Mythic’s patch drama

I’m tired so I’ll go with a short version.

While Eve-Online had some major problem patching and putting back the servers online (plus all the legitimate rants about the bad font. Something important in a game so heavy dependent on the UI) the patching for DAoC went smooth as the baby butt. With the exception of a change that wasn’t disclosed and that made the players rise a loud protest.

Basically there were the high level items called “artifacts” that you could put on your vendors. With this new patch the process to get these items was made easier and this made the prices descend, as a consequence. To counterbalance this loss of value Mythic decided (without announcing it beforehand) to let the players sell these items directly to NPCs vendors for rather high prices.

Now you would expect the players to be just happy since this change suddenly made many items worth a lot more than previously (thanks to the high vendor values), but the problem is that noone was aware of this change and many players, after discovering the possibility, started to clear the whole market to sell these items themselves, buying low from the player’s vendors and selling high to the NPCs. In Sanya’s words (CM stands for player’s vendors):

What is causing the excitement is that on some servers, early birds realized that artifacts could be sold at a profit compared to listed prices on the CM. Those early birds cleaned out the CMs whenever possible, and made big profits.

If you do a 1+1 you can understand why so many players are pissed off despite Mythic added this feature exclusively for their (of the players) benefit. The problem is that many of those players who had these items on their vendors at low prices suddenly discovered after logging in that they had been looted by other players who sold those items for an higher value. They feel robbed because the change wasn’t announced and it was transformed into a “first come, first serve” scenario at the expense of those players that weren’t aware that the rules of the market were going to change like this.

Imho, the players have all the rights to complain and feel robbed. I also believe that Mythic just didn’t expect all this and the feature just slipped in without the devs paying too much attention and anticipating the results. It happens when you work at a bunch of stuff at the same time and overlook something that seems minor. The idea was a good one but it got totally screwed in the implementation. As I wrote on the forums the solution could have been easy (from a logical point of view, I don’t know about the implementation):

Imho they should have freezed all the artifacts on the vendors as the patch was released and the changes announced.

So that the owners would have had the possibility to draw them back from the market or put them back in with new prices.

That would have prevented all the pain I’m hearing now (I care zero since I play on classic).

This is really a screwup and one of those that cannot be made up.

There should always be an extreme caution when toying with the value of the items in an economic system. Especially in one where the items that are going to be changed play a large role.

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Patch day for DAoC and Eve-Online

And both with two really good patches, from my point of view.

This last patch in DAoC in particular reminds me the old times when I was really anticipating the changes and always excited to discover what was next and wish to be part of it. It’s a bond with the game. You like where it’s going and you can forgive the devs many more mistakes. Right now I like what DAoC offers me. I don’t play often but I wish I could, and I know that I’ll have some fun if I do. Of course this doesn’t mean that I cannot criticize it. It’s just that my tone is less the one of the angry ranter.

About Eve-Online is pretty much the same. I resubscribed and plan to remain so for a long time. Again mostly because I have faith in what they are doing more than rabid fun coming out of the game. On the contrary to every other game, I keep rerolling characters in Eve. With this new patch/expansion I’ll take advantage of the new bloodlines and the changes to the tutorial and entry-level ships for a new fresh start. In this case there are two reasons why I’ll do this. The first is because of the accessibility barrier. The “group play” in Eve is the heart of the game and of the fun, but at the same time it is not easily accessible and it’s almost impossible to group casually and do shit together. Actually I believe that since beta I’ve never grouped casually with anyone. This also means that I log in the game without any type of bonds (as I always do), nor I “make friend” in the game because of those reasons. So I’m a “stranger in a strange ship”. The second reason is that I love Eve because of its depth. And I love to learn stuff. From the forum, from the game, lurking the chat channels. The tutorial and the fresh starts are a way to reenact that learning part I love and get accustomed with the game again since I use to resubscribe after many months, while the whole game shapeshifts. It’s fascinating to go back and discover what changed, how it improved, the new mechanics added. And each time I do a step forward and fall in love again with this unique game.

For DAoC there’s a rather conventional patch, while Eve will be down for a full day, if not more (and I expect problems, but I also like this unpredictability and continuous development. so it’s all good to me and I’ll follow along especially when things won’t work). Till the very last day the patch was in doubt and it seemed unlikely they could finalize it before the holidays. Instead they managed to meet the deadlines and even anticipated the patching by one day (I wonder about the reasons).

The only game missing at the call is WoW. No patch for it and it seems we’ll have to wait the very end of December or even the next year. But then, beside some smaller features, I’m not missing much of what’s announced. So I’m rather indifferent at the changes. WoW is a game in a better state than the other two, but in this case I don’t have the same faith in the devs.

With the new patch for Eve the forums went down for 24h as well and CCP replaced them with eight pictures and comments that I’ll archive on this post. For the children.

It seems they are partying after the restless work of the last weeks to push the expansion out of the door. Good work.


And there was none of that while developing RMR


 

 

Proud of it! Hope you are too being a part of it.

 

 

Thanks to you all, we’re here today still enjoying EVE as much as you do.

 

 

The fanfest really brings all of us so much closer to eachother.

 

 

You do, you all just really do.

 

 

Hang in there, we’re doing our level best to please you.

 

 

O RLY? YA RLY! NO WAI! YA WAI!

 

 

A 24 hour downtime? better be prepared!

Thanks for sticking around,
The EVE Online Team

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Another idea for a better Realm Points distribution

There’s a thread on the Vault with a good summarization of the concerns about the latest changes in the patch that will go live next week (possibly).

My primary character right now is an Aug/Mend Healer on Gareth. Much of my “job” is healing, mezzing and stunning. After thinking about this change, I don’t like the idea of granting RPs for healing, mezzing and stunning. That’s my job and I do it to help the group prevail in battle. If we win as a group, we all share RPs equally. If we lose, we don’t. The tanks are getting extra points for melee damage. The casters are getting extra points for nuking. And so on. We all have different roles in battle that contribute to a win or a loss, and I like the fact that we are all rewarded equally for it. Now, my group mates might be wondering whether my choices were to maximize my personal RPs, or to maximize the group’s chance of winning.

I don’t like getting something extra just for doing my job, and I don’t want to be treated as “special” by the game just because I happen to play a support class.

This all makes sense. The concerns are valid.

My opinion about this didn’t really change from what I raved more than a year ago.

The idea I was suggesting was completely focused on the group and aimed to encourage and reward teamwork. Basically (the details are specified in the link), the more Realm Points your group gains without dying, the more a “multiplier” on the Realm Points they earn builds up and the more the “bounty value” (aka the Realm Points that the group is worth) rises accordingly.

This enocurages the group to work together and to survive instead of “zerg rushing”, /release and rushing again. While also rewarding a good performance and those groups that manage to kill the bigger guys (with this system the good groups would be “hunted” since they are worth more).

I still don’t see why this idea wasn’t accepted and I believe it could be also integrated to solve the concerns raised by the post I quoted.

My solution is simple: continue to reward for resurrections, heals, mezz and stuns. But share these additional points between the whole group.

Is all this unreasonable? And if so, why? (if only Mythic accepted to have a discussion… sadly I think I’ll have to live with my doubts.)

But then I also have to say that the current changes don’t look bad and that I have nothing to complain if support classes get more RPs. I just wonder if a better solution is possible.

Mezz Me and I Kick Your Ass

I gave a look to my enlarging notes file where I write random stuff and I found an old note that I just couldn’t figure out what it meant: “mez in Star Wars”.

Just that. I really don’t know what I was thinking while writing those four words but at least I’m not the only one taking notes and forgetting what they mean. Then the other day I suddenly remembered from where the observation came from and what I was supposed to say about it.

In general my design ravings start from a simplification of an observation. I isolate a problem, something I don’t like or something I do like and try to figure out what are the essential reasons that make something good or bad. Then I try to “reposition” these elements to see if it’s possible to maximize the benefits, reduce the problems and move the design toward a more positive direction (potential, from that point onward). This pretty much summarizes most of what I do. In fact the great majority of my ideas come directly as a revision of what’s already available more than rabid creativity. I try to put things so that they are more appropriate. Starting from what I see to move on what I’d like to see.

In this case the problem was about the “mezz”. Of course with the focus on PvP since it’s where most of the complaints and problems are concentrated. For a long time I sticked with the standard opinion “mezz is bad” because the most annoying thing possible in a PvP fight is about losing the control of your character. In fact in my bundled ideas about DAoC I was proposing to reduce considerably the timers so that they could have been more manageable. But with the time I’m radically changing my opinion and I’ve tried once again to detach myself from the commonplaces in a similar way to what I did when I reevaluated the “unbalance”. In fact “mezz is good”, it adds a whole lot of depth to an encounter and could be an exciting element building up the fun, if used properly.

Here starts the observation. What are the cases where being mezzed is annoying and frustrating? Are there other cases where it’s instead something positive and exciting? In WoW it’s hard to say, or better, too easy. WoW’s PvP is too “disconnected” and lacking strategy and class interdependence and organization. I’ve seen a few recurring tactics like 4-5 mages rushing into a zerg spamming AOE while shielded/healed by priests and the organized stun-ganking groups of 3-4 rogues, but besides these trivial patterns there isn’t much going on and it’s mostly an open field combat where everyone goes on in his own way (and where raids and groups are simply used to share Honor points and a chat channel). This is different in DAoC, instead. There’s way more interdependence between the classes and teamwork. The classes have more defined roles and the encounters can be won or lost based on the performance of the single. This applies in both 8vs8 and the larger battles and it’s in this second case where the use of Crowd Control becomes more of a factor. There’s more organization and depth. The raw combat in WoW is more interactive, smooth and satisfying. You have access to many more “tools” and the actual combat has a better flow (since you have plenty of time to react and enjoy, while in DAoC the combat could just last a matter of seconds and get engulfed in a lag spike between a frame and another). These superficial, coarse observations are already enough to reconfirm a rule. We like the combat to develop and open up possibilities instead of rushing to get resolved as quickly as possible (which comes directly and reconfirms another old reasoning). Like an inverted direction (the “inverted tree” I also commented here).

What I noticed in DAoC is that it is true that the Crowd Control adds depth to a PvP encounter. In particular I’ve seen experienced groups fighting successfully against 2-3 times their numbers and not just with /assist trains. I’ve seen awsome fights that lasted a good amount of time (also because they happened on the classic server, without buffbots and I-WIN artifacts) and it was also thanks to a clever use of CC. What I think is that WoW’s combat isn’t superior to DAoC because of the reduced use of CC, in fact I believe that this is one of the unique strengths of DAoC that it can still hold agains the numb PvP mechanics in WoW. So I think the CC is not the problem itself and doesn’t need to be “solved” (it will surely be a predictable mistake for the upcoming games). But maybe it can be improved once I figure out what isn’t fun about it and how it’s possible to maximize the positive points.

In my experience I’ve been in both 8vs8 and larger fights. In 8vs8 the CC is mostly used to isolate the players out of the fight so that the other group can pick targets one by one. This is the most frustrating example of CC because it *removes* the combat. Once the CC lands and is not purged, the combat is over, you already lost. This is not fun because all the gameplay is trivialized into a first-sighting. It becomes just a matter of fast ping and reflex and there isn’t much more involved. The “combat” here is missing, it’s just a routine to end the fight because it stops to be interactive as the mezz lands and puts the other group out of business. In the larger fights, instead, the situation may change (in particular if you have a keep or a tower to support a defence). The mezz, most of the times, isn’t anymore equal to a timed death. You don’t stare anymore an unavoidable end. In these cases the mezz becomes effectively a “timeout”.The fight goes on, you are forced to see it without being able to contribute but you are anticipating the moment when the mezz will break and you’ll rush in the fight. The fight is there, is awaiting you. The wait builds up the tension and your desire. And these are wonderful premises for the fun.

What I see is that in the first case the CC erases the interaction. You have the “timeout” but once it triggers you have also already lost. In the second case, instead, the “timeout” is still there, but as a premise to the combat and not as a premise to an unavoidable death. So what I think is frustrating is *not* the timeout itself. In fact this timeout not only is required to give some depth to the encounters, as explained above and largely acknowledged, but it also builds strong premises for the fun. It’s a valuable addition to the gameplay and not something that should be minimized or removed. On the contrary what doesn’t work is the definitive removal from the combat. The CC used as an I-Win button too unbalanced and powerful compared to the other skills and spells (which also brought to highly specialized classes that do just CC, another wrong point). So my conclusion is that the negative points of CC are not about the wait it directly implies (the wait), but more about what comes after (the combat). The timeout should lead to some sort of “comeback” where the mezzed player can recover his gameplay. This can make CC work without being annoying or frustrating.

The meaning of that cryptic “mez in Star Wars” had its origin here. I wanted to underline how the final fight between Darth Maul and Qui-Gon Jinn/Obi-Wan Kenobi is a perfect example of the mezz and its positive “narrative” qualities. In this fight Obi-Wan is cut out by the force fields and can only watch the duel between Dath Maul and Qui-Gon. In that moment the point of view of the observer is the one of Obi-Wan. We see the action through his eyes and this narrative stratagem is used (and is successful) to build up the tension of the combat. In particular to build up a tension that WILL get discharged (liberation) in the following fight between Obi-Wan and Darth Maul.

This pretty much explains clearly two basic and crucial points. The first is the one I explained above, in order for this mechanic to be effective and successful, the combat cannot be negated. The tension accumulated MUST be discharged or the game (or movie scene) will be just feel frustrating, unfinished. The second point is that, from a functional point of view, Obi-Wan isn’t just waiting there doing nothing. He is building up some rage and when he exits the mezz he is different from when it entered it. He is angry, more determined. The following duel will be a discharge of the tension of both the spectator and the protagonist (empathy+catharsis).

How to translate all this into a game and once again maximize the good points while removing or minimizing what doesn’t work? My ideas are just the direct result of all those observations. And more goals set to reach. As I often repeat what is important is to set goals, then the actual implementation to reach them may vary. The first goal I defined is again that the combat must follow a mezz and cannot be negated. The tension has to flow somewhere in order of the “timeout” to be satisfying and tolerable. If the mezz just leads to a sudden death without giving back the control to the player, the result will be terribly frustrating and nowhere fun. The second goal is tied to the first. It’s about giving the mezz abilities some side-effects so that the players have to stop to abuse this mechanic and add some more depth to it. The purpose is to add side-effects that benefit the victim of the mezz and that counterbalance the power of the mezz.

This is also a perfect example of what I mean with In-Character design compared to Out Of Character design. Here I just observed a movie (or imaginary) scene and imagined, from the perspective of the spectator or the player, how to translate those mechanics into a game. And not planned an abstract formal system out of thin air to then retrofit into a specific setting.

The practical implementation is just an example. I shaped it around DAoC because it’s the game I know better and the one where the mezz has a strong purpose and gameplay role. /and it’s also the game where it was more harshly criticized. A topic still well alive today and rather important for the games of tomorrow.

To begin with, the system I imagined doesn’t include the stuns because they are too rooted in the gameplay and too short to fit in the observations above. So the changes are isolated to two cases: the root and mezz.

In the case of the root:
– If a character is rooted and not in combat (receiving, dealing damage or casting spells, specifically) it will build up an “haste” buff that will trigger as the root breaks and that will last for 1/2 the time the character remained rooted. The buff grants a 20% bonus to melee attack speed, casting times and running speed, plus a “freeze” of the mana and endurance pools (shown graphically by making these pools shine brightly) for the duration of the buff. So that the character can use styles and cast spells without losing mana or endurance.

The buff will trigger only if the character remained rooted for at least five seconds and it will have a minimum duration of three seconds and a max of fifteen. The “purge” RA or similar effects will interrupt the buff build-up as they land.

In the case of the mezz:
– If a character is mezzed it will quickly regain health, endurance and mana at fast speed (in 10 seconds the pools should be completely replenished) Plus, it will build up a “liberation” buff that will trigger as the mez is broken (or fades out) and that will last for 1/2 the time the character remained mezzed. The buffs grants immunity to stuns, immunity to interruption for casters, a freeze of the endurance and mana pools, and a 20% bonus to the damage of melee attacks and spells.

The buff will trigger only if the character remained mezzed for at least five seconds and it will have a minimum duration of three seconds and a max of fifteen. The “purge” RA or similar effects will interrupt the buff build-up as they land.

The purpose is to not affect the duration of the mezz and roots in the game. After a long observation I decided that it’s not that the problem and reducing those timers will just remove the complexity of the encounters. Instead these changes are aimed to counterbalance the power of these spells and offer the victims a “way out”, so that the focus doesn’t stop on who lands the mezz first but on the actual combat that follows the “timeout”.

Of course this is focused to improve the specific mechanics. It’s obvious that those classes that right now are too strictly specialized only on mezzing skills should gain more active “toys” to contribute to the fights.

The proposed implementation is, once again, just a rough idea of what could be possible. It should be tested thoroughly internally so that the system is balanced and fits the goals set. The details I wrote are just the result of approximate simulations that I made in my own mind and with the little experience I have from the game. If they come out realistic and balanced it means I’m cool, but that wasn’t my purpose.

What concerns me is to demonstrate that the goals are valid and should be taken into consideration. The practice, then, may vary based on the experience and what comes up through the testing.

“Realm vs Realm and Class focus” Part 2 – Tank love

The changes to the tanks have landed:

Armsman, Warrior & Hero Changes

Heavy tanks are considered the defensive juggernaughts of the realm they fight for, and as such, will be getting added abilities and improvements to their classes.

Note: These abilities are currently only available on newly created characters. All of these will be available on previously created characters in the near future. Functionality of some spells are not yet finalized and will be adjusted accordingly. Please feel free to include any feedback you have in a bug report while testing these abilities on Pendragon.

BattleCries – This is a new system that provides burst defensive bonuses to self and group for Heavy Tanks.

– Level 5 Shout – Taunting Shout: Frontal cone taunt that causes mobs to turn and fight the tank or at least increase the hate amount towards the tank. Re-usable every 60 seconds

– Level 30 Shout – Bolstering Roar: PBAE 250 radius attack that breaks root, breakable snares and mesmerization effects on group members. If the tank is CC’d (other than root) they will have to purge themselves or wait for CC to wear off, then fire this. Re-usable every 10 minutes.

– Level 40 Shout – Rampage: Group shout which increases the chance to resist debuffs by 35%. Lasts for 10 seconds. Re-usable every 5 minutes.

– Level 50 Shout – Fury: Self only shout which gives a 50% chance to deflect crowd control spells (similar to the RR5 Bonedancer ability), and increases resists to magic spells by 50% for 10 seconds. Re-usable every 15 minutes.

– Level 15 Spell/Ability – Metal Guard: Group buff which increases the ABS of group members by 3% excluding the caster of the buff. If there are multiple casters of this buff within the group, then this will stack up to a maximum of 9%. Other players can receive the benefit of this buff, but the caster of this buff cannot so it is possible for another heavy tank to have a bonus to his ABS if another heavy tank joins the group and casts this buff. Duration 20 minutes.

– Level 35 Spell/Ability – Climbing Spikes: Self castable buff which lasts for 30 seconds that grants Climb Walls. The player will have the ability to climb walls for a short duration of time. While climbing a wall, any hit that does more than 31 damage will knock the player off the wall. Furthermore, any hit which knocks the player off the wall will hit for double damage. If the buff runs out while the player is on the wall and he/she does not reach an area where they can walk again, they will be knocked off the wall. Re-useable every 60 seconds. (Note: Currently this spell does not have an icon which makes it unable to be used. This will be addressed in a future version of Pendragon.)

Passive benefits

– Upon choosing the path of a Hero, Armsman or Warrior, the player will be granted 50% siege resistance automatically. This includes all siege damage types including Boiling Oil.

– Upon reaching level 41, the Hero, Armsman or Warrior will begin to gain more hitpoints as they progress towards level 50. At each level beyond 41 they gain 1% extra Hit points per level. At level 50, they will have the full 10% benefit.

– Upon reaching level 41, the Hero, Armsman or Warrior will begin to gain more magic resistance (spell damage reduction only) as they progress towards level 50. At each level beyond 41 they gain 2%-3% extra resistance per level. At level 50, they will have the full 15% benefit.

On a first, quick read these were my comments:
I don’t like these at all. Too overcomplicated, too situational, too percent based. Not easy to use and understand. Not really “fun” based. Clunky.

Then I gave them some more attention, one by one.

The taunt cone and the root-breaking roar are good (I hope in decent animations). The “Rampage” is probably the more lacking, too short, weak and situational to be actually usable. Fury+Bolstering Roar is an interesting combination and may bring some more fun to the 8vs8 (with some actual combat instead of sudden deaths at a glance). Metal Guard is well planned for the stacking possibilities. The Climbing Spikes are an original implementation of the ladders often requested. What if a group of tanks climb a tower while it is undefended to go right to the lord?

The passive benefits are good.

I expect the other classes to start ranting a lot. It’s hard to figure out the balance implications without observing all this in the practice.

The changes to the larger RvR are severely deluding as expected, instead.

Still waiting for something “truly RvR” that would impact the game.

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“Realm vs Realm and Class focus” patch – Case 2

Hail to the redundancy! Autoreblogging for the win!

“This is the song that never ends, yes it goes on and on my friend, some people started singing it not knowing what it was, and they’ll continue singing it forever just because this is the song that never ends…”

I just wrote down a summarized version on F13 of what I already wrote here and that I finished to like so much more than my previous attempt. So I decided to archive it as well. More concise, more effective, straighter to the point. And without the excessive preaching.


Not really trying to ressurrect a thread that has been derailed in every direction, but the last patch that is going live in December is way, way, way more interesting than the fluff that was in Darkness Rising and that originated this thread. It’s not as crazy as what is happening to SWG and not as significant as the development in Eve-Online, but at least they are trying and I (mostly) like what I’m seeing.

The patch is branded “Realm vs Realm and Class focus” and should focus on some significant (I hope) changes to the classes (tanks in particular) and larger RvR, but for now the first piece we got on test is a rather HUGE and further nerf to ToA:

– The locked versions of all artifacts will no longer drop from encounters. Players will now only need to have encounter credit and the scrolls to receive the unlocked artifact.

– The location requirements for leveling artifacts have been removed. All artifacts now earn experience from all enemy player and/or monster kills anywhere and anytime.

– Many artifacts now level at a faster rate.

– The drop rates for all scrolls have been increased and the rate is the same for scroll one, two, and three for each artifact.

– Artifact encounters that spawned less than twice a day have had their spawn frequency increased.

There’s more to it, in particular generous nerfs to many encounters. This seems to effectively solve most of the complains about ToA (have – have not) but we are left with the other critical flaws of the standard servers: buffbots, damage scale out of the roof and clumsy interface to trigger the powerful effects bound to the artifacts (drop out of combat, right click on icon, left click on macro, reenter combat). So they removed most of the accessibility barriers of ToA but we still have the negative impact of its other parts.

About the rest we have only hints through a letter from the producer:

Heavy Tank Enhancements: We are looking at a variety of improvements to make heavy tanks more fun and interesting to play. Our goal is to reinvigorate tanks to enable them to perform better in their role of taking damage, safeguarding their realmmates and leading the charge into battle.

RvR Enhancements: We are implementing several new systems that will help to focus the players on larger RvR contributions to the realm, instead of small scale PvP. We already have a large number of rewards for PvP but your feedback has indicated that you want to see more rewards for other RvR activities. Activities such as siege engine destruction, and repairing walls and doors, are being looked at for Realm Point rewards (as well as many other activities).

The process for class enhancements will definitely take several patch cycles, and serious testing and revision. We have some very interesting things planned for upcoming versions and think that you will be excited about all of them. We will keep looking at all classes as we move forward to better enhance their gameplay value and fun. We are currently gathering more feedback and will be taking more polls in the near future. This feedback will help to guide us for future versions in the upcoming year.

Everything from our polls is important to us, and we appreciate your assistance in helping us to determine the priorities. We will of course continue to make other improvements and bug fixes to the entire game as we move forward. Thanks again!

Which is all good, I just would like to see some significant enhancements, features or systems that don’t come just as a bonus, timesink, timeout or a mix of all these… Something that even a brand new player could see without reading the patch notes and feel motivated to play.

I’m not really sure if I like this Jeff Hickman or not, but at least he seems driven by consensus (which is again both a good and bad thing).

I blame and praise in (nearly) equal quantities.

Tomorrow we should be served the second part that should be more “on topic” with the title. I’m curious to see what they are planning.

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DAoC starts its own (soft) revolution

(shorter version here)

I’m lagging behind here, the news is already a few days old. I was aware of it but certain parts of what I wanted to say are still rather open and I was unsure how to organize my comments and ideas.

The big news is that Mythic, once again, severely nerfed the Trial of Atlantis expansion (the title on mmorpgdot was hilarious: “DAoC: Monsters Nerfed in Upcoming Patch”).
This time for real:

– The locked versions of all artifacts will no longer drop from encounters. Players will now only need to have encounter credit and the scrolls to receive the unlocked artifact.

– The location requirements for leveling artifacts have been removed. All artifacts now earn experience from all enemy player and/or monster kills anywhere and anytime.

– Many artifacts now level at a faster rate.

– The drop rates for all scrolls have been increased and the rate is the same for scroll one, two, and three for each artifact.

– Artifact encounters that spawned less than twice a day have had their spawn frequency increased.

If you’re wondering when the next bit of 1.81 is going to Pendragon, the answer is next Tuesday. If you’re wondering when all this is going live, the answer is tentatively the second week of December. Subject to change without notice, of course.

All this along with lots more nerfs about specific encounters. They really went radical this time, or at least so it seems by reading the patch notes (it’s not the first time that the game then behaves differently from the impression you get by reading).

While the great majority of the players are rejoicing, the usual BoardWarrior doesn’t agree:

The game now has no challenges as of 1.81B. I see you’re going in the right direction, Mythic, but I think you have taken it too far on the changes making artifacts have no challenge. All of the GOOD players, which is the majority of the game’s playerbase, will now leave as their accomplishments mean nothing to anyone or anything anymore.

“Challenge”? And where is the challenge in the endless farming of DAoC’s dull PvE? CMN.

That was a *pretence* of challenge just obtained through nearly insurmountable accessibility barriers in order to qualify and differentiate the players between “have” and “have not”. A critical flaw in a PvP game. And a noob, critical overlook for Mythic.

These changes appeal me (despite the fact that the efficency of the RvR to level the artifacts should also receive a huge boost. And I mean from killing players, not dumb monster bashing). I think I loved ToA. Or better, I liked what was being offered but I definitely hated *how* it was offered. These changes are in fact about the modality more than the content and are finally a last attempt to solve the accessibility problems that were evident (to me) since day 1. ToA was and still is Mythic’s most ambitious and feature-rich expansion. It’s sad to see all that work wasted and the whole expansion removed to hype and launch the “classic” servers. It’s not acceptable even for me that I chose to play there. Still, it’s not enough to convince me to move back, even if I’d like to forget the classic server branching as a bad dream (btw, they ditched the “evolution server” idea, which is both a good and bad thing).

There are in fact other basic flaws that are still currently unaddressed and that I still consider game breaking. The first is about the buffbots, and the other is about the awful controls to use the effects on the artifacts. This on top of the damage scale that went through the roof and that made the combat simply unfun and too based on the use of this clumsy interface and special, situational powers (also known as I-WIN buttons).

So I feel like hanging between two worlds, both appealing for different reasons and both flawed. How this split was good for the game and the community? These changes arrive late and don’t resolve the situation. They just make harder the choice between the two server types and once again I wish Mythic took a decision back then, instead of splitting the problem without really addressing it in a way or another.

The patch in its entirety is starting to look rather interesting and daring, in fact the main focus won’t even be about ToA but about “Realm vs Realm and Class focus”. Too good to be true? What does this means? For now we have only a vague letter from the producer which left me with even more doubts. I won’t comment the class enhancements till they reaveal some actual details, but the changes to the RvR, in the way they are put, worry me a bit:

RvR Enhancements: We are implementing several new systems that will help to focus the players on larger RvR contributions to the realm, instead of small scale PvP. We already have a large number of rewards for PvP but your feedback has indicated that you want to see more rewards for other RvR activities. Activities such as siege engine destruction, and repairing walls and doors, are being looked at for Realm Point rewards (as well as many other activities).

I’m one of those strongly supporting some added incentives to the RvR but the hints given in these few lines aren’t so appealing. Realm Points given for siege engine destruction, repairing walls and doors? Well, how are these minor activities fun? How these minor incentives (I suppose) are going to support a more fun gameplay and have an impact on the game?

I’m all for them. Handing out some decent RPs for those activities makes sense and is a positive addition. But it’s also something minor that hasn’t in any way a true impact on what was required: “focus the players on larger RvR contributions to the realm, instead of small scale PvP”. To begin with, why they should do this? What are the reasons?

Two days ago I logged in Lamorak and had the most fun in a long while. It was because of a large battle right outside the central keep in Albion that kept shifting from the keep walls to the bridge and a Midgard tower at the other side of the river. It lasted more than a hour, with incessant, involving combat and almost zero downtime. Both factions had their moments and the RPs flowed (more than usual) for both. From more than one player I heard, “this reminds me why I play this game”. And it was true because the scope of that battle, the keeps and towers to support the line of the defence and the deployment of some siege engines between the waves, are definitely some of the unique traits of this game.

This was one rare (for me) example of an involving, exciting battle that had fun gameplay to offer for every player involved. Sadly this scenario isn’t as frequent as I’d like (it’s more like an exception) and the average RvR is often filled with endless downtimes and general boredom (running around, wait to organize, sit at a keep, endless “tennis games” between siege engines at long range and so on). Long ago I imputed the responsibility of these “flaws” to the immobility of the gameplay and a good step forward was done with the possibility to raze the towers. As I pointed at that time it was a positive step in the right direction.

I find the 8vs8 ganking squads scenario dull and boring. It’s a type of repetitive gameplay that doesn’t really add anything deeper than an efficient Realm Point farming. It’s fun as a diversion, but after a while it has nothing to offer. I believe, a bit presumptuously, that most players rinse and repeat this mostly because it’s the best pattern available to pile up Realm Points, the true “functional” purpose of the RvR (give a look to what happens in WoW, for another similar example, link below). This is why the reason to focus on the larger RvR scope is to underline and valorize those quality points that DAoC has. Or even:
“The best route should also be the most fun route.”

Repairing walls and doors and the siege engines destruction are an important part of the RvR and it’s right to reward the players for them. But they aren’t what makes this type of RvR “click”. It’s not where the fun really is and it’s not what should be truly valorized. The focus must be on something concrete, on the gameplay. Not just about adding yet another bonus. The whole point is about making this type of larger scale RvR more appealing and bring it closer to the 8vs8 RPs farming efficiency. The keeps must retain some value and become the true focus of the RvR instead of just a theme park for pick up groups. The game right now rewards the INDIFFERENCE toward RvR objectives and the elite guilds are as selfish and isolated as possible. It’s totally nocessary to leave them the possibility of this choice. But, and here is the core point, I don’t find good to let the game REWARD that type of attitude. Because the beauty of this game is about being part of a realm and play together for a bigger, shared goal. And not selfishly care for your own treadmill and static farming scenario to reiterate ad infinitum.

It’s a duty of the game (and the designers) to promote that gameplay where DAoC shines. And make it an habit and the norm, instead of a rare exception.

Those two “levels” of the game (8vs8 and actual RvR) will always exist. But it’s a good idea to start to balance them in an effective way so that the game can finally focus on what its most unique and precious traits are. In four years nothing new was really added and the appeal of this game is still basically the same. It may be late but it’s still important to focus and expand that potential that has been limited till now. Most of the server boards are completely filled with fights between the 8vs8 ganking squads and the “zergs”. The players almost overturn the actual purpose and rules of the game to form their own “code of conduct”. Does this remind something (+ here)? It’s not the only reason but this happened mostly because the game always rewarded and encouraged that type of 8vs8 gameplay. What happened is that the players magnified and standardized that pattern.

The players learnt from those rules and coded a behaviour that could fit at best with the context. But it’s the context that set the behaviour. Not the player, nor the “fun”.

This is why I believe that it’s fundamental to focus on the parts that are more relevant and give some more depth and dynamism to the actual RvR. A bonus for some side activities is a good thing but just glides on the surface and won’t truly affect the game in any way. It’s just a timid, forgettable “sop” for those players that have to perform those boring activities. The game shouldn’t only reward those. The game should reward and encourage (and, in a second time, develop) what is already fun and involving. Maximizing its value because this is what drives the fun and what keeps the players satisfied with a type of gameplay that is hard to find somewhere else.

Those, along with the dynamism, are the goals I consider important for the RvR. Finding the proper way to reach them may not be so easy and will require some other crazy brainstorming sessions. Still, I think that having the goals clearly set may help to find and focus on the effective solutions and ideas.

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DAoC and slash commands: too deeply in love

Mythic has always had this deep love for counterintuitive /slash commands that you have to dig into lenghty patch notes and then learn. If there’s something absolutely archetypical of the accessibility problems of these games it’s about /slash commands. Direct and cumbersome heritage of the MUDs, the dawn of the mmorpgs. Sometimes I wonder if aren’t these to really define the separation between the second and the third generation of mmorpgs. Have you ever had to use slash commands in WoW to complete a quest? Obviously not. The basic design of the game begins there. In DAoC, instead you’ll have to /dig, /search and /use, for example. And for the last of these you have to exit combat, open the inventory, target the item, right click on it, type /use and press enter.

We aren’t talking about “sticking to what we love” here. The unbelievably clunky, counterintuitive process to trigger an effect on the artifacts was introduced with ToA, not even at the game release when they were in serious crunch time and couldn’t spend time to polish minor details (the controls are a minor detail?). This is brand new design. And for this reason absolutely unacceptable.

I’ve already wrote about this. If you cannot go back and redo the controls/UI for the multitude of commands the game already has, at least do it right for THE NEW ONES that are being introduced from now on. We are back at discussing “bad habits”. This is a terrible one that should be eradicated. So lets take again the test:

“When a new patch is ready to be released publicly, one of the devs should browse through each fix and new feature to see if it passes a simple test. If the test is passed the fix can be approved and published, if the check isn’t passed the new feature/fix must go back in development and adjusted accordingly.

The test is simple: a player should always be able to understand a change or use a new feature without reading the patch notes.”

Now lets see how the test goes with the very last patch notes (not official but confirmed):

– Added a new /xpoff command. This allows players to stop receiving experience points if they choose (primarily for use in the battlegrounds). This feature can be turned off by using /xpoff again. Players will be reminded that they have this feature on each time they enter the game, but not every time they would have gained experience points. Note that experience messages will not print when the player has experience turned off.

– Added a new /rpoff command. This allows players to stop receiving realm points if they choose (primarily for use in the battlegrounds). This feature can be turned off by using /rpoff again. Players will be reminded that they have this feature on each time they enter the game, but not every time they would have gained realm points. Note that realm point messages will not print when the player has realm points turned off.

Test: FAILED.

Of course these patch notes aren’t even official and not set in stone. If things change I’ll be more than glad to note it. But then I’ve observed how Mythic works for a long time and what I expect is that those command won’t change once the patch will be pushed live. The sky is falling? Obviously not. These are very minor commands to be used only by veterans. By the time you need them you’ll be aware that they exist. I’m not ranting on this specifically, I’m just using this as a blatant example of the awful bad habit that definitely ISN’T a thing of the past as it should. The actual priority should be to redo from zero the controls for those /use and /use2 commands that have to be used in combat and that damage directly the gameplay.

But lets focus on this example, instead. This is a very delimited feature. Why would Mythic implement two commands, one to block XP and another to block Realm Points? Because some players enjoy to play in the BattleGrounds. These BGs are accessible only at certain levels and are also capped by RPs. If you “go over” you have to move on and cannot keep playing forever in the same BG. So the purpose of the two commands is about giving these players the possibility to “freeze” the progress of their characters and keep enjoying that type of gameplay till they want. Summarizing some more this means that this is essentially a BattleGround feature.

Was it too hard to simply place an NPC right inside the starting keep in each BGs so that all players could go talk to it to block/unblock the two options? This could have erased the burden to discover and learn another two /slash commands. The commands themselves may even remain as they are but the NPCs could have helped new players to be aware of the function without having to dig it. It could have even be justified within the game as some sort of recruiting campaign called by the king to reinforce these zones that are more in need of assistance against the other realms (which also makes sense since the BGs are sometimes deserted). Maybe this could have even been the beginning of a new path that could have brought to new, special rewards (visual recognizability, special armors or banners, new titles, craft orders dispatched by the king for player crafters to be executed – just for some entry-level and conventional examples of what could be possible) only accessible for these special characters that decide to commit to these BGs and not continue on their conventional treadmill. Valorizing something that the players have demonstrated to appreciate (the smaller and more accessible scale of the BGs compared to the actual endgame RvR).

But instead Mythic keeps developing the game at the minimum common denominator. If there’s something to implement, they strictly do the bare skeleton. God forbid something more elaborated.

Again this is just a minor example and just an excuse to bring up an old problem.

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DAoC: driven by polls

DAoC has another fancy poll. Democracy is overrated.

I voted for RvR and it’s kind of obvious that it’s the option that will win hands down. A different poll where the players could rate each option would have been more way more useful than stating the obvious like this one.

Imho, DAoC needs some serious involvement on ALL its aspects worked at the same time:

The point is there’s a nearly infinite list of things to consider and a whole lot of work. You can start from everywhere. But Mythic always lags behind. The do a little step and then completely change the focus instead of progressing on every front. They put out some changes in a couple of months and then completely forgot everything for months and years, till the point everything crumbles and they have to go back for another try. This just doesn’t work. Since there’s a lot to do, this process should be steady and progressive. It cannot be done in chunks and it needs a definite plan ahead with all the steps set. That is also open to integrate new feedback coming from the new features that are added.

What about the “Evolution” servers, instead?

EDIT: It seems I was totally wrong, from the look of it the players seem to have voted for yet another inconclusive spin at the balance wheel.

Of course the balance is important but here the players chase a chimera that just won’t bring the game anywhere. Chasing the balance is like running in a circle, you’ll never feel satisfied about what you got and, in the meantime, you wasted precious resouces that could make the game substantially better.

Honestly, I couldn’t care less if a spell does 190 damage instead of 200. Of course this is important and must be integrated with the various reiterations. But focusing exclusively on this one equals to lose completely the scope of the game. Working on the game balance should be mandatory, not optional.

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