MMO Gamers

“You there!  I need 10 wolf pelts to make sheaths for the Captains Guard, but I have to stay here.  Will you get them for me?  I promise to reward you well.” Says the dude with the magical book hovering above his head.

“Hmm. Well, I suppose I could I guess.  What will you give me?”

“I will give you a meagre sum of copper and some XP.”

“Hmm.  Well, I could use the XP, I’m about to ding.  Ok, I’ll do it.  Where do I find them?”

“Open up your map, I’ve marked the location for you.”

<opens map and sees the big red circle> “Oh wow, how’d you do that?”

“Easy, with a big red crayon.”

So off I go to kill his 10 wolves, get the pelts that are urgently required to arm our troops so they can defend us and we can continue to live harmoniously with each other.  Now I don’t mind so much the killing 10 wolves’ part, though Age of Conan (AoC) with its 80 levels took the kill 10 wolves thing to all new heights of boredom.  But the whole “quest” thing has lost the “quest” aspect that it held for me back in the days of Dark Age of Camelot and the earlier days of Everquest 2.

When I first played DAoC you would have to click on a NPC to see if he had a quest.  And then he wouldn’t give you specifics, but rather, give you vague directions like “Go north until you cross a stream and seek out a merchant called Grumboor”.  I’d have to run across two zones until I crossed a stream and then keep going until I stumbled across a village I hadn’t been to before and found the merchant in question.  Quests had a sense of scope, of discovery, of adventure.  Now they provide instant gratification.  Go to the village, click the dude with something floating over his head, open up your map, point yourself to where the quest is marked, do quest, return, rinse and repeat.

I’m still waiting for developers to make quests “feel” like quests rather than just things to grind for XP.  AoC took a step in the right direction with their destiny quests but I don’t hear any developers talking about their unique quest system in their upcoming titles, I only hear “We will have quests”.

If you haven’t already you should go and check out The Daedalus Project.  They do a lot of interesting surveys, some of which I participate in, and they come up with some very interesting findings.

I received an email informing me that the last survey I did had concluded and that I should visit the site to see the results.  This survey covered guilds in MMOs, and some of the conclusions were as follows.

· 23% of those surveyed were in the guild that they created themselves.
· 20% of members joined the guild that had a real life friend in and 17% joined because of an online friend.
· 18% saw an ad for the guild and asked to join it.
· The average number of active members in a guild (not including alts) was 30 and a quarter of guilds had fewer than 10 members
· 59% of women had a real life romantic partner in the guild compared to only 31% of men
· 52% of those surveyed rated their guild as casual with only 6% rated as serious
· Most players were either very happy or extremely happy with their guild, with women more likely to be extremely happy.

I must say, some of these findings surprise me.  23% of people being in the guild they created probably ties in with a quarter of guilds having fewer than 10 members, and why people complain that there are too many guilds.

You can read the full results of the survey here.

After reading this post over at Tobold’s I had to write my own opinion/assumption on the subject, which is all either of us are doing, making assumptions.  What prompted me to write about this, apart from Tobold’s blog, was that I’d actually had a similar discussion with Kyrana only yesterday. 

Tobold makes the assumption that because Destruction is more popular and has longer queues to get in; that casual players who can’t be bothered waiting will just roll Order, while the hardcore players who have hours to play will wait out the queue.  On his server, Destruction appears to dominate RvR.

I, on the other hand, have a different opinion, and a different experience.  See, on my server, Destruction gets trounced in the Open RvR areas and Keep sieges.  The scenarios I’ve been in as a guild have usually led to victory, but again, PuG scenarios are more often than not disastrous.  And I have to contend with queues to log in as Destruction.  So why is this different?

I play on Phoenix Throne, the NA Core Roleplay server, and I think this is what’s so different.  I don’t know if there is a queue to log in as Order, but there always seem to be more Order players when we try to assault or defend a Keep.  Attacking a tier 2 Keep with a full warband soon ends up in our slaughter as two warbands of Order turn up to defend.

So I question whether there are more Order players than Destruction.  Or perhaps the hardcore RvR guilds rolled on the Order side while the majority of roleplayers created Destruction toons.  And roleplayers are reluctant to use Ventrilo or other voice communications.  My guild, which is a RP guild, has a Vent server, and yet we get the same seven or eight people using it, out of a guild roster of over 50 members.  We do well in scenarios because five of us will be on Vent, but when we had a warband of 12 we still only had five on Vent.  Roleplay guilds tend to be smaller also, with people wanting to maintain a more personal guild, where the hardcore RvR guilds may have 100’s of members.  So it’s unlikely you will face a warband of roleplayers, which might need to comprise three or four different guilds, where all the players are using Vent.

Both of us experience queues, and yet both of us have different experiences.

I’ve been spending a lot of my time doing RvR this week.  Actually, since hitting Tier 2 it’s been mostly RvR.  Questing is just something I do if it’s quiet and there isn’t enough guildies on to put a group together.  PQ’s I’m happy to do once a week on our PQ night.  I like PQ’s, particularly the rewards you can get (I got a purple belt at the last one) but spending two or three hours on them once a week is enough.

RvR on the other hand is a different matter altogether.  It is so much fun, particularly in a guild group.  We managed to fill another’s warband last night with 10 guildies in an attempt to take Spite’s Reach, the Tier 2 keep in the Shadowlands.  It looked good for a while but then the Order defenders kept turning up until their numbers overwhelmed us.  Is Order the new “Alb zerg”?

So, failing in our attempt to capture the Keep, six of us decided to do some scenarios and appease our RvR addiction via that medium.  We queued up Phoenix Gate and Stonetroll Crossing but neglected to queue up Mourkhain’s Temple because I hate that scenario almost as much as I hate Bright Wizards.  Five of the six of us were using Ventrilo for voice communications and the difference in success rate compared to a group that isn’t using it is phenomenal.  If you ever see a guild group and they seem to be well organized and handing your ass to you on a platter you can bet your shirt that they’re using voice chat. 

Phoenix Gate was the first scenario we got into. This scenario is a “Capture the Flag” type thing where you try to get the opposing team’s flag and return it to your flag area.  Our party consisted of a Tank (Chosen), two witch elves (melee DPS) and three Disciple’s of Khaine, the Dark Elf healing class, though one of the Disciples was specced for DPS.  We decided that each non-healer class would get their own personal healer and that healer was responsible for keeping only themselves and their “buddy” alive.  The success rate we had in this scenario last night was the best I’ve seen since playing it and we did it a few times with exactly the same result.

Our group dynamics changed slightly by the time we ended up in Stonetroll Crossing, with the loss of a Disciple and the addition of a Magus.  In this scenario you need to acquire the Pacifier and then take that to three locations.  Each time you successfully get it to a location you earn Victory points and getting it to all three gives you a bonus.  Only four of the six were on Vent now but it was a simple case of “Stick to the tank” rule and again, with the four of us coordinating on Vent, we won this scenario a few times and had some of the best skirmishes I’ve had in RvR.  It wasn’t a cakewalk and Order fought well, but we were just that little bit better organized and were able to change strategy on the fly.

On the downside there seems to be an exploit known as de-synching being used during RvR.  This allows players who find themselves cornered and pretty much screwed to disappear and reappear some distance away allowing them to escape.  I think it says a lot for a person’s character where they feel the need to cheat in what is merely a game and is supposed to be fun.  Cheaters are a lower form of life than gold-spammers.

Ah yes.  Terribly bad at posting again.  To be honest I’m quite busy with this whole Guild running business, not to mention the actual playing of the game part, and then there’s fansites, community sites, and bloggers to catch up on.  Not that any of this is bad.  Actually it’s quite good and I’m having a lot of fun.

I’m still enjoying Warhammer immensely.  My class is a lot of fun to play and I think I’m getting the hang of it and doing an alright job of keeping people alive.  Our Guild has over 50 members now and has reached level 10.  We now get to secure our Heraldry and the options are quite extensive so it’s taking me a while to decide.  My Disciple has hit level 18 adventure rank and level 17 renown rank. 

One of the reasons I like this game so much, and one of the reasons any MMO keeps me subscribing, is the community.  The players that I’ve met on the Phoenix Throne server have been really friendly and helpful.  The roleplayers I’ve come across have been out of this world.  Sure, there’s been the occasional god-moding but most of the ones I have RP’d with, whether it was random RP or with guildmates, has been outstanding.

And that’s why I’d like to plug a new roleplay community website that’s been created.  It’s creator also runs a roleplay guild in Warhammer and has gone to the trouble of creating and moderating this new site.  It’s called Warhammer’s Wake and it’s not restricted to server but invites all roleplayers from the Warhammer community to visit, post, and find some online friends that share a common interest.

Well done roleplayers of Warhammer.  You guys r0×0rz!

Some comments recently to my PQ post, a number of topics around the blogosphere, and a conversation I had with one of my co-workers, a WoWbois, got me thinking about Warhammer and World of Warcraft.  I shall relay parts of this conversation I had with this WoWbois, who I shall refer to as Pimply Pete, not because he has pimples or because his name is Pete, but rather the opposite, and should you happen upon him returning from the convenience store you won’t assume that this is THE Pimply Pete made famous by this incredibly popular blog <waves to Mythic>.

So Pimply Pete asks me about Warhammer.  He’s interested in playing WAR but in his words he “has a lot invested in WoW” and he’s also pre-ordered WotLK.  I told him about the wonderful time I’d been having and went into detail about our exciting, but failed, keep assault.  I spared him nothing and went into detail about the battering ram, the burning pitch, and the storming of the keep once the door had been turned into nothing more than splinters.  I told him about renown ranks, about public quests, influence and more. 

And then he asked me about questing.  Now I’m not a huge fan of questing, which I find to be a grind.  And that’s probably one of the reasons I like WAR so much, because I can play the game for days and not have done a single quest, yet I’m still getting XP, I’m levelling up, and I’m getting phat lewt.  And I’m not a fan of solo gameplay, another reason I enjoy WAR; lots of grouping opportunities.  Questing is what I do when it’s the wee hours of the morning and it’s quiet, I’m sick of RvR and I just need to mellow for a while.

As usual I digress, so I’ll try to get this topic back on track.  Pimply Pete (not his real name remember.  Anonymity is crucial) asked me about questing.  And I tell him yes, it has quests, they’re like other quests. <shrugs at Pimply Pete>.  And then I made this comment, and why I said it I don’t know, and where it came from I’m not really sure.  But I said it and it’s out now.  I said “If you like to solo you’ll probably get bored of WAR pretty quickly”.  I know that I would.  If I spent the majority of my time doing solo quests I probably wouldn’t have lasted a month.  If I mixed it up with some solo RvR then I might last longer.  But if I had another game I enjoyed and had an “investment” in, then it’s unlikely that WAR would be able to hold my interest.  But for the style of play I enjoy, WAR has plenty to keep me going.

Whether I can convert Pimply Pete to WAR or whether he is lost to WoW forever will have to be told in a later instalment.

I haven’t really spoken about Public Quests, mainly because they’ve been so well covered on the blogosphere that there isn’t anything I can add. Except of course my opinion, which is what blogging’s really about isn’t it?  What prompted me to speak about PQ’s, apart from the need to talk about SOMETHING on this blog or else risk the loss of the influential title of “blogger”, was something I read over at Simple Complexities.  Note, this is a quote of a quote, I would hate to be accused of misquoting, otherwise I’ll never be able to work my way up to getting that free lifetime subscription to Warhammer <waves his arms at Mythic and shouts “over here”>

“Public Quests are just another grind - Well, this is another way to give you a quest, but you still do the exact same thing…so, this really changes nothing of the game atmosphere or mechanics.”

Well now, they’re hardly a grind.  The Unicorn Quest in Vanguard.  That was a grind.  Levelling in Dark Age of Camelot.  That was a grind.  The higher crafting levels in EQ2.  They were a grind.  And I wouldn’t even call it a quest per se.  Anyone who reads my blog regularly; yes all you 10,000 a day <tries to get Mythic’s attention as he points to this vastly exaggerated figure> would know that I’m not a huge fan of questing in MMOs.  Questing feels like a grind for me.  Sure, some of them I do like, such as quests that direct you to new areas or ones that feel like a “quest”, such as the Heritage Quests in EQ2, but they also need to have phat lewt at the end of it.  I don’t want to go on a great quest to find I get gear I’ve out-levelled.

And this is what I like about PQ’s.  You can see the Rally Master and learn what gear you’ll get for completing the PQ for that Chapter, and determine whether it’s even worth doing.  And it’s not about getting XP, but rather about getting Influence.  I’ve gotten some uber gear through these PQ’s.  On the downside it can be hard to find enough people to complete some of these PQ’s, and if you’re guildless or the type of player that likes to solo then it can be a grind.  You can still get Influence by killing the trash mobs in the PQ area, you just won’t get a chance at loot for finishing the PQ.  Which is another good thing about PQ’s.  Each time you finish it you have the chance of winning some good lewt, depending on how much you contributed plus some strange formula of die rolls that nuclear physicists developed for this purpose.

Public Quests are just another thing you can do in WAR, or you can choose not to and just go RvR, or quest, or do scenarios, or craft, or discover tome unlocks ………..

Having dinged both level and renown rank 15 yesterday I thought I’d share my adventures of the past week.  Also the fact that I’ve been awful at blogging of late but I’ll blame that on two things;  (a) having an absolute blast in Warhammer, so much so that I can’t sit at the computer and NOT play and (b) being so incredibly busy with running a guild that I couldn’t bear to stare at a computer screen to blog.

Beyond level 5 you really start to get a feel for your character and familiarise yourself with the game mechanics.  All through Tier 1 I did a bit of everything; quests, public quests, RvR, everything except crafting.  For some reason I just can’t get motivated to craft.  And in any case, there’s just been too much to do.

RvR is really the shining light in this game and really takes me back to Dark Age of Camelot, minus the buffbots and twinked assassins.  In fact, I was enjoying the RvR so much that during the quiet times I would wander over to Chrace on my level 8 DoK and over to the High Elf area.  I’m playing on Phoenix Throne and that’s not an Open RvR server so I couldn’t attack anyone, technically.  Of course, I could flag myself for RvR and then stand in an aggressive manner near an Order dude, and as sure as the sun comes up every morning, they would attack me.

And I learned that in a one-on-one fight I can take on anybody, even those a level or two higher.  Swordmasters, Archmages, Shadow Warriors, cake if I can close the distance.  Even in the scenarios I can beat Witch Hunters, Engineers, Bright Wizards; even the dwarf tank.  The only classes that provide a tough fight are the White Lions and the Warrior Priest.  Now that I’m in Tier 2 the fights are tougher.  At level 15 I just can’t seem to do any damage to the level 20 guys, even though my stats are “raised” to level 18.  I’ve been specializing as a healer so I’ve started to hang back and play a more traditional healer role, rather than trying to kill people.

I’ve also learned some tactics and a couple of morale abilities.  Morale abilities really add something extra to combat, and they can be a real “get out of jail free card”.  One of my morale abilities is a big heal and the other does AoE damage and heals the group also.  Tactics allow you to set yourself up for combat and focus on various things.  For instance, I can have one set of tactics which increase the healing I do to myself or another where my damage is increased by 25%.

I have noticed that now that I’m in Tier 2 it’s harder to complete PQ’s then it was in Tier 1 for lack of players participating.  This isn’t due to a low population; Phoenix Throne is full to capacity.  I suspect that it’s more a case of the level ranges spreading more, from the hardcore gamers working through Tier 3 and the casual gamer still in Tier 1.  Also the popularity of RvR might be pulling players away from questing.  It’s a shame because the PQ’s offer good rewards once you complete the Chapter.  I’ve introduced a Monday Night PQ night for our guild so we can work through the Tier 2 and 3 Chapters, and our first one was quite popular.   I ended up getting a very groovy pair of boots and robe as an upgrade.  Woot!