Over the hill?

From an MMO perspective, this is truly something I have been wondering as of late.  Have I just been around the block one too many times?

 

 

Am I forever destined to be a jaded gamer who wanders from title to title, hoping something might actually knock my socks off the way Everquest once did?  Will I stroll through the fog of my MMO memories without reprieve, searching endlessly for a transforming experience that will forever change the way I look at online games?  Maybe that’s all too much to ask at this point.  Perhaps I am the problem, not the people who make these games.

Or perhaps it is a little of both.

I may well be in need to soften my expectations when I step into a new MMO for the first time.  But in return for me lowering the bar, MMO devs really need to get their butts in gear and heighten their ambitions a little bit.  That’s the deal I am willing to strike at this point.    Historically, my time in any particular MMO has always varied and that is by design.  I do tend to hop around some to help fight the onset of MMO burnout, which can strike people like me rather viciously I am told.  But let’s face facts for a moment…I have been playing MMOs for over ten years now.

I have always loved them and probably always will.

But as the coming of each new game passes, I find myself slightly more turned off by the genre than turned on by it.  I keep looking for a game that will bridge the gap between what we once had and the advances we have made since those early days.  I honestly feel that the closest we ever got to an MMO of that caliber was Vanguard, but it was fraught with so many other problems that it just crumbled beneath the weight of them.

But this all brings me to the present and where I stand with Rift right now.

Rift is the most polished MMO to be released since World of Warcraft, this is without question.  It is fun, well constructed, and offers some wonderful class options with the Soul system, not to mention the fun that can be had with the rifts themselves.  The rifts are basically like Public Quests 2.0, and that is a compliment.  WAR gave us Public Quests and it was a wonderfully unique idea.  Now Rift has taken them slightly further, though I still think they are destined to suffer from the same problems that WAR’s did.  Basically, once you do them 100 times the bloom is going to come off the rose a little bit.  Trust me on this.

 

 

But for someone who has played so many MMOs, the taste of  Rift as a whole strikes me as just too familiar.  It’s like going to a pizza parlor that isn’t the one you enjoy the most.  What they serve you may be very tasty and certainly worth your money.  But you will always be thinking about the kind of pizza you really want and how what you are currently eating is good, but not different enough to make it special.  So with Rift, I find myself enjoying the game and appreciating the fact that we finally have a new MMO that was actually released when it was ready.

But I also find my thoughts gradually drifting to other places when I play Rift, haunted by the nagging feeling that I could enjoy Rift on a casual basis, but not really sure if it’s something that I want to sink my teeth into the way I have with other MMOs in the past.  Some examples of that would be Everquest, Dark Age of Camelot, Everquest 2, World of Warcraft, Warhammer Online, Eve Online, and Lord of the Rings Online.  Those are all MMOs that I dove into head first and explored just about every facet of gameplay they offered me.  Each one is dear to me in different ways, and I will probably always pop back in to check on those games from time to time.

So while it would not be strange for me to do that while still playing Rift, I now find myself a little troubled by the idea that my mind is already wandering as I play.  It just feels…I don’t know…too soon for me to be having these sorts of desires.  I fully expected Rift to sweep me away for at least a few months, with no thought of playing anything else even entering my mind during that time.  But it just hasn’t happened, even though I have found pleasure in playing Rift and exploring this exciting new world that Trion has given us.

I also have to say that if Rift does possess and ace in the hole, it’s Trion Worlds.

 

 

These guys have their act together in a big bad way, folks.  No company is perfect so don’t kid yourselves, and Trion will have their missteps as all developers do.  But I don’t think I have ever seen a group of devs this on the ball so early in their game’s release.  It not only bodes well for the future of Rift, but for other titles that Trion will undoubtedly make as time goes by.  The thought of how well Trion has responded to player concerns heartens me greatly, providing that warming touch of hope I need to keep plugging away.

But at the end of the day, it all comes down to how much fun I am having and whether or not Rift delivers in the ways I need it to for my own personal enjoyment.  Right now I give the game very solid marks, but I do fear that there might not be enough new spice to keep me playing heavily in the months ahead.  Deep down I think what I really want is an MMO with Rift’s polish combined with the heavy PvP focus that Warhammer Online brought to the genre.  So if Trion can develop the PvP in their game and turn it into something more than what the average MMO offers, then they just might find me subbing for a very long time.

I guess we will just have to wait and see.

 

Vaunri Steelrain and the Land of the Dead

I said the other day that I would be throwing up a few more thoughts on Land of the Dead…but I haven’t really spent enough time there to form a valid opinion yet.  So I’ll just go over a few highlights and save my analysis for later.  There will be a certain someone reading this who was in my thoughts the entire time I explored here.  The screenshots will reveal why. 

As I mentioned already, I really do love the design and atmosphere of the zone.  It’s a lovely change of pace from Warhammer’s normal style.

The in-game map for Land of the Dead only lays out the basics…with the Destruction Warcamp in the top right of the zone and the Order Warcamp in the lower right.

One thing I think we can all agree on is that Land of the Dead came out during a time when it was not needed.  I am enjoying the zone thus far, but it was not what WAR required when the decision was made to divert a bunch of development time to creating it.  I think Mythic did a fine job with the zone itself, but WAR was suffering so many other problems at the time Land of the Dead was released that it only served to pour salt on the wounds.

That being said, I am happy we have Land of the Dead and feel that it serves its purpose well.  Lotd opens up to players in the 30s, and is an open RvR (PvP) zone where both Order and Destruction vie for entry.  Both sides gather resources in a race to unlock travel to the zone.  When one realm wins the race they may enter and run Public Quests and Tombs to their heart’s content.

However, after a short period of time the opportunity to open the travel route begins again…and if the opposing side gains access then they may enter while their enemies are still in the zone.  This gives Land of the Dead a wonderful quality of suspense, as you know that you could be beset upon by your foes at any time while you are doing PvE.  Each realm’s Warcamp can also be assaulted by the opposing faction, furthering the level of general animosity in the zone itself.

Apart from the RvR available here, there are 16 different Public Quests, 4 Tombs, and 1 Dungeon…the infamous Tomb of the Vulture Lord.  The Tombs require you to earn Glyphs from the PQs, each requiring different Glyphs in order to enter.  Lotd also has its own currency drops that allow players to progress and earn some very nice loot during their trips here.  So there is plenty to keep you busy in Lotd, as I promptly learned when I came upon a lone Squig Herder while he was hunting monsters.  I promptly laid him to rest and sent him back to the Inevitable City. 

I haven’t had the opportunity to run Tomb of the Vulture Lord yet, though I do hear that it’s getting some much-needed love and attention from Mythic in the next patch.  Once I have a chance to experience more of the zone’s content I will be back with my thoughts!

A decent little Land of the Dead preview vid from G4…

Endless Trial a successs?

So just what does everyone think of Warhammer’s Endless Trial?

For the uninitiated, Mythic now allows anyone to play the first 11 levels of WAR for free, forever.  Now that we have had some time to absorb it, I think it’s clear that both positives and negatives surround this surprise move by Mythic.  On the one hand, it has genuinely instilled some life into Tier 1 and provided both new and returning players with a robust and lively experience.  We also have Ray Muzyka of Bioware saying that the Endless Trial has brought plenty of new people to WAR, as I’m sure some of those trials have transfered into subscriptions.

Tier 1 Scenarios pop like mad, Public Quests are easy to overcome because there is never want for a group, and Open RvR is always buzzing along at a frenetic pace.  So if we are looking at all of that upside then you must be wondering if there is any downside at all.  Well, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that the…ahem…quality of some of these players is a bit…

I can’t tell you how many times I have walked into a Tier 1 Scenario where our healers seem to be distracted by the occasional gnat, or maybe they are just busy picking flowers, I don’t know.  Because they don’t start healing until 3 or 4 people are already dead.  I also enjoy hopping aboard the fail train when an entire scenario becomes obsessed with just fighting the enemy rather than actually achieving the objectives required to win the Scenario.  It’s like watching a Kindergarten class become enthralled by the candy jar on the teacher’s desk and forget what they were supposed to be doing.

I’m not sure how Destruction is fairing on other servers, but Badland Tier 1 Scenarios typically feature Order groups that drop faster than a recent Hollywood marriage.  So while it certainly is not all sunshine and roses for this Endless Trial experiment, I would be lying if I didn’t admit that I have had a great deal of fun in Tier 1 these days.  Other than being forced to put up with crappy Scenario groups, Tier 1 is alive, hopping, and full of things to do and people to kill.

The new Tutorial makes this process a bit easier as well, especially if you are new to the game.  It features clearly laid out windows and a pleasant voice-over that points you towards more in-depth information regarding some of WAR’s features.  There is also a nice little dungeon for weary young groups to test their mettle on, known as Hunter’s Vale.  When you combine all of this with the fact that WAR now has all of the races funneled into the same racial pairing…you have a recipe for a vibrant start to your MMO.

This was all encouraging for a returning player like myself, as it provided me with plenty of options as I delved back into Warhammer Online.  I now have 5 alts in Tier 1 at the moment.  Yes I am seeking therapy so please stop asking.  I will say in closing, though, that I did find myself missing the changes in atmosphere and tone provided by the other racial pairings.  You are given a scroll that allows you to port back to your original starting place if you wish, but those lands are rather dead at the moment.  Everyone is consolidated in the Empire/Chaos pairing and that is where all of the action is happening.

Despite some of those issues, however, I would say that the Endless Trial has been a pleasant surprise for me thus far.  What do you guys think?  How has the Endless Trial treated you?

WAR – Dreading Tier 3?

As I continue my journey back into the heart of WAR, I am constantly reminded of just how much I enjoy Tiers 1 and 2.  The “war is everywhere” statement truly applies to the game here, and there is a wonderful sense of joy and discovery as you plow through the early levels.  WAR bombards your senses with tips and tutorials, peeling back the veil on each layer of gameplay that Mythic has constructed for your enjoyment.

WAR pits you against the opposing faction almost immediately, giving the player no doubt that there will be blood and it will be glorious.  But something happens to Warhammer Online once you hit level 21 and pass into Tier 3.  I remember feeling that sense of foreboding back when I first played the game…the slow, gradual feeling that things are all too familiar and Warhammer Online has little left to show that you have not already experienced.

In short…WAR is far too eager to reveal its hand, so to speak.

By the time you hit Tier 3 you have participated in a plethora of scenarios, run Public Quests until you were blue in the face, sieged Keeps, tussled over Battlefield Objectives, and roamed the RvR lakes in swarming, blood-thirsty zergs.  You have done just about everything there is to do in Warhammer Online.  Oh sure, the Keeps get bigger and you get to run a few dungeons later on.  But dungeons are not the focus of WAR…it’s a PvP-first kind of game after all.

The only thing you have left to look forward too are the City Sieges, which have been so ineffective at delivering a compelling, endgame RvR experience that Mythic has gone back to the drawing board and will be launching the retooled City Sieges in the next patch.  I’m excited as anyone to hear what they have in store for us, and if they play their cards right I truly believe we could be looking at the beginning of WAR’s comeback.

The only other bit of content that is different past Tiers 1 and 2 is Land of the Dead.  But to quote another WAR player, “Adding Land of the Dead was like throwing water to a drowning man.”  It did nothing to alleviate the problems Warhammer Online was going through, and only served to exacerbate the issues of an endgame RvR system that just wasn’t working properly.  We have already been told that some major bug fixing is on the way for the Tomb of the Vulture Lord, and from what I hear that will be most welcome…as the bugs in there can be as nasty as the monsters.

But the point still stands…WAR starts off with guns blazing and then does little to surprise you past the first two Tiers.  My past experience with Warhammer Online showed me that WAR was a joyful, fun, and vibrant MMO for 20 levels.  Then a sense of “been there done that” began to set in and the whole experience became a little sour.  WAR still has a ton going for it and it stands as the best PvP MMO on the market right now, in my humble opinion anyway.  And yet I can’t help but feel a sense of dread as I slowly get closer and closer to Tier 3.

So how is it these days?  Does the bloom still fall off the rose when you transition into Tier 3?  Let me know your thoughts!