On my game radar

Ok, what MMO titles on the horizon am I interested in.

Well, first I'm more attracted to skill based or action based games. I don't give a rats ass about hype, or graphics, or any of that other crap they try to sell you.
I'm only interested in how it handles.


1) Guild Wars 2 - As a long time fan of Guild Wars, I'm interested to see how this turns out. However, I have lost most of my interest in this game as it's been 2 freaken years, but whatever.
I think tomorrow they are going to release some more info, so we'll see if they are going to move forwards or backwards.
Given Arenanets history, I expect great things from them.

2) Dust 514 - Sounds epic. While I don't have a PS3 or Xbox360, nor intend on getting one, I'll probably won't be playing this game.
But even still, it's a stellar move by CCP. It's got epic win written all over it.
Still, I reserve judgment until they show the beef.

3) Final Fantasy 14 - At first this sounded like, and looked like a remake of FF11, but it seems to be only skin deep. Much like Guild Wars - Guild Wars 2.
Them losing the level system gain instant gratz with me. However it could also be disastrous, depending on what they put in it's place.
So far it's in alpha, and what little I saw of combat was...... well.... shit.
Good graphics, but that's par for the course these days.

4) Jumpgate: Evolution and Black Prophesy - Now these games I like.
I'm quite into space sims (EVE doesn't count), and they look quite fast paced and fun. Not too sure about some of their mechanics. I think they have a level system.... which of course I dispise, but it depends on how they do it.
Could be very, very good for the industry. Or they could bomb horribly.
It all depends.

5) Champions - Not terribly interested in this game, but it does have some nice features.
The customization looks epic. Looks like you can do just about anything you want.
But in saying that, the combat looks shoty, it still uses levels, and I just don't like superhero games. (never got into comics)
I might play it for a bit, but I don't expect it would hold me in the long run.

6) Aion - At one point it beeped onto my radar, until my bullshit-seeking ground to air missiles blew it out of the sky. It's pretty, has good customizations, and has some mildly good lore.
But the combat, skill system, and damn near everything else is vanilla.
Nothing I haven't seen before.
It looks like any other inventory management game I have ever seen, and I'm just not into that.
Bite me Aion.


And that's really about it.
Not a whole lot interests me atm. Some might do good should they put out, but until then, I reserve judgment. Could be good, could be business as usual.
We shall see.


~Yoh

Pay 2 Play - from left field?

After yesterdays blog, and after a comment on Virgin Worlds, it came to my attention that Global Agenda is also using a P2P business model.

This kind of snuck up on me, because thats two recent upcoming MMO's that are utilizing this system. And I got to say it sounds bloody wonderful!


As you can tell, I'm in favor of this type of business model.
As to why, well it goes back to my Guild Wars days, which also used an interesting business model - initial box cost only = free to play.
And what they were going for was flexibility, where you could pick the game up, drop it, and pick it up again without losing money over it.

And while RMT free to play mimic this, they take it out on gameplay as a result. (see last blog post)
But this wasn't the case with GW. They had all the stability of any subscription MMO, but had far greater flexibility for they players. (however they ended up having other problems as a result)


And what is great about P2P, is that it takes all that flexibility and stability, and yet gives the developers the financial returns they need to run and develop the game. Win win.
(it also allows them to avoid the same traps GW fell into)

However, the developers will likely not get as much money from this alone, which is why it should, and seems is (in the case of GA and Aion), supplemented by an additional revenue stream. Namely either initial box/download cost, or RMT. (not done in the same manner as RTM centric games thou)

I would go for the latter, as box/download cost makes the game less accessible.


I'm not above paying for a game, but I want to play it on my own terms, and not lose money should I decide to put it down for a week. And this business model exemplifies that.

Nice going Global Agenda and Aion. Way to stay on the ball.
Now it's down to the quality of the products. (sry Aion, you failed my test)

~Yoh

RMT in the Future of MMORPG's

After a comment by BeauTurkey on the Massively Speaking podcast, episode 64, it provoked me to write something on my views of RTM now, and in the future are.

BeauTurkey is in favor of RTM's, as they have gained some ground in MMO's over the last couple of years, and are becoming more accepted. (why they were looked down in the first place I can't get my head 'round)

RTM are they way of the future, in essence is what he advocates. I don't agree.


Is there money in it? Counter intuitively, yes it seems.
Does 'free to play' bring in people? Clearly no argument there.
Can an RMT model game be a big budget AAA MMO? I don't see any reason why not.

So where is my point of contention? It has to do with gameplay.


The RMT model centers around being free to play, and getting you to spend money on their online store for 'stuff'. Now this doesn't necessarily mean content, but it does almost always involve ascetic items.

So how do you get people to by your online stuff? Easy, make things either difficult or dull for them, or both, in order to gently force their hand. Of course you can pander to their sense of greed, but that doesn't work on everybody.

Runes of Magic for example: Considered a full fledge MMO by most people.
Traveling in this game can be a pain in the arse at times. While you can teleport to major cities, you still spend an awful lot of time running around.
And of course the game has mount to make things 'easier', if your willing to fork up 10$ that is.
.... Not exactly what I would call micro, but ok.

Then there is the gear, which for the most part if fairly generic. Some if it is nice thou, don't get me wrong. But should you dare want to customize it, hahahahaaa.... no. Fork up please.

And on and on it goes. Either fork up, or things are going to feel like cardboard for you.
It feels like they are always holding back on you, doesn't it?


Well as you can tell, this way of running a MMO doesn't jive well with me.

I say full throttle. Either do it and go all the way, or don't. Don't hold back.
I want my customized gear, I want every scrap of content at the get go, I want to feel like the game isn't playing favorites by who has the deepest wallet.



Now that isn't to say RMT doesn't have a place. Sure it does. Just not as the main means of payment.
Otherwise it the game just feels second best.

I see the future of RMT working as a great supplement to subscription-like models, such as the P2P model Aion is currently implementing (massive kudos btw), as it is far more flexible and overall cheaper then the run-of-the-mill subs. This way the game can go full throttle, and have extras over and above as nice little bits and pieces, sort of like how Guild Wars handled it.

But the first step to getting people to use RMT, besides getting them into the game, is getting them to ENJOY the game. And that doesn't really work when you water down the game, and almost go so far as to coerce them into it.


Just my take on it.

~Yoh

Why I hate Aion

Now if you troll around Massively and VirginWorlds, then you may have noticed on articles involving the game Aion, that I have a less then favorable stance towards it.

But why?

Well first it's important to point out, that I have not played Aion as of yet, nor do I ever intend to.
Which some might say "you can't criticize Aion if you haven't played it, wah wah wah!", which I in turn say, 'I don't need to play it you fucking moron's! I don't need to drive a car to see that it is a lemon, similarly, I don't need to play a game that is so self evidently crap to say so'.

So why do I think Aion is crap?

Because it is the embodiment of the status quo. It does NOTHING new. It's tries to sell you the same damn experiences that you've already had, in a new wrapper.
I call this phenomena, painting the turd.

Where companies try to sell you the same product, by renaming, marketing, and a new paint job. But at the core of it, it's the same damn thing.
Because if they can get away with selling the same product to you, then they will.
That's capitalism for you folks.


Sure, in Aion's case, I can give it some credit, for being stable and stylish - but at the end of the day, that's not going to carry it. It's still got the same old classes, the same of levels and motherfucking grind, the same old pointless goddamn moronic quests and mindless whack-a-mole monsters.

Sorry, sell it to some other sucker.
I've already been there, done that.

~Yoh