Games Day - Part 1

I have awoken RAWRGH!

It's 3am, and I'm unusually a) awake b) hyperactive and c) not grumpy.

Phase 1 - Wake - Complete
Phase 2 - Go - In Progress

So if anyone wants to see if I've survived and doesn't want to wait for the blog later on, head over to the Book of Grudges and keep an eye on their twitter stuff. I may steal Arbitrarys phone to yell. See you all shortly.

It's up! (Hammer of War)

My first article is up over on Hammer of War Online.

Not bad for a first shot but I have learned my lesson. Don't write during work :P

Pop over, check it out and leave some comments (even a You suck, go this other way is welcome).

Also points go to Joey in charge over there for the title.
The Art of War

Operation :Manhandle

From Pauls Blog

I am off to Europe, to games day on Sunday the 14th of September in Birmingham.
I will be there all day to wave and say hello.
Also in Paris around the 26th
of September for the Paris computer show.
Also in Birmingham the evening of
the 27th for PC Gamers LAN show.

So he will be at Games Day! Now the mission. First secure Arb and Spinks from the Book of Grudges a few teeshirts.

Second, manhandle Paul Barnett for a photo.
Wish me luck.

Orrekai in Altdorf

Excuse me.... Yes sir, if I may have a word? I'm from the Altdorf Merchants commission on trade and tourism. We just have a few questions if we may?

Sure lad, sure. Jus' make it quick. I've a flight back to that bloody Blighted Isle in a bit. Kin versus kin there. Very sad. Still have to find a wayward Ironbreaker. Gets around a bit. Apparently he owes some hood wearing Elfling a favour.

I see sir...So, if I may what brought you to Altdorf?

Ye blind lad? *cocks a thumb over his shoulder* Good solid Dwarven engineering. What else?...Oh ye mean why I'm here. Sure it was on the way and I thought I'd see how you manlings are getting on here. I heard there were some sights worth a moment.

Have you had the chance to sample any local cuisine?

Sure I did. Some young lass down the Market Square has a shop and wanted me t'give her a review. S'crap is what it is. No offence to her, but Raven in a Pie? That's not a dish, thats a picnic accident. An' don't get me started on that sausage vendor. Pah, wouldn't know good rat if one up and bit 'im.

Uhh.. I see. And...erm. Transport! Yes.. how did you find the transport methods in Altdorf? Good for trade?

Y'know laddie, it's a telling thing. The best way in an' out? Gyrocopters. Ye got the right idea lettin the Engineers Guild in fer that. But the rest? Some Elfling boat is in the way of a good solid Ironclad in the river. No one over this side of the city can board her and see how ship buildin is done. Still maybe some of your brave lads will make it to Barak Varr. The Port has to be seen to be believed. Not like the docks ye have here. One thing in it's favour is the Screamin Cat. Any ale good enough for Gurnisson is good enough for me. I hear the Slayer still shows up there every so often. Just... make sure your "tuurists" don't go lookin for him for a fight right?

Okay..No sir. We're not advertising ...unsavouries.

Watch your tone lad.

Sorry sir. Can you tell me anything else you think new arrivals in Altdorf should see or be made aware of?

That I can do. Now you make sure to ge this all down, I'll be checkin next time I pass. Manlings do a reasonable city. Anyone new here should talk to that shouting body down a ways in the square. He's got some pointers and things to see, even if he does leave the ears ringin. Also be careful. I saw some barrels layin around and thought to myself I'd crack one open. Could have been relevant y'know? Or ale. Anyway one of those deep dark livin, underhanded, conniving bastard of a Skav-

--THANK you sir. That will be all. Altdorf Merchants commission thanks you for your help.

Why the shoutin lad I'm only tellin ye....here where are ye going?... Bloody manlings. Here Flight Master, when's my bloody harness ready? These manlings are all loony.

Sunday Sunday ahhh ahhh ahh ah ahhh

Yes I know the song is about Monday.

Anyway!

• FreddysHouse Key? Check!
• Intarwebnets? Check!
• Go to GOA? Check!
• They Told you so? Oh so much check.

Ah well. Maybe later on today? Ha!
Ask Shannon, she's experienced it. Sunday in Ireland means the country is all but closed, please try back tomorrow. God help European service when it comes to the October bank holiday weekend. I know GOA is hiring people to fill the chairs 24/7 in the customer support (I applied after all) buuuuuut yeah. I forsee difficulty with staff turnover.

News from the Front and slightly to the Left

It seems that Open Beta is going up two days early for all Preview weekend people.

Pro : I get two more days to fart about doing silly things.
Con : There may still be that graphic error.

Pro : I can get stuff for a Hammer of War Article
Con : It's American only.

So for this weekend you will find me on the Open Beta in the US, but for the rest of the week I will more than likely be harassing the Book Of Grudges, Wizards and Wenches and all the other euros like myself thanks to the Freddyshouse Open Beta key I got.

Expect lunatic tales to come.

Hammer of War Online

Rawr folks!

I've been given a chance to ramble incoherently to a larger audience. A lovely husband and wife team have started up Hammer of War Online and asked me to be a columnist. So I'll be joining the likes of Jo Bildo and very soon, once a week inflicting what passes for a thought process for me on their audience as well as my normal schtick here. Head on over to Hammer of War, sign up for the forums and keep an eye out for me there soon.


\o/

The Cost of Risk

Let's do some sums!

And by that I mean I will. So bear with me.

From the Wiki on Lord of The Rings Online.

In North America, players who pre-ordered the game were offered a special founder's offer, a lifetime subscription for $199 or reduced cost of $9.99 per month. Standard monthly fee is $14.99 with three, six, twelve month, and lifetime discounts available. European players had a similar program from Codemasters. A Holiday subscription was available in December of 07 and January of 08 for $9.99/month for a 3 month commitment. A one year anniversary addition includes a $9.99/month subscription or a $199.99 Lifetime subscription.

So! Assume about $50 for the game box. $250 for all the LOTRO you want, forever more. But assumuing I am reading that right, that's up front. You had to preorder or drop by at the anniversary to get it.

Now City of Heroes.
I have my 39 month badge which means I have played for 39 months. Normally that'd mean paid for 38, but I'm an odd one.
So City of Heroes.

$50+$30+$0*+($14.99x36)+$10+$10 = $639.34
*=I got a CoV collectors edition code free from a lovely friend. Also the $10's refer to the GvE edition pack and the Wedding pack.

So then... Warhammer is coming. I've pre-ordered my collectors edition quite some time ago. That was $80. I had to get priority international shipping because Amazon are mean like that, plus import fees. $120. We can safely say I really want the game and am willing to spend money on it.

This isn't a blog about how the subscription model is flawed or fantastic or broken or whatever.
Simply this is a matter of math.

If I had betad (is that a word?) Lord of the Rings Online and enjoyed it and had the cash on hand I'd be able to play it for pretty much the rest of its operable life for $250.
If I had been with City Of Heroes at launch (Issue 2 I came in) and had the cash. I'd have saved myself, ohh lets call it, $400 over the last four years.

So then that's the cost of the risk of an MMO. My first MMO Earth & Beyond was shut down after two years. It was only operating as a pay to play for about 75% of that. It's last few months being a long sunset to let subs time out.

If you have the cash around and a game looks like it will go the distance and most importantly it's offered. Well... I think we'd all be fool not to take up such offers in the future.

Sure it's expensive and sure it's a risk. $199 pays for itself in 13 months.

To be the Devils Economist for a second though, that's why Turbine will never stop offering this lifetime deal. They get $200 for every guy who buys the sub and who may leave after a few months. Even if they do, they still will count on spreadsheets to investors as subscribers, possibly making Turbine more money. Not every game in the MMO market will make it big, or even big enough to keep going. Those that do though, they'll always find a way to charge.

$199 may pay for itself in 13 months, but there'll be expansions.

I've paid $640 for my game so far, but it has had 12 free issues so far. I also got a run of a free comic for a long time mailed to me.

Which would you prefer? Give your game a boost of money now, or let them draw on you for as long as you play?

(Ardy doesn't have the cash at the moment to pay for a $199 lifetime sub to WAR so I'm pretty much holding out hope that I don't miss such a deal if one does surface somewhere)

Blogging Contest from WnW

Regis over at the fantastic Wizards & Wenches is holding a blog contest. This isn't a contest limited to current bloggers. It appears to be open for all comers.

So! If you're considering a move from one platform to another, or if you're looking for a start in the WAR blogging community without all the hassle of a start up, here's a shot.

From the man himself.

This is what's in the pot:

• Your own space on the server with FTP access. 10 GB should do it?
• Installed Wordpress platform with plenty of themes.
• A subdomain name (http://yourblog.blogwarhammer.net/)
• A email address (yourname@blogwarhammer.net)

The Good, The Bad and The Horny

Consider for a moment one of the types of people who plays MMOs.

Let's call him Bob. Bob is a roleplayer. So too is xXxDrthVad3rxXx and LoliLilith.

Part of the endearing sucess of MMOs is of course the ability to lose yourself in your avatar and in your world. Doesn't matter if you're a serious roleplayer who has taken the time to craft a long backstory, mannerisms and personality or a casual guy like me who pulls a concept out of his nethers about two minutes before hitting the newbie zone. What makes the games for us is the people we meet, the experiences we have and share and the world in which we all "lived".

Roleplaying brings that to a new level. You get story writers, artists, those of a musical or machinima bent and so on creating scores of people based off this one shared setting.

You're going to run into LoliLilith probably within five minutes. Reduce that to 40 seconds if you play destruction generally and Dark Elves specifically. After all come on, the base model for an undressed Dark Elf is black, presumably leather, lingerie.
You know that things will go a certain direction sooner or later.

You are garunteed to meet whateverhisfacewas. The guy who thinks pop culture references rendered in leet make him a roleplayer. Or his slightly more eloquent counterpart who is still a rubbish roleplayer and will set your teeth on edge, but at least managed to make a coherent name.

That leaves Bob. Bob is going into a world of warfare. A world where there is always something happening, someone fighting and something worth fighting for. Bob has access to public quests, open groups, scenarios that will pluck him from the world at the press of a button and much more besides. Bob has more warfronts than he can shake his pointy stick/axe/hammer/other at.

So if you come across Bob, say hey. Make him feel welcome. Help him along. Get him the bronze needed to back away from the warfront. Bob is going to the Capital. Bob and all his friends are likely going to end up in the square, possibly recounting battles, perhaps marvelling at a friends statue or otherwise living up the world they're in.

If Bob doesn't get to do that, the extra trappings of a world made alive by its inhabitants will take that much longer to come about. I am not implying that RP servers are going to have two full capital cities of poem slingers and precious little in the way of war. All I am saying is one of the crowning moments of awesome for me in WAR from my sampler was waking up Orrekai and being right smack beside a canon emplacement. It was war all the way to the flight master.

When the game goes live, I want to see people socialising in the cities. I want to see keeps filled with singers and fighters. I want to see a community grow that will bring with it the machinima makers, the artists like http://www.rpvisions.com/ and the story writers that we've seen so far.
It isn't enough to see the game succeed. I want to see it be alive and be loved by those who live there.

The bad are catered for. The horny have options. Lets make sure the good find their place to rest, to play and to be.

That and I just don't want to be tripping over people when I go looking for lairs and other fun bits. Sod off you smelly roleplayers, even if I am usually one of you.

Tears in my eyes

The link is best summed up thusly.

Ardy: How was Lotro?
arbitrary: Not bad, we totally sucked, and I have to go raid with the guild tonight.. but was an interesting new instance
Ardy: Ah at least you enjoyed yourself Ive been near to tears laughing at http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Warhammer40000
arbitrary: yeah, it wasn't too bad. Gives us a challenge. uh oh! ha ha!
Ardy: It just keeps going :P
arbitrary: that page is sucking your soul
Ardy: Yes. Yes it does :P
arbitrary: ha ha, affably evil. tv tropes is a work of art. 'Can't argue with elves'
Ardy: Hehehe. "Our Orcs Are Different (Traditional fantasy Orcs meet football hooligan stereotypes meet a whole lot of dakka. It says a lot about just how horrible the Warhammer 40000 universe is that these crazed, violent lunatics, whose societies revolve around killing or brutalising anyone and everyone - including each other - are the comic relief race.)"
arbitrary: its awesome. Utopia justifies the means you need to blog this ;p
Ardy: I think I shall :P
arbitrary: I think I just lost my tomorrow

With one more exerpt for people.

Squick (The Dark Eldar basically live on it. Slaanesh was literally created by it.)

Permanence in Persistent World

City of Heroes has just recently announced the eye candy features of Issue 13.

Included in this shortlist of the big stuff is the idea of day jobs. The idea whereby if you log out at a hospital, your character does EMT work, and thus will gain badges and buffs for when you log back in. There are various different buffs and rewards for the various jobs and locations.
Though as an aside, there is only one University in the City of Villains, so expect the top of Cap Au Diable University to be camped by all sorts.

Massively have asked the question, are rewards for offline time a good idea?

I counter with, what the hell has my character been doing while I slept?

In EVE, skills are trained offline in real time. There is the immersive sense that your character, no matter what they are doing in New Eden is at all times doing something. So countering the question with a question is more an exercise in wondering, how persistent should the worlds we play in be?

Time is fluid in MMOs. Certainly in City Of, the sun shoots across the sky at a great rate of knots and as such the day/night cycle is artificial. This is a rather good thing as I rarely am up so late that I'd be playing in EST "night time" if the cycle was realtime. Given that the days we count are our real time days, the in game distinction between night and day is meaningless, what happens to our alternate selves in the dead time?

If the world is to reflect the real, some form of buff or reward for the time spent not playing may well be acceptable. I cannot believe that when Bregel and Orrekai take a break from opposing the forces of Chaos they both, a) do not assist the war effort in some way, b) do not get rested up or c) do not do anything at all.

Rewards like WoW's rested xp gain or AoC's fresh kills are a good thing. They add that extra layer of the real to our virtual worlds.
I'm refreshed, I'm on top of my game, I have that little edge when going beheading.

What I disagree with is the way City of Heroes is approaching it.
"Lads, we have a task force tomorrow and extra regen is a much, everyone log for 24 hours on the hospital"
"Actually we're going to go badge hunting, we'll need extra damage, log out over Vanguard for a damage buff"

While I do think our characters should get a little something for doing whatever it is they do when we arent there to animate them, they shouldn't be able to do it all.
Virtual heroes, space pilots or warriors, everyone real or imagined needs a break from the working world.

More thoughts from Preview Weekend

Well.. it's Monday and work is light at the moment, so I can blog more. Ha!

First, my public service announcement.

Ladies, Gents and Greenskins.
If you are considering WAR, on the fence about it, or even mildly curious. Do yourself the biggest favour imaginable. Bring a friend with. The joy factor is that much more because of it. More on this below.

~Ardy


The Downside of Open Grouping
There are many people celebrating open grouping, and really it should be celebrated. I found one slight problem though, which mostly I am ascribing to newbie shell shock (You are dumped into a war after all) and the quirks of a preview weekend. All the closed beta folks knew what they wanted to achieve. All the Preview weekend guys like me wanted to find out what was going on.
Open grouping does help. Filter by range and hey you know if people in your general vicinity are doing things you may also be doing or interested in.
The problem I found was this. No one talks.
It actually took a trip to the High Elf starting zone to get a chatty pq/open group.

People came and went. Hell I did too. There was a certain sense of disconnection. However I am hopeful. As I progressed through the chapters people became more talkative and would speak to one another. Heck, one errant Dark Elf in an RvR zone stopped to bow to me (he wasn't flagged otherwise he'd have gotten a staff in the skull).

So yes the open grouping is much vaunted and talked about. If your first experience is a bit silent and akward, don't worry. Everyones head is likely spinning as much as yours. Go with it and you'll make friends in no time.

Related note Terry (Bregel from here on) is/was in Closed Beta and was surprised by something in the Preview weekend. This is an upside of open grouping. Myself (Orrekai), Bregel and Zylasharr (did I get it right T?) were in a public quest. There was another team also there. Both of us were below maximum strentgh so one or two clicks and the teams were seamlessly merged. Instead of two sub par teams running hither and yon, suddenly we were a full one. Sadly we didnt get into any trouble or areas (barring Scenarios) that would have required us to Warband it up a notch, but that little tool was a welcome surprise.
Also due to my having to close the game several times, open groups meant I could hop back in without harassing them (much) on teamspeak for an invite.

Altdorf
For the cheap cheap fare of 50 bronze, Bregel, Zyla and I beercoptered into Altdorf. Well... not Zyla, she was on a Rune Priest as well our first time, but you get the idea.
Altdorf is huge. Really huge. I could spend most of a day rather than the hour or two that I did exploring that place. I am not even sure that it was completely opened up despite being at 5 stars. In fact thinking about it, the city shot up the ranks, so it was likely bumped up.
Some pointers to Altdorf.
There are screaming cats. Get used to them.
Barrels are not toys.
Swirly glowy green things are very enticing to certain Dwarfs.
I met Gotrek and Felix, you should too.
The Steam Tank PQ is really rather clever.

We also came across some randomly and oddly naked Dwarfs. There were representatives of the three armies working out in this square. All were targetable but you couldnt attack them. That is, except for the level one naturalist dwarfs. I singed one or two to teach them a lesson about the value of britches.

Many more things occured there, but I'll keep them for another post.

Just my second PSA here. When you go to start your guild, it only takes a little cash and a party of six. Don't rush the process though. I know you all want to level up your characters and your guilds and get out there and smash heads in. Take some time though. Set aside an hour or two for you all to drop into Altdorf and gawk like tourists. Take in the sights, get the tome unlocks, examine weird swirly green things.
Honestly, don't miss it because you're in a rush or "will do it later". Enjoy your first foray into the living city of Altdorf.

Tome Unlocks
These things are everywhere. EVERYWHERE!
The quick guide to collecting.

If it moves or highlights? Click it.
If it doesn't move? Mouse over just incase.
If it has legs and cons blue? Talk to it.
If it moves and cons red? Kill it.
If it looks interesting? Run over to it and gawk.

Also don't be afraid to die. Don't be afraid to die in RvR. Don't be afraid to run around in circles healing yourself or others as fast as you can buttonmash. It's all a blast.

Geronimo
In City of Heroes I have the very well deserved nickname of Lemming. Heck on Teamspeak and Vent, there is even a song for when I have one of my "moments". Where angels fear to tread, there Ardy is, likely nomming floor.
In WAR, this name took on a whole new meaning. Seriously, watch your step. I don't know how many times I fell off cliffs while having a gander. It was funny every time. Especially the one time I fell off as a Sorceress, hugged the wall on the way down and ended up having a lesuirely swim back around the coast. It didn't matter that I fell, funny though it was, I was having a great time exploring and there was also the novelty of surviving.
I then did get into the bad habit of casting Heal over time runes on myself and jumping off some places just to see if I could.
So please, do watch your step. But if you end up flailing your way into the grave, don't worry. It's funny and death just means you'll get moved to the nearest rally point.

That said, future guildmates? I'm sorry. If the shortest distance between me and where we're going is a barely (if at all) survivable drop of a cliff. Well... I'm going to go get my base jumping tome unlock.

NOT THE FACE!
It is my lot in life to die. Doesn't matter if I've taken a stroll off Everest, found a playmate (you'd be surprised how often I run into hero/champion mobs and set fire to them on reflex), or RvR'd. I am doomed to die. I have come to accept it, and even find something worth laughing about in it.

Two examples.
1) Bregel and I were in Altdorf. There was a barrel. Thanks to Hawley at the Book of Grudges, we knew that this could only mean one thing. Pain a la Skaven.
Did that stop us? Hell no.

Bregel was, if memory serves, at the time 7. I was 8. Ironbreaker and Runepriest against a level 20 Skaven.
And we were winning! Not quickly mind you, but we were certainly winning. The healing and the runes were keeping Bregel going and we got the Ratman to 50%.
Then he turned around and stabbed me in the face. So ended that fight.

2) Bregel, Zyla and I were in the Khaines Embrace scenario. As usual, despite teamspeak, the two members of the Elder Race gave the keen eyed long limbed Shadow Warrior the slip and went off to wreak havoc as only Dwarfs can. During said havoc, Bregel suffered a graphic glitch and was unable to see. He was still there, but the player himself couldn't see a damn thing and was going to have to restart.
Around that time an entire party of Destruction showed up.
At first, I was able to heal the damage. Only a few of them were paying attention to me and the rest seemed to be considering options. Then they all decided that the Runepriest must go!

Commence backpedalling. But! I had a plan! Surely if I trained this mob over the Ironbreaker whose life I have preserved so often... an Ironbreaker who is only going to exit anyway... surely that is a fair trade? He can lay down his life for me in payment for all the times when I preserved it.
Ohhhh no. They were having none of that. The entire party ran past the otherwise idle Ironbreaker, turned me into mush and then bizzarely kept running. They completely ignored someone who could then capture a point. Bregel was toasted shortly thereafter by Khaines Embrace.

So my final PSA.
Budding Generals and clever guilds. If someone is going to storm a keep or try storm yours. Destroy their battle plan in one easy step. Mount an Archmage or Runepriest on a stick and wave him off to the left. While they fall over themselves in an orgy of destruction, feel free to put the fear of Grungi, Grimnir and Valaya into them.

More later if I remember anything else!

My weekend away

This weekend, I dipped into City Of a few times. Some light rp with my girlfriend and some light snake whomping with my good friend Seph.

The rest of the online time was spent in the Preview weekend for Warhammer.
Man did I have a good time.

First, the bad.

Seems despite Can You Run It assuring me that, yes, yes I can run it, I have trouble. Specifically my GeForce 7300 LE appears to not be up to the job. The sky was constantly artefacted and I cannot look above the horizon without seizure inducing weirdness occuring. This also happened to me in the Tabula Rasa beta, but as I never took the game up due to various reasons, I never followed up the cause. I may need a better graphics card. We'll see.

Secondly, I have more than enough ram, yet tween the graphics issue and my normal online state which is "multitasking" I found that I cannot really alt tab. If theres alot going on and I alt tab to check an email or a post or the TS settings or what people are saying on Trillian... I come back to a black screen. The world just refuses to render. Sooo ctrl alt del, kill WAR.exe
I found that when I behaved and just closed down my browser, I could alt tab with impunity and thus save myself from being killed by she who must be obeyed/messaged.

That said, they were minor technical irritations. Similar to the pathing problem Tobold mentions over here.

What did I do? I rolled up three alts in total.

An Archmage who was .... nice. The first blast just lacks alot of oomph for me. I know you cant have it all, but still. However later on they get the prismatic shield and that is very lovely to watch cast.

A Sorceress, who despite my best attempts, I couldnt get to explode from Dark Magic. I need more abilities :P Also yes, the idea that you get skimpier on your first upgrade is well founded. On removing the starter robes (seems leather lingerie is in for Dark Elves) and wearing the loot drop, I ended up with odd sleeves, lots of leg showing and the impression that someone is cupping her breasts by way of support.
Entertaining I suppose.

My most played and indeed first rolled char was my Rune Priest Orrekai.
Man I had a good time with him. I even got up to Level 11 and Renown 6, allowing me to get my first RvR kit from Barak Varr. I was loving the class before that and promptly fell in love again on decking out my little guy with the good stuff.

I'll do a proper write up of my experiences later on, hopefully with photos. The highlights however of the weekend were

• Meeting Gotrek and Felix
• Exploring Altdorf (Ooo whats the swirly thing)
• Getting pasted along with Bregel, my ever present Ironbreaker companion, by a Great Unclean One
• Firing cannons
• Khaines Embrace RvR scenario.

The Hero of 10,000 faces

I've been following the "discussion" shall we say over at Virgin Worlds.

To sum it up for those who have not been following. Brent didn't like Warhammer. That's his right. He has admitted not being drawn in by the Warhammer world whereas he has been by AoC and so continues to dabble there, despite the fact that the blogosphere at large looks at that game like you would a car crash. An interesting event, but horrible and painful.

I am interested in the push however. The idea that WAR, despite what it is, should have for some reason been something more and thus has offended the sensibilities (or perhaps dashed the hopes) of some by not being revolutionary enough. It doesn't do this, it doesn't do that, I still have to kill 10 rats.

I mentioned previously that it is the failing of an MMO world to accurately depict what our button mashing and stats mean. You're supposed to kill those ten rats to save the towns food supply, or to supply a rat corpse fetishist with some toys, or whatever reason. They cannot yet depict (or do not, I don't know. I'm not a developer) the effect of leaving the rats be. In City of Heroes there is the tongue in cheek NPC text that points out that however much that Hellion struggles, he's never getting that purse off the lady. You, however, at level 1 are easy pickings and he's going to whomp you. Walk back by at level 10 and the struggle continues, and always will unless you choose to intervene.

The MMO worlds we inhabit at the moment are stages set. They're musicals waiting to happen. If myself and some friends go to do a raid, it'll be the same as every other raid of its type before or since. Sure someone may flubb their lines, or maybe the lead singer is sick that week so the audience gets a sub par experience. It is however entertainment bottled. Repeatable. Enjoyable. Staged.
RPG worlds are the same stage, but you are the hero. You can change the world, topple tyrants, save the damsel and interact in a story where you personally are impacting this world, your way.
You just have to remember little Timmy next door bought the same game, is playing the same story, and getting (hopefully) the same enjoyment. But because he's in his world and you yours, you're both the hero.
Thousands upon thousands of people have saved the world from the Covenant in Halo, they all have been the Master Chief. They all have single handedly changed that world. A Halo MMO? Everyone has to try and find the same sense of achievement, but if little Timmy can spend 10 more hours a day and "finish" the world, save the girl and be the hero, what happens then? The world is done, but millions of other players may have been sleeping or working and thus their shot at the story is stolen.

A revolutionary world, quite apart from a revolutionary way to interact with it, has the flaw in that it has people in it. Right now if you get up from your computer and take up a cause, you could possibly change the world. You may very well be shouted down, or possibly die without ever seeing your mark made upon the world. People are everywhere and everyone has their own story. When it's your own world, you can be anyone and do anything. When you have to share, not everyone can be the best. Not everyone gets their name in lights.
That's the entire reason I have never nor ever will play FFXI. It isn't the Fantasy for me. I personally and single handedly will never change the world. The world has to cater to all the heroes, not just me.

When the eureka moment comes and Web 2.0 or 3.0 or z.0mg delivers the revolutionary MMO people claim they want, hopefully it will be like Warhammers Public quests and open groups. Hopefully everyone will exclaim "Oh hey, why didn't we think of that?" rather than deciding this new game is too alien, or too imposing or too... unfun to bother with.

When the new ways of interacting virtually come about, hopefully they will be what Bartle, Brent and everyone besides has sought. A world apart from Earth. A world they can impact, and importantly have the impact matter and be realised on the screen for them. I rather rudely suggested people want Second life with swords when I am beginning to realise, the current call for a revolutionary MMO is more akin to feeling like you aren't the hero here on Earth. People want to push the planet and have it matter, but haven't yet been able to do it virtually, just as how the majority will never push the Earth by ourselves.

A virtual world isn't a world unless populated. A virtual community isn't "fair" unless we can all have the chance to make the impact the box promises. The biggest hurdle for revolutionary game play isn't the technology or the ideas, it is ourselves. We can't all be the hero. We can have a hero with 10,000 faces and 10,000 worlds or a single world where we can all try and be heroic, but equal in our status. When they crack the code to let everyone achieve spectacles and each one still have value, that will be their revolution.

My revolution? I'm going to take the public quests and living cities. It is a step up from what has gone before. And even if it isnt a particularly big step, I unlike some of you, may not have played every single game that preceeded this. This is my big step, my foray into a virgin world and my chance to make ever so small a mark.
Even if I have to kill 10 rats to do it.

Circle Strafe the Moon

Way back a while ago there was a very clever Real Life Comics comic. Here's the link for the interested.

The joke made is a good one I thought. Given a gamers interface, well a gamer can quite probably do anything.

On a related point, Brent over at Virgin Worlds recently made a post wherein he decided he did not like WAR. He said it was not fun and proceeded to give reasons.

In the interests of fairness, linked here is the blog in reply that Brent thinks "got it".

My view? Brent didn't like WAR and thought it wasn't fun because like the pizza analogy from Serial Ganker, he didn't want to play an MMORPG.

MMO's as they stand have certain mainstays. People may not like them, others may find ways to evolve them, but without them, MMO's as we know them would be unrecognisable.
No one has ever suggested that a First Person Shooter could do with less guns and none of that shooting people lark. So why should an MMORPG be entirely stripped of RPG elements? Just because there's more than one player? Soooo what?

A very good response to Brent is as follows

'From Meridian 59 to Warhammer; From Castle Wolfenstein to Halo 3' by Theo
Submitted on 2008-08-20 19:09:46 CST What are we looking for that is
revolutionary?
Has Halo revolutionized FPS gameplay since the days of say doom more than War does from the days of Meridian 59? Pick any genre and answer a similar question. What would suffice? Honestly, the greatest revolution in gaming is the Wii and that is because it changed the entire control scheme - yet is casual and at times ignored by hardcore gamers.
Brent, my point is this. The basis of your disappointment should not be limited to War, but every new release under the sun that has the limits of mouse, keyboard, standard bandwidth, etc. I believe you have now set for yourself a standard that should never find approval with any new release.

In a nutshell, to revolutionise an MMORPG, it needs to stop being an RPG. You're always going to have to kill ten rats. Rats are a major concern for lowbie NPCs. Without regular new guys coming by to kill ten rats, the world in theory would be over run by them.

MMORPGs are based on numbers because the numbers describe the universe.
In City of Heroes I can walk up to one of my Super Reflexes friends and try to blast them point blank in the face. I miss. The numbers calculated, I couldn't beat theirs, I miss. If the game was as real as it is in your imagination, they dodged.
We're always going to kill rats lest they breed. That's the reason. That's the world trying to be real.

If you want a revolution or if like Brent something approaching the world of Snowcrash, you don't want an MMORPG. You want a virtual world, a second exsistence. You want somewhere that has no digital rats and is limited only by the visual representation of the numbers you tweak.

Hell they want Second Life with better graphics and a sword so they can claim it's a poor clone of EQ. Just to make it feel like home.

Out of Order

I blame Regis for this. (Love you mate)

I decided to upgrade the blog to take advantage of Disqus commenting.
Though this has had the effect of removing the old blogroll I had.

There will be improvements/changes over the next few days.

Update : 11.09

I'll give it this, it's easy to enter stuff in the new layouts.
Warhammer and MMO Blogroll - check
Random links - mostly check
Anything else I've forgotten - pending.

New
Feeds - Because some of you may be crazy enough for them.

The other white meat

WAR is coming.

It is coming in a great many ways. There is the preview weekend this weekend. There is the open beta a few weeks from now. There is the live game in under a month.

And fourty thousand years in the future, the war continues.
Dawn of War II has a new cinematic trailer. Go watch. I'll wait.


...


Awesome Y/N?


In related news I've another mission for Games Day. Find the tank, photograph the tank. Love the tank.

And maybe steal it if it is operable...but let's not tell them that bit is on my to do list.

WAR is everywhere, and everywhen. Grab your bolters, there's a hard fight ahead.

In before the storm

It is 9.08am Tuesday morning. The NDA goes down today for Warhammer Age of Reckoning.

There have been two very good points made so far. Tobold (Europe!) has said he'll hold back on his Beta stuff until the official green light is given.

So here I am in before the deluge of information.

Regis over on Wizards & Wenches has posted, not what he knows, but rather what he wants to hear.

Fact is, there's going to be a flurry of posts in all quarters. There will be alot of overlap, alot of repetition and despite that, still quite a few gems.
Ladies and gents, pick your three or four blogs to read first. We're about to get it all.

In related news, checking Warhammer Alliance via the Book of Grudges has given me a good thing.
Check your Mythic account page to see if you have your preview weekend access. I do!

Edit 1.27pm

I got the invite email to my Yahoo! Mail. Word of warning, the sender is nobody@eamythic.com and as a result, Yahoo put it in the spam folder. Anyone going to the weekend should also have word on their Account Page but if you're waiting for an email specifically, don't forget to check the junk.

Fileplanet Download

For those of you watching at home, here's a quick update on the Fileplanet download.

Four hours on and I haven't even gotten as far as Matt over on Bloghammer.

I've not been able to get the file for the Download Manager to not download :P

In the morning perhaps, when America sleeps.

Edit! 7am GMT (2am EST 11pm PST) the site worked for me and I started the download. It was blazing along quite merrily when I left with an estimated completion time of 10-13 hours.
Quite a bit better than the closed beta torrent time we all heard.