Micro-transactions of The Old Republic

First, Star Wars: The Old Republic has started taking applications for Closed Beta.

Secondly, the Galactic Holofeed blog has dug up some interesting information out of the Terms of Service (ToS) in regards to possible micro-transactions in SW:ToR.

(I) You acknowledge and agree that all items acquired for points during the Game Program are non-refundable and non-tradable.

(K) You acknowledge and agree that BWA reserves the right to change/add/remove points rewarded in the Game store at any time and without warning.

(M) You acknowledge and agree that points acquired during the Game Program cannot be saved up for or used in the commercial version of the Game.

Kill Ten Rats has commentary here.

What are these points that can be traded for items? Earlier in the Terms of Service, they explain that BWA is BioWare Austin, and that “Game Program” refers to the beta test, but the “points” were never explained. Perhaps you get some kind of point-based reward for submitting bugs? I don’t know, but it does sound an awful lot like beta testers will be testing out micro-transactions.

A year or so ago, and I would of have started crying foul right about now, but I'm no longer afraid of micro-transactions. When done properly they can work as a business model. In this case, just like the actual game that will be SW:ToR, we need details and Bioware is sparse (at best) with those.

New Player Thoughts on DDO: Eberron Unlimited

When Dungeons and Dragons Online was first released, I was displeased with Turbine’s approach to the game. I wanted an MMOG that recreated the D&D tabletop experience, with real Dungeon Masters and the freedom experienced at the tabletop. I still want that in a MMO D&D “game”. However, Turbine created an MMOG in the D&D Eberron campaign setting with standard MMOG practices (a subscription, faction grinding, etc.). I blinded myself to the unique game that DDO was (and still is). I’ve found myself having to come back and re-evaluate this game, because suddenly I’m finding myself enjoying it (mostly because I’m not paying for it).

I don’t love everything about the game and some of my original gripes are still valid. The DM voice-overs are still distracting and uncomfortable: so much that is said, is already or could be shown. When I walk into a dungeon and see an untouched, rusty lever, I do not need a voice-over to tell me that it “cranks and grinds” when I pull it (especially with the sound effects already going off).

Secondly, the combat still makes my wrists hurt. There is a lot of clicking and button management to operate any character successfully. Every attack or block is a click, all while managing character movement. I am not sure why this is such an issue for me in DDO. I play The Chronicles of Spellborn, with a similar click-to-attack system, without issue. I play tons of FPS games, which are always frantic. My only guess is the way DDO clumps the combat encounters together, forcing a lot of clicking in a small time period. Also, a lack of any sort of “round” timer means a lot of extra clicking is done for nothing. Also, Turbine strings the dungeon sections together with a thousand destructible containers.

Third, character creation is still ripe for confusion and mistakes, but I believe this is a problem with the underlying D&D structure. Character creation has always been a source for trouble and has been ever since I picked up my AD&D 2E books over a decade ago. D&D’s character structure doesn’t fit well into video game form, even more so when MMO is thrown into the picture. Turbine has paired the system down and changed enough to make it work. It’s not great, but it’s functional. Players should not be surprised when their first character winds up as a failed experiment unless it’s well planned out with advice from veteran players.

Another gripe I had was my lack of faith that Turbine could create new content fast enough for the game. At launch, content was limited and the leveling was capped at 10. D&D has never been strictly about leveling, so this gave Turbine room to grow the game. However, early reports showed that only a minority of content was needed to reach level 10, with the leftover content completely worthless to level 10 players.

It is a different story now that DDO has been out long enough for Turbine to release several updates. New free-to-play players have a plethora of content available to purchase and unlock. It’s refreshing to think that spending money on DDO will directly result in a quantifiable experience in game. A player buys Adventure Pack A and plays Adventure Pack A. I never thought I would like it, but as I’ve transitioned to a free-to-play fan, I’ve found it to be a model that makes complete sense.

The decision to spend money, which I have not yet done, is made even easier by how enjoyable the dungeons and areas can be within DDO. The areas do not change from one visit to the next and one visit to a spoiler website can ruin the entire experience, but when approached for the first time with no insider knowledge, the dungeons are absolutely the best in any MMOG I’ve played. This may become a hindrance at higher levels when content MUST be repeated to progress forward, but on the journey to level 20 that most free-to-play players are currently on, it keeps them coming back and wanting to progress. That leads them to spend money and unlock parts of the game they want.

That is important. Turbine needs to make money, especially now that the game is free-to-play. Eventually, the new wave of players is going to chew up what is available. Turbine has already delayed some high end development to focus on the shift to a free-to-play model, so they are behind the curve. If they can keep on top of content and give players a reason to progress, the new business model is golden.

My overall conclusion about DDO is about the same as it originally was. DDO is a great dungeon crawler, but with a sometimes cumbersome combat system and an underlying structure that doesn’t fit well into a video game. The problem of content has been solved and I’m not as angry that Turbine didn’t make the game I wanted. DDO:EU is worth checking out and now that it costs nothing to do so, I’m a much happier gamer to oblige Turbine the chance to sell me something.

WTF

Seriously, What the Favre!

Twelve seconds away from a 3-0 record to start the season, the 49ers instead left the noisy Metrodome with a brutal defeat when Favre heaved a 32-yard touchdown pass to an obscure wide receiver named Greg Lewis in the back of the end zone with 2 seconds left.

"He made a play. You don't go to the Hall of Fame if you don't make plays," said weary defensive end Justin Smith, who came oh-so-close to Favre on the fateful fling. "He added another to his highlight reel."

I guess the Vikings got what they paid for.

Fallen Earth: Niche of a Niche

I didn't want to post about Fallen Earth, but Julie Whitefeather has gone and quoted me:

Do I believe in the post apocalyptic genre? You bet. Despite the fact that Heartless Gamer left me a comment calling it a “niche of a niche” that is still ONE HELL OF A BIG NICHE.

Some clarification is needed. It all begins here with my comments:

FE is just garbage and is a niche of a niche. It will hopefully stick around, because the MMO market needs variety, but it shouldn’t be held up as high as it is currently.

And when I say a niche of a niche, I mean its a sandbox MMO (niche) set in a post apocalyptic setting (niche).

I disagree with Julie that it is a "big" niche, but agree we can that its a niche in any case. The root question is whether a niche game can make it in today's market. Personally, I think it can and I think niche games HAVE to succeed or the market will fall apart.

I didn't want to post about Fallen Earth, because I played it for an hour (maybe) and hated it. The introduction to the game throws the player on rails in a single player instance and then dumps the player into the sandbox. It FUCKING SUCKED and told me NOTHING about the game. Then, being dumped into a sandbox, I was so CONFUSED on what to think that I just quit and uninstalled the game. So, I'm trying to avoid a Eurogamer Darkfall review moment.

Long rant short, I hope Fallen Earth succeeds, because the MMOG genre needs it to, but damn does their intro to the game suck.

Warhammer Expansion: Rise of the Horned Rat

Exciting news today about the first Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning expansion entitled Rise of the Horned Rat.

In the Depths of the Under-Empire a Prophet has risen, claiming to be chosen by the Horned Rat, the devious god of the Skaven people, to lead the Skaven Empire to victory over the surface dwellers. Uniting all the clans under one banner, the Horned One and The Lords of Decay have began the long dreaded invasion of the surface world. The bowls of the Skavenblight growl with the endless hunger of millions while great tunnels open up in all the lands spilling forth legion upon legion of hateful Rat-kin.

In the heart of Skavendom however there are whispers that an impostor leads the Skaven nation and that The Council of Thirteen has plans of their own….

New Race and Faction: Skaven!

Join the newly created Third Faction and fight for the glory of the Horned Rat against both Order and Destruction!

* Brand new Third Faction dramatically changing the landscape of WAR.

* Multiple new and unique classes! Play as the dreaded Plague Monk or walk through the shadows as the deadly Clan Eshin Assassin, and many more!

Five New Cities!

The WAR comes homes with the inclusion of Five new Capitol Cities to seige and defend!

* Explore the mountain Strongholds of Karak-A-Karak and Karak Eight Peaks, current home of the Dwarfs and Bloody Sun Orcs!
* Explore the Ancient High Elf Capitol of Lothern to the mighty “Fist of Malekith” a vast Black Arc and launching point of the Dark Elf Invasion!
* Traverse the dark and twisted Skavenblight, the massive underground Capitol City of the Skaven!
* Brand new Quests, PQs, Dungeons, and secrets to Unlock!

* Each City pairing has it’s own unique City Capture Mechanic and play Style!

Growth System!

Introducing the new Growth system, watch your avatar grow as you advance!

* Brand new growth system! Dwarf beards get longer and Orcs get bigger, something new for every race and class!

* Multiple levels! Don’t want to keep growing? Shut it off and make your avatar look how YOU want it to look!

* A new layer of customization that you can control!

New Classes for Destruction and Order!

Many changes to our existing classes as well as brand new classes for both Order and Destruction!

* Introducing the the Dark Elf Assassin and the Empires own Priest of Morr!

* Minor and Major changes to all existing classes! From minor tweaks to total overhauls!

New and Improved Dye and Trophy Systems!

* Major changes to the Dye and Trophy systems, look how you want to look!

* Dye your Weapons, Shields, and mounts! Dye system expanded!
Brand new Trophy System allows you to place Trophies where YOU want to place them! Dagger on your boots? Skull on your helm? No problem!

* New unique Mount Trophies!

* New Elite Trophies give passive bonuses to Renown, Experience, Influence gain and many more! Only for the the most dedicated, look cool and fight harder!

* Multiple new Dyes with overhauls to existing ones!

* Dozens of new, high res, Trophies to collect and wear, Old Trophies improved!

Massive Overhauls!

Substantial Overhauls to nearly every system in Warhammer:Age of Reckoning!

* From PQ’s, Keeps, loot drops, Ordinance, and Siege weapons major and minor changes are on the way!

* Collecting your sets is now easier then ever, both in PvE and PvP! No boss fight is a wasted experience!

* Cheaper Ordinance and improved Siege Weapon mechanics along with Keep Changes to make Keep sieges more exciting and less Static!

* Massive Changes to how you gain Realm Points, from everything from Keeps and City Sieges to Bo’s and Scenarios!

* Much, much more!

Much Much More!

Experience even more new and modified content in “The Rise of the Horned Rat”!

* Brand new, never before seen, unique class content! From class quests to powerful new weapons and armor!

* Improvements to RvR including new purchasable weapons and armor, improved Crest system, and more rewards for increasing in Realm Rank!

* Much much more!

This is totally fake by the way, but some people are gullible. Whats sad, is the guy who made this up, TOLD EVERYONE IT WAS FAKE.

The primary reason you might not have seen it before is because it’s 100% fan generated content, Mythic is in no way involved. So short of the hand of God none of this will ever be anything more then conception on our website. While we have had one or two ideas picked up in past games, the odds of Mythic picking up an entire expansion from us is very unlikely.

But if the fans and players like it maybe they can apply some pressure once the project is finished, and if the ideas are solid then who knows!

Turbine Targeting Aion Server Queues... With Advertising?

Yes, I run advertisements targeted at search traffic on this blog. Yes, on a blog that costs me NOTHING (other than my time and dignity) to operate.

Looking over my search traffic and targeted advertising (have to keep those fucking gold selling ads in check), I've been getting a lot of Aion keyword searches into the site. The advertising targeted at the Aion keyword is VERY interesting, as shown below:


So, its terribly apparent that Turbine is targeting their keyword, search-based advertising for a completely different game. Now, to be fair, Turbine does also target the DDO keyword with DDO advertisements. However, it always cracks me up to think about how much search-based advertising gets away with. They essentially make money off the brand names and trademarks by selling redirected search attempts to their competitors.

God, I love the Internet.

One Paragraph To Describe Aion

I found this over at Massively:

Aion is the vanilla of MMOs. It does things right but it doesn't do them spectacularly. It targets everyone, but it simultaneously targets no one. It doesn't take risks. It's fun, but it's not endearing or memorable. It simply is.

With all of the launch day hype and coverage flooding in, this single paragraph describes almost all of it. Aion is the ! to the Diku-inspired sentence that Diku MUDs started, EQ brought to paper, and WoW wrote. The model can not be improved any further. New Diku MMOGs are all about polish and execution.

This game is solid. Period. If games could be graded on polish and polish alone, then Aion is one of the most polished games I've come across in a while

Of course they did have a year-long headstart on polish with the Korean launch.

This is, of course, due to the fact that Aion has had a year to work all of these problems out in Korea, and the fact that NCsoft's localization teams have been so absolutely thorough with the game.

Ok, I lied. Three paragraphs to describe Aion. None of them talking about server queues!

Scribblenauts Is Here! Scribblenauts Is Here! Scribblenauts Is Here! Scribblenauts Is Here!

Ok, Scribblenauts has been out for a little bit now and I still haven't gotten a chance to buy a copy. However, I wanted to throw a post up to let everyone that hasn't heard of this little gem of game that it is now out and about.

Ars Technica has their review up:

Scribblenauts was the darling of E3, rounding up a hojillion awards—including a Golden Ars—and impressing everyone who stopped by for a demo. It was a game that showed very well, especially with a developer on hand to point out any number of interesting situations. The premise is simple, although it hides an abyssal depth: you are asked to either reach a star, or to fulfill the requirements to earn one. The tools at your disposal? The world.

You can type in or write any word you can think of, and get that item or person to help you in your quest. No dirty words, and no proper nouns, nothing copyrighted—but even without those limitations, you're looking at tens of thousands of items. Type in "pirate" to fight a ninja. Type in "bridge" to cross an expanse, or type in "motorcycle" and "ramp" and jump it. You gain currency by using fewer items, and also by using creative solutions, and you use that currency to unlock new worlds.

There are two types of levels: action levels where you simply have to get to the starite item, using your reflexes as well as your wits; and puzzle, where you are given a one-sentence instruction about what to do. It may say "get rid of the rats," and in that sentence are dozens of possibilities. In fact, you only completely clear out a level by finishing it three times, without using any item more than once. Much harder than it sounds.

I'm working on getting my copy still (hopefully before the weekend). Chances are I will hate the game since I'm hyping it up, but that's life.

Aion Launches, Has Server Queues

Aion has launched in North America. No, I am not playing and have no plans of playing.

Aion has really long server queues. Anyone that believed that a new, AAA MMOG could launch in this day and age without server queues is ignorant, blind, or just a flat-out newb.

Enjoy waiting in line.

Fixed: Punkbuster Error "Disallowed Program/Driver 125120"

This is a quick how-to on fixing the Punkbuster error "Disallowed Program/Driver 125120".

1. Disable all screen overlay features in any running programs.
2. If all screen overlay features are disabled and the problem persists, exit each program with a screen overlay and try again.
3. If FRAPS is installed, exit FRAPS and try again.

If you want the long-winded WHY of this little bug, keep on reading.

This was annoying to track down, as all things Punkbuster are, simply because Even Balance (the developers behind PB) refuse to SHARE with the community what their error codes mean or what may be causing them to kick non-cheating players.

Getting kicked by Punkbuster for "Disallowed Program/Driver 125120" simply means that a program or driver on the computer is trying to overlay something on the game-screen in a way PB does not like. This is a common way for hacks to hook into a game. Instead of interacting with the game, they sit on top of it with an overlay. This has been a common form of hack for years.

Unfortunately, Punkbuster recently made aggressive changes to how they view overlays and thus many programs that legitimately use them are now being seen as potential hacks by Punkbuster. Programs such as FRAPS and EVGA Precision.

Now, FRAPS in particular is having special difficulties. Older versions are flat-out interpreted as hacks by Punkbuster now and running any old FRAPS versions will get a player kicked repeatedly for "Disallowed Program/Driver 125120". Disabling the FRAPS overlay will not work. FRAPS must be shut down anytime a Punkbuster game is running. The FRAPS developer attempted to fix this problem in the current FRAPS version, but as quickly as they did, Even Balance changed Punkbuster to continue the kicking. So, its a tug-o-war between FRAPS and Punkbuster and I don't see FRAPS winning.

Other programs, such as EVGA Precision are in much better shape. Simply disabling the screen overlay features (such as GPU temperature) will fix the issue. This is most likely true for any number of overlay features in many video card manufacturer's software management/monitoring programs.

Unfortunately, for dedicated players of games like Call of Duty 4 or America's Army 3, this means the loss of some great software tools. Fuck Punkbuster. Once upon a time they were decent, but they've become the porta-potty of the anti-cheat world. No one wants to use them, they stink like shit, but unfortunately its the only option.