Various and Sundry in July

The summer doldrums are in full swing.

Outside, the heat has climbed into the oppressive levels, with the humidity to match.  Con season is in high gear, with SD Comic Con this week and less than a month until Gen Con, with PAX Prime at the end of August.

And right on cue, an update on the Pathfinder Online sandbox MMO surfaced:

Not a lot to find interesting; there's background and there's some buildings, but only a few seconds worth of actual figures.  The concept of a sandbox fantasy MMO is interesting, so I'm wondering about the details that weren't shown in the video clip.

***

Another thing I've wondered is whether the next gen consoles will push MMOs away from PCs and into the console format.  Blizzard could be getting some valuable development time in that regard with porting D3 to the XBox360 and PS3, but the major stumbling blocks are XBLive and PSN.  Without the cross platform connectivity, that seems to ensure that MMOs' major selling point (the massively multi part) will be balkanized.  However, I would never bet against Blizzard being able to figure something out in this regard.

***

Heard around MMOs:

In Age of Conan:

[In Eiglophian Mountains, a female toon wearing almost nothing runs by up the mountain path]

Female Toon (in Gen Chat):  Wooo!  I'm invisible!
Me:  Is this Order of the Stick or something?
Third Toon:  Is [toon name] naked again?
Me: Yeah, just ran right by me.  Because, you know, a frigid mountain climb goes better without clothing.


In World of Warcraft:

[In Alterac Valley]

Warrior:  We need a tank here by Drek!
Mage:  WTF, man.  You're marked AS a tank.
Warrior:  Oh.  Whoops.


In TOR:

[On Taris in Gen Chat]

First Toon:  Where is it?
Second Toon:  What?
First Toon:  That wonderful Tarisian beachfront property that the Black Sun sold me!  They said the view was breathtaking!
Second Toon:  Can I have what you're smoking?  I can sure use some.


EtA:  "is"..  "are"...   I are a writer, right?

WoW Cash Shop Opening in Asian Realms

Yeah, you heard that right.

WoW will be taking another step toward having a cash shop like (just about) every other MMO out there by opening up an In-Game Store for Asian realms in patch 5.4.

Considering that the majority of their subscription loss has been in Asia, I'm sure this was a move to directly counter it.  However, unlike other MMOs out there with a cash store, Blizzard will not drop subscriptions.  Instead, they're going to offer XP buffs via the store.

Given that Blizzard has shown a) no desire to destroy their cash cow and eliminate subscriptions and b) this is at present only implemented in Asia, this sounds like a non-starter.  It seems that Blizzard is hoping that people will open up their wallets a whole lot wider and not only maintain a sub but pay for items out of the cash store.

I do have to wonder about the primary reason subs are dropping in Asia, however.  If it's strictly an economic issue (cost of internet time vs. time to play), I can understand giving a new player a boost to get to L90.  A new player won't have access to heirloom gear, and believe me, I lamented that way back when in 2009 when I was struggling to get to L80 in Wrath.  There is also the issue of trying to level a lot of alts, when most heirloom gear doesn't work in the Pandaria range of L86-L90.

Still, I wonder whether Blizzard is reading the tea leaves right.  This entire focus on XP buffs enforces the notion that the important part of WoW is raiding at Endgame, when WoW has thousands of quest between L1 and L90.

Even then, I don't see how an XP boost is going to help a player that much.  I got to L90 in the middle of Kun-Lai Summit, and I still had 3.5 zones to go.  My gear wasn't even close to being able to get into LFR (if I wanted to), so I would have to grind dailies to get raid ready.  There's not much around that, unless they provide a buff for dailies.  (And I don't see that happening, either.)

My last concern is whether Blizzard didn't get the various Asian cultures well enough in Mists.  Every time I was impressed about something they stuck in --some of the tales echo stories about the Monkey King, for example-- they'd have a quest name that made a joke using the differences in Asian pronunciation (substituting Pei-Back in place of Payback, for example).  If you turn off players because they feel you're making a joke about their culture, they're not going to be coming back.  Before you ask, no, I don't have any data.  But when I read that it was Asia --where Mists was marketed heavily-- that had the largest drop in subs, this was the first thing that popped into my head.  If Blizzard is fighting this problem, then putting in a cash store isn't going to help.

A Short Bump

I don't often read Kotaku, so I missed this.  There's a Gamers Against Bigotry pledge making the rounds.  (I had it pointed out to me by a friend who is a non-gamer blogger.)  It's pretty much tantamount to the D.A.R.E. pledge to avoid drugs for those of you who went through that sort of thing*.  It's also a no-brainer if you don't do that sort of thing in-game anyway, but still they're struggling to get 10k pledges by August 1st.

Perhaps it is a small victory if they can get even as few as 10,000 gamers to sign up.  I'm also under no illusions that it's going to suddenly make Trade Chat a happy-happy place to hang out, but the more people that stand up and say that this sort of behavior is NOT okay, so much the better.

*I didn't, but when I was in high school we had Nancy Reagan's Just Say No week long campaign, which D.A.R.E. evolved out of.

Some Brief Monday Thoughts

I was up late working last night, so if you saw me on WoW, that was me trying to stay awake while waiting for the "all clear" signal.  (Flying mounts are great for temporary parking.)  Regardless, my brain is in a bit of a fog, so I'm keeping this post low key.

***

For those people who are interested in that sort of thing, the new Dragon Age 3 trailer was released the other week.

It's for mature audiences only, kids.

No, I've not played the Dragon Age games (I know, I'm a baaaad CRPG player), but I do have the Dragon Age RPG box sets from Green Ronin Publishing, and I do enjoy the setting a lot.  In fact, if you're into pencil and paper role playing games as well as computer games, you might want to check the Dragon Age RPG out.  Wil Wheaton even did a play through of a Dragon Age RPG adventure on his Tabletop YouTube series:

Part 1...

...and Part 2.

***

When slogging through yet another teleported area of Belsavis, Elara expressed her frustration by pointing out that this prison complex keeps going on and on.

(You and me both, Dorne.  You and me both.)

But at least the ending to Belsavis is in sight, for which I'm eternally grateful.

I know I'm in the minority, but I still think that Taris is my favorite Republic zone, with Nar Shadda as my favorite Imp zone.  Taris just has that mysterious "what the hell are we doing here anyway" and "OMG we're all going to die!" feel to it --plus TOR Undead-- and Nar Shadda has the sort of double crosses that you'd expect out of the Hutts.

***

You can tell that Star Trek Online and Neverwinter are both Cryptic games, because the cash store design is similar.  The difference is that Neverwinter was designed from the beginning to be F2P, whereas STO endured the switchover from subscription to F2P.  However, the "success" of STO's store definitely influenced Neverwinter's design; people complain --often rightly-- about the invasiveness of the STO online store, but if it weren't for people lining up to buy items from the store Cryptic wouldn't have copied that design into Neverwinter.

Likewise, it's not a surprise that TOR's cash store has evolved the way it has.  Bioware is merely responding to what sells so they can keep the game afloat, and if people had bought different items, the TOR cash store would look quite a bit different than what it does now.

I was thinking about this when I logged into WoW and saw the latest pet for sale in the Blizzard cash store.  Sure, Blizz doesn't call it that, but that's what the store is:  a store to maximize Blizzard's profit by selling in-game items.  They don't need it like the F2P games do, but it serves a similar purpose.

Where's the Shower?

I was in Isle of Conquest, having snuck up from the Quarry to the Hangar, when it happened.

The Horde had taken the Hangar and left, leaving a lone undergeared Hunter to guard the place.  By the time I'd arrived, a Worgen Feral Druid was circling his prey, waiting for an extra body to strike.  I closed and we struck, wiping out the Hunter.

As I captured the Hangar, the Druid whispered, "Can I ask you something?"

It's not the first time I'd gotten whispers like that, so I barely batted an eye.  "Sure."

"Can I have a touch?"

That wasn't what I expected.  Well, whatever I was expecting, it wasn't that.  Surely I was reading the wrong thing into that whisper.  "Um, what?"

"We're too undergeared to do anything, so why don't you pop out them titties and we can have some fun?"

No, that was exactly what he was thinking.

I snorted, both in-game and out of game.  "We can have some fun" really meant "I want a cheap thrill playing with the virtual breasts of a stranger."

Really?  We're in the middle of a battleground, we're actually in the process of capturing a base, and THIS is all you can think about?

I was about to say "You DO realize that I MIGHT be a guy," but stopped.  For this person, it probably wouldn't even matter, and it might actually encourage him further.

Before I could say a simple and blunt "No," he was jumped from behind by two Horde.

I crept away, leaving him to his fate.  Never had I been happier to see a Warrior and DK combo in my life.

***

I've been playing MMOs for almost four years now with a mix of male and female toons, and that was the first time I'd been propositioned like that.  My male Blood Elf bank alt had been wolf whistled at by female toons when he made the journey to Silvermoon, but this was something else entirely.

My first reaction to that encounter --aside from revulsion-- was bewilderment.  How on earth could that person think such a crude come-on would work?  His toon isn't in a position of power over mine, so what made him think he could attempt to dominate me like that?

Oh wait.  Real life.

We all bring our experiences to the table when we login to an MMO, whether we like it or not.  Some people take advantage of the anonymity that an MMO provides and use it to satisfy their own sexual urges.*    Just like how some people take advantage of Trade Chat to spew racist and sexist crap, others just wait for situations like this.  If you're on the receiving end of it, you simply can't win, either.  If you refuse, you're an uptight bitch who won't loosen up; if you report you're a crazy bitch who can't take a joke; if you say nothing that's tacit approval.

Four years without being harassed like this in-game is a fairly long time, but for my mind, not long enough.  My only regret was was that I didn't take down the toon's name so I could report him.  I know kids who play MMOs, and the last thing they need is an encounter like that one.




*In a mutually agreed situation, that can (probably) work out fine, but this was anything but that.

Not These Guys Again

Anybody remember when the Zandalari were the good guys?*

Now, they're reduced to the role the Nazis filled in the Indy Jones movies.

Zandalaris....  I hate these guys!

I reached the end of the "original" Pandaria quest chains, and I find myself...  Disappointed.  It seems that Blizz walked up right to the edge with the Mongols Mogu and decided that it was too risky to have new baddies out there all by themselves.  Therefore, they dug into their collection of past enemies and pulled out the Trolls.

Again.

I should have seen this coming; after all, both vanilla and every expac of WoW that has been released has featured Trolls as the baddies in some form or another:  Zul'Gurub and Sunken Temple (Vanilla), Zul'Aman (BC), Drak'Theron and Gundrak (Wrath), the 5-man Zuls (Cata).  While they don't get their own separate instance/raid, they are heavily featured in raids such as Mogushan Vaults and Throne of Thunder.

You can't go more than 100 feet in the Isle of Thunder without smacking into a Troll.  And if it weren't for a Rogue's stealth ability, I'm sure I would have.

I just feel like there was such a great chance to Blizzard to fully commit to the Mogu as the balance to the Sha in Pandaria, and they decided that the Thunder King and company couldn't stand on their own.  What's going to happen in the next expac, anyway?  Should they skip other baddies entirely and title it "Trollmageddon"?

***

As an aside, I had to wonder about the naming of Lei Shen's home.  Isle of Thunder doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, but when I switched it around I realized one reason why it shouldn't be named Thunder Island:

I'm actually disappointed that nobody has created a WoW music video based on Jay Ferguson's 70's tune.  Of course, I don't think that you'll find people "chasin' love" out there on WoW's Thunder Island.

***

That does bring up another issue I had with the questing in Pandaria.  Blizz deliberately went for the darker feel in their quest writing, making Vashj'ir seem like a walk in the park by comparison.  But even then, they snuck in their traditional pop culture nods and humorous hijinks.  (Hayden Christophen as the Alliance Honor Quartermaster, for instance).  This time, however, I think that the humorous asides actually detract from the rest of the questing.  Like how Toshley's Station (and to a lesser extent Area 52) are jarring enough that you lose your immersion in the game, quests like the ones associated with the Grummies left me grinding my teeth.

At times like this, I wish Blizz would dial back the humor a bit and at least take themselves more seriously.  We already get tons of "kill ten rats" quests as it is, I don't think a spoonful of sugar humor is going to help that medicine go down any easier.

***

The ending to Dread Wastes, however, is right up there with the ending to Vashj'ir, where you watch what happens and think "Holy shit, we're screwed."**  That said you only get that sort of emotional punch out of an ending once, and if you mess it up you've lost a golden opportunity.  Blizz did a great job on that one.  And on the Jade Forest's ending as well.  For some reason, Townlong Steppes and the combined Krasarang Wilds/Valley of the Four Winds endings didn't have the same sort of punch.  And of course, Kun-lai Summit's ending is in an instance, so it gets an incomplete.

All in all, Blizz did some things right --a bit less quests on rails, although it is still quite noticeable-- which pretty much balance out the issues I had with questing.  I knew I was getting near the end when I kept saying to myself "Just hang in there, Dread Wastes has got to end soon."  The last time I was saying that, I was in The Old Republic and slogging through Belsavis.  And that's a shame, because the overall story behind Dread Wastes was very interesting.




*Or at least semi-good guys.  Hey, scholars are good.

**At least a real raid came out of this, compared to what happened in Vashj.


EtA:  I forgot Zul'Farrak for Vanilla.  That's what I get for hanging around the Eastern Kingdoms lately.

The Old Fashioned Way of Doing Things

The tao that can be told
is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be named
is not the eternal Name.

The unnameable is the eternally real.
Naming is the origin
of all particular things.

Free from desire, you realize the mystery.
Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations.

Yet mystery and manifestations
arise from the same source.
This source is called darkness.

Darkness within darkness.
The gateway to all understanding.
--Lao Tzu, Tao te Ching


There is no emotion, there is peace.
There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.
There is no passion, there is serenity.
There is no chaos, there is harmony.
There is no death, there is the Force.
--The Jedi Code*

In what feels like a lifetime ago, I wrote about how corruption was a major theme in Blizzard's work.  A couple of expacs since that time, Blizzard hasn't really changed their tune very much.  In fact, you could argue that Blizzard is simply coming up with new ways to use corruption.

Okay, Twilight's Hammer was a gimme.  You're tempted by power and who looks like the winning side, and you join with Deathwing.  Even the Sha are pretty blatant.  You open your heart to those non-Zen Buddhist emotions such as fear, anger, and hate** just a tiny bit, and the Sha sneak right on in and corrupt you.  In a very real sense, the Sha are the ultimate excuse for bad behavior:  "I was possessed by the Sha!  They made me do it!  Somebody release the Sha that's inside me!!"

But the war between factions?  Garrosh?  Well, Blizz has gone on record for saying that Garrosh is simply a "bad egg".  Oh, he may eventually become corrupted by the power within Pandaria (/cough 5.4 /cough), but he was evil and/or power hungry to begin with.

O really?

Has everybody forgotten the kid in Nagrand who was so afraid that he'd turn out like his father that he let the Ogres and evil-aligned Broken walk all over his tribe?  The kid who only began to grow a spine when Thrall showed him how his father redeemed himself?

Even though that questline has pretty much dried up due to conflicts --Thrall not being Warchief these days-- that's pretty telling that Garrosh wasn't exactly a "bad egg".  He became a bad egg due to his experiences.  He saw when he first arrived in Orgrimmar that bluster worked.  That aggression worked in Northrend.  He took a strong offensive stance and freed the Dragonmaw from their Legion tainted leaders, learning that putting pedal to the metal worked.  He surrounded himself with "yes men" and marginalized those who would provide better counsel:  Saurfang, Cairne, Baine, Vol'jin, Rexxar, Eitrigg, and Lor'themar.***

In short, he became corrupted with power just like any number of despots.

If he'd had different experiences, if he'd have learned something by the way he was duped into killing Cairne, or if he'd have learned something about power and responsibility after Stonetalon, Garrosh would have turned out differently.  But he didn't.

Seduced by the Dark Side, he was.




*Good thing that the Tao espouses a lack of passion, because some lawyer somewhere would have a field day on this.

**You can hear Yoda saying this, can't you?  "The Dark Side are they...."  That said, the one thing that TOR has that Blizzard doesn't have is romance in the questlines.  The world's biggest generator of fear, anger, and hate is romance/relationships, and Blizz simply refuses to examine that outside of, say, the books.

***I didn't throw Sylvanas into the mix because I'm not convinced she'd give good counsel, and she's also too far gone with her version of total war.  If Liadrin were not consumed with rebuilding Quel'Danas and managing the Blood Knights, I'd have put her in the list as well.