Now that the MMO world has become a world of "Get Rich Quick" schemes, seldomly do you have developers or team members that really seem to care. And by "care" I mean, actually take time to address player problems and issues in a timely manner.
But not in the case of the Guild Wars 2 team. You don't need to question if they feel their fans are important. They show it constantly by their sheer number of responses, blog additions and time they take out for interviews. And not just when it's something negative printed about them or their game.
Sure, the FaceBook thing was kind of...strange, but I understand the reasoning for that. They want more fans. Who doesn't? Compared to *Other Game I Will Not Name!* Guild Wars 2 has more information about videos about it by a very long shot.
All together though, the Guild Wars 2 team seems more like a family rather than a team. And I kind of admire that. I feel that is how your work place SHOULD feel. I know all MMOs are about "wars" but tou don't get the best efforts out of people running your business like actual an warzone.
And I should know.
I worked at retail stores.
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Monday, May 7, 2012
SWTOR Subscriptions Down 25%...
...but of course there is a reason.
And according to the diehard fans, it's either never Biowares' fault or it doesn't mean there is anything wrong. Everything is perfect in the land(s) of SWTOR...even if your server has 1 person on it.
Funny. I know.
http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=447469
Today's earning call provided facts that allowed us to finally understand that the dead servers we were playing on weren't just part of our "hater" imagination.
So now, the defense comes up.
On the forum, you have people who once said "SWTOR would surpass 2 million subscribers " saying , "I told you haters this game wasn't dying!"
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ea-sales-beat-targets-star-wars-takes-hit-2012-05-07?siteid=yhoof2
Yes, it makes perfect sense!
Because losing a quater of your playerbase means the game is still growing!
Sometimes, I really believe it's the fanboys that helped destroy SWTOR.
Sadly, it's probably the "haters" like me, that are big MMO fans, who saw this coming long ago. Instead of listening to us, Bioware tried to do the bidding of the people who have no idea what makes a good MMO.
And according to the diehard fans, it's either never Biowares' fault or it doesn't mean there is anything wrong. Everything is perfect in the land(s) of SWTOR...even if your server has 1 person on it.
Funny. I know.
http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=447469
Today's earning call provided facts that allowed us to finally understand that the dead servers we were playing on weren't just part of our "hater" imagination.
So now, the defense comes up.
On the forum, you have people who once said "SWTOR would surpass 2 million subscribers " saying , "I told you haters this game wasn't dying!"
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ea-sales-beat-targets-star-wars-takes-hit-2012-05-07?siteid=yhoof2
Yes, it makes perfect sense!
Because losing a quater of your playerbase means the game is still growing!
Sometimes, I really believe it's the fanboys that helped destroy SWTOR.
Sadly, it's probably the "haters" like me, that are big MMO fans, who saw this coming long ago. Instead of listening to us, Bioware tried to do the bidding of the people who have no idea what makes a good MMO.
Friday, April 27, 2012
Tera Online Head Start
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Just Thinking : Turn-Based Combat Does Not Belong In Any Star Wars MMO
Now, I am by no means a "Star Wars geek" or knowledgable about much of the lore besides the first three movies, KOTOR and Jedi Knight series but...
I've been thinking after watching the Star Wars movies (the first originals) on how a perfect Star Wars MMO would be. You know? The type of gameplay, mechanics and features it would have.
I felt the best way to achieve a good Star Wars MMO is to follow the period AFTER the originals. Either right after the end of Return of the Jedi or around the time period of the Jedi Knight : Academy game series.
Even though I have been playing MMOs for years, it took me a while to understand what people meant by "turn-based" combat. And now that I understand what "turn-based" combat means, I can see why turn-based combat doesn't feel right in some games.
I want to jump right into it though. I think alot of the issues with MMOs is the "turn-based combat" in them. It seems very out of place, especially Star Wars MMO.
I think that combat in a Star Wars MMO should not be similiar to other MMOs. It should not have the type of combat where you hit someone with a lightsaber and it doesn't inflict tons of damage. It should be more about BLOCKING / DEFENSE.
Therefore, I think the animations and gameplay should be based around defending yourself. Where you block until one of you gets lucky enough get a hit on the other.
And as much as I would like FPS style combat, that is usually the first type of combat to become exploited with aimbots and other hacks so...an auto-target system will suffice.
I also think that crowd control skills have gone too far MMOs and if you play SWTOR you will see what I am talking about.
I've been thinking after watching the Star Wars movies (the first originals) on how a perfect Star Wars MMO would be. You know? The type of gameplay, mechanics and features it would have.
I felt the best way to achieve a good Star Wars MMO is to follow the period AFTER the originals. Either right after the end of Return of the Jedi or around the time period of the Jedi Knight : Academy game series.
Even though I have been playing MMOs for years, it took me a while to understand what people meant by "turn-based" combat. And now that I understand what "turn-based" combat means, I can see why turn-based combat doesn't feel right in some games.
I want to jump right into it though. I think alot of the issues with MMOs is the "turn-based combat" in them. It seems very out of place, especially Star Wars MMO.
I think that combat in a Star Wars MMO should not be similiar to other MMOs. It should not have the type of combat where you hit someone with a lightsaber and it doesn't inflict tons of damage. It should be more about BLOCKING / DEFENSE.
Therefore, I think the animations and gameplay should be based around defending yourself. Where you block until one of you gets lucky enough get a hit on the other.
And as much as I would like FPS style combat, that is usually the first type of combat to become exploited with aimbots and other hacks so...an auto-target system will suffice.
I also think that crowd control skills have gone too far MMOs and if you play SWTOR you will see what I am talking about.
Friday, April 20, 2012
OT: Diablo III Beta Error 3003... EU Rages Even Though It's Free
 | |
| Error 3003 |
This is due to Error 3003 which PROBABLY has something to do with the amount of people connecting to Diablo 3 servers because...well...it's free.
So let's just forget that it's free and that the players complaining about the service of something free are being ungrateful...
Thinking about Error 3003 or connection issues on Diablo 3 free beta weekend?
 |
| All These Post And More Were Deleted In About 1 Second. |
No, Blizzard is having none of that SWTOR forum troll nonsense in their house.
Sunday, April 15, 2012
PvP in SWTOR 1.2 is Complete Crap...Unless You're Empire....
...but just so happens that 80% of SWTOR's population play Empire.
So...I took this free "7 days come-back" special from Bioware for people who quit. They wanted us to come back to try the hyped up 1.2 legacy patch and give the game another chance. I decided to try it again because, well, Guild Wars 2 isn't out yet and maybe I judged SWTOR too early but...
...all it's doing so far is making me hate this game even more. There are many things I want to touch on but the major most noticeable thing is the PvP handsdown.
It's almost exactly 50% worse than it was before and worse than any game you've probably PvP'd in.
Yes, even Champions Online and Rift.
Not to mention Bioware buffing/ changing classes in very rushed and sloppy way. And it's not me. I love PvP and found SWTOR pvp amusing and fun before 1.2. Now it's complete trash.
It's hard to describe how the PvP is worse because it was never really that good to begin with, but I'll give you an example:
Before 1.2, you would get a certain amount of rewards if you lose. It wasn't as much as the winner but it was better than nothing.
Now, they changed things to the point that you can get NOTHING AT ALL for doing PvP matches. Literally, nothing. It's now based on medals. If you get very few or none, it's almost if you didn't even play a match.
And this will happen ALOT if you are playing on the Republic. I was just in a match, fighting the SAME pre-made Empire guild over and over. They would stomp us into the ground. This has alot to do with the "PvP" stats in game as well (which I find makes PvP worse in itself) but still let's say that wasn't even a factor.
The fact that you get NOTHING is stupid all together.
It's even more stupid because Bioware KNOWS 100% well that Republic is outnumbered or dead on almost every server. Not only that, on the server I am on, we barely, if ever, have a full team. So it's always 5 +/- Republic going against a full 8 man team of Empire.
I also say Bioware knows this because they are slowly leaning torwards making all the Warzones non -faction based. Which pretty much means Empire will be fighting Empire and Republic will fight Empire. See what I did there?
The sad part is, there are players ACTUALLY trying to play the PvP still. That part I DO NOT understand. For some of these players common sense will just never kick in. The PvP is imbalanced and not fun. Period.
But you know what? Instead of making some long post about this horrible broken PvP sytem, I'll leave you with some threads on the official forum where people are obviously not happy with this change to PvP:
http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=405248
http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=414039
http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=412826
http://www.swtor.com/community/forumdisplay.php?f=76
In fact, the only ones that seem to be happy are the Empire. I wonder why?
With that said, if people want my advise on if they should buy this game...
...then the answer IS NO.
I can deal with MMO developers making mistakes but Bioware just does not listen. They do not test their content properly. They have no clue how to run a MMO or what a MMO needs.
Do not waste your money and time on SWTOR unless it goes free to play or you just want to do PvE single player type things.
So...I took this free "7 days come-back" special from Bioware for people who quit. They wanted us to come back to try the hyped up 1.2 legacy patch and give the game another chance. I decided to try it again because, well, Guild Wars 2 isn't out yet and maybe I judged SWTOR too early but...
...all it's doing so far is making me hate this game even more. There are many things I want to touch on but the major most noticeable thing is the PvP handsdown.
It's almost exactly 50% worse than it was before and worse than any game you've probably PvP'd in.
Yes, even Champions Online and Rift.
 | |
| Just Joined A Game. Republic Losing and Only Had 5 Players Vs. 8. This Happens 90% of the Day. |
Not to mention Bioware buffing/ changing classes in very rushed and sloppy way. And it's not me. I love PvP and found SWTOR pvp amusing and fun before 1.2. Now it's complete trash.
It's hard to describe how the PvP is worse because it was never really that good to begin with, but I'll give you an example:
 |
| If You Play Republic, This Is What Your Score Will Typcially Look Like. Note If You Have Less Than 3 Medals, You Will Get No Reward. |
Before 1.2, you would get a certain amount of rewards if you lose. It wasn't as much as the winner but it was better than nothing.
Now, they changed things to the point that you can get NOTHING AT ALL for doing PvP matches. Literally, nothing. It's now based on medals. If you get very few or none, it's almost if you didn't even play a match.
And this will happen ALOT if you are playing on the Republic. I was just in a match, fighting the SAME pre-made Empire guild over and over. They would stomp us into the ground. This has alot to do with the "PvP" stats in game as well (which I find makes PvP worse in itself) but still let's say that wasn't even a factor.
The fact that you get NOTHING is stupid all together.
It's even more stupid because Bioware KNOWS 100% well that Republic is outnumbered or dead on almost every server. Not only that, on the server I am on, we barely, if ever, have a full team. So it's always 5 +/- Republic going against a full 8 man team of Empire.
I also say Bioware knows this because they are slowly leaning torwards making all the Warzones non -faction based. Which pretty much means Empire will be fighting Empire and Republic will fight Empire. See what I did there?
The sad part is, there are players ACTUALLY trying to play the PvP still. That part I DO NOT understand. For some of these players common sense will just never kick in. The PvP is imbalanced and not fun. Period.
But you know what? Instead of making some long post about this horrible broken PvP sytem, I'll leave you with some threads on the official forum where people are obviously not happy with this change to PvP:
http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=405248
http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=414039
http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=412826
http://www.swtor.com/community/forumdisplay.php?f=76
In fact, the only ones that seem to be happy are the Empire. I wonder why?
With that said, if people want my advise on if they should buy this game...
...then the answer IS NO.
I can deal with MMO developers making mistakes but Bioware just does not listen. They do not test their content properly. They have no clue how to run a MMO or what a MMO needs.
Do not waste your money and time on SWTOR unless it goes free to play or you just want to do PvE single player type things.
Friday, April 13, 2012
Just Thinking: MMO Developers Should Not Expect High Subscriptions...
...because they will end up disappointed like most.
I never really understood the big hype and obsession with developers wanting high subscription numbers post-WoW. I thought the fact that MMORPGs were brought into the mainstream( due to WoWs success) was good enough. It was for me at least.
It's to the point where it's obvious the desire for high subscription numbers has little to do with the "cost" of running the game and more to do with seeing high profits.
Yes, I expect developers to make a profit but it feels as though the "profit" is all these developers think about now. It's no longer about making a fun game that even the developers enjoy. It's about how developers can take a feature they feel WoW lacks, and exploit it to attract players. Or in some MMOs case, an IP.
Anyways...was just thinking.
I never really understood the big hype and obsession with developers wanting high subscription numbers post-WoW. I thought the fact that MMORPGs were brought into the mainstream( due to WoWs success) was good enough. It was for me at least.
It's to the point where it's obvious the desire for high subscription numbers has little to do with the "cost" of running the game and more to do with seeing high profits.
Yes, I expect developers to make a profit but it feels as though the "profit" is all these developers think about now. It's no longer about making a fun game that even the developers enjoy. It's about how developers can take a feature they feel WoW lacks, and exploit it to attract players. Or in some MMOs case, an IP.
Anyways...was just thinking.
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