What Happened This Week: 5/22 – 5/28 Edition


I saw an interesting thread over the past week. It asked “would you rather take one million dollars if it meant never being able to play Guild Wars 2?” My answer was an absolute yes. Now, I loved Guild Wars, even though I got bored once I finished the leveling and storyline quests, and I never bought the last two expansions and I occasionally enjoy player vs player combat, but not to the level of being competitive. That being said, I’d take a million dollars to not play any specific video game, even if it means not having a chance to try Duke Nukem Forever. I could use that million to pay off my car, buy a house, get into a great college, and pursue my career at the expense of what? An experience that will last me maybe a year?

I would hope that everyone would agree with me, with the exception of those of you who are filthy rich and wipe using one million dollar bills that didn’t exist until you purchased the US Treasury and started printing them. Even once you factor in taxes being taken out, you are still looking at all of your financial burdens (house/several cars/college loans) being taken care of.

But enough about money, let’s see what happened this week.

1. Warhammer Online Free? Don’t Hold Your Breath

Now that Age of Conan is going free to play, a move I’ve been suggesting since 2009, the attention is being turned to Warhammer Online making the move. As much as I’d love to see WAR go free to play, I don’t think such a move is feasible anymore. From my monitoring of the Warhammer Online forums and looking at the game’s history, Mythic may have neither the manpower nor the support to make such a leap. Changing payment systems requires a lot of resources from a business and mechanics perspective, changing systems around to accommodate a cash shop, conceptualizing and balancing said cash shop to not throw the game off balance, etc.

You have to hand it to the Warhammer Online community though, those that have stuck through for this long are a very dedicated group. They understand that there is likely no big update coming to be their savior and turn the game around. In the US, WAR has dropped to two servers and continues to bleed like a stuck pig. As much as Mythic has done to improve the game since launch, the major factor has always been too little, too late.

2. I Prefer My Softs NC’d Rather than Ubi’d

I recently attempted to redownload Rainbow Six Vegas from Direct2Drive, only to find following the six gigabyte download and installation that I could not activate the game. “Unknown error.” After clicking on the link to the support page, I was told to submit a question. Upon clicking that button, I was greeted with (what else?) an error message. Could not access the page. So no way to validate my copy, no way to contact ubisoft. I purchased Vegas for $3 on Steam as part of the $13 Rainbow Six collection on sale today, figuring Steam will offer better activation coverage.

Speaking of activation, I finally got around to reactivating my NCsoft account. I haven’t touched my account since before NCsoft implemented that authentication system, so my computer was not authenticated. Turns out, I also forgot my password reset answers (spelling issues). I sent an email to NCsoft’s customer support after shaking off several months of too-damn-lazy syndrome, and got a response the next day, notifying me that my account was reset and I would have to set up new reminder questions and a new password. So I’m all set for the Aion welcome back week this Thursday.

3. Phasing Vs Exclusion: Telling A Good Story

The problem with telling an ongoing story in an MMO is that you have one of three options: You can make a story that has no impact on the world, and impress very few. Who cares about the story when they know major characters will never die? Then, you can take the more accepted route which involves phasing. In Runescape, in the quest While Guthix Sleeps, around six major characters to the series die. This doesn’t include the multitude of other quests where major characters die, are incapacitated, or are enslaved by the enemy. At the same time, I’ll see different NPCs than someone who did not complete the quest, even though were are in the same room and can see each other. Finally, you have world events. World events change the world for everyone. They remove quests, add in other quests, and move NPCs and training spots around. In Tabula Rasa, for instance, world events lead to the destruction of two major player bases, leaving behind smoldering ruins. In World of Warcraft, the most famous world events occur during expansion releases. On the other hand, you risk excluding players. The Matrix Online was the worst offender, because unless you started from the day the game launched and never missed an event, you were out of tune with the continuing story and had to rely on a text based “what you missed” to be filled in. Not as good as seeing it live, definitely a disincentive for players.

The best approach is probably a hybrid of world events and phasing. Phasing for the small stuff, and world events for the big stuff. For an MMO like Runescape, world events are just not feasible with how the story relies on the player doing quests. Many can’t be randomly removed because that would create too many broken links.

4. Some Thoughts Regarding Marvel Universe Online

In addition to comments about my mentioning of Superman, when MMORPG.com picked up on my Marvel Universe article (No Customization, Ever), I had a good amount of people knocking on me for bashing the quality of the game before release, and more recently I had people asking why I haven’t talked about Runescape’s upcoming Freminik Sagas update being similar. For those who don’t play, the Freminik Sagas are part of an expanding idea to have players take roles of other characters in the Runescape Universe. This is to allow the player to witness events that took place previously in the game’s lore, without requiring factors like time travel or intervention.

I haven’t mentioned Runescape because I particularly like the idea. It worked when the player took control of Zanik in the Chosen Commander quest, and it will likely work here too. My problem with Marvel Universe Online is not an assumption on the game’s quality (and I’ve pointed out several times that I would absolutely play it), but that my issue is with the game being advertised as an MMO, but not to the MMO crowd. If you’re trying to net the crowd that does not play MMOs, and calling your game an MMO, they won’t bite. The same happened with All Points Bulletin, when Realtime Worlds said “hey, it’s not really an MMO, it’s a shooter online!” The MMO core lost interest because it wasn’t an MMO, and the shooter core who aren’t keen to pay a subscription lost interest because of the added “fees.”

Now, MUO is cash shop supported, and hopefully features a lot more free content than Super Hero Squad. So when people ask me why I’m so untrustworthy of Gazillion Entertainment on this one (aside from looking at Lego Universe and Auto Assault, that is), I simply tell them for the same issues I had with All Points Bulletin. MUO is an identity crisis waiting to happen.

5. How About A Star Trek Diplomacy Single Player Game?

I’ve always said that if you want gripping story, go play a single player game. Now, in the case of games like Runescape, the actual story mode is indeed single player. I may have opened up the western half of Ardougne, but the guy sitting next to me still hasn’t cleared the rubble pile or killed the leader of the Trolls, Dad. I stopped the invasion of Varrok by a powerful necromancer, but the guy sitting at the Grand Exchange selling rune platebodies hasn’t even heard of the guy (in context of the game) yet.

So I’d love to see a good Star Trek game that features combat, but also relies as heavily on diplomacy as the television series does. I want to have my own crew, have them live out their lives, and encounter stories that can take place entirely on board my ship. I want to have a video game become popular and have to figure out why everyone is playing it and how to stop it. I want tribbles to invade and have to turn my head as I flame broil the furry, and adorable, cretins back to the hell they spawned out of.

In short: I want a story driven Star Trek game, and Star Trek Online doesn’t have the structure to provide that. It’s my money and I want it now!

Wait, Earthrise Is Back On Preorder? Off Shelves?


Dear Internet,

Perhaps I’m missing something obvious here. To the best of my memory, Earthrise has been launched and is still running live, at least a quick trip to the official website would lead me to believe so. According to the website, there is a plan to drop the price of Earthrise to $29.99 USD on June 1st, which may coincide with this oddity over at Direct2Drive. At MMO Fallout’s #2 favorite distributor, the game is strangely back on pre-order for a June 1st release date, but is listed at $20.99, with a regular price of $29.99, which fits the development plan.

Meanwhile, I also noticed that Earthrise dropped off the face of the earth from my local Target, as well as Target in general (you’ll remember Final Fantasy XIV was still being sold through the website). Not even the computers had the game still in the system.

I’ve contacted Direct2Drive in regards to the listing, but I’m not expecting an answer soon (it is a Saturday after all). I might actually pick up Earthrise tomorrow morning (I never make a purchase after midnight, it is not in my best financial interest), if it’s going for $20.

[Update]: I got a response back from Direct2Drive:

The preorder status would be at the publisher’s request.  I can only guess that it is to do a special “re-release”. For more info on that you may want to ask the publisher, we follow their instructions on selling their game.

Major Fallen Earth Announcement Coming May 31st


Fun fact: The announcement is not for content coinciding with the release of a Fallen Earth line of Lego minifigures and playsets, although those odds would be much higher were this the 1990’s. So what is the big major extraordinary amazing unannounced news? You’ll have to wait until Tuesday to find out.

The Fallen Earth team has a MAJOR announcement during the scheduled maintenance set for next Tuesday, May 31. We’re giving ya’ll a chance to sit down with Senior Game Designer Marie “Aro Sei” Croall as she discusses the State of the Game and plans beyond.

Take out the trash, call off work, heat up those microwave dinners, put your pets to bed and your kids in the kennel, you won’t want to miss this. You’ll have two chances to hear this amazing announcement live (or just check this website), which you can find here on Fallen Earth’s ustream. Once at 3pm and once at 8pm Eastern.

Of course, the question now is…what would be this major? Of those answers I can think of, it is either:

  • Fallen Earth is going free to play.
  • Fallen Earth is shutting down.
  • Icarus Studios is making a new game.
We already know of a lot of upgrades coming to the game. Combat changes, that housing system, and more. What better time than now to announce a free to play section? If the announcement starts out with “we want to thank everyone who supported Fallen Earth from beta to launch and onward,” then you might have grounds to be concerned.

Mortal Online Doing A Little Better: Costs Cut


Nothing to lose your head over. The last time we took a look at Star Vault’s finances, the company announced that:

With the new cost structure, the Board expects that an additional approximately 1500 players to achieve break-even, a goal that we hope to achieve in the second quarter of 2011.

Well the Q1 financial reports are out, and it appears that although Mortal Online’s subscribers have remained mostly stagnant, the cost of running business has gone down significantly.

 The sale of licenses in the first quarter of 2011 remained largely unchanged compared to the fourth quarter of 2010.

The Board of Star Vault decided, in order to reduce its costs, to cancel the liquidity guarantee. Star Vaults last day of trading with market maker was on 29 April 2011 and the company’s first trading liquidity without being 2 May 2011.

With our current cost structure, the Board expects that an additional approximately 1000 players to achieve break-even, a goal that we hope to achieve during the second quarter of 2011.

If you don’t understand what a liquidity guarantee is, that’s okay, I don’t fully understand it either. What is important is that Star Vault requires less income to break even, meaning Mortal Online’s long term viability just became that much better.

You can read the entire release here.

Aion: 10 Day Free Trial And Welcome Back Week


Aion’s 2.5 patch brings a whole lot of sexy to NCsoft’s already big-hitting title. The patch brings with it a new graphics mode, new content, customizations, pets, mentoring, armors, abyss changes, dynamic maps, and more changes than you could legally shake your finger at. In fact, NCsoft is so excited, that they want to welcome back their old players (again) to show them just how well the game has improved…just not for a few weeks. Possibly to give the current subscribers a leg up on the update and work out any kinks before reopening the doors, the welcome back week runs from June 3rd to June 13th.

If you haven’t logged into your NCsoft account since the security update, you may want to get a head start. NCsoft enacted a new security policy, requiring computers to be authenticated before an account can log in from them. In order to authenticate a computer, you will need to enter your password hint answers, and if you don’t know those, go through support to get them changed. Do so soon, because there’s no saying how much NCsoft’s Customer support will be backed up.

Furthermore, those of you who never played Aion will have the opportunity to take part in a ten day trial, experiencing up to level 20. The trial goes live May 26th. Oh NCsoft, why did you have to pick June 3rd and make me choose between Aion, the Hellgate Global beta opening, and the Duke Nukem Forever beta (among other things that week)?

Third Square Enix MMO In The Works…Why?


Square Enix’s past with MMOs can be summed up a such: Final Fantasy XI was released and still trucks along well to this day. Fantasy Earth Zero was launched, died a quick death, and was revived by another company only to die again just this year. Final Fantasy XIV, however, is where the story gets interesting. Still reeling from its own launch, FFXIV has yet to institute subscriptions and has no timetable for doing so. The PS3 version has been delayed indefinitely with no release in sight. Finally, Square Enix’s upcoming MMO…hold the phone, upcoming MMO? One moment please.

And we’re back. Yes, folks, Square Enix is working on a third MMO, according to their most recent earnings report. The game is set to be announced this fiscal year, which means this article is essentially show boating and a reason to incorporate Tough Guys Don’t Dance into MMO Fallout.

There is good news, non-Final Fantasy fans. The MMO will be a different IP, it appears, meaning it could be anything from Dragon Quest to Thief, Kingdom Hearts, or more (personally I’m rooting for Snoopy’s Red Baron MMO). More on this title as it appears.

Age of Conan Going Free To Play This Summer!


Crom, I don’t normally pray to you. I don’t have the time, what with writing all those forum posts making jokes like “Funcom? More like… not… so… funcom!” If you will grant me one thing, make it Age of Conan free to play. I’m playing in the welcome back week, and I’m very much enjoying the game, but I need to see more. And if you don’t, then to hell with you.

At least that’s what I imagine some Age of Conan player somewhere prayed before he went to bed last night, because Funcom delivered. Formally announced on the forums, Funcom is launching Age of Conan: Unrated this summer, allowing free players access to the majority of the original game, and a little bit of Rise of the Godslayer, absolutely free. Free players are limited from certain dungeons, Alternative Advancement points, offline levels, and veteran rewards, as well as specific raids, certain classes, and sieges altogether. Still, there is a lot to see in new Age of Conan free…for free.

You can check out the free/members perks here. Age of Conan free to play goes live this summer.

Age of Conan Film/Game Tie-In


Craig Morrison strikes me as the kind of guy who would immerse himself deeply enough in his work that he’d require the Funcom employees to pray to Crom every morning before work begins:

Crom, I have never prayed to you before. I have no tongue for it. No one, not even you, will remember if we were good men or bad. Why we fought, or why we died. All that matters is that two stood against many. That’s what’s important! Valor pleases you, Crom… so grant me one request. Grant me revenge! And if you do not listen, then to HELL with you!

A good few people are asking: Will the upcoming Conan movie save Age of Conan? According to Craig Morrison, the game doesn’t need saving.

First of all I’m not sure we need saving! We wouldn’t still be running the game with the size of team and the operation that we have if the game wasn’t perfectly viable, profitable and doing well. We still have a sizeable team working on the game, we are still adding new content – we’ve added as much new content this year already as any of our other competitors and we’re only going to do more for the rest of the year.

If Funcom is as happy with the current state of Age of Conan as Morrison wants us to believe, Age of Conan has a healthy future ahead of it. According to the Eurogamer interview, not only did last year’s Rise of the Godslayer maintain the population, it actually brought players back.

You can read the entire interview at the link above, which goes into detail on the new content that is appearing in Age of Conan to tie in with the film.

Bioware: No, TOR Is Not A Sandbox


Star Wars: The Old Republic is not a sandbox title. Let me say that again for emphasis: The Old Republic, developed by EA/Mythic/Bioware, is not. a. sandbox title. That is a very simple recipe of “this is not Star Wars Galaxies 2.” I don’t know why Bioware needs to reiterate this on a constant basis, but once again the usual troop of Galaxies vets have come in to make demands that the developers never promised and only they were expecting to begin with.

Although granted, we had this same conversation with Clone Wars Adventures, where I had to point out that the game is for children. Over on the Old Republic forums, Georg Zoeller posted in a thread asking for sandbox elements, to clarify once again that TOR is not a sandbox game.

There will certainly be out-of-combat player activities and activities that promote social interaction in the game, but you will not be able to take a job as a moisture farmer on Tatooine and simulate the life of such an individual in our game.

Zoeller states that concepts like player built housing are not completely off the table, just low priority. As far as MMO terms go, you can pick up your tickets at the booth, because TOR is about as theme-park as it gets.

In short: Uncle Owen and his life is not the kind of heroic journey we’re going for with this game. (The jawa’s with their rocket launchers wouldn’t make that a very fun activity anyway).

The amount of misinformation around The Old Republic is less surprising when you recognize that it’s looking to be one of 2011’s big players.