Deja Vu

I'm convinced its the player reloading me from the last checkpoint. Here's to hoping I make good decisions this time around.

Star Wars Episode VII on the way!

It's not exactly gaming, but....

LOS ANGELES — A decade after George Lucas said “Star Wars” was finished on the big screen, a new trilogy is destined for theaters as The Walt Disney Co. announced Tuesday that it was buying Lucasfilm Ltd. for $4.05 billion. 

The seventh movie, with a working title of “Episode 7,” is set for release in 2015. Episodes 8 and 9 will follow. The new trilogy will carry the story of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Princess Leia beyond “Return of the Jedi,” the third film released and the sixth in the saga. After that, Disney plans a new “Star Wars” movie every two or three years. Lucas will serve as creative consultant in the new movies.

Source Article.

Kind of floored me. Not sure what to think.

Why yes...

...that is a decapitated orc head on a pike mounted to my saddle, thanks for asking! I hope you don't mind the flies buzzing around it as it decays...

The Argonath

Because if you don't know, you've lost all nerd cred.

Mass Effect 3

Warning: Spoilers if you live under a rock!

Upon release of Leviathan recently, I decided to make myself an enjoyable Labor Day weekend by replaying the game straight through for the first time. It was a rushed play through, I admit, skipping many cut scenes that I was very familiar with, but enjoyable nonetheless.

However, I don't post because of Leviathan, or even any particular aspect of the game itself. Truly, I post because no matter how many times I go through the ending, no matter how many videos I see to suggest otherwise, I can't get over Indoctrination Theory. I finished a complete run through of the game a few hours ago, and I'm still obsessively stuck on the ending, and how I truly, truly don't believe it's done yet.

A long video explaining Indoctrination Theory can be found in my linked blog post above, but a mini summation of Indoctrination Theory can be found in this video:

Feel free to Google Indoctrination Theory if you're bold/have hours to spare.

It's amazing to me that weeks later I find myself stuck on the fact that, even with the 'Extended Cut' release, the majority if not all of these arguments are still valid. It didn't contradict any of them, truly. 

No, I'm still expecting Mass Effect 4, or an Epilogue DLC. Will this be a money grab by Bioware? Probably, especially if its a DLC and not a full blown Epic sequel. Will it be worth it? Possibly. But having played through the game completely twice, and the latter half several times, I don't see how a company with such a strong pedigree of amazingly artistic games could let things stand, that these facts are coincidence, and that this *isn't* a setup for something more. No one can be that incompetent after exhibiting such repeated genius.

So I'm still waiting.

Mass Effective Movie Going Forward?

For a long time a Mass Effect movie has been 'in production' with little or no new information released regarding that production status. However, given a recent tweet by a STO podcaster attending a Trek Convention, this may, indeed, be truly in the works:

(I'm assuming he meant stated.)

Indeed, if they're casted, then we know things are in fact finally going forward, and certain key elements of the series plot are being kept intact. I do have to wonder if the movie will be CGI or live action, given the casting of voice actors from the series. Knowing they cast Michael Dorn and Marina Sirtis honestly doesn't give anything away, since both obviously have extensive screen experience, in addition to lending their voice to numerous games and animated projects over the years.

Personally, I'd love to once again see Michael Dorn in extensive makeup voicing a gruff Klingo- I mean, a belligerent Krogan. And I love Marina Sirtis as a telepathic Betazo- I mean, a telekinetic Asari.

Honestly, this is one of those adaptations I can't be anything but hesitant about. It might be brilliant. It might capture all the beauty and drama of the series. 

But then again, it might also suck. 

Hard.

The Themepark MMO and the Decline of the Subscription Model

The Setup

Two of the MMO's I've played have made the transition from subscription based model to Free to Play, or Subscription/Free hybrid. A third is marching into this territory soon, amidst screams of 'failure,' 'inevitable,' and 'sinking ship' among others. The brief rundown:

Lord of the Rings Online - Launching in 2007, it had a great run as a subscription based game, staying that way until 2010 when it transitioned to a hybrid model with an in game store. Considering that it was competing with World of Warcraft as its popularity waxed and peaked, I don't think it has anything to be ashamed of. In fact, in many ways it pioneered the free-to-play model in North America, being the first major subscription based MMO to make the transition in this particular market.

 

Star Trek Online - Sticking with this game has been a labor of love. Launching prematurely in 2010 over the angst of IP holders at CBS (following the Perpetual Debacle), the game was simply too soon out the gate. It didn't quite make it two years before switching to a hybrid model early this year. The move was unsurprising, as Lotro's playerbase had been greatly reinvigorated with the ftp launch, and Cryptic had always had an in game store within STO, making the transition relatively painless.

 

The Old Republic - Launching last holiday season, it recently announced it would be making the free to play shift around the game's one year anniversary, give or take, somewhat emulating the hybrid model Lotro pioneered a few years ago.

It's interesting to note that all three of these games are very much 'Themepark' MMO's. From the point of character creation, to the mystical 'end game,' you're locked in a more or less set path that takes you from point a to b to c, etc, until you complete a certain storyline, hit cap, and are then expected to raid/pvp while waiting for the next content update.

Ultimately, this is what forced these games hand in regards to transition to the ftp model.



The Content Bottleneck

Like it or not, the developers can only create new content at so fast a pace. This bottleneck is only magnified when the developer team is a relatively small, homey studio. When you have the economies-of-scale induced dev power as exemplified by Blizzard, this problem is essentially mitigated. While players will still complete and master content at a faster pace than it can be produced, the rate of production is higher from a larger dev team, pulling in more players who appreciate the greater amount of content, funding larger developer teams, etc, creating a positive feedback loop of content/player satisfaction.

When you're a small studio like Cryptic, you simply can't keep up. There aren't enough man hours in the day to produce content fast enough to appease fans. Measures were tried to mitigate the problem (player generated content in the form of the Foundry), and it has perhaps alleviated pains, but not to the degree necessary.

What degree is that? The point at which players stop asking themselves, "What am I paying for?"

The Old Republic, in an almost suicidal manner, placed itself at the heart of that question by creating such thematic, scripted, fully voiced over, and varied story arcs for each and every base class in game. While this is a huge draw in and of itself for many players, the extra development time required to create new content, particularly of the storied variety, is exacerbated. It was a recipe for frustration. If you tout yourself as a story based MMO, but have difficulty updating story on a regular basis, you're in for a headache.


The Inevitable Result

Free to play as a model was the inevitable conclusion of this story. If players feel like they aren't getting their money's worth, they won't pay. But with the ftp/hybrid model, you allow your players to choose to pay an amount they believe fitting for the content they receive. It allows more control on the player's end, and less frustration about having to pay a fixed rate for content you may not be interested in playing.

And as an added benefit, you pull in an entirely new demographic of players: Those who are interested in your game, but don't want to play a monthly subscription fee to play it. They may not bring in as much money as a full blown subscriber, but they can still spend money in the store, which is cash the devs didn't have to play with before. Win-win for all.


So Where Lies the Future?

I think this is the really interesting question. Is the future of all MMO's free to play? I'm not sure sure that's the case. I think it might be better to say, the future of 'Themepark' MMO's is free to play, for the content generation bottleneck cited above. I would be very surprised to see a new 'Themepark' MMO released in the future with a subscription based model. But I don't think the subscription based model has run its course, rather I think the 'Themepark' MMO has had its day.

Name a very strong subscription based MMO that isn't WoW. The first thought that springs to my mind is EVE Online, very much a sandbox game, one which has actually been slowly but steadily growing the past few years despite its age.

Why is it that people are still playing an aging game with a subscription based model despite all the newer and shinier alternatives out there?

I think the answer is ultimately two things: Emergent Gameplay and Meaningful PvP.

Meaningful PvP is, I think, a big one. When two corporations in EVE go head to head in full scale war, there is going to be loss. Oh boy is there going to be loss. The kind that players won't recover from for months. The kind that players fear, and makes full scale war a dire thing to be considered ever so carefully. The kind that leads to corporations completely dissolving and the state of game politics shifting forever. The single shard model greatly facilitates this, as when a major corporation collapses, it's felt throughout the game.

Yet what happens when you lose a warzone match in themepark game x? You gain a moderate amount of experience and in game currency anyway, and go on your merry way to the next queue. No consequences. Nothing felt long term, significance is minimal to the player, and completely and totally nonexistent to the rest of the in game world. The ramifications to the world around you are effectively none, completely fumbling a fantastic opportunity to create greater world immersion.

The ramifications of meaningful PvP fall under Emergent Gameplay, that is, gameplay in which the players  set their own goals, assign their own personal value to those goals, which makes the game far more engrossing than any roller coaster ride could ever be. The story you create with your guildmates is far more impacting than any story written by a paid developer that will be played by hundreds of thousands of other people. If your guild has risen to the top of the pack on your server (or ideally in your single shard game world), that's something you'll carry with you until the server shuts down. Even if you only peak for a day, it'll be 'written' in the annals of the game's history. And it wasn't scripted for you.


Hope for the Future

These aspects are what give me hope for TESO. Considering that the entire center region of the continent, Cyrodiil, is open for PvP between three factions already makes it significantly more interesting than many games out there from a PvP perspective. Add to that the fact that whichever of the three factions controls the most land can crown their own emperor in game!, and you have an interesting, investing, and impacting PvP design, particularly if the dominating faction assumes benefits from control. (As it undoubtedly will.)

Further this with guild politics as various guilds vie for supremacy and the coveted throne within their faction, and you have the recipe for something refreshing, at the very least. It'll be interesting to see if it plays out as pitched. I'm eager.


Paradigm Shift

These facts combined with TES series traditionally sandboxy design, with themepark vignettes to complete as desired, and I think we may be on the precipice of a paradigm shift. As WoW ushered in an era of themepark MMO's that I believe is just now drawing to a close eight years later, I think TESO may usher in an era of Sandbox MMO's, or Sandbox/Themepark hybrids at the very least. I'm not saying TESO is going to be a WoW-killer; I do, however, think it has the potential to make an old model new again by introducing it to a widespread audience that EVE hasn't been able to reach, based on a more hybrid approach to gameplay and the ubiquity of the IP's name.

Only time will tell, but as is the case with all MMO's pre-launch, I'm hoping for the best whilst preparing for the worst.

Single Sector Map - The Territory Solution

A Fractured Galaxy

There's been talk for some time now of combining sector space into one large instance so that space feels more open and less restrictive, and that the game has fewer load screens. However, this hasn't happened yet for a few reasons, which are understandable.

1. Lack of Time/Low Development Priority - Given the recent transfer of ownership to Perfect World Entertainment, this one is simply an unavoidable business problem that can't be resolved.
2. Hardware Limitations - Each sector space instance requires a certain amount of server capacity/processing power, etc. The larger you make the instance, the more processing power is required. If you combine the entire sector space map, that's a much larger chunk of game space that has to be rendered all at once. Combine this with the increased number of players being rendered, and all of a sudden you have a nightmare. You would have fewer, larger maps, but more instances of said maps to accommodate all the players.
3. Gaps in Sector Space - In the map below, notice the gaps between existing sectors. The gaps are there because that portion of sector space/those systems haven't been added yet. Until those systems and sectors are added to the game, it's impossible to have a one instance sector space map.

I can't fix problem number one, but I do have a proposed solution that will solve some of the aforementioned problems.

The Territory Solution

I propose that Cryptic combine sectors that make up each faction's holdings. As shown below in the red outlined sections, this would reduce the overall number of loading screens, increase the distance you can travel in sector space without transwarping, but avoid some of the above problems. 

• There would be less concern over instancing. Each Territory would require less processing power to maintain, and allow for a larger number of players on the map at once, preventing 'empty galaxy syndrome' that you might have with one large map.
• Missing sectors? No problem. You just attach them to the appropriate faction territory when added. You'll still be loading between different factions territories anyway, so the gap between Sirius sector block and Bet Ursae isn't an issue. 
• If you add in the sectors between Sirius and Cardassian space (which will happen eventually, since Betazed falls into that area of the galaxy), they become seamless with Federation Territories. NOTE: You'll still have a loading screen between Federation Territory and Cardassian Territory. This won't change, ever. This will go a long way towards improving performance server side. 
• With respect to sectors that don't belong to a major faction, they would be their own instance. For example, Orellius isn't part of the Federation, so they would be their own instance with a loading screen, etc. The same would apply for Gamma Orionis as long as the borg control it, any future Ferengi holdings, Tholian holdings, etc. If it doesn't fall into one of the major factions, it would be a separate instance entirely. I simply haven't marked it on the map to make my point regarding major political boundaries.

Below I have a few pictures with my dumpy outlining job showing what I have in mind, with captions providing short descriptions.

The easiest solution in the short time, maintaining the very square sector blocks and not stepping on any sectors toes It would be a quick and clean solution in the short term.

The more logical solution, which respects major factions boundaries, including the Klingon and Romulan Neutral Zones. Of course, they would have to give up square sectors for this, but it would please the playerbase to a much greater extent.

And lastly, the logical conclusion of explored space with respect to major faction territories.

I do think its worth pointing out that this could allow for the introduction of true Neutral Zones, as hastily sketched in the above photo. Within these Neutral Zones you could have persistent PvP. Deep Space Contacts? None. Instead, you could hunt down enemy ships as they pass through the zone. Any battles would then show as a Deep Space Encounter style conflict that would then be joinable by passing ships. Rules for these types of encounters would be a subject unto themselves. There could be disputed planets/starbases/dilithium mines within these zones wherein each faction can flip control of said points under the right conditions. Just throwing out how obvious this solution is, if technically daunting.

Pay to Win?

The Set Up

So I was thoroughly enjoying my summer yesterday, spending some time on my Klingon STO character in warzones, etc, and trying out some (stale) PvP arenas for the first time in a long time. Having recently capped my Klingon toon, I took advantage of the afternoon and picked up the B'rel Retrofit Bird-of-Prey with my *free* ship token (given to Gold Members of the game - subscribers or lifers) I received for capping a character.

Given that the only really viable build that takes advantage of its unique Enhanced Battle Cloak is that of torpedo boat, I decided to load her up with various strange builds, pop into Ker'rat (which you should try if you haven't) or an arena, and see what works best. 

The Shock!

Upon entering my first arena and engaging a cowardly federation dog, I was immediately accused of being lame, cheating, being unfair, pay-2-win slander, etc. This amazed me for a few reasons: 

1. I didn't buy this ship through the C-Store. In fact, I doubt many people have. When you cap a character as a gold member, you received a token which can be exchanged for this ship. I chose to do just that. So I didn't 'pay-to-win' any more than any other subscriber of any traditional MMO might 'pay-2-win.' I mean, it's like accusing a WoW player for paying-to-win because he has a piece of geared bestowed upon him through a quest for capping his character. It makes no sense.
2. I was the weakest link on the Klingon team. In fact, my DPS was lowest. By far. As in, I wasn't even close to being fourth in DPS. If anything, I hindered the team with my *experimental* build. But people insist on knee-jerk reactions.
3. The Feds, as usual, have terrible tactics. They spent more time complaining in the arena chat than actually trying to play well. Cloak is relatively easily rendered useless through several means. Science officers have a skill to see through it. Science Bridge Officers also have a skill to see through it. (Which, I might add, makes it available to any career path.) Numerous federation ships have the ability to see through it. Yet I didn't see any of these used in the entire match. Nor did they act as a group. Nor did they focus fire any targets. There's a reason it was a slaughter, and I wasn't it, I assure you. In fact, it could have been four to five and the results would have been the same.

The I.K.S. Sneaky Snake poised to strike!

The Broader Question


Aside from the ignorant accusing me of things of which I was not guilty, I think there is a more important underlying question here, one of the free-to-play model in general. If you're going that route, its accepted that there has to be a cash store to generate a profit, and to generate that profit you have to be willing to give the customer what they want. If the ships in the store offer no benefit for your money, who would buy them? The game would sink faster than Star Wars Galaxies.

So there has to be some benefit. And those ships do have a benefit, but its is game-breakingly unbalancing? I think not. A tool is only as good as the craftsman using it. I had the most advanced stealth in the game, yet I still haven't figured out an effective way to make use of it. If you pay for a ship with a seemingly powerful console, but don't have sound tactics, it'll just be wasting a console slot.

And I think the same could be said of any other game with a store. There may be a store. There may be good items in that store. But that doesn't mean the player will be paying to win. Should they get the benefit for their money? Sure. Does that mean they'll use it effectively? Heck no. And if the feddies I was toasting knew how to defend against a cloak, I was have popped like a balloon in my glass cannon. They just don't know where to shoot.

So I think the reaction to this whole concept is simply blown out of proportion. The game is still playable, is still enjoyable, and you don't have to spend a dime if you don't want to. But if you do, there are benefits for you, not the least of which is you know, the continuation of the game you feel so entitled to. Everybody wins. 

Lotro's New and Improved Full Score

Just as music makes or breaks the movie, so it makes or breaks the game. For the most recent Lord of the Rings Online expansion Riders of Rohan Turbine has brought back Chance Thomas, the composer of the original music for Shadows of Angmar and the Mines of Moria expansion. That his music has been absent from the last two major updates has been disappointing. But, here he is again, and we have a preview of his work for the expansion below.






It should be noted that each track has a description by Chance on YouTube. I don't want to copy paste all three here, but I do want to take a selection of his description of the last song, and encourage all to read the descriptions he posted of the pieces above, particularly "Shadow of the Argonath." Knowing how he constructed the themes, and what each theme represents, add immensely to the experience.


From Chance Thomas,

"This track was composed to underscore the Boromir game instance, with players taking on the role of Boromir as he battles hordes of Uruk Hai in a desperate attempt to save Merry and Pippin.

Boromir has his fatal flaw, as we all know. But this piece is not about that. This music is about Boromir at his most noble, determined and powerful. Big drums, epic choir, robust cadences and powerful statements in the brass all contribute to the feeling of strength and unwavering.

After the choir sings, the Gondor theme makes its final appearance in this expansion. It is a resigned and somewhat naked version (meaning the arrangement thins out considerably) to underscore the utter aloneness of this great warrior-steward in his final mêlée. It repeats with a bit of forlorn (trumpets and high strings) before giving out to the brutal force of ragged low brass as the battle rages to its infamous conclusion.

You may be interested to know what the choir is singing. The lyrics are in Old English, translated for me by Turbine's lore master Chris Pierson and his muse for all things Anglo-Saxon, professor Michael Drout of Wheaton College. The choir sings: Arë! Thrymnes! Fréot! Maegen! The translation is: Glory! Honor! Freedom! Power! These are virtues upon which Gondor was built and to which Boromir clings until his last breath."

I think the knowledge of the lore, and the depth of thought that went into the thematic development and musical imagery is pretty brilliant. Definitely looking forward to his music setting the mood going forward.

But Where Have All My Fighters Gone!?

I know. You're impressed by my image editing skills. 

My mad skillz aside, I've recently taken to playing the new Federation Heavy Escort Carrier the Armitage Class in Star Trek Online. It's tankier than most escorts, has a hanger bay, yet still packs a good deal of fire power. All-in-all a pretty tough ship, and one of my favorite ships thus far in the game. It's just fun to fly.

All that said, there is one UI element that I feel carriers are missing - a fighter status display. Once you launch six cute little Peregrine Fighters, there's no way to track whether they're still zipping around the battlefrield adding to your DPS or exploding in a fiery ball of death into the vacuum of space. Well, no way other than to constantly survey the battlefield and see if you count six Peregrines nearby. Which is nigh impossible in any battle situation, and made even worse when you have two or even three carriers in the thick of it. 

I would love to see a little UI element added to carriers when you launch fighters that displays a symbol of some sort for each fighter launched, preferably indicating their shield and health status. Something simple would be sufficient. A rectangle with the wire frame of six Peregrines, for instance. The wire frames start out darkened, similar to skills on my skill bar that can't currently be used. When you launch fighters, the images light up, and have a small green bar beneath it indicating health of the fighters' hull. When the fighter gets popped, its wire frame goes dark. A shield indicator of some sort might be nice as well, but I realize at this point I might be asking for the moon.

I know that given the nature of UI, programming, etc, none of this may be feasible. But it's one small quality of life change that would make a big difference for me and, I'm sure, many other carrier pilots.

Total War: Rome II

Oh. My. Heavens.

After every indication pointing to the next CA strategy game being one based in WWI, after two years of fans begging for a sequel to Rome, this hits the internet. If you care about cinematic trailer, that's cool, though the important part hits the video at 2:35.

All I can say is, I'm pretty sure life has no meaning until this comes out. And when it does finally come out, if you expect me to do anything other than go to work, eat enough to sustain myself, and play this game, you don't know me well enough.

Nerd anticipation starting now.

Nerd Rage Palpable In Space

As a result of Perfect World Entertainment's recent acquisition of Cryptic Studios, Cryptic updated their Star Trek Online website yesterday, including a massive[ly unpopular] overhaul to the forums. In addition to making everyone reformat their forum handle (and in some cases choose a new one entirely), they wiped all custom avatars clean, made the forums completely inaccessible without a PWE account (you can't even view them), and chose a very difficult to read layout including Retro 1990's Forum Buttons. At least I imagine that's what they are, as I can't imagine any other way to spin their poor aesthetic as a feature.

Oh, and they did all this very suddenly and without prior warning regarding the specific date and time.

Needless to say, the forums exploded in typical nerd rage that always accompanies change, whether or not its deserved. (Although in this case, I think some amount of nerd rage was warranted.) One of my favorite responses to the changes I made sure to immortalize in screenshot format below before the mods nuked it. It's priceless.

A Gaming Blog

I've long toyed with the idea of starting a dedicated gamers blog, but have thus far shied away from it. I already have two blogs I ignore (Personal and Professional), so why should I start a third? Well, because I don't feel like the topics I wish to discuss regarding gaming rightfully belong on either. Obviously, my professional life is a realm apart from my gaming habits. And my personal blog is often about writing, poetry, politics, science, and philosophy, and I feel to inundate it with my gaming posts would turn some readers off.

So, I've decided to start a separate gaming blog where I don't have to hold back. Here goes nothing.