More treadmill discussion

There were a couple comments in this post (When the Treadmill Moves With You) that I wanted to break out into another blog post, instead of it getting buried in the comments.

Werit said “Eve, UO and SWG all have grinds but they are just disguised.” I happen to agree with that. I didn’t play UO, so disqualify that from future comments, but Eve and SWG certainly had grinds. The difference for me, though, is that they weren’t level grinds. I could jump into either game, or have friends join the game after me, and be able to fight together fairly quickly. Sure, the veteran would be stronger in many ways, but it didn’t prevent the newcomer from participating in a significant, although limited, role. Tackling in Eve is a perfect example. A new Eve player can skill up very quickly to join their friends virtually anywhere in the game and perform a very important role in any PvP operation. It doesn’t take much longer to be able to contribute something to mission running with friends, even if they’ve been in the game for a long time. I used to salvage behind friends running level 4 missions, and they’d give me a cut of the salvage. I got to see level 4 missions close up, I got great loot, they saved a lot of time by not having to come back and salvage, and I got to hang out with friends who were many millions of skill points ahead of me.

So, while I agree with Werit that there are certainly grinds in Eve, it doesn’t prevent me from playing with friends who aren’t the same level. I have examples of successfully playing with friends in SWG who were vastly different skill levels (and also being able to skill up as a crafter and make a contribution to the economy fairly quickly), but in the interests of brevity, I’ll just say it was more possible in SWG than level-based MMO’s.

I started thinking about that when Snafzg said (also in the comments in my blog post linked above) “I would care much less about levels if the few MMO friends I do have didn’t level way past me in such short periods of time due to varying play schedules.”

I’m not going to sit here and argue that Eve and SWG, both skill-based systems, are somehow the perfect solution for treadmills, grinding, or levels. Both games did make it easier (or should I say possible?) to play with friends who started playing long before or long after you started playing. That just can’t happen in EQ, or DAoC, or WoW. And I’m not sure how much that can happen in Warhammer.

I think Bildo’s right that Warhammer does have an advantage over EQ/EQ2 and WoW. He mentioned the variety of rewards you get while leveling, and how you’re working for a variety of goals while leveling that will hopefully make the experience a little more enjoyable and less Ding-Focused.

Plus, I think WAR has an additional advantage. With an endgame focused on realm versus realm warfare, players can participate regardless of their gear. You don’t have to be at a certain point in a raid progression, wearing a specific set of gear, with an established DPS or healing baseline. Does it help if you’re uber? Sure! But when the enemy is beating on the doors of your keep, all are welcome in realm defense.

So, the issue of falling behind your friends in level still exists in Warhammer, but if you’re willing to work through that to reach the level cap, you’ll be able to participate in RvR with your friends on a fairly equal footing, at least open-field RvR. Instanced/Scenario PvP might end up with static groups joining, and gear mattering, more than fights around keeps with variable numbers of participants. But open-field RvR, open to anyone who shows up at the keep or anyone who joins the warband, should provide a fairly equal end-game playing field compared to dungeon-focused raiding.

When the treadmill moves with you…

I just saw a glimpse of a possible MMOG future, and it concerns me a bit.

Preface: My old DAoC guild, the people who helped shape my best MMO experience ever, have fairly mixed feelings about WAR. They’ve been in the beta for far longer than me (good to have friends in high places), and none of them are as excited as me about WAR.

I can’t talk too much about the specific reasons why, but I’ll be talking about it when the NDA goes down. It’s certainly nothing that will stop me from playing; I see a lot of positives in the direction Mythic is taking. That said, the glimpse of the possible MMOG future came from this Richard Bartle comment on Syp’s blog.

Another point: when I said I didn’t play MMOs for fun, I wasn’t saying that MMOs weren’t fun for players, I was saying that they weren’t fun for me. I envy players, in a way, because they get 18 months of fun from an MMO whereas I only get a few hours’ worth. When you’ve looked at play for long enough, you grok the concept. If you think you’re going to play the same kind of way 20 years from now as you do at present, think again: you can’t help but pick up on the patterns, and you can’t help but learn from them, and then you can’t help but lose the desire to run through those patterns time and time again every evening.

My DAoC guild has been together in one form or another since UO. They’ve put countless hours into most of the major MMO’s ever released, and quite a few of the minor ones. That’s halfway to Bartle’s 20 years of playing, and I have to wonder if their lack of enthusiasm has something to do with what he’s talking about. I know I’ve felt it from time to time. I really liked LoTRO, but I couldn’t grind out the levels. I wonder if WAR will be the same. Will I feel connected to the other people in my realm like I did in DAoC? Will it feel less like leveling and more like hanging out with friends every night? Will the server come together to fight against the enemy, and will that realm fighting be more exciting than grinding levels is boring? Will I be able to level up an alt if I don’t like my first class choice? I mean, will I be able to stand leveling up another character?

I come to WAR weary of the grind already. I’m in the midst of my longest MMO break since I started EQ in ’99, and I still don’t feel like I’d want to level a character in any game but WAR. LoTRO definitely suffered from the many hours I put into EQ, DAoC, SWG, WoW, and Eve (although Eve hardly counts, it’s the least grindy MMO I’ve played). When I mount up for the WAR treadmill, I’ve got miles of MMO trail already behind me. Is there going to be enough game there to keep me pre-occupied? Will there be enough old friends saddling up to play alongside? Will I have the energy and enthusiasm to make a new set of friends?

I tend to think that, after playing the WAR beta, I’ll be ok for a while. It seems like it’s going to be immersive enough to help me push through the grind again, but I do think that Bartle’s right, and there’s going to come a day that a game has to be something quite different for me to put leveling time into it. I suspect some of my old friends may have already hit that wall. Same treadmill, different game. Somebody going to come up with a better way of advancing characters in MMO’s one of these days? Eve’s model? UO and SWG skill-based games? I don’t think I can level forever.

Vacation withdrawal

I’m on day two of my vacation, sitting in the hotel at dinnertime after seeing Niagara Falls today. I’m all about being outside, natural beauty, family time, etc., but as I’m enjoying a beer while the kids clean up after swimming, I’m totally jonesing for WAR or TF2.

I’m not pathetic. I wasn’t thinking about dwarven engineer gun turrets while I was on the Maid of the Mist this morning. I wasn’t thinking about strategies for rune priests in RvR while we were exploring the tunnels behind the falls. I interact with my family, I talk about things other than games, I didn’t smuggle single-player games on my laptop to play every spare minute. But when I put my feet up after a long day of fun, I want to be doing it at my desk with games in front of me.

I have to confess that when my wife wanted to take a nap and the kids wanted to go to the pool, I offered to level up my daughter’s Pokemon on her DS while she was swimming Really, I’m not pathetic. I can quit any time I want to. It’s just that we picked up the free Deoxys from the Gamestop before we rolled out of town on vacation, ya know? It’d be a shame to let it sit at 50 until vacation is over, wouldn’t it?

Vacation – shutting down for a few days

I’m headed out of town for the next 5 days, Sunday to Thursday, so things will be quiet here. Play nice, everyone

I’m going to have game withdrawal. I’m not bringing my laptop (going cold turkey!), and I’m going to miss…Team Fortress 2! Bet you thought I was going to say the WAR beta, didn’t ya? Well, yeah, I’ll miss that too, but TF2 hooked me.

I talked my wife and daughter into getting me the Orange Box for Father’s Day. My daughter, who’s 8, is playing Portal, and I’m playing TF2. Holy cow, it’s good. It’s a damn shame that I’m so bad at it. I used to be a good FPS player, but man, that was years ago now. Quake 1 mods (Pain Keep, mostly) and Quake 2 took up tons and tons of hours. I moved from FPS games to MMO’s when EQ released, so I got a little Half Life and Counterstrike under my belt, but MMO’s replaced FPS for years. I’ve lost all my skills! I’m having a blast, though. If you haven’t picked up the Orange Box, and if you like Valve games, it’s a huge bargain.

Who couldn’t like a game with characters like this?

So, you want to be a blogger?

I was listening to VirginWorlds on my way to work this morning, episode #119, I think (I’m behind, my phone broke a couple weeks ago, and I just got my replacement), and Brent read a question from a listener who was asking about how to become a game blogger.

I started this blog about a year ago, so I figured I’d share my experiences. I take what I write seriously, but I don’t feel compelled to write something here every day. I’d rather write when I feel like I have something worthwhile to communicate. With RSS feeds, there’s no reason to feel like people are going to lose you if you don’t write every day, or every couple of days. If people like what you write, and you write at least semi-regularly, seeing a new post from you in their RSS feed is enough reason for people to keep you on this reader. That said, if you update once a month, you might want to think about whether you’d really like to be a blogger If you write that infrequently, you might be better off trying to write articles for other sites. I noticed Gamers with Jobs has a link explaining what they’re looking for if you’d like to write for them. If anyone knows of other sites that solicit articles, post ‘em in the comments! You’re not going to get paid for your posts, but it’s a great way to get exposure and connect with other gamers.

Brent’s response in the podcast was right on. The best way to be a blogger is to just do it. Check out WordPress or Blogger and see which seems easier to use, or which templates you like better, and set up a site for yourself. My blog is damn simple, and I like it that way. I’m not one to mess around with CSS or Photoshop, tinkering and puttering with the look and feel of the blog. I chose a theme, grabbed a screenshot, messed around with the links and the blogroll and the basic shell, and I was ready to write.

I’d get some posts on your blog first, before I started asking people to be added to their blog rolls. I’d guess that before someone is going to add your blog to their blogroll, they’re going to want to know that you update frequently enough to warrant a spot on their list. No one wants to link to a dead site.

Just writing this makes me a little sad, because it seems that Foton over at AFKgamer has taken a break. I should probably take him off my blogroll, but his site is so damn funny that I’m hoping he comes back soon. Anyway.

I know I usually only add people that I read regularly. I don’t think I’ve ever added someone because they asked (actually, I think only one person has ever asked to be on my blog roll, hehe). I add people because they’re the sites I read first when I see something new from them in my Google Reader list.

I’ve also never asked someone to be on their blog roll. While I don’t think it’s bad manners if you do ask, I’d prefer to let the blog owner make that choice. However, that’s totally a personal decision. If you’ve got a good site that’s updated frequently and gets decent traffic, I don’t see anything wrong with politely requesting to be added to someone else’s blog roll. Everyone’s got their own preferences for their site, though, they may want to keep their blogroll short and manageable. Don’t be offended if someone turns you down. If I had all the sites on my Google Reader list on my blogroll, it’d totally hose the page layout balance.

I don’t get a ton of traffic here. I’m sure my numbers pale in comparison with Tobold or Keen and Graev, but I’m fine with that. I write because I enjoy it, and I’m kind of digging the fact that things are growing very organically here. The only “advertising” I do for this blog is posting comments on other blogs. I get to add the URL in when I post a comment, and that seems like the best way to build an audience. First of all, you’re supporting other blogs when you take the time to post a comment on their site. Second, you get a chance to show people what kind of writing they might find if they click on your name in the comments and check out your site. Third, you’re going to be making some friends and acquaintances who enjoy the same things you enjoy. Well, maybe not the part about the ponies, but definitely the part about the games.

Some of my posts started as comments on other blogs, but when they get to a certain length, I prefer to break it out into a blog post and link to the other site. I don’t think people read super-long comments in a blog post, and I don’t want to hog up space on someone else’s blog. Plus, you’re giving the original blog post a bit more visibility by linking to them from the front page of your blog. I’ve found a lot of good sites that way; it’s how I found Keen and Graev, for sure.

My last bit of advice for building an audience, which is worth as much as you’re paying for it, is to find a gaming community of some sort. I’ll admit it right up front, I’m terrible at taking my own advice here. I belong to Gax Online, I just joined the Gamers With Jobs community to play TF2 with them and an old WoW/Eve acquaintance from The Well, and Steam seems to have a great community. There’s a ton of places where gamers congregate, and you probably already frequent a few regularly. If you drop your blog URL in your forum signature or your profile, you’ll probably get some visitors that way as well.

I’m not nearly aggressive enough in keeping up with the social networking sites to promote my blog, but I don’t really mind. I write because I enjoy it, and I enjoy meeting thoughtful and interesting people who have left comments here. For me, promoting the hell out of this site would make it too much like a job, and I already have one of those I want this to be a place that I enjoy coming to, where I can write about whatever random thing pops into my head, and hope that people enjoy reading it. You’ll find your own reasons for blogging, but the biggest reason should be that you love to think about games (or whatever you choose to blog about), and you love to write. If those two things are true, you’ll likely be a good blogger, and enjoy doing it.

One last plug: If you do enjoy writing, but you find yourself not setting aside the time to write regularly, I’m reading a great book about being a writer. It’s called “Write Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day”, and you can get an inexpensive used copy on Amazon. The author, Joan Bolker, has years of experience writing and assisting writers, including time spent at the Harvard Writing Center. It’s not just about writing dissertations, although it scales up to that type of task very well. It’s more about allowing yourself to write, instead of putting roadblocks in front of you. Her approach to writing, and the process a writer goes through, makes so much sense to me. When I write larger pieces, I want to jump right in to writing the finished product, which is quite impossible, although I didn’t really understand why until I read her book. Her approach to the whole process of writing details how my brain usually works, and how what I thought was unproductive or wasting time is actually a valuable step toward the finished product I think I should be writing in my first draft.

Massive AoC battle lag: I had a bad feeling about this

I just read Massively’s story about big battles in AoC having performance issues.

The main issues are identified as those of client performance, and those of content and collision. Client performance is apparently the biggest problem being reported…

Some of the ways in which Funcom hopes to improve the performance in these battles is to tone down some particles, stylize the view distance to a shorter setting, and change how some spells and abilities propagate.

I’d love to go back through my posts here and identify which ones talk about AoC’s graphics versus WAR’s graphics, like a real blogger does, but I’m at work (and lazy!), so I’ll sum it up quickly.

When I saw how good AoC looked in the beta, I had concerns about the client performance in big battles. I had been through that before in DAoC, where a fairly reliable way of predicting the arrival of a group of players into your area was the hesitation your client experience as it drew in the new mobiles. There were a variety of client-side tricks to help performance, like turning off spell effects, and disabling cloak animations (I think, it’s been years now, and I’m older and forgetful and…hmm, what was I saying?)

I think, from a screenshot point of view, AoC is prettier than WAR. All along, though, I thought that might be on purpose, from Mythic’s perspective. They’ve already been through the changes, fixes, and adjustments that Funcom is talking about now. I haven’t heard it confirmed by anyone at Mythic, but I’m guessing they were very careful with their pixel counts in their models, and that affected just how fancy they could make the characters look.

I’m looking for a certain type of game experience for my next MMO, which definitely includes big battles. I’m totally willing to put up with a client that might be a little less fancy if it performs better when two armies come crashing together. If WAR launches with big battles running smoothly, keep that in mind when you want to complain about the graphics and how they don’t look as good as LoTRO or Vanguard or AoC. That was probably a deliberate decsion by Mythic.

Of course, if keep raids in open-world PvP crash zones in Mythic, then they’ve screwed up in other ways that need fixing Hopefully they’ve at least learned from DAoC the lessons Funcom is about to learn with AoC.

Building a Warhammer server community

While I was writing my last post about the possibilities of unbalanced Warhammer servers (whether the imbalance is population numbers or skill levels), I started thinking about the year that Hibernia was getting a whooping on the Percival server back in DAoC. The three-realm system gave us the opportunity to nip at the heels of Midgard and Albion despite our inability to dominate keep and relic totals, and we were able to learn a lot about working together.

One of our biggest assets in learning to work together was the creation of a Hibernia-only discussion forum. Players would apply to an email address out-of-game with their character names, and the moderators of the forum would respond to you in-game to confirm your identity. It wasn’t a perfect system, and I’m sure there were some spies among the community, but that couldn’t negate the positive effects of feeling like you were working together with your realm mates both in and out of game.

We got to know each other in a different setting, where we had time to discuss tactics. I started waving at people I knew from discussions on the forums, and it lowered the barriers for working together in RvR. Nightshades came up with strategies for stealth keep takes. Rangers worked together to assist each other in milewall standoffs and keep sieges, taking down targets in  coordinate fire. Static groups that ran in packs of eight every night figured out how to coordinate their efforts with the rest of the realm. The zerg could man a milewall or a keep while the static group scouted for other 8-man enemy groups, or they could hit a force attacking the zerg from behind. Communication improved, morale improved, and our results improved to the point where we actually held all six relics for a while.

I don’t know that there are any in-game tools to promote this kind of community-building for your faction. I suspect that realms that want greater communication, cooperation, and coordination will have to use out-of-game tools. Voice chat was still fairly new at that point in DAoC, and I only knew of a few groups who used it. Ventrilo and TeamSpeak have become much more common, and I wonder if factions will try to set up faction-only vent channels. It’s tough to police, but it would be a great way to listen in to intel reports about the movements of both your enemy and your own faction. Faction-only forums make a lot of sense too, but you need a good cop moderating access. It’ll take a while to figure out who you should trust on your server, and I’m sure there will still be instances of spying.

There’s no perfect answer, but finding other people who were interested in talking about bettering your realm out-of-game was a fun part of DAoC. I’ll be interested to see what sort of tipes, tricks, and tools emerge out of Warhammer.

Missing my three factions

I was reading Keen’s opinion of the Warhammer Alliance poll showing a factional slant toward Destruction, and it made me think about DAoC and the three-realm system. When WoW announced they would only have two factions, I thought it was a bad idea. Coming from DAoC, I really thought the three-realm system was a great way to keep power somewhat balanced, even when population numbers weren’t balanced.

With three realms, two weaker realms can square off against a stronger realm and keep them fighting on two fronts. A strong realm with two weaker opponents has the opportunity for greater challenges than they would dominating one outnumbered or less-skilled opponent. The frontiers were never even in DAoC, but most nights managed to see challenges to the stronger realm, or spirited guerilla warfare on their flanks while they tried to press toward their objectives.

The Warhammer IP probably precludes the idea of a three-front war, and maybe Mythic had other reasons why there are only two factions available. Whatever the reason, polls that show players with a strong preference toward one faction over the other in WAR are cause for some concern.

On my DAoC server, my realm (Hibernia) was the weakest realm for quite a long time. Midgard was dominant, and Albion was no pushover. The Hibernian frontier was the Midgard and Albion playground, and if it wasn’t for the fact that the two realms would square off against one another at times, the Hibs would have had a difficult time venturing out into their own frontier.

Because of the three-realm system, though, Hibernia could spend a lot of time in RvR, using guerilla tactics, heading over to Midgard while the Mids were engaged with Albion, or hitting a Mid force from the other side of an Albion offensive. By putting ourselves in that mix for long enough, Hibernian leaders emerged, and Hibernian RvR skills matured. Eventually, we became an equal force on the frontiers.

I’m concerned that a weaker realm may not get those same opportunities to mature in WAR. I’m sure Mythic has ideas how to address a server that has one vastly superior faction (whether it be through population or skill), but losing realm morale could have a devastating effect on a WAR server. If one realm is dominant, the other realm may lose heart and stop showing up for fights. Then you end up with one faction feeling like they have no chance in PvP, and the other faction feeling like they have no challenge. I’m not sure where that opportunity for learning exists in WAR, without it entailing a lot of ass-kicking by the superior faction.

I suppose Scenario PvP will at least ensure a fair fight by the numbers. Perhaps a numerically less populated server can succeed in instances, and maintain some control of zones that way. Perhaps lightning raids on open-world PvP targets can prove a successful way of trying to maintain realm control. And maybe Mythic has other ideas up their sleeves.

It’s pretty likely that I’ll be joining Order in the fight against Destruction. I have a strong preference toward the Order races and classes so far, and I’ll bet my old DAoC guild will be going Order, at least as mains. So, if nothing else, if there’s a big Destruction population advantage, I’ll be able to report what it’s like being an underdog in WAR.

I know it’s too early to claim the sky is falling. We’ll have to wait past release to see how things shake out, population-wise. I hope, though, that I don’t end up missing my three factions.

Can’t get much more random than this

So, I’m “working on a paper” this afternoon, listening to iTunes and writing/researching stuff, and Guitar Wolf’s “Fujiyama Attack” comes on. I love Guitar Wolf. So, instead of staving off distraction by diving back into my research on ADHD (irony much?), I go searching Youtube for Guitar Wolf videos. Their songs are like 2 minutes each, I figure it’ll be a quick study break.

Then, I found this little bit of brilliance. One of the two comments on the video calls it “strangely awesome”, and I think that’s a perfect description.

Take a video camera. Film people eating extremely sour candy. Edit their facial expressions and add “Fujiyama Attack”. Indeed, strangely awesome. And completely random.

You might enjoy it more if you’re stoned. I’m not. That reveals something about me, I fear.

WAR: “they’ve actually thought this crap through a bit. :D”

The quote is from Michael Zenke, making a comment over on Tobold’s blog about WAR’s Public Quests.

Without breaking the NDA (maybe stretching it a bit, bending like the willow, not breaking like the oak), I have to agree with Michael. There are some thoughtful posts in the comments about the structure of the public quests, and Mythic seems to have hit on a good system here.

I think I can say the following based on information already released by Mythic. What I like so far about their system, in theory (you’ll have to wait until I’m not under NDA to hear my thoughts about it in practice) is that you’re always doing two things at once.

For example, when you get involved in a Public Quest (PQ from here on), you’re obviously gaining experience toward your next level, but you’re also gaining influence, which will bring you gear rewards, and you have a chance at winning loot during the random roll at the end of the PQ.

When you’re involved in a PvP scenario, you’re gaining Renown points, but you’re also gaining experience. I don’t think Mythic has announced if going straight PvP would be as effective for gaining XP as grouping in PvE might be, but you definitely gain experience in PvP. You can also get quests for PvP objectives to increase the XP you earn, and I think you get experience for winning a scenario as well…or everyone gets experience at the end of a scenario, but the winners get more…I’m not positive, so clearly, I’m not breaking the NDA there

There’s actually a third benefit from participating in PvP scenarios or PQ’s. Each event has an impact on zone control, so by successfully completing PQ’s and winning in PvP, you’re helping your team gain control of the zone, which leads to being able to conquer the next zone, building toward TOTAL CITY DOMINATION!!.

Ahem.

Sorry, got a little carried away there. It just sounds like so much fun.

You can solo in a Public Quest, but grouping is easy to do, and advantageous for some classes (tanks who will, well, tank and need heals, healers who contribute to their PQ point total by healing, everyone in a group receiving the benefit of buffs, etc.). Also, you get experience and influence bumps for completing PQ’s, not just participating in them. To complete a PQ, you’re probably going to want a group, or have a good strategy for how to contribute without getting torn up by the PQ boss mobs. If you’re part of a group and can dive headlong in against boss mobs, you’re going to get a contribution advantage over someone who’s got to be more careful with their damage or other contributions.

So what might it be like for someone who wants to solo a Public Quest? Let’s say, hypothetically, that you discover a PQ with no one else from your realm around. You might be able to rank up some decent Influence soloing the first round opponents, but you can’t finish the PQ alone, so you won’t get a completion bonus of experience and Influence, and you won’t get a shot at the random loot at the end. Everyone else out there with you benefits from grouping, so the barrier to getting together should be somewhat lower than it was in other games.

Other people posted comments on the same post on Tobold’s blog that the best rationale for grouping is making friends with people you see in the world all the time. That was the best part of DAoC for me, and I hope Mythic continues the trend in WAR. You saw the same people each night, you fought alongside each other, and you made friendships in your shared endeavours. Mythic is taking that DAoC idea and extending it to PQ’s and scenarios. If you’re already in a group from a PQ, why not queue for a PvP scenario together? If your realm is losing control of the open-world PvP objectives, why not run over there in the group you’re already in and see if you can lend a hand?

Of course, early and frequent grouping will lead to people having a better idea how to play their class as characters advance, so hopefully it’ll grow more skilled future groupmates. Time will tell, of course. The urge to solo can be strong, but there are definite advantages to overcoming a reluctance to group. Mythic has plenty of incentives available. I’m not saying these concepts will make die-hard solo players join a guild and sing Kumbayah in group chat every night, but grouping is attractive.

I’m seeing it as Mythic’s Rock, Paper, Scissors approach to gamers. You don’t like PvP? Fine, you have PQ’s. You don’t like PQ’s, or don’t like feeling like you should be grouping when you really prefer to run solo? Fine, you have straight PvE questing. You don’t like straight PvE? Ok, try open-world PvP. You don’t like running around looking for fights that might turn out to be unbalanced, and unpredictable? Fine, queue up for a scenario where the teams are even. You’re bored by another game of Capture the Flag? Ok, try open-world PvP for some unpredictability.

Michael’s right, they really have thought this crap through a bit. The true test of all that thoughtfulness? Coming to a server near you, this fall God, I HOPE it’s this fall.

Massively covers WAR Public Quests

Since I’m not allowed to say a lot about the Warhammer Beta, I can at least point you to articles about WAR and obliquely reference something I may be enjoying. Michael Zenke over at Massively does a good job of explaining Public Quests and describing why they’re a good addition to the usual Kill Ten Rats/Fed Ex method of questing.

Quick summary of benefits of public questing from Michael’s write-up:

• Experience for killing mobs in public quests
• A chance to win loot at the end of the public quest (and usually pretty decent loot, at least at low levels).
• Gaining influence, which leads to more loot from Influence NPC’s.

There are a couple things he didn’t mention. First, there’s usually a ton of killing going on, so there’s lots of corpses to loot/scavenge/butcher etc. Second, if you win a roll at the end of a PQ, and you already have gear better than what’s dropped, you get…other options. Michael didn’t mention that, so I’m not going to elaborate further, but it’s not only gear that drops.

And lastly, what I find interesting about PQ’s is the mixing of players. There’s incentive for the person standing next to you to invite you to a group. Buffs, heals, crowd control, it’s all going to help you maximize your contribution to a public quest. Instead of the person standing next to you competing against you, it’s probably to your benefit to team up. Plus, there’s also hidden benefit to this interaction beyond the Public Quest.

Have you ever gone to a dungeon with a pickup group in another MMO, and you’re stunned to find someone who doesn’t know a lot about playing their class in a group? WoW was notorious for this, since it was so easy to push three buttons and level. Making PQ grouping so easy and beneficial in WAR, from such early levels, should help people learn how to play their class in a group.

The same benefit applies to Mythic getting people involved in PvP at early levels. You can PvP pretty much right out of the gate in WAR. This means new players will be able to learn about their class in PvE, PvP, and PQ’s from the start of their career.

That’s not a guarantee you won’t meet someone who soloed their entire career, because that’s still possible, but with Mythic offering so much incentive to group and providing grouping opportunities at every turn, I’m hoping people will become more social and interdependent. That was the best part about DAoC RvR, and I’m excited that Mythic is trying to extend it to the entire game.

Lost an entire evening

Civilization is my classic “Wtf?, why are the birds singing? Wait, why is it getting light outside??” game. For a good 14 years now, I’ve lost a couple nights a year to Civilization. Work is brutal the next day, I have to pretend that I’m alert and paying attention to my boss, my wife, my kid, I’m trying not to fall asleep and miss my stop on the train ride to and from work…it’s awesome MMORPG’s can certainly keep me up far too late in the evening, but there’s something about a single player game that makes time disappear completely. I guess maybe there are too many reminders from other people in MMO’s about the time, and I don’t get lost in quite the same way as I have with Civ, or with Elder Scroll games, or the Sims.

So last night, I knew what I was doing. I knew it was late. I knew I had been online playing WAR since 9 pm, and it was pushing 3 am. I knew I had to be at work today.

I just couldn’t help it, though. I kept saying “Just one more scenario. I’ll just queue for one more scenario, and then I’ll go to bed.”

Yeah. Sure. When I fell asleep looking over the scoreboard after a scenario (in which I gained a new Renown level) while waiting to respawn back in the world, I knew I had to get to bed.

I remember standing guard at the Albion milewall in Emain Macha in DAoC, plenty of nights, knowing it was time to sleep, and knowing that there were still plenty of left-coasters three hours behind my time zone, ready and willing to mix it up. There were plenty of times I happily sacrificed sleep for fun, and Mythic hasn’t lost the “one more round” touch. One more turn, one more scenario, one more quest, one more level. And one more day in the WAR beta.

Note: I’m dying to talk about WAR in ways that don’t break the NDA. I can say I’m in the beta, I think I can say I was up late playing the beta, as long as I don’t talk about what’s going on inside the game. If anyone thinks I’m crossing a line, with this post or any post, let me know. I don’t think saying that I gained a Renown level is too much, since I’m not saying anything else about it. I mean, duh, it’s a MMORPG, people gain levels, right? Or, wrong?