Did I call it or what??? EA buys Rupture!

Okay, I didn’t call it specifically, but a few hours ago I wrote about the need for MMORPGs to extend their gaming experience beyond the client. I wrote about porting game content, especially character and guild information, to create MMORPG-based social networks.

Well, I doubt EA read my ramblings, but they did just buy Rupture, a beta Web service created by Napster’s Shawn Fanning that will allow them to do just that!

Rupture allows players to create character profiles in a World of Warcraft based social network. Players simply install a client addon that transfers information from the game (such as inventory, equipment, stats, etc.) directly to the Rupture Web site. Players can then make friends, send messages, and write blogs just like they can on any other common social network, like Myspace or Facebook.

It’ll be interesting to see how EA (Mythic) integrates this new acquisition with Warhammer Online. Even if they don’t maintain the site as a separate entity, I think some of the technology will probably work its way into the Warhammer Herald.

Then again, maybe they just want to take this technology off the market… Compared to EA’s $2B Take Two bid, a $30M Rupture buyout seems a paltry price to pay for keeping it out of competing hands.

The weirdest part about all this is that EA Mythic now owns a Blizzard social network… Talk about getting into your opponent’s face!

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Posted in Community News, Game Speculation, Industry News, Other Comics | 3 Comments »

The Challenge…

Okay, so this is probably as far off topic as you’ll find on this blog but I just had to share…

Five minutes ago I received a phone call from my band-mate (we’re on hiatus atm-long story…). He tells me that he’s been asked by his brother’s best friend to record an acoustic cover for his wedding. He asks if I’d like to help out with it. Keep the tempo but acoustify it… make it a bit softer, but not “too girly.”

“Sounds cool,” I say. “What song?”

This is the song…

Right now I’m trying to wrap my head around how in the flying hell we’re going to make it happen. In true fashion, he’s known about The Challenge for some time, but has been sitting on it. The wedding is apparently coming up soon… Any suggestions?

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MMORPG Extension

It’s all fine and good to play your MMORPG of choice at home on a PC or Mac (if you’re a sadist), but what about when you’re on the metro, in some Internet cafe, or at work waiting for your drafts to be approved? How can today’s developers extend your MMORPG experience beyond the normal log-in session? Why would they even want to?

The “why” part is easy enough. Giving players the opportunity to explore rich content and accomplish “small” in-game tasks from the outside will simply perpetuate their MMORPG addiction and enhance the all-around experience. The most successful games are the ones that can sustain peoples’ excitement and imagination from the first few seconds after waking up until the last remaining seconds before falling asleep. It may not be healthy, but hey, they have Wii Fit if you’re into that kind of crazy lifestyle!

I’ve actually had dreams of hunting cartoonish people as a Pyro from Team Fortress 2. Not in a bad way of course, but in a fun, comical, and crispy way! I may have issues…

The “how” part may be slightly more complicated, however, I think these are some creative ideas that will keep people plugged in, on imagination/immersion overload, even when they’re not logged in to the game in the traditional sense.

• Web tracking - The first game to properly implement this was Mythic’s Dark Age of Camelot. They not only used their community site, The Camelot Herald, for frequent communication with players, they also tracked in-game stats and served up several XML feeds so people could share the information on personal Web sites.
  • War info - People want to know how their side is faring on the battlefield, so a Web site that tracks up-to-date information (refreshed every 5-minutes or so) on scenario, battlefield objective, keep, and city siege would be insanely popular. It would also be great if they stored the last 24-hours this information so people could watch an animation of how zone control switched hands throughout the day.
  • Character info - Public MySpace-like profiles of each character would be a huge hit. At their core, MMORPGs are a great example of social networks (Facebook, Bebo, Orkut, etc.), so it makes sense to take the logical next step. Porting each character’s personal Tome of Knowledge and a WoW Armory-like character sheet would keep people entertained for hours.

• Living Guilds 2.0 - WAR is taking the guild experience to the next level with their Living Guild system, but it can be taken even further. Similar to online character profiles, why not automate profiles for guilds that are populated with all the real data you’d find in game? Out-of-game guild management is currently a manual process that can be enhanced by hosting services like MMO Guildsites, Guild Launch, Guild Cafe, and Guild Portal, but it’s still a fairly intensive process. Alternatively, MMORPGs could start importing and exporting guild data via XML that could allow these services to enhance their offerings. Wouldn’t it be cool to chat with your in-game guild from Firefox?

• Cell phone (mobile) mini-games - Imagine you could access certain parts of your character and his or her environment via Blackberry, iPhone, or a Web browser…
  • Virtual market - It’s entirely possible for developers to allow your character to interact with the in-game marketplace from a mobile location. You could have access to your cash, inventory, mailbox, merchants, and even the auction house. This would allow you to buy, sell, and trade in-game items from anywhere in the world.
  • Crafting - Let’s face it… a lot more of us would craft if we didn’t have to waste so much valuable in-game time doing it. It seems quite feasible that we could have a Flash-interfaced mini crafting game available on mobile devices. Most crafting systems are so robotic, simple, and repetitive that the mechanics behind them shouldn’t be too difficult to program for a cell phone. 555-1234 - Woohoo! You just made a silk glove. *Snore*
  • Gambling - I think this would be a huge hit. Use your character’s in-game cash to gamble with! They could make unique, immersive games or give us the classics like Blackjack and Poker! Heck, I’d love to play Orbs vs. other people for in-game gold!

Extensions like these will likely drive up the monthly subscription fees but I think the added value is well worth it. Would you pay more for to extend your MMORPG experience? Can you think of any alternatives?

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Something Special

Is in the works… Hopefully, I’ll be able to announce it later this week.

I just thought I’d leave you this unnecessarily cryptic morsel of vagueness to prompt rampant speculation! Have at it in the comments!

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There’s a new WAR podcast on the block!

You really must listen to Warhammer Geek’s first podcast about Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning! They bring a wealth of podcasting experience to our favorite MMORPG, having previously been involved with Everquest online radio.

It has a little bit of everything, starting off with game news, community updates, personal biographies, a history of their site, and an interview with Wrenn and Leggy. Heck, they even mentioned Waaagh, Keen and Graev, and I a few times!

You should add it to your listening repertoire, along with Warhamma, which is currently on hiatus. Speaking of Warhamma, podcast superstar, Ted, was just interviewed by Waaagh! Head on over to peer deeply into his dark and twisted mind…

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Forum Watch (April 22 - April 29, 2008)

It’s that time again WAR fans! Here we have the next installment of Forum Watch! Brought to you by thegreenskin.com and you’re host with the most, Cicadymn! Any who, sorry for the lateness of this post, I’m sure I’m not the only one who has been swamped with homework, papers, and projects all due in a week. But luckily that college semester is over and we’re starting a new! Hopefully this will give me a chance to be back on top of the WAR news. As I’m sure you’ve all noticed by now, the new newsletter is out. No ground breaking announcements. More info on guilds. We’re still missing out on the final High Elf class and information regarding Knights and Black Guards. Hopefully we’ll see more of that and crafting next month. Anyways, without further delay, I present to you. The Forum Watch! And don’t forget: Stay Ready, War is coming.

Maybe, EA Mythics favorite catch-phrase

• So if you’re like me, you haven’t heard hide nor hair about a free play period. Since basically every MMO that releases these days gives a 30 day for free game time it’s expected that WAR will follow suit. So what’s the word on getting a free month? A resounding, maybe.

Plea for Unity, looks like it’s causing a rift

• So what do you look for in a server choice? PvE? RP? PvP? Why can’t we all just get along! Well we all have different tastes and even though we may try something with good intentions it could always snowball on us and throw us for a loop. However, that being said, I do believe I agree with Quazar. People get all up in arms about not getting to play their certain way. But from the look of the game this is the perfect chance to have a server and do both. You want a PvP server experience? Just never leave the PvP enabled zone. As we’ve heard from Mythic time and time again you can level up strictly through PvP or through PvE. If you prefer one route so much more, just stick to your favorite zone. Problem solved. Until someone disagrees anyways that is. I salute you for your bravery Quazar!

Two down, unspecified more to go!

• What did I tell you last time? Warhammer Vault continues on it’s path to exposing the female populace one woman at a time. This time, we’re looking at River, a regular at Warhammer conflict apparently. While I can’t think up any clever analogies for her name I can say this: We’re on to you now woman! You better watch out! I’ll report back when the next victim of Warhammer Vault comes into the limelight.

Confusing stipulations only makes the Guild system more mysterious and confusing

• So bigger guilds have to have active players to level and…so do smaller guilds. Apparently there wont be any punishment for not having a certain size guild. Just make sure everyone contributes! However, the one flaw that was brought up is what about alts! I know in my various guilds through MMO’s I’ve always had a crap load of alts spread out in all of them. Yet wont this system discourage having alts in a guild? I for one know I’ll be rolling too many alts to count. I hope it doesn’t become detrimental to my guild!

Alright you smash his face, you stab his back, you heal him, and you stand in the back and wave a stick around

• So it was brought up with the Vegas loot style system, what about classes that focus on buffs? Even if tanks are sitting there the whole time doing damage, will they do enough to make it on the top? Or is that going to be held exclusively by healers and DPS? It’s a question brought up over at WAR-RvR that’s got they boys scratching their heads in confusion and contemplation. Perhaps now that this issue has been brought up the next time we see an interview we can get an answer for it. Think you know the answer? Better stop on by and let them know!

If you’re not high on my list…well I’ll still probably roll you…

• Here’s a fun thread over with the boys at WAR-RvR. It’s time to rate the classes for each race, one being the best and four being the worst. Stop on over and see how other players feel about the classes and let everyone know what your personal list is!

Concern about timing is followed up with a reminder that we’re still in beta

• So over at WAR-RvR we find the players discussing some criticism that there is a good deal of time between clicking a spell and it actually going off. Is it Youtube lag? Just a n00bish video maker? Server latency? Or will we have to wait forever for our abilities to fire off? If you think you know the answer you better stop on by!

A Veteran MMO player waits patiently for WAR, reminisces, gets that warm fuzzy feeling

• I stumbled onto this thread this afternoon and even though it’s an intimidating amount of text at first glance, it’s something you want to, nay, need to read. Players criticize WAR so much, saying it’s just like everything else, that there is no way it can get started. And they know, because they’ve played MMO’s since forever. But here we can see a player not only go through his experience but in the end without even playing the beta (good thing to, because he wouldn’t be able to talk otherwise) gives it his seal of approval and shows his desire to play it as well. Good show Kuthoht! It’s my dearest wish that you’ll play destruction, so that I don’t have to decimate you on the battlefield!

Everything a WoW player would want to know, in an awesome way!

• Check out this thread over at Tentonhammer, it’s got everything you should know if you’re just now looking into WAR. Even if you already know everything there is to know go ahead and stop on over anyways! It’s a great thread that’s fun to read and looks great. I’m sure veterans will enjoy it as much as I have.

~Sam

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Character Progression vs. Character Development

I want to present a comment from one of Keen & Graev’s AoC posts that got me thinking…

“One day, a company will realize that rewards for being a hardcore player should be presented as mostly cosmetic changes… Awesome titles, cooler looking armor, access to more convenient (but not better) NPC resources, extra emotes, more chat colors, access to different chat channels, boosts to alts, etc.

Wouldn’t it make more sense if *everyone* was competitive? If everyone could reasonably grind out gear solo? Then you’d have people raiding and pvping for prestige. That prestige is reward enough. There’s no need to tie your ability to beat a specific dungeon or a specific player to your gear that you can only get through a horrific grind.” - Hexx

There can more rewards for character development than seeing your XP bar inch its way across the screen, renown-point tally rise, and hotbar clutter up with newer, more powerful abilities. There can be more to it than jumping on a never-ending raid treadmill (grinding for gear in one dungeon so you can enter and grind the next, ad infinitum).

Yet these are traditionally the core concepts MMORPG design is based upon, and rightly so, because they are what usually keeps people coming back for more. However, there comes a point when you can give us a little more… raise our expectations.

Call them what you will—cosmetic or fluffy—rewards of this nature can be just as valuable in giving players a sense of accomplishment as the more obvious rewards we’ve come to accept.

I think EA Mythic is on the right track here, with several of their concepts planned for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning!

• The Tome of Knowledge, a massive personal journal tracking all your accomplishments that gives XP rewards and personal titles for certain unlocks
• Camelot Herald 2.0, a web site dedicated to tracking your personal and realm’s success on your server (RvR ladder, war status, etc.)
• RvR statues dedicated to the 10 best PvPers from the previous week located throughout the capital cities (or just Altdorf?) that can be reduced to rubble by enemy raiders
• Orcs that get larger in stature and dwarves with growing beards as each increases in level (hopefully, this will make it into release)

What do you think about these “fluffy” rewards? Can you think of any more?

Rather than the rich getting richer and the poor finding it increasingly hard to compete, would you vote for a more mechanically fair system that gives “the hardcores” cosmetic rewards or one that gives them “overpowered” ones?

When can we slow down on the character progression and start concentrating on character development?

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Standoff, yon zerg! (part two)

Two potentially harmful gaming practices were discussed last week: Keen pondered the impacts of zergs in Age of Conan, while The Heartless Gamer was annoyed by reports of ranged standoffs in Warhammer Online. These aren’t features implemented by developers—they’re a result of natural human behaviour. They aren’t very desirable either, so let’s discuss what can be done to mitigate them in the upcoming Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning.

Last week, I examined the Zerg. In this post, I’ll examine the Standoff…

The Standoff (part two)

Standoffs usually happen when larger groups of opposing forces (most often, zergs) are too scared to engage in close-quarters combat with each other. The casters slowly inch their way forward (into nuking range) then scurry back (out of enemy range). The healers stand in the middle row healing their nukers. Finally, the melee… well, they just sit back and twiddle their thumbs because standoffs don’t really offer them any kind of combat role.

If you get too close to the enemy in a zergy standoff battle, chances are you’ll draw some heavy focus-fire from ranged DPS, so it’s really all about perfecting your attack and retreat techniques… And Sigmar help you if your computer lags for even a second… You could get blasted by twenty different enemies simultaneously! That’s why this is primarily a zerg issue. Dealing with focus fire in a 6v6 or 10v10 match is manageable for your group healer(s) so people will risk getting into the fray. Dealing with focus fire from a zerg is not, so they turtle up.

Don’t confuse an open-field standoff with a siege standoff. They may share similar characteristics, but in a keep siege, at least one side is trying to bust through while the other is defending the objective. The kind of standoffs I find lame are when large zergs of bored people camp outside a major bottleneck or respawn location (e.g., battleground portal keeps from DAOC).

Here are some things devs can do to discourage standoffs:

Zerg management

• Most standoffs are the result of zerg on zerg situations. People aren’t too keen on painting a target on their foreheads by breaking rank when there are a dozen or more enemy ranged DPS with itchy trigger fingers. They call this getting wiz-killed, insta-killed, or just plain suicidal. So, the obvious solution is to attack the root cause of this problem… zergs. I explained many zerg management techniques devs could employ in part 1 of this two-piece article.

Fewer bottlenecks

• Bottlenecks are a great place to find RvR but they can also be a wonderful breeding ground for zergs. When you gather up enough people in these hotspots, the once-fun skirmish will almost always degenerate into a boring standoff. It happened in 300, didn’t it (This is Spa…)!? The solution is to give players several avenues of transportation and attack. Allowing players to flank their enemies from several angles means there are several angles that must be defended. This will ultimately split the focus of both zergs and hopefully siphon off smaller groups to clash away from the giant mob.
  

Gap-closing abilities

• Melee are pretty useless in a standoff battle because they’ll likely get roasted before closing the distance between themselves and their targets. Enter stealth and speed buffs! Stealth may be considered overpowered in solo vs. solo combat, but it is a great anti-standoff weapon. Groups of stealthers can pop out in the middle, side, or rear of enemy ranks, kill some squishies, and mainly draw the zerg’s attention inwards while their allies make a mad dash to close the gap. Speed buffs can come in the form of cooldown abilities, group buffs, and potions that allow melee classes to get into melee range with ranged DPS before they get nuked down. Coordinate these with stealth, and you have a wonderful way to end the standoff and turn it into a good ol’ fashioned battle

Here’s the main thing you can do to avoid standoffs:

Get organized

• It takes two to tango my friends! The best way for you to avoid a standoff situation is to not enter it in the first place. It’s easy to be distracted as a healer/ranged DPS in pitched battle, but it’s really no fun for your melee friends. If you want to play this kind of game, they have dedicated the entire FPS genre to it. Simply disengage yourself from the standoff and search out more interesting RvR prospects and I guarantee you’ll have a much better time in WAR. Rather than camping an enemy spawn camp, roam around the zone looking for other people on the move. Back in DAOC, they called this 8-man RvR, and it was the best MMORPG PvP experience I’ve ever encountered. There’s something courageous, thrilling, and perhaps a bit crazy about two groups of mortal enemies entering into each other’s clipping range and changing course to meet head on! That’s my kind of RvR!
  

So there you have it. Like zerging, standoffs are a part of RvR generated by human behaviour and only encouraged by a lack of proper game design. Properly addressing zergs and standoffs is quite possible given the proper amount of effort on behalf of the developers and players involved. These are two of my least favorite MMORPG practices, and I hope to see less of them in WAR than I did in previous MMORPGs.

Can you think of any additional strategies to avoid standoffs in RvR or do you actually enjoy them?

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The Orbs of Warhammer Online

Can’t wait for release? Want to play a WAR-inspired Flash game? Ch ch check it out!

You can play as a Bright Wizard, Warrior Priest, Zealot, or Squig Herder and the objective is to use AP, Morale, and Tactics abilities with a bejewelled-esque game board to kill your opponent. I’ve won tournament play as a Squig Herder on the most difficult setting and now want to try out the other races.

I suggest reading the instructions first, otherwise it won’t make much sense when you start a new game. Believe it or not, there’s actually some strategy involved! The closest fight I had was against a WP who managed to to keep healing himself and whittling me away. I ended up winning with 2hp left!

Post your thoughts!

[Special thanks to Warhammer Info for putting this together; on their 2nd birthday as a WAR fan site no less!]

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Are you a comic artist? Looking for work!?

+ =

I think we should all convince Rory “Father Jack” Phillips of The Secret Lives of Mobs to apply for this and then sign a petition to have BOOM! Studios hire him! Sounds like his dream job to me!

BOOM! Studios is looking for artists and colorists familiar with the expansive and exciting world of Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer Fantasy. We are looking for those who have previously worked for Games Workshop as well as those who have passion for the game or just have a passion for intense science fiction and fantasy. Please send art samples and resumes whsubmit@boom-studios.com.

Seriously, go on and fill up his inbox with words of encouragement because I’d buy whatever it is he’s sellin’!

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