Mystic Worlds

Ventrillo Chat Protocol – Are there rules among friends?

My Carrie Bradshaw question of the week is, “How far is too far in a Vent conversation among adult friends?”

Last night was definitely one of the funniest evenings I’ve spent in Vent chat – like EVER.  I kid you not, I was doubled over laughing.  I had a couple of fits where I couldn’t talk, was crying and my stomach hurt from laughing so hard so long.  I had to go get a napkin twice to wipe my eyes from laughing so much.  It was one of those classic, why the hell isn’t it Friday moments, so this can go on all night long?

The evening started out quiet enough.  I was surprised to find no one down in Order chat when I logged in around 7 PM ET, so I joined the "general chat" room.  It had four people in it but it was silent.  Shortly after I was logged into the game, a couple of others joined Vent and the inevitable question was asked, “Any guild <insert Tier> going?”  There wasn’t at the time but once the few of us that were on all piped up, “I’m in if there is,” we created a T3 party and set off.

Paladins Don't Live Here Anymore

Paladins must be the new flavor of the month in World of Warcraft.  Over the past sixty days I’ve noticed a huge increase in the number of people reading Paladin articles I posted back in January of 2007.  Trust me folks, anything that I wrote about Paladins that long ago is no longer relevant.  Unfortunately, these posts are stuck in a self-perpetuating nightmare.  The more people click them the higher they move up in Google’s rating/relevance rankings so the more people click them.

Visitors who are looking for information related to “Paladins” or “best Paladin professions”, "Paladin gear" and “good Paladin specs” should visit The Blessing of Kings.  Shoo - go that-a-way and find some useful information.

WAR: Clutch Your Pearls, a War is Brewing.

This whole “get people out of Scenarios,” feels very familiar to me.  It’s a kin to hardcore vs. casual.  It smacks of Raiders vs. non-Raiders.  It sounds like people who solo vs. those who only group.  I feel now the same way I felt in all the other games that came before Warhammer Online.  It’s a game and players do what players want to do.  Isn’t every player paying the same monthly fee?  We all paid the required box price so I don’t see anyone’s opinion on what content is more important to be anymore valid than another’s.  Mythic has said that they’d allow PVE to suffer for RVR/PVP and I get that given the focus of this game.  The problem is that the current king of content is RVR/PVP focused – Scenarios.  It’s just not the Open RVR content.

I continue to be amused by the players gnashing their teeth that there isn’t enough Open RVR and that the rewards are inadequate.  I can agree with the rewards part but as for the rest, the fact that it’s less popular than they’d like, that’s sort of life in MMOs.  People like what they like.  People do what suits their needs, play-style and schedules.  And I don’t think there’s a whole lot that the game developers can do about that without risking a large segment of their paying population. 

WAR: Casualties of War Gudbad Outtakes

COW Gundbad Outtakes

Things have been noticeably quiet in Warhammer Online this past week.  I don’t know if people are busy with work, school and/or family but it’s very unusual for Casualties of WAR Vent to be this empty.  Even when the late evening players come online we don’t seem to be bursting at the seams like we were two weeks ago.  I’m starting to wonder if some people have gone to pay a visit to the World of Warcraft 3.0.2, Pre Lynch King Patch.  *Shrug*

My own playing time has slowed down a little.  Work was busy and I was tired.  I spent more than a couple of nights lounging on the sofa with a movie instead of gaming.  Despite my best attempts at self discipline, I often get caught up in the late night crowd’s shenanigans that run rampant until 1 AM CT.  I owe my being exhausted this week to playing way too much and way too late last week and over the weekend.

This week I’ve spent most of my time in Scenarios.  It’s the easiest thing to do when you need some XP and Renown.  In between I farmed a few PQ areas but not as much as I have in the past.  I did two Chapter 12 INFs solo and am finding a noticeable difference in the drop rate for loot and crafting items that’s not pleasing.  Given that farming mobs is the only way to get these items, from my perspective, Mythic may have dialed the drop rates down too much.  I haven’t been able to craft at all this week which is what I enjoy doing in my piddling around time, so I’ve done more Scenarios than normal.

Mystic Worlds Visits Two Nuns.

The kind Sisters from the Virgin World's Collective podcast, "No Prisoners. No Mercy." were kind enough to leave a nice comment on the blog last week and asked me to record a small segment for their podcast.  You can listen to the episode here.  Given that this is one of my favorite podcasts, I was flattered to be asked.  Too bad I didn't notice that I recorded the segment on too low a volume with something humming in the background.  Grrrr!  I listened to it before sending and it sounded right to me.  Oh well.

Virtual Worlds Collide

Clearly, a huge attraction of playing MMOs is existing within that virtual world along side other “real” people versus scripted game-controlled entities.  Whether you choose to be a social butterfly and attempt to interact with as many people as possible. Or prefer the anti-social and more solitary existence professed by players like myself.  Even further on that end of the scale there are players like Van Hemlock, who claim to dislike people in general.  It’s the existence of other sentient beings within the game that provides spontaneity and change that solo RPGs can’t match.

Even though my blogroll continues to grow, I read each and every one that is listed at least once a week.  I’ve been reading some of you for years now.  And for the players, who write personal adventure and experience type blogs, I’ve come to know you – at least the gamer “you” and you feel like friends.  Unfortunately, server shards being the norm in this genre, I’ve rarely encountered any of you in game until Warhammer Online.

WAR: A Destruction force gets farmed to the point of no Renoun on Averheim

Barely versed in massive multiplayer online role-playing games, a reporter interviews an avid gamer with a love/hate relationship with Blizzard/World of Warcraft, who’s quickly becoming a Warhammer Online fanboi, about recent events on Averheim.

21-Oct-08: To be clear, this is a mock interview.  Yikes, some of you drank too much of the cool-aide.  *Sheesh*

Reporter:  Averheim seems to stay busy in the area of Open RVR.

Alysianah:  It sure does.

Reporter:  I was contacted by one of my sources claiming that a large force of Destruction players was farmed to the point that Order stopped receiving Renown. 

Alysianah: (Laughs with wicked glee)

Reporter: You were there?

Alysianah: Yep, I was there from beginning to end.  It was a terrific guild event.

Reporter: Event?

Alysianah: Yes, it was an Open RVR activity planned by our guild leaders.

Reporter:  By guild you mean, Casualties of War?

Alysianah:  Yes.  We were raiding Tier 3 until about 1 AM ET.

Reporter:  My goodness, that’s awful late.

Alysianah:  Yes, I was pretty exhausted the next morning.  It was the second night in a row that I’d stayed up until the wee hours playing WAR.

Reporter:  I see. (Taps pen on pad)  How long do these events normally last?

Alysianah: (Smiles)  That depends.  In T3 it can go anywhere from an hour to a few hours depending on how many Destruction players show up to defend or are out doing offensive raids. 

Reporter:  Really, that's longer than I would have thought.

WAR: Scenarios are Fine! Improve the Rest Instead

I’m concerned about the growing number of comments and opinions I’ve read/heard stating that WAR Scenarios are ruining world RVR, so nerf them.  One of the huge assumptions being made is that people are doing them because they provide more experience and renown.  I want to challenge that notion.  For a player to know that and use it as a basis for their choice of content, presumes that speed of advancement is the primary driver.  I don’t agree.  Only min/max players do those calculations and allow the sum of numbers to drive their in-game behavior. Think raiders…think hardcore, and we already know that those types of players ARE NOT the majority of the MMO population.

Highlights:

• Some of the Scenario popularity stems from the myriad of reasons people consider themselves casual players
• Scenarios guarantee the player a completion time that does not exceed fifteen minutes
• Order aligned players have virtually no wait time to get into Scenarios
• It's not all about better XP and renown for the average player - people continue doing them even when they lose repeatedly
• Post Tier 1 Public Quests require enough players and take more time
• Post Tier 1 Public Quests require the right team mix
• I enjoy Scenarios but Solo PQ Stage I is full of win for casual players.
• Open RVR works best with preformed teams - requires time to assemble
• PQs and Open RVR require you to stay until the end in order to get the best XP, Renown and a chance at loot
• Open RVR is too chaotic to support players taking breaks
• Scenarios and quests provide the most flexibility to casual players
• Scenarios and quests have the best risk vs. reward options for casuals
• You can't force players into doing content that doesn't meet their needs or schedules
• If not enough people are doing Open RVR fix it in a meaningful way that doesn’t include ruining the other content options
• MMOs should be about options not narrowly defined and barely disguised forced choices

WAR: Less Anxious to Start New Characters

When I first started playing Warhammer Online, I could barely decide which class I wanted to anoint as my main.  I usually play magic casters, preferably with pets.  My second choice tends to be a hunter because of the pet.  If I get around to a third character it’s always a healer.  My choices from the Order faction were all equally compelling, plus I wanted to try a Goblin Shaman on Destruction.

I was consciously restraining myself from starting any alts this early in the game but that’s changed in the past week.  I’m less anxious to start my alts because I’m having way too much fun at Rank 23!  I’m now more excited about being Rank 40 so that I can be effective and competitive in the activities I’m doing now.

Order on Averheim say, “No, you can’t take it during prime time!”

This is long and may be poorly typed.  I'm beyond sleepy but I wanted to get this in black and white for my fellow Order players on Averheim, who stood together tonight to tell Destruction, "Hell no, you can't roll us during prime-time hours," so bite me!  Unedited pictures here.  I'm too tired to clean up any lighting or crop them to make them look good.  And way beyond adding any captions to the pictures tonight.  The story of what unfolded is below...

I popped on around 9:30 ET just to check some auctions.  I immediately noticed that a siege was being mounted by Destruction.  How?  Not because the game indicated anything special but because I’d learned a lesson from the Sunday sleep-attack and had the Objective Tracker HUD turned on.  I started asking around but most people in the guild didn’t seem aware that an attack was underway.  I asked about the existence of an all Order channel and was given the slash command for it < /chan Order >.