WoW: Making Old Gear Relevant

Post soundtrack: “Q baiano” by Zuco 103

One thing about the gear-grind in WoW that tended to irritate me, is that it’s almost impossible to make your character look like something other than one more tier-X-geared member of class Y.  This little proposal is one way Blizzard could give players back an additional degree of personalisation for their characters.

The idea, at its heart, is a very simple one: give us the means to upgrade the stats on old tier armour to something close to either the current or previous tier of raiding equipment.

Let’s see what we have to work with, using the rogue tier sets as an example.

Tier	Set Name	iLevel	Era
1	Nightslayer	66	Vanilla
2	Bloodfang	76	Vanilla
3	Bonescythe	86-92	Vanilla
4	Netherblade	120	BC
5	Deathmantle	133	BC
6	Slayer’s	146-154	BC
7	Heroes’ Bonescythe	200	LK Naxx
7	Valorous Bonescythe	213	LK Naxx
8	Valorous Terrorblade	219	LK Ulduar
8	Conqueror’s Terrorblade	226	LK Ulduar
9	Conqueror’s Blah	232	LK TotC
9	Triumphant Blah	245	LK TotC
9	Heroic Triumphant Blah	258	LK TotC
10	Shadowblade	251	LK ICC
10	Sanctified Shadowblade	264	LK ICC
10	Heroic Sanctified Shadowblade	277	LK ICC

That’s a total of 16 sets (10 if you exclude colour variations).  Yet in game at the moment you’re unlikely to see anything less than the top two tiers, especially when raiding.

There’s several approaches that could be taken to achieve this, but the simplest is to offer upgrade tokens purchased with emblems rewarded by dungeons and raids.

Let’s look at the rogue t1 chest, as an example.

Nightslayer Chestpiece, drops from Golemagg in Molten Core.  Look at those lovely stats:  10str, 29agi, 20stam, 10 fire resist, and 14 crit.

Now, imagine if you will, a ‘generic’ set of stats for each armour slot, not quite as good as the highest tier set you can buy with each set of emblems.  As there are two tiers of emblems being awarded from dungeons and raids, let’s see what they can buy:

Conquest: Garona’s/VanCleef’s Breastplate of Conquest (ilvl 232)
Frost: Shadowblade Breastplate (ilvl 251)

Now, apply 95% of the stats from each of those, and you have two upgraded items that wouldn’t be out of place in a (starting) raid today.

Upgraded Nightslayer Chestpiece (purchased with normal emblems):
Stats: 95agi, 114stam, 68 hit, 76 crit, 137ap
Heroic Nightslayer Chestpiece (purchased with heroic emblems):
Stats: 136agi, 136stam, 91 hit, 151ap, 76 armor pen

Working from that premise, let’s create our pair of tokens.  One that is purchased for standard emblems, and one which requires heroic emblems (that two-tier system being the standard for cataclysm, last time I checked).

The upgrade token, when used, replaces the tier item with a new piece that has the same model but with modern stats, which makes the item wearable for (non-progression) raiding.  For balance reasons, the upgraded tier sets would have a standard set of bonuses and sockets for each class, shared across all upgraded pieces that a player wears.

There would be limitations, of course.  Upgraded pieces would be bound to the person upgrading, and players could only upgrade useable tier pieces (which are limited to their specific class – no Pallies in cloth T1).  If desired by Blizz (who like to have things for players to spend their badges on), items could required a new upgrade token with each new raiding tier.  Perhaps allow players to sell unused upgrade tokens, which would offer another source of income for players who save their badges, and another gold-sink for players who want to spend their gold.

(While a similar scheme could work for pvp gear, it would likely be considered too much work for Blizzard, and not just because it’s almost impossible to acquire some old sets (and would make it hard to judge a player’s skill by their gear), but the likelihood of complaints skyrocketing on the forums about rogues wiping the floor with season-8-geared players while wearing upgraded Field Marshal’s Vestments could get messy…)

This would also act as an incentive for players to revisit old content (to acquire the tier pieces to upgrade), and give us a new way to invest ourselves in our avatars (which has been lacking in this new age of identical players in tier gear from running heroics).

Now, I don’t really see this ever happening, to be honest – for whatever reason, Blizz is quite happy to let old content go to waste (both raids and gear – when was the last time you heard of a successful pug Naxx run?) while they implement the new shinies in the form of higher tiers of raid content and gear (and we’ve seen how well they put the raids together in Wrath…  sigh…).  But I for one would love to be able to step into the Cataclysm raids wearing an upgraded set of the awesome t5 on one of my priests.

/wave

EQ2: To Heck With It, I’m Having Fun

Post soundtrack: “Pulp Culture” by Thomas Dolby

I know I ranted, and raved, and complained when EverQuest II Extended was announced…  (I did draw the line at throwing excrement, however – something I’m relieved about in hindsight)  But I’ve since downloaded and installed the Extended client, and have started working on a new Ratonga after reading an enlightening post on Mystic Worlds.

The post, Logic of Subscribing on EQ2 Extended, reminded me of two things that had slipped my mind.  First, it’s possible to have fun despite external limitations.  And second, it’s silly to be put off something wonderful by something (or someone) disagreeable.

Oh, and third, it’s fine to change your mind.

(Also, with the pleasure I took in leveling Mingle, the phrase “Cutting off the nose to spite the face” comes to mind)

Reading back to my throw-my-toys-out-of-the-cot post about why I was leaving, I think my complaints still hold true.  I still expect to get lost.  The lore isn’t really well explaining.  And crafting is only going to be more difficult, with the chronic lack of bag space for non-subscribers.

But I’ve started to come to terms with the RMT nature of the game – I might not agree with the prices, but I’m not the target audience for most of what they’re offering.  As it is, all the game has cost me so far has been the data to download the client (which is still streaming in the background – 12GB takes a while, but you’re no longer stuck until the download has completed) and my time.

I had sufficient station cash on my account from special offers in the past (SC is the currency that Sony uses in their various in-game stores) to allow me to unlock Ratongas (along with another couple of races I’ll likely never play), so buying that pack was a no-brainer.  I’ll probably be making my initial purchase of SC this weekend, which will raise my membership level to silver and give me an extra bag slot to play with (and I’m thinking of buying some diamonds as well, the Runes of Magic currency).

Incidentally, I’d started playing before the news surfaced on the forums today that SOE are going to be allowing bronze and silver members to purchase classes in the near future, and are considering changing the bronze chat limitations (currently limited to /say, /tell, /group and /guild) and may be allowing bronze and silver some form of access to the broker.  So that’s my biggest complaint about the EQ2E tiered-membership system fixed, and another one that might be soon.

Anyway, it’s been a nice, low-pressure couple of weeks – I’ve been playing Spellforce (a nice RPG/RTS combo from 2003, which was on special on Gamersgate), started playing Runes of Magic (which is deserving of a post of its own at some stage), (re-)started EQ2E, and briefly played Alganon (very briefly; after I was able to stop turning my nose up at it, uninstalled it and deleted the installation files, something I’m rarely driven to do).

I’m also having something of a dalliance with the idea of learning German.  (Yes, I have a foolish reason why: Perry Rhodan)

And twitter…  Well, let’s just say, I’m exploring my options.  (On that note, can anyone recommend a good twitter client for windows?)

Well, Pringlerouse awaits my attention – she’s busy with her betrayal quests, working towards signing up with Qeynos.  (Having run through 14 levels of Neriak starting quests, I’m very glad to not be dealing with their so-bad-they’re-almost-parody brand of evil any longer – I’m amazed there wasn’t a baby-eating delivery quest in there somewhere)

Oh, and a prize* for the first person to identify the source of the lyrics attached to the screenshot above.

/wave

* – 1x unopened sense of satisfaction – single owner, never used.  (Offer void where prohibited by law)

GW: Fulfilling Prophecies

Post soundtrack: “I Don’t Care” by Shakespears Sister

I have to say, Guild Wars is probably the most single-player-friendly MMO I’ve come across.  When you’re the single human in a party with 6 computer-controlled NPCs, one player-controlled hero NPC, and an idiot pet, it’s actually surprisingly reminiscent of Dungeon Siege (the stupidly fun first one, not the beaten-with-the-idiot-stick sequel).

The change of focus from traditional MMO epic-loot-centric play to the much more skill-centric mechanics of GW is a curious one to work through.  My ranger/monk is sitting on level 15 at the moment, and is working on some of the side-quests around Kryta (around #3 on the primary quest chain list here – which puts my progression at around 10 of the 25 co-operative missions in the Prophecies campaign), and is getting pretty close to the level 20 cap.  At 20, further progression comes in the form of acquiring additional skills and working through the campaigns.  While there are some further armor and weapon upgrades (at least, as far as I can see in the GW wiki), they’re not exponentially stronger in the manner WoW endgame gear is.

While the items don’t approach the degree of aesthetic variation that WoW offers (you really have to admire the sheer volume of different armor designs that Blizzard’s art team has come up with over the years), they offer sufficient variation to allow you to personalise your character quite nicely – I don’t think I’ve seen many people identically dressed in the crowds I’ve seen in Kryta so far.  (I’m quite fond of the long-coat look of the Ranger Monument armor, although the Deldrimor armor has a certain charm as well)

I’ve also invested $10 into purchasing the Bonus Mission pack; after completing the missions it’s possible to turn in the verified quest item for some nice weapons - I chose a nice Charr shortbow for Ringle to replace the Nevermore Flatbow bonus that came (along with a handful of other weapons for other classes) with the Guild Wars Trilogy pack.

The mechanic of co-operative missions is also quite interesting to work with.  The entrance is essentially an outpost (where you have access to a merchant and the bank), and from there you can form a party (either with NPCs, Heroes that you’ve unlocked, or other players) and then attempt the mission for that outpost.  The biggest downside is if you fail the mission (you all die, or a key NPC is killed) you’re returned to the entrance zone, and have to restart the mission.  Needless to say, if it’s a long mission, it can get frustrating.  But with the ability to work through the missions single-handed (well, with henchmen) makes it a good fit for my anti-social nature.

The two styles of computer-controlled adventurers are also a nice touch.  The original variety are Henchmen: they’re essentially computer-controlled NPCs, which you have pretty much minimal control over (you can set a waypoint for them to move to and stay at, but that’s about it).  With the Nightfall expansion came Heroes: think of them as Henchmen v2.  Unlike henchmen, heroes can have their skills and equipment changed like those of your player character (although only at a town or outpost).

Heroes, along with Ranger pets, are also subject to slightly more player control than henchmen: they have a control panel that gives you about as much control over them as an old-school WoW hunter had of their pets, which can be summed up pretty much as “Attack, Defend, Passive”.  Needless to say, don’t expect to have any fine-grain control over your computerised party members.

All in all, I’m enjoying my time in GW – indeed, it’s quite possible I’d be subscribing if it had been a subscription MMO.  And having seen the GW2 Manifesto video, I’m very much looking forward to ArenaNet’s next move.

But I’m not sure they can top this:

 

/wave

GW: What A Diff’rence A Space Makes

Post soundtrack: “Space Oddity” by David Bowie

Well, NCSoft’s customer service has gotten back in touch, and it turns out I forgot that Guild Wars character names need to consist of (at least) two parts.  Turns out the character I created was called “Mingle Douse”.  …Sigh…

Needless to say, I’ve taken the precaution of taking a screenshot with character name showing.  It’s not of ex-Mingle though, who I’ve deleted as befits such a troublesome disposable character.  My new character is a Ranger/Monk called “Kay Pringlerouse”, who is level 5 and busy working through the initial Prophecies content.  (Sadly GW only has the option of humans as your character’s race – I miss the options of most other MMOs)

I’ve also decided to give City of Heroes a try – it was a toss-up between that and Champions Online, but I prefer the scope of CoH’s trial (no apparent content limitations – although there might be some, as I haven’t seen any small print yet – just a 14-day limit) to CO’s demo (limited content, but no time limit).

Unfortunately the downloader for CoH is irritatingly slow, it’s only managing between 50-90kbs, and has been running for about 13 hours so far – needless to say, no fun screenshots to speak of.

Ah well, patience is a virtue.  But then, so is preparation – and GW awaits my attention.

/wave

Guild Wars – Beaten By The Log-in Boss

I decided to log into Guild Wars and have another play around.  When I tried to do so, I found out that NCSoft have added a new security question to the login screen:  Name one of the characters on your account.

Guess who can’t remember the name of the disposable throw-away character, only created to have a quick play in the game with after buying it on special from Steam?

You know, it’s actually hard to beat this security question – I mean, it’s my own account yet I’m unable to compromise it myself.

Seriously, NCSoft.  You didn’t even think to warn existing account-holders of this change coming, before it went live?  And I feel sorry for players who’ve been on hiatus who may just get caught out by this as well. (Grrrr)

/wave

EQ2 – Moving On

Post soundtrack: Everquest 2 Main Title (Long Version)

Well, despite the appeal of my Ratonga and Froglok, my vague dissatisfaction with the game (and general disgruntlement about the direction that SOE is taking both the free-to-play version where about 2/3 of the classes are only available by subscription, and the increasingly obtrusive RMT store in the live version) have led me to unsubscribe and start looking for whatever will be my next MMO.

There was a lot that EQ2 did right, but I was just getting lost (and frustrated) with a lot of the game.  A lot of this came from the lack of explanation for some of the mechanics (heroic opportunities, for example).  The rest of it come from the fact that I just couldn’t find context for a lot of it – the lore proved to be pretty impenetrable in-game, and out-of-game resources were either ridiculously light-weight or up to 5 years out-of-date.

Still, despite the frustration (yes I could have asked for directions, but I’m a pretty antisocial player, especially in a game that’s new to me, especially one with such an established and experienced player base) I almost didn’t quit.  Watching the Ratonga idle animations, and the realistic way Ringle blinked while I was taking my last screenshots before I logged out and uninstalled (I had a pet rat when I was younger, so yes, I know how a rat blinks) was one of those moments when a game can do something so simply immersive that it makes you take a mental step back for a moment, and go “Wow!”

Unfortunately the rest of the game just wasn’t working for me.  Tradeskills are a one-trick-pony (admittedly I got the feeling I could have gotten a handle on them, but the press-one-of-six-buttons mechanic just wasn’t fun), combat is your bog-standard button-bar system (apart from heroic opportunities, which I think are supposed to have some greater depth in groups – or at least I think they did, remember what I said about a frustrating lack of information?), and why do mount items tooltips say they have a 1-day duration when they’re apparently (maybe? possibly?) permanent items?

Graphically, the game is a mixed bag.  Some of the character models (mmmmm, Ratongas) are awesome.  But a lot are dated, and generally “Meh” (all of the humanoid races spring to mind there).  Many of the monster models are also surprisingly detailed and colourful.  Which is great, until you see them standing around low-polygon terrain, looking as out-of-place as gold-foil edging on disposable paper plates.  Still, the newer terrain for places such as the starting zone of New Halaas (where the low-poly count isn’t as bad) can actually look pretty good, especially compared to the boring height-map nature of WoW landscapes – there’s only so much you can do to disguise that, although Blizz did it’s darnedest to try with Wrath, and will be giving it the old college try with Cataclysm.

The game had some pretty good music as well – the Antonica theme was particularly enjoyable (a good thing, considering how much I heard it while Ringle spent there, doing low-level quests).  There wasn’t quite the same immersiveness as the WoW music, but five years of listening to it may have something to do with that.

Ah well, back to Defense Grid (and Slay on my ipod) for the time-being, while I consider what game to try next.  Considering City of Heroes and Champions Online have trials, maybe it’s superhero time?

/wave