Pumping Irony

July turned out to be a slow month. Other than making sure I showed up for Van Hemlock’s Tuesday Noob Club each week, I really didn’t have any MMO commitments. I did some Guild Wars on and off, and spent time in the Wizard101 beta. All the drama over Flagship and Hellgate: London actually got me back into the game a bit. I’d left my marksman at a lowly level 12 last winter, and he’s now level 20! I still think it’s a fun game, and it’s great to see an RPG that plays so closely to the feel of an actual shooter. Keeping in mind of course, I’m only able to play the hunter classes, since they go into first-person view. Hellgate’s third-person camera and control is simply atrocious. Why console developers can nail third-person and PC developers can’t seem to pull it off if their lives depended on it is beyond me.

I just noticed that two of the three games I mentioned aren’t even MMO’s. Wizard101 is awesome but once it launches the players will most likely be the tween market it’s targeted towards, so I won’t be playing the live game simply because of that. I was also in the beta for Holic, which is one of the F2P games but for what it is, seems to be executed quite well. A surprising level of production quality (dare I say “polish?”) and the graphics are cartoony without going totally cel-shaded or anime. It’s more like a marriage of near-cel-shaded characters with Mythos-style terrain art. Holic is already live now. One thing with some F2P games is that while they don’t try to mask the shallow grind-heavy game play like our Western titles do, they do explore boundaries and push the envelope in areas our developers don’t touch. In Holic’s case, they’re embracing User Generated Content in the form of User-created Quests (UCQ) and User-created Dungeons (UCD) (their phrases) but I have not taken the opportunity to explore this aspect of the game yet. Usually when I see an F2P game that lets players set up those little merchant shops that lag the hell out of social areas (hmm… do “F2P” and “social” even belong in the same sentence?) I automatically presume the botters have already taken over. If that’s the case, I’m not seeing it yet in Holic, and for a change the in-game community has actually been friendly, helpful and… nice? It may not last long, F2P tends to attract the less-than-savory members of the internet but for now it is a refreshing change of pace from what I normally experience when I delve into the nether regions of F2P.

I’ve actually been spending more time on the 360 than the PC, especially the past week or so. I still have several titles I’d picked up last year that I haven’t completed, but I’m mostly having a blast getting through Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2 and Rainbow Six: Vegas 2. For RPG’s I’m working through Mass Effect and Marvel Ultimate Alliance. Mass Effect is cool but still hasn’t sucked me in. One way or another I will eventually complete it. I’ve never actually managed to stay interested long enough to complete a BioWare RPG so by gods this will be my first, come Hell or high water!

A long-time friend of mine also got a 360 this week. His young daughter wanted one so he went in half with her to get it. He didn’t actually make her pay half, but in an attempt to try to get her accustomed to not being so stingy with her allowance (she’s apparently saved it all… over $1,000 in the bank and she’s not quite 9 years old yet!) she thinks she did. So, when he’s playing rather than her, he gets me back into Gears of War (amazing that I completed the entire single player game and barely any Achievement Points to show for it) for co-op mode. We’ll try scrimmaging a bit soon, I always sucked at GoW online. A little Crackdown, too. We’re interested in picking up games we can co-op in as well as play competitively.

Finally, this past week I decided the burnout from over-playing LOTRO in May was cooled down, and I’ve made my return. I doubt I’ll be doing much with my alts since they’re only 10 levels behind my main character, and repeating too much of the same content too quickly will just burn me out again. Besides, I’ve still got a few levels to go and a ton of content to get through (not to mention some raids!) before the Mines of Moria are opened to us. When I left in May, I had just gotten the three-piece Vestments of the Grove armor set for Arwellyn. The past couple days she completed her first Legendary Trait: Lore of the Blade, which is cool to be dual-wielding a staff and sword like Gandalf in the movies. I’d been saving a nice caster sword (nice +Fate stat bonus) but almost immediately after equipping the trait, some kin-mates and I headed to the Misty Mountains for Epic Book 5, Chapter 2 where we fight our way through a goblin camp, up the narrow trails to finally slay their leader Gurzmat. One of the rewards for completion is Doom of Gurzmat, an excellent caster sword with even more dps and more +Fate as well as +Agility. On top of that, it’s the first weapon Arwellyn has acquired with glowing, pulsating special effects! I also took her to Angmar where she has the first piece of the Vestments of Fém set, the slippers. Just looking at the stats, I’ll say it looks more like a set for soloing, very little +Fate but plenty of armor rating, Will, Vitality and Agility. The mobs have been hitting hard anyway at these levels when solo, so Arwellyn has put aside her Lynx dps pet in favor of the original Raven to use the popular “flank and spank” method of solo combat. The raven flanks more than the lynx or bear, and one of the flank skills provides a self-heal to keep Arw going while she and the raven whittle down the mob’s morale.

I also tried a little more PvMP, running my Reaver for a little bit then realizing I’m just horrible at faster-paced MMO melee PvP, I rolled a new Defiler, which is the creep’s new (as of Book 13) healer class. I’ll do a writeup on that later this week maybe. In any event, despite the fact LOTRO’s PvP currently has zero impact on the world, having that whole zone to play in rather than a smaller battleground, and multiple keeps to fight for control over just makes the whole experience so much more fun and rewarding than WoW’s ever did for me. Hell, PvMP alone gets me extremely curious to learn just what the hell RvR really means and how it fully impacts the world in WAR. Turbine’s developers have always been outspoken fans of DAOC, which shows in their keep/raid implementation in the Ettenmoors, and they’ve dropped hints that they want to expand PvMP and gradually start giving it more impact or meaning upon the world.

I’d read a few random forum posts concerned that Hellgate: London would vanish into the ether today (or tomorrow, being the first of the month) with all the drama this month over Flagship Studio’s implosion. This morning after I brewed coffee, I decided to maybe make some progress towards level 21 with my marksman but the servers were offline. Uh oh! Turns out it was just maintenance that lasted quite a bit longer than the anticipated one hour. So, the game lives on to fight another day.

Gamasutra (among other sites) has an article today Korean-based T3 Entertainment (creator of Audition) has announced they are setting up a development studio in San Francisco (and are hiring) to continue development on Hellgate: London, Mythos, as well as work on other unnamed titles.

Flagship’s (former) IP’s are getting handed around like hors d’oeuvres…

Turbine posted a huge article with details of the upcoming LOTRO expansion, Mines of Moria.

Remember in early June, Turbine announced they’d secured $40 million in financing, and one of the major investors was Time Warner, parent company of Warner Bros.? Mines of Moria appears to be the first fruits of that labor: Turbine will be self-publishing the expansion, but Warner Bros. is handling the distribution.

For players, the interesting part is that Mines of Moria will be distributed in digital format for existing LOTRO customers, or in-stores as two different boxes:

• The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria Complete Edition will include the original The Lord of the Rings Online™: Shadows of Angmar™ game (Volume I), all content updates released since launch, and The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria (Volume II). The Complete Edition will be available at retail stores nationwide and offers new players who wish to journey through the most complete and authentic recreation of Middle-earth the full, award-winning experience.

Very cool! Sounds like this will utterly replace the in-store boxes of Shadows of Angmar, rather than simply being an expansion box. Similar to how EQ2’s Echoes of Faydwer came as the full game and all prior content which I thought was a great decision.

• The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria Collector’s Edition will feature the content of the Complete Edition as well as compelling digital and physical items for collectors. Limited quantities of the Collector’s Edition will be available at retail outlets in a unique leather-bound book packaging and will include:
  • 3 exclusive tokens that can be exchanged for the player’s choice of 8 different in-game items
  • 22″ x 22″ premium quality cloth map of the Mines of Moria
  • Special gold-plated ring complete with chain and pouch
  • Mines of Moria poster
  • The Lord of the Rings Online Art and Music Collection with the official Mines of Moria Soundtrack
  • A full color Collector’s Edition Starter Guide

• The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria Digital Expansion is a digital upgrade that will allow existing subscribers to The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar to continue the ultimate interactive adventure into the vast, terrifying and unparalleled world beneath Middle-earth.

I am really a fan of digital distribution these days; the clutter from so many boxes gets to be ridiculous. However, I have the Collector’s Edition of Shadows of Angmar, so I’ll likely bite the bullet and do the same for Mines of Moria. It’s a shame companies don’t come to a compromise: charge me half the difference between the digital price and the CE price to gain the in-game items and choose one of the external perks (I’d choose the soundtrack for MoM) and just ship that item to me. That would be a win-win situation — Turbine gets extra income, and I get the important in-game CE items plus the only other perk of interest to me, all the while not having to find space for another video game box.

I said I refused to level until I got into a Fornost group, but I realized two things. First, I was mistaken about Fornost’s level bracket so dinging a level or two wouldn’t trivialize it with all grey mobs and quests. Second, I was so close to 45 I likely would have dinged while inside and been unable to train. So, I got with a kin-mate and we knocked out the last few quests I had in Evendim and completed all those chains. I’m completely through with Evendim quests! When I say that, I’m referring to the adventuring quests. There are still a handful of reputation token quests but Arwellyn isn’t high enough level to actually collect those tokens, so why waste valuable quest log space? The Annúminas instances await as well, but I have another 5 levels before they bring me back to Evendim.

Like many areas in Eriador, Evendim is downright gorgeous but there’s so much running swimming back and forth between quest locations and NPC’s… let’s just say there’s a reason the zone’s nickname is “Everswim.” Turbine already has small boat models built (see the screenshot below) so I really wish they would add craftable boats as the next hobby. Not only would it be great for crossing bodies of water faster than swimming, it could also tie into the fishing hobby we already have. Not to mention the role-playing and other travel opportunities. Look no further than Vanguard to see that players love new means of transportation. Being able to craft or own a boat is such a nice feature, and the ability to give anyone a ride takes the cake. Turbine: do it!

Afterwards, I decided to take a trip into Evendim’s northern neighbor, Forochel, which was introduced back in Book 13. Just like going from Rivendell into the Misty Mountains, entering Forochel is quite a climb, giving a valid reason for the zone’s climate and perhaps providing some sense of immersion as well. I will say that LOTRO is very impressive for its vertical terrain. LOTRO and Vanguard are the only games I ever recall playing that have this degree of vertical development the player can actually traverse, and it packs more punch that one would think. I used to be impressed with how high Ironforge was. Now, after climbing Weathertop and other places in LOTRO, as well as Vanguard which has some impressive locales at incredible heights, Ironforge is merely a foothill.

So, we ended up in Korkea-järvi which is the first Lossoth camp with quests and a stable master. Grabbed a few quests, even managed to complete one, but Arwellyn’s quest log is full once more. Sigh. I’m looking forward to adventuring in Forochel, but in addition to seeking a Forochel adventure, I’m already getting continued pressure to finish Lore of the Blade so it looks like I’ll be adventuring in Angmar and the Misty Mountains first.

Oh, the skating Lossoth? I want skates! After boating, skating can be the next hobby… And, am I the only one who thought the Forochel stable masters should have given rides on dog sleds rather than horses? Oh, I am? Hmph!

Turbine has hinted in interviews recently that they are interested in exploring sensible means to include User Generated Content (UGC) into their games. That doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll be seeing a LOTRO UGC SDK (Holy Acronym, Batman!) any time soon; indeed such a system could be reserved for a new game which was built from the ground up to accommodate UGC. Although, if any MMO screams for such an SDK, it’s DDO. [SDK? Or UGCDK? Ugh... I'm getting a headache.]

In any event, Turbine just put up a job posting for a UGC Engineer position:

Job Summary

The User Generated Content Engineer will play a key part on a small team dedicated to inventing new technologies and approaches to letting users create content for MMO worlds. The ideal candidate will bring a strong background in C++ programming, a passion for creating polished and intuitive user interfaces and the entrepreneurial drive to help us create a new paradigm for how users interact with virtual worlds.

In a perfect example of just how casually I often play my console games, I just this morning completed Tomb Raider: Legend. (Completed as in the story, not 100% of the achievements.) I bought Legend along with my 360 but I’d heard the main complaint about the game was its length. So, true to form, I’ve managed to stretch the game out this long. However, I recalled last year hearing Legend was such a success that they wanted to re-launch the series, and what better way to do that than to remake the very first Tomb Raider in a 10 year anniversary edition. After Tomb Raider 2, the series began a downward spiral they never really recovered from until Legend, which returned to the stellar level design and diabolical puzzles of the original, though it was more concentrated on building up to boss fights. The decline in quality caused Lara and I to part ways after I’d completed TR2, though Legend was a great way to rekindle our relationship, both of us being a decade older and wiser.

So, while I am nowhere near having all the available Legend achievements, I have put some time in over the past week and this morning completed the story line (très cool, by the way). In a moment of near-perfect timing, no sooner had the cinematic ended, the “Complete the adventure” 125 point achievement recorded, and the credits began rolling than UPS knocked on my door with Tomb Raider: Anniversary in-hand, which I’d ordered from Amazon a few days ago. Anniversary uses an enhanced version of the awesome Legend engine, and indeed is available as two DLC packs purchasable over the Xbox Live Marketplace and playable from the Legend DVD. I opted for the DVD version since I still have the stock 20GB hard drive and between DLC, XBLA games, demos and movie rentals, I’m already forced to be very active with my file management.

I did some very light reading on Anniversary as I placed the order the other night. Turns out, it’s not merely a remake but a full re-imagining of the original game. The core plot to the original story is intact, as are the locations the game takes place in. Certain elements of the story are altered to match developments we discover in Legend, however, as well as developing the back story further and filling in details we missed 12 years ago. Now Lara has real motivation for her actions, as opposed to the “shoot first, think later” attitude of the original version. Lara also has all the moves and gear from Legend, including the grappling hook, which again fits in with the re-imagining since the levels had to be slightly redesigned to accommodate and encourage use of abilities Lara didn’t have back then.

The original Tomb Raider is one of the only console games I’ve ever replayed in my entire life. First on the game’s original platform, the Sega Saturn (NiGHTS into Dreams, yeah baby!), then on the Sony PlayStation. It’s been a decade, at least, since I last played Tomb Raider (I no longer own either of those consoles) and loading up Anniversary has not only provided an amazing sense of nostalgia remembering bits and pieces of levels or puzzles, while also doling out a hefty dose of freshness with the obvious graphical enhancements the 360 and the Legend engine provides, but also from the clever alterations in level and puzzle design to encourage use of Lara’s new abilities.

I do plan on taking my time and enjoying the game again, though I don’t know if I’ll drag out the Anniversary experience as long as I did with Legend since the game is significantly longer. Between MMO and PC games, which take up the majority of the time I allot for gaming, and the other 360 titles I’m involved in (most recently GRAW2, R6: Vegas 2, Mass Effect and Marvel Ultimate Alliance) I’ll cycle Anniversary in there somewhere, but I’m really looking forward to not only reliving the great Tomb Raider adventure but also seeing it in a new light because of the enhancements to the game and story.

Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, Hellgate: London lives once more, thanks to a new and mysterious savior: Namco-Bandai.

A Senior Director of Business Development for Namco-Bandai posted in the official Hellgate forums about this recent twist in Hellgate’s fate:

Hello Hellgaters,

I know everyone is looking for an announcement, and we’d love to make one — but right now, many things are in flux and we don’t have all the information yet. As soon as we do, we’ll post here on the forums, on the website, and anywhere else we can find you.

In the short term, please do not worry. The game is up, the servers are not going away in the short term and any major changes to status will be communicated in advance.

I’d like to ask for your patience as we try to figure it all out and chart a new course. We value your community, your commitment, and your passion for Hellgate and we will make sure that any solution that we architect will support all of you as best as we are able.

Thanks again. We hope to have a real announcement shortly.

Lo and behold, Hellgate is also already posted on Namco-Bandai’s game list as well, though no mention of it is on their front page. Initially I thought it was strange to have age verification to reach the game description page when the official site does not, but after browsing their site it seems they merely use ESRB ratings as a guideline and all M-rated games use the age verification. The site does set a session cookie however, so visitors only have to play the age verification mini-game once per visit.

After burning out after my furious, failed, and misguided attempt to push to level cap in May, I’ve been on break from LOTRO. I am beginning to feel the heat wear off though, and I logged in Sunday evening to check things out. Several of my favorite kin-mates were there to greet me, and we immediately fell right back into that comfortable camaraderie I missed so much. I love my kinship! Anyway, since I’ve been out for two months (has it been that long already?) I barely touched any of Book 13 other than a quick visit to Forochel to look around and discovering first-hand just how deadly the cold waters of the ice bay truly are. So, upon my return I’ll have so much content available I won’t even need to “push” myself the additional 5.5 levels. Goal #1, however, is Fornost! I refuse to level any higher until I get in there and properly complete that instance.

LOTRO’s Book 14 content update was pushed to the live servers this morning. Since I’ve been on break since late May I haven’t been paying attention to what exactly Book 14 would contain. Needless to say, after reading the rather lengthy Release Notes, I’m quite pleased and looking forward to resuming my journeys through Middle Earth.

I had thought that Book 14 would bring the Volume I: The Shadows of Angmar story to a close, but Deeds have been expanded to show a Book 15 now. Turbine has not stated (that I recall) how future Books will be labelled, however. Will they continue to enumerate from here, or will it become Volume I: Books 1-15, Volume II: Books 1-15, etc.? I’m rather hoping for the latter, as I’m really enjoying the “living literature” feel of the game’s layout, so continuing to liken the game to writing appeals to me on many levels.

Rather than quote the entire Release Notes here, I’ll just touch on a few of the ones I will enjoy, both as a player in general and as a Lore-master and Scholar in particular.

• Epic Quest: The epic quest continues with world events that open up the adventure to every player across all servers!
• Moria Prelude Quests: Aid the Fellowship of the Ring as they prepare to leave Rivendell and make their way toward Mordor.
• Dungeons: The loot dropped in all instances and raids is being upgraded, and bosses and mobs are being adjusted to make for even better play experiences! Now is the time to prepare for the dangers that dwell in Moria! [Full details in this Developer Diary entry. This is great!]
• Animation Improvements: LOTRO continues to polish the experience! [3 bullet points were listed, but reading through the rest of the notes shows many more animations as well.]
• The Dressing Room UI now supports dye color previewing! You can alter the color of any visible equipment slot to preview how you will look once you’ve applied Dye items to your gear. [Thank you!]
• New dye and wall paint recipes have arrived! Scholars should keep an eye out for ten new dye and wall paint recipes that can now be found in treasure. [More colors, thank you! We can paint our walls? Maybe if I had a house, I'd have known that.]
• You can now Ctrl+right-click on many of the item icons in the game to create an item link in your chat window instead of dragging them to the text entry field. [It's about damn time!]
• Lore-master skills “Light of the Rising Dawn” and “Cracked Earth” - Fixed a rare error that left a book stuck in the Lore-master’s hand when the skill failed to execute completely. [Rare? RARE? Either you guys don't play Lore-masters enough or I use those two skills too much, because I get this constantly.]

Many, many more awesome changes and updates are in this Book, so I’m very much looking forward to jumping back in soon! Sounds like the Monsters got some cool new features, as well as emotes, and I’m really interested to hear what Turbine has planned for the future of PvMP in Volume II and beyond. As far as “meaningless PvP” goes, I find PvMP far more entertaining than WoW’s battleground’s ever were. Here’s hoping in the future, more “meaning” gets added to that sphere of game play.

Sure, it’s a stunt to attract visitors to the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum but personally, my mind is flooded with the Trick or Treat possibilities!

I Want!

I was once again invited to be a guest on Darren and Karen’s Karen and Darren’s show, Shut Up. We’re Talking. (Or as my girlfriend calls it “Shut Up and Stop Talking.” Cute.) Thanks to (way too much; sorry self, we never took a mixology class) Captain Morgan in my drink, I was quite relaxed this time around! Show #30 is up for your listening pleasure!

The Crew:

The Amazing, Awesome and Excellent Karen: Journey’s With Jaye
Darren: Common Sense Gamer
John: The Ancient Gaming Noob
and Yours Truly

The Agenda:

Introductions
Listener Mail
What We’re Playing
Game Project Management: a look at Mythic’s cutting of 4 cities and 4 classes from Warhammer Online.
Long in the Tooth: is WoW officially “old” now?
Blog of the Week
Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog: An unscripted “behind the scenes” conversation that Darren decided to include in the show.

I had a blast recording the show, and I hope everyone enjoys listening to us ramble! With Karen and I both traveling home Saturday, we agreed to start the show later than originally scheduled. With the late start plus Darren recording with his air conditioning off for better audio, we mostly kept on-track with not as much off-air goofing around as last time so our gracious host co-host didn’t suffer a heat stroke or a perspiration-induced electric shock.