Week In Review: Questionable Outcome Edition


Sacred Wings

I really need to start writing the Week in Review articles on an earlier day of the week. The problem I have each week with writing the article on Sunday is that I risk what happened this week, suddenly being called in for a long shift with plans afterward, and losing those couple hours of opportunity. On the other hand, writing the Week in Review on Monday, albeit late, allows me to keep up the factor of not writing out the article and then having something more interesting pop up at the last minute.

1. The Guy That Fills Up On Free Bread

I oft find myself in arguments with people on this website and others over the concept of free to play games, with an added focus on what should be available for free. More often than not, the people I deal with are similar to the majority of the “I demand an open beta” crowd, a group of people who have no interest in paying any money, but would like an opportunity to play as much of a game for free and will set up the facade of a potential customer in order to achieve that.

In previous posts, I’ve referred to these people as “perpetual freeloaders,” but have pointed out that they are more of a nuisance than an actual problem. A perpetual freeloader will complain that a game isn’t really free to play because you don’t have access to all classes, or the developer doesn’t make 100% of the content (including everything in the cash shop) available in-game. I’ve noticed they are also in the group that believes buy-to-play (see: Guild Wars) should be the only business model for an MMO, despite their only example (Guild Wars) not being a true MMO and their other example (Guild Wars 2) being a cash shop game rather than a buy-to-play.

That being said, I want to remind you again that I have no problem with people who play through these games for free, rather when the person hits an unacceptable level of entitlement is where I start getting annoyed. I had a conversation with a player in Hellgate Global this past week about the Act 3 ticket, when he types in chat “The act 3 ticket is a scam.” A scam? How so? Because you have to pay a one time fee of $5 for content, or grind palladium to get it for completely free?

2. Value Vs Cost: Cash Shops Vs Subscription Vs Free

Even long before Ultima Online came out, the idea of a subscription game was dividing. Opponents asked “why should I pay a subscription when any other game is free, and many include online components?” The answer, of course, is for maintaining the servers and regular content updates. Now that the business has grown to include microtransactions, the subscription method has become the “norm,” with people asking “why should I pay more than $15 a month when I can access the full game for that much?” Many companies like Turbine agree, and offer premium subscriptions that either make aspects of the cash shop free, or offer free cash shop points each month.

But is $15 a month the cap where costs become too much? Again, this is dividing and there is no real “right” answer. Rather, the question should be “which is a viable business method,” and the answer is both. In some games, players can easily blow through fifteen bucks, whereas other games might take longer to go through the same sum of cash. It all depends on the taste and wallet of the consumer.

3. Compensation, Developers, and Exclusivity

I’m one of the few that purchased a Nintendo 3DS around the time of launch, yet I don’t regret my purchase, even with the upcoming price drop. What caught my eye about the price drop, aside from the fact that Nintendo is offering 10 free NES games and 10 free Gameboy Advance games, is the fact that the 10 GBA games will not be available for purchase. If you don’t have a 3DS before the price drops and become part of the ambassador program, you are not going to get these games, free or otherwise. Most surprisingly are that the games aren’t exactly low-key titles. Mario Kart, Metroid Fusion, and more titles to be released, these are games that many players would love to get their hands on.

Still, on the MMO front, I can’t count how many free months of City of Heroes I’ve had because of an NCsoft game I owned shutting down. NCsoft has always been good about compensating their players when a game closes doors, generally offering free keys to Lineage II, Guild Wars, City of Heroes, and free game time in each title. Sony Online Entertainment is offering the last few months for free for Galaxies players, and will probably have some other form of appreciation to show further along the line.

4. For All Those Developers You’ve Never Heard Of

There are over one thousand MMOs released each year, and probably 990 of them you will never hear of/from, especially not on this website. Most of these MMOs are released in Asia and never make it over to the West, but those that do tend to be met with little to no fanfare from the American/European audiences. A majority of those titles will not be released because they place their lore in obscure mythology that would bore the average western gamer. From a gameplay point of view, many will never be brought over simply because they are mere clones of existing MMOs.

I get a lot of people asking why I refrain from using the term “wow clone,” and how although I publicly acknowledge the existence of such titles, I’ve never named a game as such. This is because the titles you see on the market (Rift, Warhammer, etc) are not clones of World of Warcraft. Yes, they share similarities in mechanics, but they are not clones. Until you venture through Ogarmir on a Griffon to meet Threll, the leader of the Orcan, you haven’t seen a true WoW clone.

The rest, I call dime-store MMOs, as they literally offer little more than grinding mobs to end-game, and pvp, with little if anything in crafting or instancing. On regular occasion, these games do find a publisher in the west (I call them dime-stores) that quietly launch and just as quietly shutter them. An example of such a dime store is Gamepot USA and GameKiss, who have somehow managed to stay in business despite the fact that the games these companies host last between one and two years before kicking the bucket.

5. Making a profit? Hello Diablo 3

I like to think of myself as, not an expert, but well trained in the art of cash shops and microtransactions. So when Diablo 3 comes out, I plan to put that knowledge in full force as a salesman of in-game items. Blizzard today announced that players will be able to sell items to other players using a global auction house, for real cash. Players will have the opportunity to turn that cash into World of Warcraft time, or even turn it in for real money (minus fees by Blizzard).

Now, I won’t talk about my plans on here (can’t give away too much), but I’m already working on what I will be gearing up with and selling on the in-game marketplace. Who knows, if all goes well I might just buy you that mink coat of +5 marksmanship you wanted. Or I won’t, whichever comes first.

War Announcement Announced For August


With all the hussle and bussle of MMO Fallout, it’s easy for announcements of announcements to be buried under the tussle and forgotten forever. Luckily for me, I couldn’t forget about the Warhammer Online announcement announced by a blogger very early this month, offering no details other than, “it isn’t what you think,” leading myself to assume that the announcement is probably not free to play, nor is it Warhammer shutting down, and certainly not the reintroduction of Taco Tuesday at the Mythic offices.

It is substantial news.  However, it is probably not what you’re thinking it is.  I was quite surprised when they told us about it.  Is that cryptic enough?  Don’t worry about it too much though, as we may see an official announcement in a few weeks.

Take it how you will, the War On The Road article was released last week, and contains one cryptic clue:

The end of August will also see an announcement about our future plans for Warhammer Online.

August it is.

Alganon Comic Available


About a week ago I did a quick look at the Fall of the Ourobani comic from DC Comics and Quest Online. I pointed out that, although short and the dialogue leaves much to be desired, it does its job of setting up the plot for the upcoming expansion and introduction of who the Ourobani are and what they are doing in Alganon.

The comic has been released digitally (sooner than expected), and the whole thing can be viewed here: http://www.myalganon.com/comic.

Taking My Franchise Ball And Going Home…


I want you to think back to when you were a kid. If you grew up in a neighborhood like mine, you will be plenty familiar with that one kid who owned “the ball.” The ball was great for any activity; dodgeball, kickball, etc, but instead of being content with the games everyone wanted to play, this kid also happened to try and propose the most inane rules and games, the kind that could only be thought up in the mind of a child with a thirst for power, and of course when his ideas were shot down as “stupid,” he would pick up his ball and go home in a huff, ruining the game for everyone.

THQ has stated that there isn’t much of a future to the Red Faction franchise thanks to the poor sales of recently released sequel, Armageddon. All of this occurred while myself and the rest of the core Red Faction fans have been screaming from behind the fence: “That’s because you gutted the core gameplay!” I don’t know what THQ was thinking, but somewhere along the line of development they said “let’s take this sandbox-style, open world destruction-oriented shooter and turn it into a linear, underground shooter with destruction merely being a gimmick.” Red Faction: Armageddon wasn’t a terrible game, it was just a mediocre third person shooter with destructible environments. I understand the cost in developing games, but it takes a special kind of company to gut the core features of its game, and then throw a temper tantrum when the community doesn’t respond positively.

And this exists in the MMO realm, to bring full circle. Cities XL is a great example of a service I suggested should have been provided for free, as any other company would have been able to set up. Instead, Monte Crisco set up the multiplayer so that when a very low number of buyers subscribed, they picked up their ball, gave the players a big middle finger, and waltzed home. Of course, like their childhood pissant equivalent, Monte Crisco walked right into traffic, being hit by a fast moving automobile, and went out of business just a couple months after to the sympathy of probably very few.

And since I’m already gaining the ire of the Mortal Online group, I’ll add that to the list as well. In an earlier article, I talked about how Henrik Nystrom is not against selling the game if it doesn’t start pulling in more customers, but he added in an almost taunting fashion the “well when we do sell it, the company we sell it to will probably gut most of the hardcore features.” That goes even further, rather than just picking up the ball and leaving, it turns Star Vault into the guy standing in the middle of a public library with a can of kerosene and a pack of matches shouting “you cheap bastards better start donating more or I’m going to burn this goddamn building to the ground!” Throwing your company’s lack of success out into the open does not lead to its intended outcome, in this case being more people purchasing. Rather, in the case of the library, less people are going to walk in as the librarian starts soaking the carpet, for fear of getting caught at the wrong time, and burned to death inside the building.

 “Well a lot of the MMO market is this very test and react place, where for better or worst many people throw as much rough but playable content at their customers to see what they will respond to – then just give them more of what they seem to like.”
-Stephen Calender

Stephen Calender is correct. Not all decisions a company makes will be winners, but as I’ve said in the past, their response is what will ensure the company’s viability in the years to come.

Lego Universe: Bringing Leveling


Lego Universe has been quite the topic for MMO Fallout over the past week or so, and Lego Team hopes to make the game a little more MMO-ish in the coming weeks. One aspect Lego Universe has been missing is player levels, rather players join a faction and level up through the ranks by completing missions and mini-games, obtaining better gear as they obtain ranks and tokens. In the next few weeks, Lego hopes to turn all of that upside down by introducing levels.

In an announcement, players will be able to level to 40, obtaining rewards along the way including buffs, pets, and gear. Rather than forcing players to grind mobs, minifigures will simply need to collect u-score, which most players already do, by completing missions, achievements, and mini-games. That u-score will determine your level.

For players worried about their high level gear, Lego already has that covered. When the update goes live, players will be able to wield anything linked to their character, regardless of level.

Earthrise: More Price Cuts! Lower Subscription Fees!


Earthrise. It’s a game by Masthead studios, which is not just the name on a shirt that I got for free then took a shaky photograph of. Since its launch earlier this year, Earthrise has seen a slew of sales looking to bring in new customers, culminating in a price drop in June to $29.99. Apparently not bringing in as many people as Masthead hoped, the developer announced a further price drop for the client:

Masthead Studios, a leading independent developer of MMOs, announced the reduction of the game client and monthly subscription prices. The company decided to lower the price of game client by 60% starting 5th Aug 2011. It will cost 12 Euro for EU players and $14 for Non-EU players.

The price of a 6-month subscription will also be reduced to $50, or about 8 dollars per month.

The Old Republic Breaks EA Record For Preorders


That image is getting old. This is an odd piece of news, Electronic Arts did its Quarter 1 financial call for the fiscal year ending in June. The Old Republic did not go on sale until a few days ago, likely leading many of you to ask: How is this being included in their last quarter’s report? Right in the title, man:

Star Wars: The Old Republic Breaks EA Record For Pre-Orders

Despite this being in the header, there is no other mention of sales, likely because of the sales being part of the current quarter. During the conference call, they did confirm that the team is ready for whatever sales the players throw at them:

2:29: Question on capacity management in SWTOR? EB: We’re in good shape to do that, we have the ability to scale for multiple millions of users. We’re looking at stuff coming in as far as marketing and pre-order promotion. We have a lot of capacity to do that.

In the words of the Gman, we’ll see about that.

Star Wars Galaxies: One Month In


It’s been one month since I started playing Star Wars Galaxies on my new character, and by now I had completely forgotten that I never set up a subscription after entering my serial code, so that was a bit of surprise. Since last week, I managed to find a few items in my bag that took me back to Tatooine to complete missions I never finished the first time. One of those missions turned out to be the Death Trooper line of quests, that started out as very low level (level 1) and immediately sprang to level 10 and then level 90. So I still have the level 90 Death Trooper mission in my journal, that will sit there for a long time.

The Death Trooper mission, what I did play of it, was a massive pain in the ass even from the Galaxies point of view. I found myself traveling back and forth every other mission between Tatooine and Dathomir, two planets that are not connected meaning I had to travel to Corellia, then travel to Dathomir so I could talk to one person, then travel to Corellia, then travel to Tatooine so I could talk to a scientist, who would send me back to Dathomir, and back and forth. I own the book that the mission is based off of, as seen to the left, and apparently the Death Trooper saga is canon.

My current role, as I talked of last time, are working for the Royal Security Forces on Naboo, tasked with defeating terrorists, preventing local thugs, and being randomly de-mounted and scanned in Theed. In my previous few missions, I had to go to several locations and kill 14-16 mobs to distract them, and then bug their antenna. This confused me from a continuity point of view: If I’m killing large amounts of a group to distract them, why am I the one who has to plant the bug? Isn’t the point for me to distract so someone else can plant the bug? Someone didn’t think this mission line through (probably me).

But this wouldn’t be a Galaxies episode without me whining about issues I’m having in-game. I’ve talked before about the game showing its age, but no more so than the slow reaction that Grandpa is showing me here. I walk through a group of terrorists and can make it about ten seconds away before they notice and start shooting at me. In some cases, I’ll fire at a guy and his buddy standing two feet away won’t move a finger. About ten seconds later, just before I kill the guy I’m attacking, he’ll finally snap up and start shooting me. For what Galaxies adds in atmosphere, this takes a lot of it away.

What really annoyed me is that apparently Qa’ashi has become quite a poor aim. Earlier I complained that I had trouble with the locking system being too strict, in a “No, you will aim at this person because I told you to,” sense. I’m not sure if this is just part of the process, or if I hit something somewhere to turn it off, but now I can’t get the target to stay on at all. If I move away from the person I’m aiming at, I stop targeting them. Normally I’d follow the “maybe you should learn to aim” people, but when mobs have lag and terrible pathfinding issues like in Galaxies, where they go into 50 mph sprints about two hundred feet in the opposite direction (to better hit me with their pistol?), keeping a steady aim can turn into a real pain in the ass.

Journalism Misses The Joke: The Old Republic In 2025


I think I’ve pointed out many times that MMO Fallout is not on par with, say, Massively.com or MMORPG.com, or Rock Paper Shotgun. So when Darth Hater reported from a Comic Con panel that Bioware hopes to have Star Wars: The Old Republic up until 2025 (guaranteed!), a few of us said “this sounds a little too…out there to be a serious comment,” and I left it at that. No sense reporting on a joke, right?

Well, I can say that we have 19 major worlds. Then we have an indeterminate number of minor worlds. And our goal, obviously this being an online game, that we’re hoping is going to last for decades, we’re going to be, obviously, adding more to the galaxy map as the game progresses. We want to add dozens of worlds. Hundreds of worlds eventually. In 2025, we’ll hopefully have 500 worlds.
-James Ohlen, Bioware

Well the story was picked up on by all of the major outfits, initially by Eurogamer, spreading from Rockpapershotgun, Massively, MMORPG.com, and a few other websites. This is, of course, what happens when one company jumps on a quote to get the exclusive, and then others see it and jump on it as well.

Then again, you can’t fool anyone on April 1st anymore.

Hellgate: Stuck At Waterloo Bridge Passageway


When Hellgate: London relaunched, I decided to incorporate it into a new run of features titled “How Free Can You Be?” So far, I’ve already incorporated titles including Turbine’s games, Alganon, and now Hellgate. In regards to Hellgate, around level 16-17 players receive a series of quests that require them to travel to Southwark Station and one that requires them to travel through Waterloo Bridge Passageway. Upon attempting to enter Waterloo Bridge Passageway, players are met with what many are perceiving as a bug: The door does not open, nor does it give an explanation as to why.

At this point, you’ve completed the free portion of Hellgate Global, and will have to purchase a ticket in order to advance. This can be done in one of two ways: The ticket is available on the cash shop for 4000 tcoin ($4 USD). Since the minimum amount you can load into your account is $5, this will leave you with 1000 coins left to spend on your heart’s desire.

Alternatively, Hanbitsoft has decided to make the Act 3 tickets tradeable, meaning you can buy them in the in-game marketplace from other players who bought them from the cash shop. So if you’re a pro at grinding money, you can play Hellgate Global entirely for free.

Tickets on the marketplace go for over four hundred thousand palladium and unlocks the rest of the game, and applies to the whole account.

[Update Sept 9th]: A lot of people have asked me to post this up: If you already have the Act 3 ticket and still can’t get into Waterloo Bridge, check your missions. There are several that must be completed before you can enter Waterloo Bridge, regardless of if you’ve activated the ticket or not.

click to enlarge