tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3287859335174901821.post2109106610274247345..comments2024-03-18T19:38:53.390-04:00Comments on Parallel Context: On the Endangered Species List: The Story in MMOsRedbeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05306063084983025771noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3287859335174901821.post-1492812833390512762017-09-29T01:15:36.897-04:002017-09-29T01:15:36.897-04:00Nope, the Bear was the actual Tank, not the Hunter...Nope, the Bear was the actual Tank, not the Hunter's pet. The Hunter was running ahead and pulling and the Tank would bounce over, literally, once he'd fought whatever he was fighting himself and take over. There were a couple of times where the Bear led the way. He didn't seem to know where here was going, to say the least.Atherenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04773969634802702992noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3287859335174901821.post-91110331727009946482017-09-28T16:40:40.378-04:002017-09-28T16:40:40.378-04:00At least it wasn't something like "poop&q...At least it wasn't something like "poop", which by now I'm used to having had three kids go through middle school.... ;-)Redbeardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05306063084983025771noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3287859335174901821.post-39036878729542529862017-09-28T16:38:58.129-04:002017-09-28T16:38:58.129-04:00That Galaxies PvP reminds me of my first month in ...That Galaxies PvP reminds me of my first month in WoW, when I started as a Blood Elf and finally reached the quest to get to Orgrimmar. (I can't tell you how long I spent wandering the throne area of Silvermoon City without realizing that there wasn't a gate or a door but a <i>device</i> you click on to get transported magically to just outside the Undercity.) About 30 minutes after finally arriving in Orgrimmar by myself and wandering around without the help of my companions, an Alliance raid group attacked to try to storm their way in and kill Thrall. (No, they didn't succeed, but I give them marks for trying.)<br /><br />And yes, I can appreciate wanting to share adventures with people, not play against them. Which is a large part of why I followed my fellow blogger Souldat off of Stormscale-NA, which is a PvP server.<br /><br />So.... About that 5-man....<br /><br />Was the Hunter using a bear companion to tank with? I figure I have to ask, because that's the most obvious tanking companion.Redbeardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05306063084983025771noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3287859335174901821.post-12921887431954627012017-09-28T16:21:07.732-04:002017-09-28T16:21:07.732-04:00PvP not pop...PvP not pop...Atherenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04773969634802702992noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3287859335174901821.post-67056870729938332832017-09-28T16:19:50.255-04:002017-09-28T16:19:50.255-04:00I can understand that multiplayer could be cheaper...I can understand that multiplayer could be cheaper, just release new maps periodically to refresh the game and voila.<br />And also that some people prefer human opponents to AI. <br />I personally am not interested in opponents, I'd prefer others to share adventures. Dungeons give an endlessly varied experience because no two groups ever approach any dungeon the same way. Last night in the Scarlet Monastery a hunter was tanking backed by a frolicking bear Druid. Nobody died.<br />The only interesting pop I've played was in ( what else) Galaxies, where big groups would sneak attack an enemy town or base, taking them by surprise ideally and dealing with their mines and turrets and whatever players they could muster before the base was taken down. There was planning, strategy, cooperation, exit strategies. Pretty exciting.<br />By the way, I've never been quick as my husband and son are, but my self defense mechanisms kick in pretty fast, even in a game, and I can generally target and shoot as quickly as I need to.Atherenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04773969634802702992noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3287859335174901821.post-30664967016506463212017-09-28T14:26:15.098-04:002017-09-28T14:26:15.098-04:00I think that you hit the nail on the head with tha...I think that you hit the nail on the head with that article, Atherne. All that goes around comes around.<br /><br />At the same time, I do see multiplayer modes being more of the new hotness for a purely business reason: they take up less development effort to get out the door. I would have thought that the success of The Witcher III and Dragon Age Inquisition would have brought more AAA game companies into developing newer single player games, but apparently we're a few years away from that being the case.<br /><br />I've heard some people say that multiplayer is a "better" video game experience because nothing can beat playing against another human for the intellectual experience. The dirty little secret is that PvP and multiplayer modes in games are as much a physical challenge as a mental one. Both Ancient (from Tome of the Ancient) and I can tell you that physical skills, particularly with visuals and hand/eye reflexes, diminish over time and if you were competent 10 years ago you might not be now. So eventually people have to come to grips with games where physical skills aren't quite so important, and that means that for quite a few people multiplayer/PvP modes aren't going to work for them.Redbeardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05306063084983025771noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3287859335174901821.post-87728040027395792212017-09-27T23:50:32.516-04:002017-09-27T23:50:32.516-04:00I came to MMO's from RPG's and Action/Adve...I came to MMO's from RPG's and Action/Adventure games which were all about moving a story forward via various means.<br />My first MMO was Star Wars Galaxies, where you didn't need quests because you were part of a familiar story, and you wrote new chapters every time you logged in.<br />Then I played Lord of the Rings Online, which has one of the richest stories ever told, completely quest driven.<br />I had a lot of trouble getting to like World of Warcraft because the world and it's story was unfamiliar, and I still am not engaged by the lore of the world, though it has many great features.<br />The tide in gaming seems to be PVP and, to me, variations of online shooters. They seem so repetitive. I suppose if I grew up playing Capture the Flag and other games that are basically Tag, maybe, maybe I'd be interested.<br />I like the points you made about multiplayer, and remembered a point where various developers were saying Single Player is dead. <br />This article has the spirit of all that http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2016/02/08/single-player-is-dead-long-live-single-player.aspx My favorite quote though talks about the expanding audience for games in general. We now have a couple of generations of people who grew up playing single player and multi-player games of all kinds. The audiences are out there for everything that can be made, I think. The total audience is just so huge, and the numbers are dispersed, not given to a single game or game type anymore. The quote:<br />Harvey Smith, Arkane Studios’ co-creative director, backed up the success of his title with strong words for the industry mindset in an interview with Gamesindustry.biz. “What people say each cycle is, 'Fill-in-the-blank is the new thing'” Smith said. “And if you're old enough, you remember when it was live-action video games. At another point it was MMOs. At another it was social games. At another it was multiplayer shooters. And none of those things are bad; they're all great. But what the reality seems to be is we keep adding types of games and finding new player groups for those. The market seems to be expanding. It seems like our attention focuses on the new thing, but in reality, there are still plenty of people that like a particular kind of game. Every time someone announces the death of the single-player game, something like The Sims or BioShock Infinite comes along and does different things well. So far we haven't capped out. It's not like DOTA fans are buying DOTA and not playing Skyrim, or buying Dishonored and therefore not buying Madden. I think there's a bunch of different audience types, and we haven't even hit the limit yet."Atherenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04773969634802702992noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3287859335174901821.post-73965189570953229712017-09-25T08:48:59.892-04:002017-09-25T08:48:59.892-04:00Vanilla had its share of multizone stories, but at...Vanilla had its share of multizone stories, but at the same time it didn't have a coherent story like Wrath, Cata, and newer WoW expacs had. Still, story mattered enough to Blizz that they spent a lot of time on it. <br /><br />And yes, you're right about SWTOR upping peoples' game on story, but even before that there was an epic storyline for LOTRO and Age of Conan (the latter I've yet to finish). But that doesn't diminish SWTOR's achievement of going full bore into cinematic storytelling and pushing MMOs into better crafted and better designed stories.<br /><br />As for the non-MMO market, I certainly hope that random multiplayer modes doesn't overwhelm everything for the next few years in the same way that Wolfenstein and Doom did in the 90s. It took the original Baldur's Gate to break out of that wave and push the RPG genre back to the forefront of PC gaming.<br /><br />Then again, we do have Breath of the Wild, which is a fantastic game. No, I've not played it, as the ability to swivel your view all the time gives me headaches when I watch the mini-Reds play. But I have watched enough to realize it is a <i>very</i> special game. It's the sort of game that you watch and say "I wish there were an MMO based on THAT."Redbeardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05306063084983025771noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3287859335174901821.post-25572605976624447192017-09-25T01:55:15.103-04:002017-09-25T01:55:15.103-04:00I don't think story in MMOs is endangered quit...I don't think story in MMOs is endangered quite yet. My impression has been that (at least in the west), SWTOR kicked off the trend of focusing on an overarching narrative - and despite of failing at its WoW killer aspirations, it managed to raise the bar for everyone else, so that for a while every new MMO seemed to be very interested in having a coherent story. Since then it's somewhat fallen out of favour again, but at the same time we haven't had many major new MMO releases in a while, so change has been slow.<br /><br />Now, non-MMOs seem to be a different matter. From what I hear there is a definite trend of focusing on random multiplayer modes over any sort of campaign or solo story, presumably because it's cheaper to make and keeps people engaged for a while. I suspect that trend will eventually crash as well though - not everyone can be the next big hit on the block, and multiplayer requires active queues. If not enough people are playing at all times, a game without anything to offer to the solo player will just fizzle out.Shintarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16758343475446510635noreply@blogger.com