What Happened This Week: 4/24-4/30 Edition


Welcome to the second episode of Week In Review (or whatever I’m calling it this week), your look at some stories that didn’t make MMO Fallout headlines for one reason or another.

1. Bethesda’s MMO May Not Be The Elder Scrolls

Chalk this one up as a disappointment, and actually a rather old news story by news standards. I came across an article from early April from Bethesda stating that multiplayer in The Elder Scrolls was entirely possible, but the company believes multiplayer would detract from what they see as primarily a rich and deep single player game, rather than the recent formula which appears to be a short single player story with the primary focus being multiplayer level grinding.

For what it’s worth, Bethesda was referring to the game Skyrim coming up this year, and an MMO is still possible in the future, having a game that is completely online instead of trying to split the two systems and dilute both experiences. Until Zenimax opens its doors and tells us what it’s been working on, all we can do is speculate.

2. Rift’s New Coin Lock Restrictions Prevent Banning

One of my criticisms with Rift’s coin lock system is that, although it was designed to stop commercial account theft by making the character unable to trade, drop, or deposit, the system did not stop non-commercial account theft (IE: The guy who steals your account just to ruin your day). It did not prevent the person from getting banned via chat-spam or a gold farmer using the account simply to spam advertisements for their website.

The new restrictions on Rift’s coin lock restrict access to everything Guild and Chat related, so a compromised character can no longer speak, nor can they wreak havoc on their guild. All I can say is, good on you Trion. There is the matter I brought up of tying the account lock to email, a system likely to also be compromised along with a person’s account, but it’s a good step nonetheless.

I use Rift’s authenticator on my iPad, not that I’m worried about my account being stolen. I set it up just to test it when it came out and, quite frankly, I’m too lazy to go through the channels to have it removed.

http://rift.mmosite.com/opinion/more_coin_lock_restrictions.shtml

3. I Shared The Agency’s Lack of Enthusiasm

Looking back on The Agency, I’m almost relieved the title was canned. The more I saw the game’s trailers and interviews, the more I saw a concept that worked well in theory, but in practice would not fit well within the MMO genre. More importantly, I noticed a distinct lack of enthusiasm from Sony Online Entertainment, almost reminiscent of a kid who doesn’t want to play a musical instrument, but his parents make him, so he tries his best because he’s stuck there anyway, but he’s ready to throw that thing in the trash as soon as he receives the green light. The news for The Agency was sporadic, and often went through long periods with absolutely no information.

The Agency reminds me of Dungeon Runners, an experimental title that has ceased its operations. On the other hand, however, Sony can hopefully put more manpower into its upcoming series continuities; Everquest Next and Planetside Next.

4. I’m Looking Into Culling More Categories

I’m trying to give myself a consistent set of guidelines with MMO Fallout, because I hear from the grapevine that that is what real journalists do. Being the nonprofessional dope I am, I’m pretty much winging it. I did decide on delisting MMOs that are cancelled before release, at the end of the month they are cancelled, meaning The Agency is delisted, as well as Stargate Worlds.

Looking at my editorials page, I realized I need to do a lot more with that section than I have in the past. Checking in with the BBB is a series I’m proud of, but the category became rather stagnant and unchanging, even at three months per article. So I’ve deleted the category, and the series has been relegated to once every six months, meaning I’ll put out an article in June.

I’ve also deleted Looking Back, Moving Forward, because I hate monthly recaps. I don’t want to reread my own articles at the end of every month to pick out which ones I happen to like the most. Sales is gone, because I now have a dedicated sales and where to buy page that is hard enough to keep updated by themselves, especially since I’ve broken the HTML on the Sales page so many times it’s a wonder this website hasn’t started murdering random viewers in some violent revenge plot against its human oppressors.

So my remaining articles are In Plain English, which still has a purpose. My more regular categories will be Killing MMOs, Week in Review, and Community Concerns, all of which will be weekly articles.

That’s all for this week.

PS3 Services Returning This Week


Finally some good news for our PS3 players of DC Universe, Massive Action Game, and Free Realms (the latter of which I for some reason ignored on the past articles relating to the PS3 outage). According to the Playstation Blog today, services will be returning to the Playstation Network this week and, as expected, compensation will be coming along with it. Players will be given free downloads of select software of unknown name or quantity (perhaps a free digital download of DC Universe to bolster subscriber numbers?), 30 days of free PSN Plus, and that:

Additional “Welcome Back” entertainment and service offerings will be rolled out over the coming weeks as the company returns the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services to the quality standard users have grown to enjoy and strive to exceed those exceptions.

In addition, Playstation users will undergo a forced update if they want to be able to sign into PSN:

In addition, PS3 will have a forced system software update that will require all registered PlayStation Network users to change their account passwords before being able to sign into the service.  As an added layer of security, that password can only be changed on the same PS3 in which that account was activated, or through validated email confirmation, a critical step to help further protect customer data.

You can read more on the blog link above. No news yet on compensation for DC Universe or Free Realms subscribers.

Super Servers Sounds Better Than Server Merger


I have a new goal: Find the guy who writes Sony’s press releases, and hire him to the MMO Fallout team. In an announcement today on Sony’s website came the revelation of four “super servers,” to reduce queue times, delivered in a much more positive fashion than “we’re merging servers.”

We have heard your concerns about queue times on the servers. This game is about people playing and fighting together so we feel your pain. Sometime in the next month, we are going to test new technology to meld all of our US and European PC and PS3 servers into four Super-Servers, one for each platform in each region.

This news couldn’t have come at a worse time, what with Sony not only going through layoffs, but also the continued downtime of the PS3 DC Universe since the 20th.

This announcement takes me back to what I said in January:

Will this be one of the few MMOs whose population doesn’t crash one month after launch? I’m not holding my breath, but let’s hope for the best.

DC Universe is a fun game, but since launch I’ve had to question its long term viability. The leveling to end game is fast, and Sony really went off track in terms of the game’s social features.

Marvel Universe: No Customized Characters, Ever.


There is something to be said about MMOs. Specifically, MMOs have always been about creating a character (occasionally one that looks like you), and setting him loose in a world to run through their story. The more casual among us might use this character creator to push out an aesthetically pleasing avatar with generous amounts of cleavage, while the more hardcore role players may spend hours customizing every last detail down to the width, depth, and length of their character’s cheekbones, and bless them for it. Key factor is, I play my character to have his part in the overall story. In WoW, you are just another peon in the ongoing war between the Alliance and Horde. In games like Aion and Rift, your character has a bit more prominence than the simple grunts on the battlefield. In DC Universe, your character gains his powers via exobytes from Lex Luthor.

In Marvel Universe, however, players will be relegated to controlling iconic Marvel super heroes, including Spiderman, Wolverine, etc.

Players will play iconic Marvel characters, just as they do in SHSO. In fact, the game will feature more Marvel characters than any Marvel game to date. We won’t be merely “sidekicks.”

If this is Gazillion’s selling point, I’m not buying. I’ve played City of Heroes, Champions Online, and DC Universe, and all three of those have managed to allow me to create my own hero/villain and not feel like the sidekick. Hell, in Champions Online I had my own nemesis, and I even got to customize him with his own backstory, minions, powerset, and looks.

This raises a lot of questions that leave me intrigued, but not actually interested in trying out the game. Is there some form of character progression? If so, how will the story justify the heroes suddenly losing their powers and having to grind to get them back? Will there be any customization at all? How do you justify a couple thousand Spidermans running around?

Individuality is a big contender in the life and death of MMOs, and so is progression and hoarding things. What Gazillion is proposing sounds like taking DC Universe Online’s Iconic Play Mode, calling it an MMO in and of itself, and throwing it onto the internet. Actually, I should say it sounds like Super Hero Squad Online on Hard Mode.

So I guess my question to Gazillion Entertainment is this: As a free to play cash shop MMO, why should I choose your title over Champions Online? The IP? I hope that isn’t your only selling point. I’ll be waiting for this to come up as new information develops.

Marvel Universe Will Be Free To Play


No, I’m not talking about Super Hero Squad! Marvel Universe Online is in fact still in development, and in an interview with Massively.com, Jeff Lind talked about the game launching from the start as free to play:

That was the big surprise of the day! We are very excited about that. We think that [F2P] is an awesome way to make this game much more accessible. It’s a great way to get more people to play (which is good in and of itself), but also we think it’s a good business decision. We think this is a better way to make games in the business now. There is plenty of evidence out there — you guys see it all the time — and we feel like this is a great way to go for the game.

I have an article coming on Marvel Universe that should be published tonight. Find out why I believe this title is going to hit a hard brick wall at launch.

Turbine Taking Back Lord of the Rings Online Europe


Back when Turbine relinquished control of Dungeons and Dragons Online from Codemasters, following the game’s transition to free to play, a lot of us guessed that Lord of the Rings would undergo the same treatment, especially when Codemasters delayed the transition by two months due to contractual issues. With Turbine’s acquisition by Warner Bros, it was only a matter of time before Lord of the Rings Europe transitioned back to its developer’s hands.

Luckily, we have an actual date this time. On June 1st, Lord of the Rings Online will merge into one megaservice. In order to prepare, anyone with a Codemasters account will be required to transition their details over to Turbine, in an account migration process that will be released at an unspecified time before the transition. All characters and items, as well as VIP points will be moved over, and remaining VIP time will transition over. You will have to reenter your billing details, as those will not transfer (due to privacy laws). The forums will not be transferring, and Turbine warns against items in the auction house come June 1st. In addition, Turbine will not be accepting any Codemasters brand serial codes, so if you’re sitting on one, best use it before the service transitions.

You can read more at the Turbine FAQ: http://www.lotro.com/news/latestnews/1157

Community Concerns: So Should I Cancel DC Universe?


This is a tough article for me to write, because it goes against virtually all of my established ethics for MMO Fallout, foremost the ultimate disapproval: Recommending that people not only do not buy, but unsubscribe to a game. Since last week’s Playstation Network outage, I’ve had a number of people emailing me to ask a simple question: Should I cancel my DC Universe subscription (on the PS3)? And after long deliberation, my short answer is…yes.

Sony is rebuilding the Playstation Network, so if your account is about to run out, simply save yourself the money and do not resubscribe until everything is clear. That is, assuming you still trust Sony with your personal information after the news that data, possibly including credit card information, was stolen in the security breach. Sony maintains that data from Sony Online Entertainment was not affected, and only the Playstation Network experience an intrusion.

There is still no concrete date on when the PSN service will be back up, so if you have any subscriptions to DC Universe or Massive Action Game, you’re better off just cancelling now, and resubscribing when the service is back online.

Playstation Network User Data Compromised [UPDATE]


But you already knew this. In the ongoing Playstation Network saga, Sony has announced in today’s blog post that whoever breached the Playstation Network may have gained access to everything from names, addresses, emails, passwords, purchase history and more. Sony has since confirmed (since the publishing of this article) that credit card data was indeed encrypted, and is thus safe.

You can read the entire post here. There is still no ETA for the Playstation Network being brought back up.

Playstation Network: We Can Rebuild It…


Good news and bad news for PS3 users on Massive Action Game and DC Universe Online. The good news is that Sony is still working around the clock to get the Playstation Network back up and running. The bad news is this involves rebuilding the system itself, and there is no further information on when the service will be back up and running. On one hand, Sony has officially admitted that the service break is due to an external intrusion (ie: hacker) that broke through the network’s security. As stated on the official blog:

Our efforts to resolve this matter involve re-building our system to further strengthen our network infrastructure. Though this task is time-consuming, we decided it was worth the time necessary to provide the system with additional security.

Hopefully there will be better news in the days to come.

What Happened This Week: 4/17-4/23 Edition


Every week I have a whole list of topics I want to talk about, that don’t fully fit in with the scope of the website. So I came to the decision, why not stick them in a weekly editorial? I’m also using this section to bolster some of the titles that don’t get talked about much here on MMO Fallout.

1. The Final Fantasy XIV Easter Event

I just completed the Easter event for Final Fantasy XIV, or Hatching-Tide as Square calls it. The event description is even more confusing than the announcement, especially given how simple the event itself was. A “scantily clad” woman (game’s description, not mine) is handing out colorful eggs in the three major cities. Every nonspecific number of hours (eight, I believe), you can get a new egg from her. Obtain four eggs, and you can turn them into the gentleman standing by her, in return for an egg hat, which looks rather ornate.

The events up to this point in FFXIV have been rather…passive, is the word I’m looking for. For the Christmas event, players rang bells in cities to obtain random materials that they would use to craft items with (Santa clothing, and food). Unlike a lot of other MMOs, they’re essentially just something to do every eight hours or so that takes up a few minutes at most.

2. People Need To Be Less Defensive

I got into a discussion on Rift with a player who was under the impression that contested territory zones could be captured by enemy forces. After being informed that contested was merely a label for zones that were PvP-mandatory (on PvP servers, you are automatically flagged in these zones), he responded with “well in most MMOs, the term means that the territory can be taken.” His only example was Warhammer Online and Age of Conan. I explained that Warhammer Online was a game strictly based toward territory control, and irregardless I was pretty sure that the game did not use the term “contested territory” for zones that were open for capture. World of Warcraft popularized the term, and since then it has been used almost exclusively to describe pvp-mandatory zones.

After a few minutes, I got a reply, something related to me having the need to “always be right,” and having no issue with making “blunt, personal attacks” against someone for “simply asking a question,” to which I have to say: LIGHTEN UP! Explaining to someone why their statement is wrong is not making a personal attack, and I apologize if I hadn’t properly laden the explanation with “I’m sorry, but…”

And yes, I understand why people are defensive. You can’t ask a question on any MMO without getting barraged with “lol noob,” and other idiotic comments. That being said, people need to better understand the difference between someone who is informing them, and someone who is just responding to be a dick.

3. Can We Drop The Premonition That Rift Is Dynamic?

I took a lot of metaphorical bricks to the face for comparing Rift to a certain other MMO (actually I called it Warhammer 2.0, which I noted would make it World of Warcraft 3.0), but this is what irks me about the game. The Rift system is fun, it offers an alternative to grinding quests, but it is not dynamic. Rifts open in the same spots, they spawn invasions that go to pre-determined locations to set down footholds, and those footholds spawn invaders to attack the exact same locations in the exact same manner. Hell, they even walk down the exact same paths.

Rifts in Rift are essentially a version of Warhammer Online’s public quest system, that are invisible while the timer ticks down, and preventable (by destroying the invasion before it can set down a foothold). In fact, the system itself is really just taking a quest and removing the need to talk to a quest giver.

In one World of Warcraft quest line, you must kill a set amount of two types of Centaur. Turn the quest in for experience and rewards, and you get another quest to kill two different types of Centaur. Turn that in for experience and rewards, and you receive a quest to kill the lead Centaur. In Rift, you start phase 1, killing specific enemies that spawn. Finish the phase for experience and rewards, and you start phase 2: Kill other specific creatures. Finish that phase for experience and rewards, and start phase 3: Kill the boss.

Rift is a fun game. It is polished, it has a wealth of content, and Trion has been patching the game almost daily to ensure content comes out as quickly as possible, as well as tweaking content to appease the player base. Just don’t tell me that the rifts are dynamic.

4. Should Sarcasm Be Ban-Worthy?

I’ve mentioned before on here that I have GM’ed in MMOs (as I still do), and one of the biggest problems we face in handing out infractions is sarcasm, and if this article instills one piece of wisdom on you, let it be this: When using sarcasm in text, always remember your sarcasm tags (/sarcasm). When I read chat logs from players who are reported for, say, attempted account theft, there is no difference between “give me your password and I’ll give you free stuff,” and “give me your password and I’ll give you free stuff.”

So to answer my own question: yes, actually, sarcasm can very well get you banned, depending on how many times you do it. Most people get the idea after their first warning, but you’d be surprised at how many continue to the point where they are permanently removed, and then contact support to complain that they were “only being sarcastic,” and how we “can’t take a joke.” We can take a joke, you just need to work on your timing and presentation to make it funny.

5. If Nobody Plays, Why Is There So Much Lag?

Ask Derek Smart how many people play Alganon, and he’ll say over 100,000 active accounts. Me, on the other hand, I’ve physically come across one other person playing in the past couple months. This begs a very important question for those of us who do play: Why does the server lag and make me feel like I’m on my old DSL connection?

For the fact that any given area is exponentially more populated by mobs than players, Alganon still faces lag-related issues including mobs walking behind you, rubber banding, and unresponsive attacks. It’s never gone as far as dropping my connection, but I have more than a few moments where all activity simply stops for a few seconds.

I find it fairly hard to believe that the population is “growing,” as viewing how the servers react to the current load, a growth in the community would likely result in the servers committing stress-induced hari kari.

That’s all for this week. If you have any specific topics you’d like me to talk about in next week’s column, feel free to leave a comment.