Mystic Worlds

Back to Workshop and Long Live Sims

The first week of review and introductions are over in the writing workshop.  It’s back to the grindstone for me.  Posts will once again slow down as I turn my attention to writing assignments and script project.  Before I go, know that because of Damion from Zen of Design, linking to this site, I will now proclaim that “Someday I WILL play Sims interactively with human beings, even if I have to build a board game for it myself!”  The Sims Online has died but long live player created content!  *Snicker* 

Stop laughing.  No, I’m serious.  I’ve decided on this as my next creative project.  Long live The Sims.

I did it when... Unfortunate it matters so much to some.

I found a short but interesting comment on Player Versus Developer, that was linking to a conversation happening on EQ2’s Tradeskill Dev and also referenced a thread on Tobold’s blog, about ranked accomplishments.  The conversations include discussion on the raging debate happening in World of Warcraft, about dungeons being simplified for “scrubs” and how that devalues the achievement of those who completed the content at its original level of difficulty.  Honestly folks, I don’t think there is a good solution to this problem.  Players are playing games for very different reasons and even if we simplify it down to the four player types, claiming fame is important to an achiever, while just getting there is important to an explorer or social player.  The crux of the problem is that everyone wants to get there but only one group, for the most part, cares how they got there versus everyone else.

I played WOW from late BETA up until several months before Wrath of the Lich King.  I did the old 40-man raids up to trash clearing in Naxx.  I was bored and out of steam on raiding long before that and was hanging on, praying for something new.  So sure, I can say that I did Onyxia when it was hell on wheels.  When you had to farm for long periods of time to pay for or craft fire resistance gear and have potions, food and pay for your repair bills.  You often exchanged items for FR even if the rest of the stats sucked.  I lived through raids that felt and sounded like this minus the profanity.  I did Onyxia when it took forty-fucking-players to bring her ass to the ground. 

Social Games – I get it and then again, I don’t.

I’ll preface this commentary by saying that I’m not the target audience for MetaPlace.  The least of what I am as a gamer is social.  Hell, I’m barely social in real life. Heavy social features and social tools don’t interest me much in my gaming.  Yet, I checked out MetaPlace because Tipa at West Karana had posted about a Steampunk(SP) area that had been commented on by Cuppytalk.  I ventured into the SP creation which was cute, hopped around various other zones whose descriptions interested me, played a mini game, didn’t see many players as I wandered along and logged out.

When I’m interacting in games like MetaPlace (MP) and SecondLife (SL) I always think, this would be interesting if I had more time - time to actually figure out where everyone is hiding (as in see other players), time to shuffle through the mediocre content to find the gems, time to find the area with content that would appeal to me, time to figure out what I’d do in such virtual spaces other than walk around, etc.  Unfortunately, for me, time is a very precious commodity and I guard it fiercely.

Paul Barnett Interview on No Prisoners No Mercy - Part 2 of 3

The next portion of the interview with Mythic's Creative Director, Paul Barnett, is now live on the No Prisoners No Mercy podcast.  The Sisters have also released a website to go along with their podcast.

RP in MMORPG: Lovin’ Azeroth Advisor

My recent find of Living Sims (LS), an actual interior design magazine for The Sims, got me thinking about what makes the role-playing in a game come alive for me.  Clearly, this group of artists and TS fans takes that game very seriously.  I personally haven’t felt like that about a game in several years. Perhaps I won’t ever feel like that about a game again.  That’s a sad thought.

Back in my days of playing Asheron’s Call 2, I felt that way – inspired by the character I played to do something that reached beyond the confines of AC2’s virtual space.  I wrote many role-playing short stories, wrote a monthly column on Warcry and built picture journals that I shared online with other gaming enthusiasts.  Even though I haven’t been inspired at an RP level since AC2, my excitement about gaming and whatever fun I’m having, turns into lots of blog posts and photo albums.

Encouraged by the helpfulness of LS – yes, I took away some design tips for when I start playing The Sims 3, I decided to check out Azeroth Advisor for World of Warcraft.  If you’re not familiar with Azeroth Advisor, it’s an add-on developed by Curt Schilling’s 38 Studios that sends you a regularly scheduled and personalized newsletter for your WOW character.

Inside your personalized Azeroth Advisor newsletter:

• Zones & instances for your experience level
• Harvesting zones for your profession level
• New spells, abilities and talents
• Tips for using class defining abilities
• Unique gear upgrades you should consider
• Bits of lore and fluff about your class
• Notable lore characters of the same class
• Grouping etiquette and tips
• Comparison of your base stats vs. other players

Color me Purple

The next workshop in the screenwriting series I’m attending this summer starts this week.  I’m eager to be underway again.  I’m also looking forward to receiving feedback on the edits I’ve made since the last course.  Still multi-boxing my trio in World of Warcraft, I really wanted to reach level 40 before the long evenings of writing begin again and I did.

Two things come with hitting level 40 that I was excited about reaching.  First is access to a faster ground mount, which is very beneficial since I’m zigzagging zones a lot more.  Three linked characters means that I finish the quests I’m interested in doing in an area very quickly.  I can even do more of the collection quests, something you typically skip when multi-boxing, since getting 10 pig ears across three characters can be tedious.  However, with higher level Holy Nova x2 and Arcane Explosion, I’m finding that doing them for quests intended for my level is easier.  Plus there are some zones that I just like – the view, ambiance and the mobs.  After I’ve completed the quests on my list, I sometimes linger and AOE grind.  The coastline of Stranglethorn Vale would be one of the places that I find rather soothing in WOW.

I just started messing with using the trio to AOE.  Having never played a mid level Mage before, I started by doing what I recall seeing other Mages do – freeze mobs in place then Blizzard them dead with the Priests bubbling and healing.  Recently, it dawned on me that just running the trio in together and letting them do Holy Nova and Arcane Explosion was MUCH FASTER.  When Holy Nova was a talent in the Holy tree it was very inefficient as a damage spell because the mana consumption was so high.  One or two uses and you were dry.  Many Priests purchased the spell but down ranked it to level 1, and only used it as a means of breaking rogue stealth in PVP.  Now that it’s a purchased spell, it does nice damage and consumes less mana. 

Trio Stylin' and Mounted

My multi-box trio is about to hit level 40.  It’s happened very quickly in my opinion.  So much so, that I stopped trying to complete each zone.  I started skipping around to the quests I remembered liking most and have only farmed mobs here and there for crafting materials.  My Warlock does tailoring for the trio to fill in their gaps in gear.  When I needed silk to make them all new boots and sashes, it was easier to have the trio farm the cloth so they’d get XP for the effort as well as the materials.  I like seeing big fat ogres go boom, as they drop with an earth rumbling thud at my feet.

Scarlet Monastery (SM) is one of my favorite instances.  For me, it was the first of the lowbie instances you run multiple times for the rewards – gear for yourself, cloth for crafting or to sell, sellable Bind-on-Equip items for the Auction House and vendor trash (gold).  It’s the first introduction to what end gaming raid feels like in World of Warcraft.  It’s the first time I recall needing to know the intricacies of each instance wing.  It’s the first piece of instanced content that has an attunement of sorts – you need to loot the Scarlet key from the box in Doan’s Chamber, to gain entry into the Cathedral and Armory wings.   And it was the first time as a Warlock, I was told to cast certain de-buffs (Recklessness) on the mobs to prevent them from running away and returning with additional combatants.   The instances before SM were pretty much spank-n-tank.  SM is the one I recall waking me up to how instanced content, as well as the coordination and planning required, manifested itself in WOW.

The Sims is Serious Business

When the next generation of a game sells 1.7 million copies in the first week even though adopting this version means eventually re-buying all the expansions you had in the previous version, that game must be a monster hit.  The Sims franchise is the monster hit of which I speak.  Being among the top selling PC games of ALL TIME, playing The Sims is s-e-r-i-o-u-s business!

While many Western MMORPG players are grappling with the idea of micro-transactions for virtual goods, The Sims community of players has been doing that for years.  For many, playing The Sims (TS) is all about beautiful, bling and over the top.  Unfortunately, the designing skills of the developers building TS has been shall we say, lacking in diversity and quality.  The community creates massive amounts of custom content for every aspect of the game that can be shared by others.  There’s a lot of free content but the amazing looks so real that it boggles the mind sort of content, comes at a cost.  You can pay by the item from a wide variety of player run websites.  Or you can subscribe to one or more of the better stocked sites for a few months.  That’s what I do.  And I’ve never worried nor cared about that fact that I was basically paying a monthly subscription, to a third party, just to have “pretty” virtual content in my game.

Although I purchased a copy for myself and one each for my daughters, I’m not playing TS3 yet.  But I ran across something while searching for a veranda for my daughter, that completely blew my mind.  I mean, TS is serious business but damn – the Living Sims magazine takes it to a whole new level.

ALL the rooms are created using The Sims!!

Bit More Blogging. Shock-n-Horror in WOW

The first Screenwriting Workshop has ended.  I now have a two week hiatus until the next workshop in the series begins.  I didn’t walk away with a completed script.  A flaw was revealed rather late in the game which necessitated a large plot change – meaning stop the presses, fix the plot and re-write.  Regardless, I’m still pleased with where I ended.

Summer is a little less hectic at work.  Not because the amount of work slows down but the amount of meetings drop off significantly as a result of people taking vacation.  This means you actually get to work during the workday.  *GASP*  As apposed to being in meetings all day and working during the late afternoon into early evening.  Have I mentioned recently how much I hate being in Corporate America?  Probably have, uh?

Feeling slightly less stressed at work means, I feel better at the end of the workday, which turns my heart and attention to gaming.  I’m still tickled by my little multi-boxing adventure.  I recently transferred my own level 70s to a fourth account so that I could start the process of learning to 4-box in a tank.  I had a level 43 Paladin sitting on Whisperwind to use for practice.  When I grabbed my level 70 characters, I was shocked and dismayed to find that when I’d grouped up all our max level characters and allowed my nephew to play the “monster account”, he’d changed professions but never leveled up what he’d selected.

Warhammer Online 's Paul Barnett Visits No Prisoners No Mercy Podcast

Oops, I should have posted this earlier for anyone that doesn't follow the Sisters on their No Prisoners No Mercy podcast.  They've scored a wonderful opportunity to interview Paul Barnett who is the Creative Director at Mythic Entertainment, the company that brought us Warhammer Online.

It's structured as a three-part interview, the first of which, is now available.  If you played Warhammer Online at all, you'll be interested in hearing Paul's views on the game, the state of the MMO industry and life in general.