The problem of loot rolls and merit

Adhering to the rule of “it’s best to write while thought is still fresh”, this post is a follow-up on Syp’s poll on protocol which comes with many layers of telling subtext. To continue where I personally left off in my comments there, here’s my general opinion on the matter of rolling for boss loot in that particular situation:

“3rd one for me although I don’t disagree with your choice either. if you feel okay to roll, you’ve every right to, as you said you WERE there too for the kill. but personally, I would feel obligated to let the other clerics have first pick, out of courtesy and empathy for sticking all the way through such a (seemingly) sucky run / group. which they might have had a fair share in of course, but yeah….I don’t see boss loot as an isolated thing; often the last boss in a dungeon really is also the best one for loot and the whole reason why people run it for 30 minutes or however long. I’d feel like a freeloader because I was only there for 5mins. but that’s me and I wouldn’t berate someone in my party for choosing differently (although if they outrolled me like that I would grind my teeth).”

“On further consideration, I think you made a legit choice within a system that is inherently flawed. the fact that raid guilds replace the whole rolls system with DKP, which pays a lot more tribute to meritocracy, is proof of that people don’t get rewarded for just showing up* but spending time. one could apply this to the much shorter dungeon runs too but for obvious reasons of time and missing authority, one cannot establish such ground rules for pugs.” [*as in showing up just for one boss]

I hold to that, although I think it needs some clarification. I will repeat too that I think Syp was 100% in his right to make that choice which is in accord with the system that Trion installed in the game. I would however argue that it’s not a very good system which is proven by situations such as this one – and that there’s still such a thing as individual choice.

So why is the system so bad?

It honestly shocked me a little to find so many comments along the lines of “if you killed the boss it means you deserved to roll for loot, period” – particularly because I think “deserving” has the least to do with anything. Does the system justify the roll? Yes. Does merit justify the roll? Absolutely not.

I think every last MMO player knows that dungeons consist of a great deal more than just bosses (unless they’re called Trial of the Grand Crusader); why else are there dungeons in the first place instead of loot piñatas lined up for us to plow through? Of course the entire journey through a dungeon, the trash packs, the little traps and annoyances along the way that make up 80-90% of the duration, are how players earn the rite of passage to bosses and loot. And therefore too, bosses and boss loot are not isolated events but rather the result and reward for beating the whole dungeon. Sure, for beating boss mechanics too – but if you’ve ever been to harder dungeons or heroics, you know that everything that comes before and in between bosses is often just as tough or even tougher than many of them. And it’s certainly more numerous.

Add to this, that in many dungeons the final boss is also the boss with the best loot – not necessarily because he is the hardest, but because it took friggin’ AGES to get there! I’d like to name good old WoW Scholomance, just to name one example: even in its 5man version, Scholomance was absolutely huge and a group could easily spend ~2 hours in there (certainly a PuG). The very last boss in Scholo was Gandling who, in comparison to the onerous 2 hours before him, wasn’t all that hard – but he dropped the important dungeon set one headpieces that everyone wanted.

Now, had you joined my party right before Gandling (which is the boss I had to farm the most in vanilla WoW due to loot luck from hell) and then outrolled me on the drop, you can bet I would’ve been absolutely devastated and furious. Did you have “a right to”? As long as no other rules were established – I guess. Equally, I would’ve had every right to grind my teeth though. Just because you can do something or have the right to do it, doesn’t mean it’s particularly thoughtful or “deserving”. If people always got what they deserved…well, what a beautiful world that would be.

To make a long story short, my main critique addresses the reasoning that such rolls are deserved – which I believe Syp asked about, partly also because he did have second thoughts. There’s a reason why the moment raidguilds start out, many replace the need/greed-roll system with their own version of DKP (or something similar) and it’s not just because raiding is a generally more time-consuming undertaking than PuGs: while DKP harmonizes loot spread for a guild for example, it also comes with the notion of being meritocratic – players get rewards due to the time they spend raiding overall, not just for showing up for one single boss. DKP is nothing but the attempt to make a currency out of merit and while it isn’t perfect on all accounts, it’s worlds better than random rolls.

To use WoW again as example: just because you killed Arthas once with your new guild doesn’t mean you have any right to his loot – I’m fairly certain that a vast majority of the guilds out there would agree with me. And why? Because the time you spent on getting him down is nowhere close to what other guild members spent. That’s what DKP is about, it doesn’t matter that the raid instance is bigger (the loot is therefore better too) – it’s the same basic question of time/effort spent vs. reward earned.

For obvious reasons you cannot use a meritocratic system like DKP in a PuG. There’s the issue of time, lack of organization and authority and erm…..in the end how big a deal is a dungeon drop, anyway? I realize many players probably don’t care so much either way (which is fine). I think I have made my point though. The rolls-system is flawed and while that isn’t your fault, you still have a choice. It scares me a little when we stop questioning our own choices just because we’re living in a system that tells us what is okay and what isn’t. No system is perfect.

But then…

…. I am not quite finished! There’s in fact another valid question I could bring up in favor of rolling: why should Syp be penalized by entering a party that has already advanced as far into the dungeon (which he had no way of knowing)? In some MMOs this even means being saved to the instance with no chance of re-running it the same day. Why shouldn’t he roll on the item when he actually joined to help and made killing the boss possible in the first place? What if he spent 30 minutes in a queue and this is his only chance at a group for the day?

Now that would be, in my humble opinion, a much better justification. If you choose to go with this reasoning, I would not only say he had every right to roll – but he actually deserved to. If PuGs are a deal of “you give some, you gain some”, this strikes me as better “payment” or contribution on his part than pushing a couple of spells for five minutes. If we take all circumstances into account, his contribution consisted of more than merely five minutes.

Bottom line: I don’t think this would change my own choice of action, but it’s a more acceptable reasoning to me personally. Considering it took writing a blog post (plus checking spelling!), I don’t like anyone’s chances to garner equal sympathy or argumentative effort from a random PuG-member though. What it shows me is one (more) reason why I never liked PuGs much in WoW or Rift and why I prefer reward systems à la GW2 these days. You might not have time to agree on complex loot rules in a PuG, but the game can most certainly come up with a better designed, in-built system for you.

All the ways that WoW changed me

In a recent conversation on what types of reward GW2 may offer players at max level and whether it will be enough to satisfy more reward-driven players, it dawned on me how much I’ve changed my outlook or rather my expectations towards certain aspects of MMOs – since WoW. Now, overall I certainly haven’t changed my mind, I still love the genre for the same reasons: a vast world, beautiful fantasy settings, secrets to explore, character development and real people to meet on the way. Yet there are aspects I’ve fundamentally changed my opinion on or rather my wishes in; maybe I should say that they’ve been satisfied to a point where I no longer appreciate them. And WoW has certainly much to do with it.

I’ve never been a particularly reward-driven player, or rather I would say I’ve never cared so much for items. Items and reward are not the same thing although they usually coincide, especially in MMOs as item-centric as WoW. I play for challenge, for that feeling of accomplishment first and I play for the team; shinies are nice in addition but they lose all value if there are no requirements and restrictions. That’s when I feel “rewarded”, when I overcame an obstacle with others – these are the things we take with us. I would argue that there are actually a lot more players playing for the reward of challenge than realize it – but then, I guess it’s a valid point that if GW2 offered nothing for all the collectors and achievers, that would hurt its popularity. Item drops are of course not the only way to satisfy in this department: I expect them to come up with special dyes, lots of cosmetic items and things like titles or rare pets. If that creates enough opportunities to “show off” in the game I can’t tell, but whoever expects to collect tier/pvp sets and weapons in abundance will get disappointed in GW2.

Personally I couldn’t care less. Whatever value I might ever have put in rare gear or upgrades has been completely and utterly smashed by WoW. To say that I got tired and sick of loot wouldn’t do matters justice. Mind, I still like cosmetics and GW2 offers plenty of that plus the great dye system; but whether I own anything special, expensive or best-in-slot is the least concern in my mind. I loved how my bags hardly ever filled up last beta (and yes…I know about that ‘deposit collectible’ feature….now), give me less loot ArenaNet!

So, that’s my number one for the list of “things that WoW changed for me”. Of course there’s more –

1) Item / gear rewards; 
See reasons explained above.

2) Raids and endgame; 
Raiding was a big motivator for me to play WoW. I did little else in vanilla and never stopped raiding until Cataclysm. WoW was obviously very focused on its raiding endgame by design, but I simply loved the big scale raids, coordinating so many people, the teamwork, the whole guild effort involved.

The present: These days I loathe the idea of raiding – the whole organisation, the downtimes due to numbers, the headache that is recruitment. I want a close-knit team of a few good men ready to roll in a few minutes. I want content to be accessible for a small group of quality rather than a big ass raid.

3) Roles and healing;
There’s never been a more passionate priest or healing coordinator than myself in WoW. That is the one thing I can say with confidence. I’ve played my holy priest through 6 years of WoW and countless raids that I coordinated. I loved being a healer, being needed support, having that sort of responsibility.

The present: I haven’t played a healer, not even a support class ever since WoW – not in Rift or any other game I dabbled at since. I love my aggressive pyromancer in GW2 and if anyone’s ever going to ask me to join their group just for healing rains, they can drop dead! Oh sweet, sweet mob-centric gameplay, oh sweet not carrying anybody! As for the holy trinity in general, I doubt I need to repeat here how great I think it’s missing in GW2. I prefer to be recruited for playing well rather than for being a role. So far I’ve seen zero indication that GW2 enforces any type of stricter group or spec setup. People have been asking a lot of things in general chat this beta but they haven’t asked for tanks and healers. Healing, control and ressing is everybody’s job or nobody’s.

4) Specs;
I’ve spent unimaginable amounts of time writing guides on raid specs, reading up on stats and talent builds during my time as a raider and coordinator. There wasn’t much freedom there for me; the WoW endgame raid scene was big on things like cookie cutters, optimization and meters.

The present in frank: I don’t give a shit what spec is best and I choose my traits as I go. In fact, I love experimenting and I’ll play whatever is the most FUN and efficient to ME. I won’t ever respec again for anyone but myself.

5) Mounts;
I always liked the idea of a mount, that loyal companion carrying me through the world. I’m fairly traditional in that I prefer horses plain and simple (alternatively a ferocious tiger is okay too), stuff like giant turtles, spiders and erm….green polar bears with shades just seems weird. When WoW introduced flying mounts I was in heaven……at first.

The present: I don’t miss a ground mount in GW2 and I certainly never want to play a classic MMO again with flying mounts. I’ve missed being on foot in WoW, that sense of distance and all the chance encounters. And yes, I could’ve walked through Azeroth and yes occasionally I used a waypoint in GW2 – still, grouping and raiding as much as I did in WoW, getting everyone to wait for me wasn’t an option. It’s also simply a different feeling if the game leaves you no option but to be on foot. As for flying mounts, they were so fast and so convenient, one must wonder what the whole zone design and all the mobs below were designed for. To be rushed through once while leveling and never return?

These are mainly the things I came up with when thinking about all the ways WoW changed my preferences. One can certainly argue that some of the change is due to the effect of time; I’ve been there done that for a very long time, I moved on to wanting different. And while that may play a part, I still don’t think it’s the main factor but rather the way how these aspects were designed and realized in WoW: I might not feel so sick of loot today if WoW hadn’t pledged itself to putting every candy-store out there out of business. I might be less tired of big raids if….literally everything in terms of grouping, recruitment and social control hadn’t gone down the drain ever since WotLK and LFG. I might still enjoy healing had there not been such a rigid focus on roles that left healers with nothing much to do but staring at healthbars and getting most of the blame by lolkids. I might still be interested in what an ideal spec is if I wasn’t so full of spite for anything resembling a cookie-cutter. And I might still find joy in mounts had not every player in WoW run around with one million gazillion mounts to choose from that would all run, fly, crawl, hover and whatever else at five-hundred percent LUDICROUS SPEED (or however much it is by now).

Yes…..I actually might!

Time for some questions!

It would be most intriguing to hear how other longterm ex-WoW players think about the effects WoW had on them (or alternatively another MMO you’ve played a lot), how it might have changed their outlook or wishes for MMOs to come. So, what about you?

Do you think WoW has changed you as a player? In what ways?
Do you think extreme experiences (burnout) have to do with it or is it just boreout / want for new?
How much of the ‘blame’ would you attribute to game design, how much to your personal playstyle choices?
Have your expectations towards a new game changed due to WoW or another MMO you’ve played?
Do you wish for different things in GW2 than you used to wish for?

I realize in retrospective that this could be an excellent meta-topic to share and debate among a wider circle of bloggers, to examine all the dis-/similarities and get a more universal look at the impact WoW has had on the current MMO player base. Ever since the WoW era, many have moved on to blogging about different games but WoW is still a common denominator among us. Well, maybe someone else will take up these questions sometime.

[UPDATE: Since there’s already been few reactions by other bloggers asking to write their own take on this topic (which is awesome), I will definitely make a follow-up post with a list of all responses in a couple of days. Let me know in the comments / on twitter if you’re writing your own post (if you haven’t already), I’d loathe to miss somebody. Thanks – I look forward to some great posts and/or comments!]

The MMO Tribute and Weekend Blog Updates

I’ve spent the past few days skimming through an immense archive of MMO screenshots, from early beginnings in Final Fantasy Online (I don’t have anything older stored anymore) on to four folders full of WoW to different titles I’ve played whenever I was jaded with the game and those I’ve played after. Needless to say, it put me in a painfully pensive and nostalgic mood, reliving some of the time I’ve spent in virtual worlds, looking at pictures of old friends who are no more and remembering some of the epic fun and silliness we shared. There is nothing that sets such an MMO picture album apart from real-life photographs; I’ve been to Vana’diel and Azeroth, to Hyboria and Telara, I have lived there and all the memories are memories of real things, real experiences and emotions. It’s been a hell of a journey and I don’t regret one damn minute. When I close my eyes I can be anywhere I want to and that has always been my escape.

Pewter recently examined what makes “the soul” of an MMO which is not an easy mission. It’s a question that can only be answered individually, what it is that draws each of us to virtual places and what we seek there. I once attempted to name that magic that makes games compelling to us, that draws us in so completely and utterly like only the best of them achieve. Where does the soul of an MMO lie? To me it’s many things come together, as it is no doubt for everybody (if not necessarily the same ones): it’s atmosphere and setting, a sense of world and scale, it’s in randomness and freedom, balance and cooperation. Longterm, the social component has the power to change everything. I am also a sucker for shiny art and beautiful music, but then you knew that already.

However you like to call this soul of adventure, I’ve found it there preserved in my screenshots, a decade of fun and wonders documented – a decade of me made up of different pieces. And it hit me that for each of those worlds I’ve visited, I left something of myself behind. That is the painful nostalgia, that’s what it means to truly immerse yourself in an MMO – it doesn’t come for free. We are all paying a tribute.
And maybe that’s why as the years pass, the longing increases and the older we get newer games make us feel less and less. For every world we’ve traveled, we leave a part of ourselves behind…until there’s nothing left to give. “When I was young I was a fool…”

The gallery is up and new blog is shiny!

My gallery is finished now and I’m very happy with it. It was initially only meant for my recent GW2 beta pictures but I’ve always wanted an online documentary that shows all the places Syl has been to and to go drown in nostalgia whenever I feel like it.
Unfortunately I haven’t found too many screenshots of the older games – I’m especially missing my Age of Conan folder that I seem to have lost. I realized too, that I haven’t taken nearly enough good screenshots in Allods, but then I’ll be back – I am always back to Allods.

Since I’ve spent so many hours picking pictures, I’ve finally also tackled another big to-do on my list, which was re-designing the entire blog to make it feel more personal to me and expressing the MMO / gamer thematic. The assorted screenshots were a big help and I absolutely love the new look and header image! This might get me to stick to blogger for a while longer, absolute pain in the ass that it is sometime.

Speaking of which, naturally the overhaul made me lose my blogroll again – this is the third time in a row now and I’m sick and tired of it. I finally found a way to store the links for good (doh), however I had to reproduce all of my blogroll pages manually (from memory) again and I am still missing at least 10 blogs on it. There’s only so much I can remember out of 55 links. So, in case you’re one of my blogroll users or find yourself missing all of a sudden – it’s quite possibly not intentional and I hope to restore the last few over the coming days. Letting me know is also much appreciated.

A good weekend to all of you out there paying the MMO tribute – and yes, one day I will tackle the even bigger headache that is switching my blog over to wordpress!

[GW2] Pacing and experience points

As more and more feedback on this past GW2 beta weekend is surfacing on blogs and official forums, it gets apparent how different players experienced certain aspects of the game, such as the events, personal story, pacing and leveling process. What becomes all too clear too is that while there are still issues in these departments, many players struggle more with their own mindset, habits and internal “MMO programming” than the game itself. They ask for the kind of guided ride and road to success that is characteristic of WoW’s questing model where it’s hard to go wrong and the game will always tell you where to go next.

GW2 isn’t that kind of MMO. It’s nowhere near a sandbox, but it does return some agency to the player and asks him to find his own adventure. There are different paths to success and while the heart quests are in fact ordered by level, you can easily wander off and lose yourself in other activities. Off the beaten track, players will find surprise and wonder that are easily missed on the highway. To some this presents an overwhelming sense of freedom and disorientation at first. I would claim that this is only temporary – but it’s strong enough a feedback that many bloggers have recently asked the question of whether the playerbase can handle different? Tremayne has gone as far as stating that if it does not, that would be a grave setback for the evolvement of the entire genre. I happen to agree with him.

Azuriel argues that part of at least his own feelings of disconnect spring less from the novelty factor and more from ANet’s failure to accomplish a more open and free playstyle fully: why design a guided personal storyline that is not in sync with the new questing philosophy? And why indeed stick to a leveling system at all, instead of skill-based progression? I have asked this last question before and personally I would have preferred not having any levels in GW2. It seems to run contrary to the game’s overall concept.

Be that as it may, I would like to take the opportunity to point out a few ways of gaining experience points in GW2 while you’re engaged in PVE. I’ve read comments of players claiming that you need to PvP or engage professions in order to keep up a good “speed” or that they were forced to constantly repeat the same events; well, I cannot confirm any of that. There are possibly pacing disparities between some of the maps (apparently Queensdale has such issues), but there are still many more ways to gain experience if you make use of them. This won’t be big news to seasoned MMO veterans, but may be useful to those asking for guidance.

Ways to gain experience points while questing in GW2

The following pointers are based on my own beta experiences. I am the errant traveler / explorer type who likes not to focus on getting the job done as fast as possible. Coincidentally, I never had pacing issues this beta or the issue of not knowing where to go next – mostly because there was nowhere I needed to be. I did plenty of heart quests and events but also general exploration. I did not PvP once nor look into crafting. Here’s what I recommend instead –

1) Zones consist of more than hearts
While the heart quests give you a general sense of direction and offer useful rewards, they’re only an excuse to be at the right place where many events can happen. I found the heart quests rather boring and trivial compared to the rest. If you’re hunting EXP, keep in mind that zones offer many more points of interest than just hearts. Do the trait point challenges, check out special sites and also discover all the waypoints – they yield EXP!

2) Joining / Assisting in ongoing events
All events can be joined at any time and rewards will be dished out according to participation effort. You do not need to wait for an event to re-start, although you are free to repeat them (hearts are not repeatable). Likewise, you can join other players in killing mobs and get EXP for that – grouping is not required.

3) Following through a chain of events
Heart areas have the tendency to literally “be at the heart” of different events being triggered all around them, at various stages of progress. Spend time in these areas and check them out. Often events will continue with a next step or then suddenly the quest NPCs are attacked and offer a next chapter. This can easily occupy you for 20 minutes or more and lead all the way to killing a big baddie with fifty more players.

4) Returning to / repeating events
You may repeat events for EXP. Besides that, it makes sense to return sometime because there’s always a chance for more to happen or to experience scenarios you had missed the first time around. When I visited Hoelbrak and took this picture, I had no idea that other players had previously fought to restore that statue (thanks Rakuno for pointing this out!). For me that means I will be back to see that part of the event myself.

5) Resurrecting allies
Over the course of events many NPCs will die, as much as players. Ressing folk on the way yields plenty of good EXP, in fact more than if you had just killed a mob instead. It is also recommended to res NPC guards and defenders because they will support you in freeing areas or beating bosses.

6) General exploration
Like for most MMOs, wandering around and discovering all parts of a map yields good EXP (and achievements). Don’t forget about cities here and their numerous waypoints. Hunter made a great overview of all the jumping puzzle sites he discovered this beta – did you happen to find any yourself?

7) Gathering / crafting
I did not personally look into crafting yet, but while you’re out there doing events you might as well use nodes or gather herbs on the way. This is not the competitive nightmare it is in other MMOs and is basically easy additional EXP.

8) Personal story
While the personal storyline has some issues at this stage, for myself mainly in terms of difficulty / balance, following through as far as you can yields both EXP and rewards. It is possible to come back later and finish off with more ease or to share your personal scenarios with party members. They will be able to assist you in funny ways. If you are clearly too low to beat the next chapter, the quest tip will say so.

…And that’s pretty much it. Keep variety in your activities and “grinding mobs or events” should be the least of your concerns. Wander off – albeit not into higher level areas. If you still feel bored where you are, take a portal or waypoint to a different map; new hearts, events and trait points await! And lots of EXP for the weary.

ArenaNet really needs character designers!

You’ve probably heard that ArenaNet is hiring character artists, a most prestigious kind of job! After long consideration and making first contact via twitter (to which they still haven’t responded, I can’t quite figure out why), I decided to run for the job and create a first piece of art to illustrate my fitness. The examples given on their page were very helpful pointers in that undertaking…ArenaNet will of course want to find the right type of artists who grasp the art style and aesthetics of Guild Wars 2, keeping things coherent. Luckily all of this applies to me.

(click image to enlarge)

So, what’s your opinion – I believe I have captured ArenaNet’s basic idea for the races and characters in the game? Also, keep in mind this was only a very fast sketch really. I admit I’m not great with the whole environment kind of stuff, but then they’re not looking for landscape artists! ArenaNet pick me, pick me!

[GW2] An altered questing experience

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Maybe the most profound impression this last beta weekend has left me with, is the questing experience in Guild Wars 2. I am reluctant to even call it “questing”, so overused is this term ever since World of Warcraft and so heavy with negative meaning. What I’ve experienced instead in GW2 is adventuring in the truest sense: being a traveler on an unknown road, inquisitive and curious, ready for chance meetings and whatever the world may present me with. Now, we’ve known for a while about ANet’s different approach to quests – the free for all, public and dynamic events. But knowing this or having read about it somewhere does nothing to prepare you for how it really feels to travel the roads of Tyria. You have to do it yourself. You have to be there and spend a couple of hours before the message sinks in with all its gravity.

It was maybe 8 hours into this second beta, when I had seen a big part of the Norn starting area and began to extend my reach, visiting other places like Queensdale (Humans) or the Plains of Ashford (Charr), exploring maps in greater detail. I was around level 18 and had just helped a traveling salesman to get safely to market, when it hit me: there is no quest log.

Ye gods….I have no quest log!

I can’t express properly just how liberating it felt to realize this, that there was no “homework” for my character. No predefined road. In GW2 it is not the quests that drive you from A to B, to discover certain areas or the next quest hub. Instead, you simply wander around and by blundering onto a site (often it finds you), you are presented with an ongoing situation or are asked for help. That is when an event marker or summary will appear on your screen – but it will disappear again as soon as you leave this region or if you fulfilled your mission. This means your screen is empty when leaving events behind and you also don’t just accumulate more and more jobs. The only ongoing, railway type of questline is your personal story and that one waits for you in patient and unobtrusive fashion. The only time I did consult my zone map was in order to avoid too high level content or to check whether I hadn’t accidentally missed a corner.

This difference in approach, that quests and events are tied to locations rather than to your character, makes a huge impact on the enjoyment of exploration. One may justifiably call this a great paradigm shift from the classic, WoW-shaped questing system of MMOs. Rather than already knowing where to go and what you’ll have to do there, you have to figure it out on site. Add to this that events will usually let you assist in several different ways and have several stages or chapters, depending on when you got there.

Things don’t stop there though: the questing experience becomes even less linear once you realize that you really want to go everywhere – that it makes sense to go everywhere. With the level down-ranking in place (your HP constantly changes depending on where you are) and flat leveling curve, it does not matter where you go to do events, gain experience or karma points, as long as you steer clear of higher level content which is rather quick on the ball punishing transgressions. In fact you do want to visit alternative places especially to earn extra skill points. The bottom line is that there are no strict “starting areas” anymore. All the maps are yours and the world feels bigger than ever. Feel that there’s not enough to do on “your map”? Well then, move your butt somewhere else! Pacing is not the same concern when you have so many areas to choose from.

All these innovations have added a great deal to my enjoyment of this beta weekend and made for the kind of immersive gameplay experience I haven’t had since Skyrim. ANet has achieved a splendid thing and I look forward to them improving the system further where balance and rewards, impact and cooperation are concerned. I will not complain about these issues though; at this point in time I am simply too happy with the overall concept realized in this upcoming and visually stunning MMO.

Talking about stunning…

To say that the world of Guild Wars 2 is breathtakingly beautiful, even on a PC as dated as my own, falls horribly short. The visuals and art style are far beyond anything I had personally hoped for and the wonderful soundtrack of Jeremy Soule (which could be more frequent in places) adds further depth and atmosphere. I’ve stood under a pine tree showering me with snow; I felt the sea spray on my face.

My most remarkable moment of the entire beta was in Godlost Swamp though: standing in the middle of a shallow lake, an eagle flew by me and then circled around me maybe four times. Then, he actually plunged into the water, caught a fish (I assume..) and soared up into the sky. I LIVE FOR THIS SHIT!

And because it was all so wonderful, I decided to create a small screenshot gallery (not mobile friendly) with some of the most beautiful shots I’ve taken this weekend. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do! And I hope the third beta weekend won’t be too long!

[GW2] Four degrees of Elementalism: Dyes for every occasion!

The second Guild Wars 2 beta weekend has almost ended, for me anyway, and this time around I can say that I had lots of fun – and no login issues, no overflow, no lag wahey! There’s been worlds between this beta experience and the last one for me, I finally had time to focus and immerse myself in the world, questing and exploration. As can be expected of a beta there’s still work to do, especially in the balancing and functionality / polish department; I personally think ANet shouldn’t rush it, a third beta weekend seems required. There are also group PvP mechanics and the trait system to rethink which I personally found boring after the revamp.

While taking lots of notes for a more in-depth look at questing and force-feeding my screenshots folder (the world is AMAZING!), I’ve taken some time to look at dyes in GW2 and admittedly I spent most of my gems, including the 2000 gems gift on random dye caches from the gem store! The paltry sum of 110 dyes I was able to collect in total does not begin to scratch the surface of the monstrosity that is dyes in GW2 – there are so many hues with the wildest names that you will eventually spend hours sorting and checking them out. Thank God there’s a favorite function!

Since a big part of ingame armor looks the same and does in fact come as a ‘blank’ for you to dye yourself, dying your gear frequently is an integral part of character customization in GW2. As a magic wielder with four different elemental attunements at his disposal, there is no excuse for slack in this department: a mage gotta look his part! Get your dyes straight all ye pyros, rain makers, world shatterers and storm callers, there are combinations aplenty for every type of magic!

The following screenshots show some dye combinations I came up with for my elementalist while bearing different attunements in mind. There is obviously switching going on during and between combat, but I imagine somewhere down the line many elementalists will still choose a sort of ‘home spec’ for themselves, an element they identify with most. Anyway, it was fun experimenting with so many colors and I believe this illustrates the potential of the dye system and just how much they affect the overall look and feel of a character. All combos are displayed on the devout set and all images are expandable – Enjoy! (And don’t you just love how cloth armor actually looks like cloth in this game!)

Fire Elementalist – My personal favorite! (Nr. 3)
Water Elementalist
Earth Elementalist
Air Elementalist

The Times they are a-Changin’. Quo vadis, MMORPG?

It’s been a while; life has partly been an exhausting job-hunt but also there’s a strange mood I’m going through after a decade of MMO playing, hyping, dissecting and criticizing. This is not another post about how someone’s jaded with his hobby or how gamification zomg-ruined the MMORPG genre – but then, the scene has changed a great deal and I’ve never felt it more than right now.

Last week, in a rather head-over-heels act of fatalism, my videogame “home forum” of over ten years has closed down the doors of its Online/MMO Games sub-section and merged a great many of the other sub-genre forums into one big fat gaming board. And it’s not the fact that I used to be admin there but rather the underlying meaning of another chapter come to an end, that stings me. Many years ago we’ve already passed a similar cross-road: at the time we ran a very lively and geeky RPG forum – that was the era of the big JRPGs and console pearls. That was the time of Squaresoft, Konami and Capcom.

Then, 64-bit consoles happened and Microsoft joined the scene with the XBOX. From there, the classic RPG niche went rapidly downhill. Less and less titles of quality were produced; mainstream games were on the move and even staple companies started focusing their design efforts elsewhere. Technological progress soon became a selling point over long-winded storytelling, setting and immersion. And so, the RPG forum had to go. Not much sense in keeping a sub-forum where five people keep discussing the same three games. The RPG forum got replaced by an Online/MMO forum.

Only few years later, we’re in a similar position. “Almost all games are online now” and “there’s no need for a sub-forum about the same three MMOs” were the main arguments. Can’t really argue with that; the only active MMO topics for this year were GW2 and WoW, with a bit of Tera and TSW in the mix. If we keep it strictly MMO and exclude games like Diablo III or League of Legends, 2012 is a year of two major games and one of them is an expansion. Meanwhile, the market is flooded with “solo online RPGs”, coop games or half-baked MMOs that some marketing goon in a overpriced suit came up with over night, because “that TV show would make a good MMO, let’s make one!”.

………….

I don’t even know what to think about the future. What will we be excited about in 2013 and beyond? Smaller niche titles à la Pathfinder? Or will we move on to the online coop mode altogether? Is Blizzard’s Titan going to be the last big attempt at this genre – and will we actually be happy to play in a non-fantasy world plastered with product placement?

Quo vadis, MMORPG?

Well, I don’t know about you, but this weekend at least I’m going back to the Guild Wars 2 beta and I’m quite looking forward to a smoother playtime experience. ArenaNet have addressed a great deal of issues, I was especially happy to hear about the fixes for the overflow mechanics. More on that next week.

Other than that, I’ve had some fun playing Team Fortress 2 with my comrades – who’d have thought that mowing down enemy lines with a Heavy could be that much fun?! Also, my indie-spree continues and I can only recommend Steam’s delicious Humble Indie Bundle, ain’t no bigger bang for your buck! A word of caution about Amnesia though: nerves of steel are advised! I didn’t make it past the second hallway, but then I am a sissy. Happy weekend everybody and enjoy your MMOs while you still can!

NBI – Different ways to contribute

I’ve noticed people on twitter asking how they could show their support for the ongoing NBI which no doubt you must have noticed by the amount of blogger advice currently being offered all around this colorful bazaar we call the blogosphere. Maybe you feel like adding another voice to the list of topics where bloggers share their personal experience and helpful tips – maybe you feel reluctant about this or dubious how to possibly contribute anything that hasn’t been written already. The reply tweets included a link to the NBI forums and how to sign up for becoming a sponsor. What if you’re not looking to sponsor though but support the cause in a different way?

I remember when I started blogging; I had been a reader of the blogosphere for some time before that which was partly an inspiration to open an MMO blog (not my first blog ever, but my first gaming blog). I remember reading some blogging advice at the time by Larìsa and Matticus among others and helpful as they were, I knew that in the end I had to find my own way of writing and doing things. I knew I needed to give myself a chance to experiment, to not heed any rules or famous do’s and don’ts and most of all to screw perfectionism. Truly. I don’t believe in guidelines much; I believe in authenticity, learning by doing and that any type of blog has its audience. The only mistake you can make (technical aspects aside) is to try and copy someone else. In general, the world would be a much better, happier place if people learned to compare less. That’s what some bloggers mean when they say “write for yourself”. And be patient.

I remember therefore how happy I was when my first posts received some reactions, be it another blogger stepping by to say hello or leaving a short comment. Every blogger starts out the same way, alone – so receiving comments is like an acknowledgment of your existence at first. They prove that your blog is getting attention and that there are readers, real breathing people, even if the big majority of them are silent. I will always remember my first post ever and the people commenting on it; and up to this day the comments we leave one another, the insightful discussions that spring from one blog to the next, the linkbacks and exchange are what makes blogging such a rewarding experience. Blogging is a social medium that thrives on more active interaction and social dynamics. As with all good things, establishing such channels and bonds takes some time but they are worth it.

This is why I try to make small welcome round-ups on MMO Gypsy every now and then; to put the spotlight on newcomers (newcomers to me) that caught my attention and in memory of how it feels to start off. There are more bloggers who regularly do this too, like Spinks, Tesh, Liore or of course Hugh from the MMO Melting Pot who does not only share linklove daily but features specific newbie blogger round-ups. When I have less time or don’t manage a list myself, I try leave a comment and /wave on blogs I spot for the first time. That’s no chore for me or ‘job’ – but then I am lucky in that I enjoy leaving comments (long ones too as some of you might know!) on other people’s blogs as much as I love to write my own articles. The two inspire each other.

And this is what you can do for the NBI too, without specifically signing up as a sponsor: visit newcomer blogs and leave your blogging neighbour a note, a warm welcome or heads-up! Have a look at the collective topic where they’re currently signed up (and where you can also find short blog descriptions usually). There are many different blog focuses and you will easily find a few that might correspond with your personal preferences – or maybe you like picking some at random and see where it takes you.

http://www.lioreblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/nbi.jpgThis is what Syp’s initiative is about, highlighting newcomers. Besides receiving tips, it’s a wonderful way for them to get some exposure and attention, to feel seen and part of a greater circle of real and approachable people (most of them anyway!). That’s where your support comes in, very directly at the roots of the idea. Hopefully, some of this will make a more lasting impact in the blogosphere, too – the month of May won’t last forever, but there will always be newbie bloggers around the block. By visiting them, commenting on an interesting point or including them in a round-up, you are actively contributing to what makes the blogosphere a vibrant and dynamic place to inhabit, full of interesting encounters and crossroads. All in only a few minutes.

This is not exclusive to older bloggers, by the way: whether you feel like a freshman or not, visit your next or favorite blogs, let them know you exist (don’t be shy!) or link to articles you enjoyed reading. Before you know it, attention and feedback will find you – what you send out will find its way back to you and more (and in different ways than you might think).

The unsavoury Case of Tera’s regional Morals

With more and more armor and boob complaints on the female character models in Guild Wars 2 popping up, it struck me how quiet the blogosphere has been in regards to Tera – and what has been going on there in terms of character representation and “censorship” over the last couple of months. I wonder: is it a sign of the more western oriented blogosphere’s disinterest in this MMO, or have players just given up on discussing delicate issues where Asian games are concerned? Well, here’s some background:

Act I) In April 2012, Tera’s publisher announces the removal of ingame blood splatter effects for the EU version to meet the legislated 12+rating requisites of the EU market. The blood effects remain in the Asian and US versions of the game as Tera is rated mature in the USA anyway. Of course, European fans are in uproar after this, petitioning the publisher to remove this evil censorship from hell. Frogster reacts by promising a “gore slider” for a later patch.

Act II) Accompanying the necessary adaption of Tera for the European market, the appearance and armor of the controversial Elin race gets changed to meet “western standards”. These changes are exclusive for the NA and EU market and unlike to the blood censorship case, they are no direct reaction to legal concerns. To cite Frogster’s explanation:

“[It was] not to comply with a demand from any official board, but because those characters in particular could have attracted to the game a population of unsavoury users, and it is part of our responsibility to protect our younger audiences from them,” he explained. 

“All partners involved in the project decided to ask Bluehole Studios for a solution, so they created new textures and designs for Elin wear. We are sure you all agree that this effort for child protection was the right thing to do. We all did, here, at Frogster.”[source]

The rationale behind this official statement is so cringe-worthy that unsurprisingly, the critique following it was as numerous and diverse as can be, burying completely what might be a good and valid concern at the core. But before I get to the different facets of this issue, judge for yourself just how effective the Elin changes are between the NA/EU and Korean version: Youtube documentary

While the more obvious sexual innuendo was toned down where open cleavage (particularly odd as they have no noticeable breasts), belly buttons and mini-panties are concerned, the adapted Elin armor still features many pieces that western society (and I am sure Asian society too) considers sexually alluring: high boots over naked legs, short dresses or skirts showing underwear and our favorite high-heels. While I certainly agree with some of the commenters that the censored armor DOES look better (for various reasons), there are still pieces that make it hard to grasp the systematic behind the armor changes.
Furthermore, taking Frogster by their own words, if you truly mean to remove sexual appeal of game characters, you should also consider secondary attributes such as stance, movement or voice. 

…But that’s not really the point, of course. It is just a half-assed solution of a hard-pressed publisher fearing financial backlash. Whether you agree that the Elin are children/infantilized characters or not, whether you agree or disagree if sexualization is a concern in video games – what bugged me the most about this whole charade is the way it got handled.

Layers of cringe

I’m not going to address the main problematic of this topic which has been discussed to death elsewhere, because I am frankly not up for the usual, derailing discourse we already know so well from female characterization topics. I think nobody wants to explain why “it’s not just a game” or why it’s not just “a matter of artistic integrity”, especially not for a topic as delicate as this one. There are of course thematic differences; we are not talking about social privilege and marginalization (although there are in fact no male Elin) or the differences between sexy/attractive and sexualized characters. What so many like to cloud in heavy semantics is that Tera’s Elin raise the question of sexualized children in the media and pedophilia on the internet. There’s not much room for abstraction and layers in opinion here. The topic is a very legal concern in most countries.

Ironically enough, Frogster acknowledge this themselves: they say that Tera does not wish to “attract unsavoury users” and that it’s a matter of child protection. But oddly, children need only be protected in the western world. The threat is very real, but erm regional!
If the topic at hand wasn’t such a dark one, I’d go ahahahahah at this point. Not just because of the pretentious, baloney explanation but the underlying message that pedophiles only exist in Europe or the USA! Unintentional quintessence maybe, big ouch nonetheless.

So let’s get this straight: Because pedophilia only exists in the USA/Europe and those children should be protected from potential online harassment, the armor of the Elin race in Tera got changed. Slightly. Everyone else in the world is just fine! Also, everyone knows that western society is just overly sensitive (and prude).

That’s me translating Frogster’s statement for you. I wish every publisher did take their self-appointed social responsibility this seriously!

Reception, Perception

As mentioned before, there were plenty of negative reactions to the Elin changes; some justified in my eyes, others not so much. Misguided fandom gets particularly bizarre when design features such as bare midriffs or high-heels suddenly become the epitome of one’s personal freedom and how DARE YOU take my panties away from the Elin!!! Miraculously players surface as spokesmen of artistic freedom who never before cared much about what the Elin wore prior to the changes. But then, the internet has always been an overly tolerant home to stupid. I wish there were spaces where one could discuss such matters in peace, with calm rationale but yeah nevermind.

Personally, I don’t care much for the hairsplitting that is being done for the Elin’s obvious childlike appearance and their “alien-ness” (you know – they look, walk and sound like kids but they are not!). If you play the escapism card, then vote for characters that do not copy real-world stereotypes. If I glue a tail and furry ears on a child and say it’s not a child it still looks like a child. If I go on and dress that alien in sexy outfits, it still looks like a child with furry ears and tail in a sexy outfit. Do I think MMOs are flooded with pedophiles? – No. That doesn’t change that it still looks like a child with furry ears and tail in a sexy outfit.

I think it’s important to highlight a few things in general and in regards to this article:
– This is not a question of whether you believe the Elin in Tera are (like) children
– This is not a question of whether you believe the Elin armor is/was sexy or not
– This is not a question of whether you believe sexy children are part of artistic integrity / escapism
– This is not a question of whether you believe pedophiles in MMOs to be an issue
– This is not a question of whether you believe that video games have moral obligations
– This is not a question of whether you believe all censorship is from hell

…..these are questions too, some of them very good ones, leading deep into the realm of social and cultural values and morals. Topics for another time and place.

What drove me to this article was the way Tera’s publisher handled a serious issue. Their statement was clumsy, their reasoning flawed with double standards. If you go and acknowledge the issue of pedophilia as a game publisher, you don’t present it as a “cultural difference”. If it’s about your morality, then that morality should be absolute (why design the Elin that way in the first place?). But hey, I get it – it’s hard to wiggle your way out of this one: that you’re in deep shit for trying to market an Asian style MMO with a sexy, childlike race on top of the usual upskirt action. Convincing the silly west to embrace the naked ladies is one thing, but when it comes to children they’re not up for joking around. Much. We could of course now engage in a discussion on why the Elin raise no same debate in Asian countries – or whether a fantasy MMO really needs to feature a blatantly sexualized race of kids with bunny ears?

You dwell on that.