Great War in EVE will definitely set their mind in motion. Avoid the articles about people killing themselves over it all.

4. Play it cool.

5. Go for the kill.

6. Play with them.

Although I’ve yet to hit level 80 with any of my characters in World of Warcraft (one day soon, I promise) and thus things may change when I do and encounter the Übermensch that awaits, I’ve been enjoying the sanitised PvP of Battlegrounds tremendously. In fact, aside from power-leveling my brother, the Esquire of Noob Town, it’s where I can be found spending most of my hours these days.

I’ve been leveling up three characters almost completely through Battlegrounds and here are my thoughts.

Warrior

Ah that old cunning AFK trick. Deadly in the hands of a master.

I’m regretting spending everything I had on dual speccing my Warrior at level 40 for the sole purpose of PvP. I’ve been leveling him up as Protection and, after blowing 1k to get an Arms spec for player vs player combat, I discovered that I much prefer Prot for Battlegrounds too. Doh. Oh well, at least I have a spare tree for trying that out new Unrelenting Assault tanking spec I’ve heard so much about.

I think the reason I enjoy Warrior Prot PvP so much is because it fits right in with my preferred style of play: charge into the thick of things and try to inflict as much damage as I can before I eventually get taken down (something about the glory of being a martyr really appeals to me… boy, I hope my psychiatrist isn’t reading this). Protection not only gives me that necessary survivability but it also gives a lot more control abilities like silence on my Shield Bash and stuns on Concussion Blow and Shockwave plus I don’t need to worry too much about stance dancing, a tactic which is far too subtle for the likes of me. Overall, the Warrior is my perfect match.

Priest

My Priest is an old character I’ve had since the start of last year and used to PvP constantly with when he was leveling up. Now well on his way to level 60, I’ve dusted him off for some further Battleground romping and it’s proving to be jolly good fun again. I have two equally potent PvP specs, one Shadow and one Discipline, each offering a very different playstyle. I find Discipline is better for when I’m in the lower level range of a BG as I can just follow the pack around, bubbling and healing everyone constantly and occasionally throwing out the odd DoT to rake in a massive amount of honour.

For a class that appeals so little to me in PvE, I find the Priest surprisingly fun in PvP, a good counter-balance to the melee intensive Warrior and one that has plenty of style and originality. Perhaps I was an exorcist in a previous life because I can’t help but get a thrill out of roleplaying a bible-bashing nut-job, out to cleanse the face of Alterac Valley.

Mage

Oh God, I detest Mage PvP, I really do. Maybe things will improve once I get into the higher levels but right now, at level 50, it’s utterly appalling and I can completely appreciate why Mages have a reputation for being the worst class at PvP in the game. My entire experience with the class has been hit and miss as I love the AoE insanity of dungeons (and flaunting DPS meter results in my friend’s faces) yet hate the snooze-fest that is Frostbolt-Frostbolt-Frostbolt solo PvE.

I was expecting good things in PvP from the Mage but unfortunately it has not delivered as I die tremendously quickly and have trouble putting out any decent damage. Of course, the class doesn’t lend itself to my “rush into the centre of the mayhem” playstyle so maybe that’s where I’m going wrong. I’ll give PvP another shot again once I’ve gained a few levels but, until then, I’ll be sticking to dungeon groups and cracking other Mage’s skulls with my Warrior.

Finding The Balance

If this triple-PvP experience has really taught me anything it’s how much better suited to PvP some of the class are than other and also, in most regards, how much Blizzard strive to try and perform the delicate act of keeping them all in balance for both PvE and PvP, a task which seems contradictory to me and almost impossible. I do wonder if they would be better off doing what SOE did in EQ2 and implement completely separate functionality for spells and abilities depending on the situation they are used it. It would make the devs job a whole lot easier and allow every class to gain a more even footing in both situations.

-Gordon

It’s been a rather quiet week in the blogosphere with little or no dramas or craziness (at least that I’m aware of). Controversy can be fun but right now, like a parent who’s just slipped some Ambien into their kids cereal, I’m enjoying the peace and quiet. Here’s a rundown of my pick of the web from the last seven days.

• Kirai checks out the Terminator exhition in Tokyo. Photos included but be warned, the uncanny valley awaits.
• Linedan from Achtung Panzercow has the low down on the change to the WoW Warrior Revenge ability that came with the last patch. Spinks ponders how it fits in with the future of tanking.
• Pete from Dragonchasers feels the pain as he loses his first ship in EVE Online.
• MMOCrunch discusses MMORPGs and relationships.
• The most dangerous drug known to man is this weeks subject material for the God-That-Walks-Amongst-Us, Charlie Brooker.
• Andrew from Of Teeth and Claws asks whether a college class can be a game.
• Sick of blog trolls? Robb Sutton, ramped up problogger, details the best way of dealing with them.
• Rock, Paper, Shotgun has some details about the MMO that’s got everyone excited, The Secret World. Don’t fret, the article comes with a nice sneak-peak video too to get us drooling.
• And finally the Psychochild dumps his beautiful brain thoughts over the topic of social gaming in another excellent article. Marry me, Brian.

-Gordon

As the title suggests, this is not a post about MMORPGs but rather just some real life waffle. Feel free to skip it and come back tomorrow although Heaven knows why you’d want to do that. I’ve been informed by a reliable source that reading my blog, no matter the subject matter, is akin to be smothered in honey and having it slowly licked off.

What I’m Reading

She's going to poke someone's eye out with that knife

I’m currently reading Cell by Mr Stephen King although that’s going to stop today. I’m about 2/3 of the way through and I am not enjoying it at all. It’s downright dull and predictable and I’ve not bonded with any of the characters which is a real shame. Stephen King is one of my favourite authors but his material can be really hit and miss sometimes and Cell is definitely a miss. Time to halt my misery and move on.

Instead of Cell, I’ll be starting a new book called Out by Japanese author Natsuo Kirino. It’s a dark, psychological thriller/horror about four women who work in a factory and, after one of them murders her husband, craziness ensues. What type of craziness I have no idea cause I haven’t read it yet but it all sounds very interesting.

What I’m Watching

Mad Men season 3 is currently airing on BBC Four and it’s absolutely magnificent. Mad Men is without a doubt the most enjoyable thing on TV since The Wire and I look forward to it each week like a puppy does a bone. It is bizarre though finishing an episode and realising I’ve just spent 45mins been engrossed by the exploits of a chauvinist with problems expressing his emotions and a housewife with insecurity issues.

What I’m Wearing

Right now, a grey tracksuit with a hoody that makes me look like a convict from a chain gang. Classy.

What I’m Thinking

Politics mainly. The UK just had it’s annual budget released and it’s not too bad actually although it’s provoked the usual angry response from the Right Wing about how it’s raising taxes and costs for those that can afford to pay them. To be fair, I’ve almost given up all hopes for any of the political parties here and am now filled with a mixed sense of fear and curiosity as I await the whole system to implode in on us.

I’ve also been following the health care reform bill that just passed across the pond. Seems like a good thing to me. What’s not to like about tightening up the system to help protect those that need it most? Democracy at it’s best.

Stay frosty everyone.

-Gordon

I’ve been having a spot of bother making money in EVE Online and was hoping to get some tips from veterans to help me out. Although I was subscribed to the game for a while last year and recently resubscribed a couple of weeks ago, I still consider myself a big old EVE nooby noob. It’s not a game I’m currently pumping huge hours into as I just don’t have the time right now but I do enjoy dabbling around with it on my weekends and slowly sowing the seeds of my galactic empire /strokes moustache maniacally.

Although I know it can be lucrative, I’m not a big fan of mining or general commodities trading so they’ve not been options I’ve explored much. I far prefer to blast things into tiny bits of space shrapnel which is why I’ve been mainly focusing on running missions and salvaging with my Cormorant. However, the cash is pretty poor. For each T1 mission I’m maybe getting around 100-500k ISK and that seems pretty low (I remember getting more from selling salvaged items last year). I’m assuming T2+ missions will give me more money so right now I’m trying to get enough cash together to buy and fit a Gallente Cruiser. Now I could just keep grinding away until I get enough cash but surely there must be an easier way?

Tipa and a few others suggested ninja salvaging as a tactic when I asked on Twitter and it’s sorely tempting although it would require me temporarily halting skill development on my main and skilling up and equipping an alt. As I was wisely advised, it’s apparently not a good idea to ninja salvage with any character you want to maintain a reasonable reputation for.

So if anyone has any words of wisdom or sagely advice about earning a buck or profiteering then I’d love to hear them. I don’t need to become a mega-zillionaire, just having a reasonable cash flow to kick start me into PvP and some more serious combat would be nice.

Of course, I could just buy PLEX and sell them for a small fortune to get me going but somehow that doesn’t seem as fulfilling to me as earning the cash myself in-game.

-Gordon

P.S. Is there a Gevlon blog equivalent for EVE Online? Preferably without the right wing craziness

For a long time I’ve harped on about the fact that MMORPGs need to feel immersive and that many of them, especially the newer games, just don’t have it. But I’ve been thinking… do they actually need to be immersive in order to be fun? Is enjoyment and immersion the same thing or just different ways of experiencing different emotions?

Fun Without Immersion

In addition to MMORPGs, I also play console games and particularly enjoy beat-em-ups like Street Fighter IV and Tekken 6. They’re fast and furious, offering an adrenaline boost for a short period of time. For me, there’s nothing quite like the rush of battle and the thrill of smashing my opponents face in the dirt all climaxing into an orgasmic victory scream of joy to be followed quickly by my trademark rapid-pelvic-thrusting-in-the-face “Who’s Your Daddy?” gloating dance. Trust me, there’s nothing immersive about that.

In fact, my friends and I have also been having a lot of fun in World of Warcraft recently and that game definitely struggles with immersion at times (*cough* Dungeon Finder *cough* … sorry, that darn cough is back again). We giggle when we make fun of other PUG players over Skype, howl with delight and swear like sailors when we engage in PvP Battlegrounds and laugh until we can’t inhale when we play practical jokes on my brother, the Duke of Noob*.

It seems to me that fun and immersion are not the same thing as a game can be still be enjoyable without sucking me into it’s world. For instance, I had a blast hacking people’s heads off in Age of Conan, enjoyed the arcade style scenarios of Warhammer Online and even briefly enjoyed the character creator from Champions Online. It is indeed possible to have fun without feeling immersed.

But I want more.

Immersion Is More Than Fun

To me, immersion is not just about having fun but about feeling completely enveloped in the game and the world it provides, experiencing a whole range of varied emotions. I feel exhilaration in Street Fighter IV and WoW PvP but I don’t feel fear or sympathy or desire or even a sense of camaraderie. They offer a quick fix that ends as soon as the buzz stops.

One of the reasons I fell in love with the MMORPG genre was because of the escapism and sense of false reality it offered. I didn’t just want to have fun, I wanted to love and cry, to feel power and weakness, to live and die with my brethren. To me, it’s the fundamental defining point of MMOs. They offer us more than mere fun, they offer us virtual lives and the wide range of emotions that comes with that.

Immersion FTW

So yeah, sure, MMORPGs don’t need immersion to be fun and there’s plenty of them out there that will offer a quick fix or some mindless entertainment for when we need it.In fact, they seem to becoming more and more common, sacrificing the long term immersion and emotional investment for ease of access and mass appeal.

Not that there’s anything wrong with just going for the straight fun approach and it certainly has it’s place but I’d argue that it creates a different breed of game from the traditional virtual worlds we all know and associate with MMORPGs. Those games are more like MMO-Video-Games rather than living, breathing virtual worlds.

Personally, I want to be sucked into a game and immersed completely in it’s reality. The ultimate escapism for me isn’t just a quick adrenaline blast but rather something that makes me feel care about my character and his environment and causes me to experience a whole range of emotions, good or bad.

-Gordon

*Case in question: I cast Slow Fall on myself and told my brother that it was safe to jump off the top of a cliff because I had cast it on him too. I hadn’t. He died. I laughed.

More terrifying than any dragon, more extreme than any death penalty and more difficult to manage than any DPS threat, spouse aggro is a dangerous thing indeed. Usually it builds up slowly, sometimes over days or weeks, often silent and undetectable until eventually it hits with a wrath of a billion suns exploding inside a giant volcano.

I count myself pretty lucky in how tolerant my wife is about my gaming habits although there is a limit to her patience as I’m discovering. It usually starts with The Look followed by The Noise and eventually concluded by The Howling Bloodthirsty Scream. Knowing how to interpret these signals and when to intercept them is key to my survival… and trust me, begging after the fact never helps. “But my brother’s wife is letting him play longer!”, I whine to no avail.

I end up feeling guilty too because I know I shouldn’t be playing silly computer games and I should instead be devoting all of my time to making my wife more happy than an Olympian Goddess. But I suppose I’m just a mere fleshy male meat-bag that can’t help but be selfish in my desire.

 Loading ...

-Gordon

P.S. If anyone has any tips or tricks for dealing with spouse aggro, please, oh please, share them with us all.