WoW posts

The Daily Grind: What little events do you celebrate?

by Eliot Lefebvre Mar 17th 2010 at 8:00AM

Filed under: Culture, Events, real-world, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Humor

It's Saint Patrick's Day, and if you're in the US that means a celebration of Irish culture... or at least, it means a celebration of wearing green clothing and drinking an exceptional amount for the middle of the week. And while it's not the biggest holiday, some people look forward to it as much or more than major seasonal events. A few games even celebrate the event, such as Fallen Earth with a pub crawl and Everquest II with its Brewday celebrations. It's a holiday with no real overarching purpose except enjoyment, and that's hardly a bad goal.

Every game has little events that keep running long after they're no longer hugely pertinent. Every gamer has anniversaries or dates they remember, or holidays that they feel are important even if the game doesn't have a holiday event. So what small holidays or events do you observe in your favorite games? Do you make a point of memorizing important in-game lore dates and celebrating their anniversaries? Do you take part in no-longer-vital elements, such as the Elemental Invasions in World of Warcraft? Or do you just take the opportunity on days like today to outfit your Star Trek Online crew in green uniforms and hang around drunk?

Tags: anniversaries, celebrations, drinking, enjoyment, eqii, everquest-ii, fallen-earth, fe, intoxication, ireland, irish, saint-patricks-day, star-trek-online, sto, tdg, the-daily-grind, world-of-warcraft, wow

The Daily Grind: How concrete do you want your numbers?

by Eliot Lefebvre Mar 15th 2010 at 8:00AM

Filed under: Game mechanics, Opinion, The Daily Grind

RPGs in general have always been associated with the idea that abstract qualities can be quantified -- everything from strength and agility to personal charisma and willpower. The concepts have become so tied together that saying something has elements of an RPG usually means "you make numbers go higher." Games like World of Warcraft and EVE Online both have extensive information available about the numbers behind the working of the game.

On the other hand, people have complained that the emphasis on numbers turns the game from an exercise in play and experimentation into differential calculus. And there's certainly room for games like Final Fantasy XI, which gives enough information for comparison without going into detail about what a given value actually does. On the other hand, by removing contextual comparisons, it becomes difficult to figure out what effective difference there actually is between Accuracy +3 and Accuracy +5.

So which do you prefer in a game? Would you rather tend toward having all of the numbers laid out in front of you, even if it means needing ornate spreadsheets to enjoy everything? Or would you rather keep as much of the system as possible under the hood and invisible?

Tags: eve, eve-online, ffxi, final-fantasy-xi, game-mechanics, mechanics, numbers, stats, tdg, the-daily-grind, values, world-of-warcraft, wow

The Daily Grind: How do you like to play?

by Eliot Lefebvre Mar 11th 2010 at 8:00AM

Filed under: Culture, Game mechanics, PvP, PvE, Opinion, The Daily Grind

We complain that MMOs are getting narrower and smaller as time goes by, with terms like "themeparks" being thrown around without much affection. But there are still a lot of ways to enjoy yourself in pretty much every game under the sun and games that cater to a wide variety of playstyles on top of that. There are games focused on a strong PvP game (Warhammer Online, EVE Online), games with a focus on PvE content (City of Heroes, Lord of the Rings Online), and others with a split between both (World of Warcraft, Guild Wars).

Even within that wide spectrum, however, there's a fair variety of options. You could focus on the PvE game in EVE Online if you wanted, or even just head off into another direction like roleplaying if you so desired. With all the different ways to enjoy yourself, we ask you today: how do you like to play? Do you prefer PvP, PvE, a mix of both? Or do you prefer alternate progression like crafting or exploration, eschewing the rails that are set down for you by the development team?

Tags: city-of-heroes, coh, content, eve, eve-online, guild-wars, gw, lord-of-the-rings-online, lotro, play-focus, playstyle, pve, pvp, roleplaying, tdg, the-daily-grind, war, warhammer-online, world-of-warcraft, wow

One Shots: Goodbye, bear

by Krystalle Voecks Mar 9th 2010 at 2:00PM

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Screenshots, One Shots

It's always hard to retire a character you love -- or to see your friends move on from a game you've played together for quite some time. Today's World of Warcraft One Shots shows off one such bittersweet moment with a goodbye dance and /wave from Nakirush. The note goes on to explain: Oh bear tank... You shall be missed. It seems like only yesterday you charged valiantly at Festergut, adrenaline coursing through your veins like the avalanche down Icecrown's snow capped peaks. Too bad there weren't any healers present, jackass. I jest -- he's an awesome tank and it was a pretty picture.

If you'd like to celebrate your MMO friendships, or favorite characters, we'd love to hear about them. Just snag a great screenshot and send it to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a brief description. (Guild and server also always welcome.) Yours could be the next one we showcase on One Shots!

Gallery: One Shots: Gallery II

Tags: blizzard, blizzard-entertainment, nakirush, one-shots, screenshot, screenshots, world-of-warcraft, wow

The Digital Continuum: The importance of involvement

by Kyle Horner Mar 8th 2010 at 4:00PM

Filed under: New titles, Opinion, The Digital Continuum

There's something to be said about feeling like you're fully engaged by an MMO. By "fully engaged" I don't mean that an MMO should be incredibly challenging. I also don't mean that it should "feel immersive" via sandbox or any other design philosophy.

What I mean is that -- and this is obviously just my opinion -- a game should do its very best to make sure the player is always instantly, nearly and eventually involved. I know that sounds confusing, but let me explain before you start attempting to mail me lettuce so that I can pay a friend to throw it at me.

Tags: activision, activision-blizzard, bioware, bioware-mmo, bioware-mmorpg, bioware-star-wars, bioware-swtor, blizzard, ea, electronic-arts, featured, lucas-arts, lucas-arts-mmo, lucas-arts-mmorpg, opinion, star-wars-game, star-wars-mmo, star-wars-mmorpg, star-wars-the-old-republic, star-wars-tor, starwars, starwars-the-old-republic, sw-tor, swtor, the-digital-continuum, the-old-republic, world-of-warcraft, wow

The Daily Grind: What are you like in voice chat?

by Eliot Lefebvre Mar 5th 2010 at 8:00AM

Filed under: Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind

Voice chat isn't a part of every facet of games, but it's usually de rigeur for communication in endgame activities. While some of us can type pretty quickly, we can still talk a bit faster, and if you're using the keyboard as anything other than an ornament time spent typing is time spent not pressing other buttons. The popularity and proliferation of Ventrilo is almost entirely based upon this need, and games have increasingly come to include built-in voice clients (including World of Warcraft, although its quality is rather widely debated).

Of course, hand-in-hand with the fact that we can talk faster than we can type, many of us have a clearer personality by voice than we do in text. We're more trained as human beings to react to audio cues anyway, as opposed to subtleties in sentence structure or the occasional "lol." So what do you act like when you get behind the microphone? Are you the one guy that won't stop making off-color jokes, or are you quiet and professional? Do you act the same way you usually do via text, or do you have a totally different side that only comes out over voice chat?

Tags: audio, chat, communication, endgame, headsets, tdg, the-daily-grind, ventrilo, voice, voice-chat, voice-over-ip, voip, world-of-warcraft, wow

The Daily Grind: Should newbie rewards match veteran rewards?

by Eliot Lefebvre Mar 3rd 2010 at 8:00AM

Filed under: Business models, Game mechanics, Opinion, The Daily Grind

Star Trek Online fans got a little testy when it looked like new players would get the game for less with twice the free time. And you can't exactly blame them -- after all, it's hard enough being an early adopter for a new MMO, and you expect to suffer through a few bugs with the knowledge that you're in on the ground floor. MMOcrunch went so far as to call it a pre-order penalty, arguing that for every reward that new players get, veteran players should get something in exchange.

It's a nice philosophy, and one that games like City of Heroes have adopted in earnest with a reward program for veterans, plus new bundle packs of the game for new players. On the other hand, World of Warcraft offers nothing much to veteran players while the cover price of the game keeps going down, and that hasn't particularly impacted its sales. What do you think? Should there be an even distribution of rewards for the newcomers and the old standbys? Or is it more important to entice new players, and the old players should enjoy the extra time they've spent in the game thus far?

Tags: city-of-heroes, city-of-villains, coh, cov, cox, newbie-rewards, price-drops, star-trek-online, sto, tdg, the-daily-grind, veteran-rewards, veterans, world-of-warcraft, wow

One Shots: Gonna fly with a little help from my friends

by Krystalle Voecks Mar 1st 2010 at 2:00PM

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Screenshots, One Shots

There is something to be said for working hard and achieving a goal you've wanted for a long time. There's something even better about getting to that ending with your friends at your side. So while today's World of Warcraft screenshot is indeed pretty cool, we like the story that came in with it from Zamara of the Equilibria guild on the Caelestrasz realm.

Many times, [notes that come along with] screenshots often [talk] about personal achievements and the friends often [feel] left out and dishonored. [So,] this screenie is dedicated to all of you who I spent my wonderful time with in World of Warcraft. [It] was taken as a token of my gratitude and appreciat[ion] to friends and guild mates of Caelestrasz Server, in one of my all time favorite places in the world of Azeroth. I was dumbfounded after completing the achievement criteria and flew down upon Sholazar Basin, right in front of the Waygate. Finally, at long last. A Red Protodrake mount to call my own!

We love to hear what players are up to in their favorite MMOs -- especially when it involves great groups of friends. If you'd like to show off your adventures, send in a screenshot to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a note. We'll post it out here and give you the nod for sending it in.

Gallery: One Shots: Gallery II

Tags: blizzard, blizzard-entertainment, one-shots, screenshot, screenshots, world-of-warcraft, wow, zamara

The Daily Grind: A better death

by Krystalle Voecks Feb 27th 2010 at 8:00AM

Filed under: Game mechanics, Opinion, The Daily Grind

One of the biggest parts of the uproar about Allods Online is the Fear of Death mechanic, which requires players to either shell out money, wait for a long time, or wander out in the world with a nasty debuff. On the far other side of the coin, you have World of Warcraft, with a death penalty that essentially equates to "how long will it take me to run back from the graveyard" coupled with a very minor durability loss on gear. EverQuest in the old days meant slogging back to your corpse naked and potentially losing levels. City of Heroes just gives you xp debt, which can be pretty easily worked off. Death in Darkfall means someone will probably make off with your stuff.

With all the different death mechanics available in games, we thought we'd ask this morning: of all the MMOs out, what game do you think has the best death penalty option? Would you like to see more games adopt a "you'll probably lose the stuff you have with you" like Darkfall or EVE Online? Do you think having the light options in World of Warcraft is best? Let us know whose mechanics reign supreme!

Tags: allods-online, darkfall, death-penalty, eve-online, opinion, tdg, the-daily-grind, world-of-warcraft, wow

The Daily Grind: When have graphics surprised you?

by Eliot Lefebvre Feb 26th 2010 at 8:00AM

Filed under: Screenshots, Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind

Graphics aren't the only part of games that matter -- witness World of Warcraft's continued market presence with a five-year-old highly stylized engine -- but they're certainly a major draw for some. And as has been said before, these days it's hard to find a game for current consoles or the PC that isn't graphically stunning. We're a long way from the large polygons that made up EverQuest models back in the genre's infancy.

But polygons aren't everything. Sometimes there are visual treats, little flairs of animation, just the right amount of detail and lighting. Sometimes a game that you weren't expecting to impress you with graphics manages to do so -- even if you're generally not someone who focuses on graphics. Whether you're running around in Age of Conan or Final Fantasy XI, there are vistas and pictures that impress above and beyond technological constraints.

So, when have graphics struck you and made you take notice of something? Was it a game that looked astonishingly well-rendered for its time, or one that was fairly basic even when it got released? Were they stylized in a way you found appealing or just surprisingly realistic?

Tags: age-of-conan, aoc, eq, everquest, final-fantasy-xi, graphics, screenshot, screenshots, style, tdg, tera, the-daily-grind, visuals, world-of-warcraft, wow

NetEase starts road back to operating World of Warcraft

by Eliot Lefebvre Feb 18th 2010 at 10:00AM

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Video, MMO industry, News items, Legal

It's time for World of Warcraft players in mainland China to break out the party hats and streamers, because things are finally... well, they're not entirely back on track, but they're at least a blessed sight closer to being back on track. Digital East Asia is reporting that NetEase has finally obtained the license to operate World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade in China after a struggle spanning an insane amount of time.

On the down side, yes, that does appear to be the last expansion, rather than the present one. On the up side, it means that the seemingly interminable bickering between government agencies has finally been sorted out, and players can finally get back to the business of enjoying the game. No word, however, on what this may or may not mean for Wrath of the Lich King, which has allegedly run afoul of Chinese censors.

The entire fiasco may be clearing, but it may have far-reaching consequences even beyond the MMO arena. A recent Chinese fan video has been making the rounds and getting mentions in the Wall Street Journal for its summary and satire of the entire mess, with some rather sharp critiques of censorship and the government's actions in the affair. This post contains background and links to subtitled versions of the video on YouTube, which might prove interesting to those who've been following the madness since the beginning.

Tags: activision-blizzard, blizzard, censors, censorship, china, chinese-censors, gapp, netease, tbc, the-burning-crusade, world-of-warcraft, wotlk, wow, wow-china, wrath-of-the-lich-king, youtube

The Digital Continuum: 'Meh' to MMOs?

by Kyle Horner Feb 16th 2010 at 4:00PM

Filed under: Opinion, The Digital Continuum

While the MMO genre appears to be growing at a decent pace (at least for Blizzard) there's still plenty of room for growth. World of Warcraft clones can attract only so many interested players and turning to classic niche designs such as the sandbox MMO ala Fallen Earth won't do anything to pique the interest of people who otherwise have no interest in the genre.

So what will appeal to someone who has never felt a desire to play a game both massively and multiplayer?

Tags: all-points-bulletin, all-points-bulletin-game, apb-ea, apb-game, arenanet, arenanet-guild-wars, arenanet-guild-wars2, bioware, bioware-mmo, bioware-mmorpg, bioware-star-wars, bioware-swtor, call-of-duty, ea, ea-all-points-bulletin, ea-apb, ea-games, electronic-arts, electronic-arts-all-points-bulletin, featured, funcom, guild-wars, guild-wars2, guildwars, guildwars2, gw, gw2, lucas-arts, lucas-arts-mmo, lucas-arts-mmorpg, mass-effect, modern-warefare, opinion, star-wars-game, star-wars-mmo, star-wars-mmorpg, star-wars-the-old-republic, star-wars-tor, starwars, starwars-the-old-republic, sw-tor, swtor, the-digital-continuum, the-old-republic, the-secret-world, tsw, world-of-warcraft, wow

One Shots: Late to the party

by Krystalle Voecks Feb 15th 2010 at 2:00PM

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Screenshots, One Shots

Believe it or not, not every single MMO gamer on the face of the planet has actually played World of Warcraft. There are still those who are just now checking into the 800-pound gorilla, such as today's One Shots contributor, Maldronnar! He writes in to give us his thoughts:

I think I was the last MMO fan on the planet to play World of Warcraft, but I picked the game up for $5 on Amazon over the holidays and recently started playing with some friends from my office. Having also played visually-impressive titles like Lord of the Rings Online and Aion, I was initially unimpressed by WoW's graphics. However, as I played, the game's art style, consistent look, and sprawling, detailed world grew on me. I can now say that I'm one of its millions of devoted fans. I was playing the other night and came across a beautiful, tranquil scene while travelling towards Silverpine Forest, just east of Berin's Peril. The moon was out and nobody was around, save for a single Alliance player who didn't see my Horde Paladin, Jurdra, as he rode by. As I looked up at the moon, my Core Hound Pup by my side, I decided to snap this picture for posterity. I call it, "A Boy and His Dog."

Whether you're an old hand at MMOGs, or you're new to the genre, we love to hear what you like in various games. All you have to do to contribute is to send in an eye-catching screenshot from your favorite game, along with your thoughts to oneshots AT massively DOT com. Be sure to add in your name (or nickname/alias) and the name of the game when you mail those in. We'll post them out here for everyone to enjoy and give you the credit. Easy!

Gallery: One Shots: Gallery II

Gallery: One Shots

Tags: blizzard, blizzard-entertainment, one-shots, screenshot, screenshots, world-of-warcraft, wow

The Daily Grind: What location is vital to the game?

by Eliot Lefebvre Feb 14th 2010 at 8:00AM

Filed under: Culture, Events, in-game, Lore, Opinion, The Daily Grind

When you play a game for any length of time, you get used to where things are. World of Warcraft players can navigate by the Stormwind Cathedral or the Orgrimmar Bank, Final Fantasy XI players can set their sights on the crags or Delkfutt's Tower. But sometimes, as has recently happened in Everquest II, there's a significant loss to those important locations.

Something disappears, something is destroyed or moved or otherwise lost, and the entire game world feels a bit smaller for the loss. And even though part of you knows they're just backdrops, even if you don't give the slightest whit about the game's setting, you can't help but feel a bit smaller for what's been lost.

The entire premise of the upcoming World of Warcraft: Cataclysm is the idea that the locations you're familiar with can be changed irrevocably, and that it's a significant event when it takes place. What part of your favorite game do you think is iconic and necessary for the feel and setting of the game world? Is it one of the more common points of congregation for low-level characters, a high-level haunt, or just a familiar and cherished region?

Tags: areas, cataclysm, delkfutts-tower, eq2, eqii, everquest-2, everquest-ii, ffxi, final-fantasy-xi, locations, orgrimmar-bank, stormwind-cathedral, world-of-warcraft, world-of-warcraft-cataclysm, wow, zones

World of Warcraft in China remains hopelessly mired

by Eliot Lefebvre Feb 8th 2010 at 8:00PM

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, MMO industry, News items, Legal

In much of the world, current complaints about World of Warcraft center around the resolution of the storyline of the latest expansion and whether or not it's had a negative effect on MMOs as a whole. In China, current complaints about World of Warcraft are more focused on the fact that the game is still mired knee-deep in government infighting to try and make it playable again. After the last salvo, it seemed as if an end was close in sight... but as it turns out, NetEase has been forced to suspend any new player registrations for a week.

The studio is re-applying for a license to host World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, with no mention being made of Wrath of the Lich King, which doesn't bode very well for the hopes of that expansion ever seeing release in China. Having been stuck in the middle of two squabbling agencies for quite some time, and with no clear resolution in sight, it seems like a stretch to assume that the expansion will be released in China before the next one is due to arrive stateside. Our condolences to Chinese players affected by the latest round of bickering, and we can only hope that this long struggle will soon come to a conclusion.

Tags: china, gapp, legal-issues, netease, release-issues, tbc, the-burning-crusade, world-of-warcraft, world-of-warcraft-china, wotlk, wow, wow-china, wrath-of-the-lich-king