Its stuck to my fingers
Community Commentary
Articles that comment on MMO or other gaming communities
Opinions Aren’t Bad, M’kay?
1 year ago
This blog post is an extended response to Massively’s Soapbox article of 11/1/11 comparing “game journalism” to “journalism”. You may wish to peruse the well written and articulated article before continuing.
Gaming journalism is a bit of a joke in the journalistic world. The bulk of actual gaming journalism is the rehashing of press releases, observation of a global phenomenon (e.g. WoW) or security issues. There are actually quite few dedicated pure gaming journalism sites – that is ones that don’t involve reviews or opinion pieces. The only one I read with any kind of regularity is the BBC’s technology section (I used to read another which was actually very good and had interviews with developers as well as documenting who was moving where, but I’ve lost the link) and that’s about as in depth and articulate as Forrest Gump.
The reason I exclude reviews as journalism is that games are an art form. Games combine several aspects of other recognised arts – story writing, art, music, movies – to give the user a compelling and immersing experience. Unless its Bejewelled or Freecell in which case its just designed to suck your life away. It has to be noted that any time someone reviews an album or a novel that they are lending a part of themselves to forming an opinion of whatever they are reviewing. Mathematically, some music appeals to some more than it does others. A novel won’t appeal if you’re not drawn to the subject matter. To review a game is to give your opinion on it – this is not journalism.
I don’t think there’s actually anything wrong with bringing opinion and emotion into the reporting of games. Most of us play games because we want to be actively engaged in a form of relaxation, and that makes the experience of the story set before us a powerful thing. We live lives we aren’t able to in our spare time. A good game will inspire passion in all its forms – constructive and destructive – and like the first hit of a drug, once we are touched by a game once we want that feeling again and again. If someone else is passionate about a game, that can inspire passion in others to try it out.
Reading rehashed press releases, what the biggest selling games of the week are and who’s going where actually isn’t that interesting to read. Think about why you’re reading the words I’ve written. Is it because you expect me to drop a knowledge bomb about your game of choice, or because you want to hear my thoughts on a subject? You wouldn’t pester a musician about the album they’re making before they’ve written the first song or judge a painting based on the first hour of work, so why condemn a game based on the initial concept?
(This is the point where everyone will bring up any criticism of Guild Wars 2 I’ve ever made. ArenaNet only divulges information about things which are developed and working as desired, so my criticism is based on information on the final product, not initial concept.)
On the subject of interviews, its quite hard to actually get an approved interview with a gaming studio that is relevant. On Relics of Orr we’ve tried quite a few times to get interviews with members of the development team at ArenaNet, but by the time the request for an interview is approved, questions formulated then approved and the date set for the interview to take place, the questions are out of date. The studios are very orientated in saying what they want to say and not what you want to know. Understandable, but frustrating.
I’ve already booked the hotel and flights for gamescom2011, and will be attempting to get media access to the event (*shuffles the cards and plays the radio presenter one*). I’m planning on getting interviews with developers and community leaders where I can and relaying the information to the wider world via all mediums available to me. As for exclusives though? Doubtful.
Laziness
1 year ago
“roj lfp vsf”
Funny how 9 letters can make my blood boil but this message posted on my guild’s alliance chat embodies everything I hate about in game communications. Allow me to explain.
Generally, people communicate in game via text over audio tools. If you’re trading, getting a group or just chatting you will probably do so using the game’s text tools rather than dancing around getting on one of the 4 main audio tools. Text is your first impression. Just like your appearance in a job interview, people will make first impressions on the way you use language. It’s a harsh fact of life. Being too lazy to type stuff out will infer to a person that you are lazy at best, ignorant at worst.
“But Tasha, it’s just a group message.” Of course you are right here and yes, I do shorten grouping messages a little. However this brings us round to another problem. Using acronyms shortens your audience to people who know what those acronyms mean and even then its open to misinterpretation. “LoD” is an acronym for both Light of Deldrimor and Light of Deliverance. It requires further clarity to indicate which is meant. The English language is imprecise at the best of times. It doesn’t require assistance to be even less clear. As Robert Louis Stevenson said “The difficulty of literature is not to write, but to write what you mean”.
Even common acronyms require clarification. “wts”, “wtb”, “wtt”, “sb”, “co”, “bo” are all very, very common trading acronyms, but many people don’t know what they mean (judging by the number of people I see asking on forums and chat). If people don’t understand basic acronyms, how can they be expected to know more specialised ones. Not to mention typos. Research has shown that people can still read sentences even if the letters in words are scrambled as long as the first and last letters are in the right place. If your word is only 3 letters long, you better be sure you get them right!
Another point here is that of language. Around 309-400 million people speak English as their first language, but anywhere between 199 million – 1.4 billion additional people speak it as their second (or more) language. Some of them will be fluent but many will be learning. It’s hard enough learning another language, let alone the acronyms of it as well. By using excessive shorthand, you block out all those people who could have helped you but can’t because they don’t understand what you’re asking of them. I personally consider this to be deliberate exclusion and abhor it.
The effect of shortening a word is its long term impact on the English language. When we game, we game with everyone regardless of age, race, religion, ability or sexuality. It’s hard to discriminate when you can’t see a real face after all. So for the younger generation who get exposed to this shorthand used by their elders, they get taught that it’s ok to use regardless of setting. And then they use it in an academic setting (believe me I’ve seen it) where it is far from acceptable and can dramatically affect their grades and opportunities in life. Gaming has many benefits and children should not be sheltered from it, but neither should their care and tuition degrade because they are not with their parents or teachers. Community leaders, I’m looking at you.
So next time you feel too lazy to type all 3 letters in “you” or to type “looking for party” consider the affect of your actions. You’ll be showing yourself to be lazy, confusing, rude and excluding. Chances are you’re typing because you want to be heard and understood. I’ll leave you with a quotation from the Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein – “The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.”
Impatience
1 year ago
Impatience must be a community manager’s dream. To have folks that you have little tangible connection with hungry for your product to release that they start making irrational demands for more information must be the sign of success.
Some say its a bad reflection of our community that ArenaNet needed to make their latest blog post. I say not – if no one is interested in a game’s release date or hungry for new information then the product isn’t worth it. Foot stomping is immature but a good sign.
I think its more a bad reflection of the state of the MMO industry that fans react badly when things are done properly. The vast majority of MMOs are made with money in mind – the people with the purse strings want a return on their investment at a set date, whether the creative process is mature or not. This means that as the crunch date approaches, harsh decisions are made to cut a feature, area, profession or race and the game releases in an unfinished state. This is a fatal mistake for most (Age of Conan is the only one I can think of that has recovered without a drastic change).
If nothing else came out of the blog post, we know that NCSoft believes in ArenaNet’s product. They are happy to keep digging their hands in their pockets as long as it takes to make the game which in turn allows ArenaNet to experiment with their game. This is how games should be made. Unfortunately it means that nothing is fixed – Profession number 5 won’t necessarily be ready on a deadline, nor will the game definitely release on a certain date.
I’m struggling to think of a game that was released on such a basis that wasn’t massively popular. Certainly all of Blizzard’s products have been. Valve’s too. So all bodes well for Guild Wars 2. It also gives me time to complete the crazy projects I seem to start and finish the games I’m behind on (aka Dragon Age:Origins, which I am loving). I still find it hard to believe that the game won’t release in 2011 but such eventuality seems more likely now. At least there’s more to look forward to between now and then in Tyria.
Inconsistant Interrupts
1 year ago
Its no secret my primary profession in Guild Wars was the ranger. Tasha, my main, accounts for around 6000 of my 11000 hours spent in game. Slipping into her body (figuratively speaking) is easy and homely. The ranger appealed to me from day 1 as a master of all trades and being able to deal damage at range. I enjoy playing as a condition spreader, damager, trapper, occasional beast-master or make-do tank but primarily as an interrupter.
Pets are a unique ranger mechanic in Guild Wars, but they’ve always been a bit lacklustre. The attribute point system means that its always hard to find a build where both the ranger and their pet are powerful. I guess this is a balance thing, but I’ve always found making my pet powerful at my expense to be counter productive. After all, I can easily control my positioning and damage I’m taking far better than I can position my pet. Many monks won’t bother to heal any pet (myself included) unless they’re bored. So unless I was playing a “shits and giggles” build or it was required for a serious purpose (e.g. Tombs, Bunny Thumper) I left my pet at home.
When they released the ranger information for Guild Wars 2, I was disappointed to see that pets are now required. After playing ranger in the demo, I can say that controlling them is problematic. The AI on “defend” is set so that the pet only attacks if its owner takes damage, which at low levels means that the enemy is often dead before the pet reaches the target. On “attack”, I lost my pet several times whilst it went off and Leroy-ed many enemies that weren’t the one I was attacking and had to call it back.
A couple of quotations for you, firstly from a casual interview with Izzy.
He doesn’t want it to be just a game option but to become a real pet/master cooperation.
For example, the bear can knock down and stun. For example, what Izzy like is to send his pet, get behind the target and fire an arrow with his short bow, stunning him again. He precised that the pet inflicted almost more conditions than the ranger himself, therefore its importance.
Next, Ree Soesbee from the Manifesto Video
The most important thing in any game should be the player. We have made a game for them
In a world where the most important thing should be the player, why am I forced to run my pet for damage and glory? By making the pet more lethal than the ranger, it turns the profession from a dynamic force to reckon with to a glorified personal trainer. I love the melee skills we’ve seen for ranger, the new traps, the bow skills and the difference between long and shortbows. However when I dream of my perfect MMO, the path to glory doesn’t require me coaching something else to beat the final boss.
So having resigned to leaving ranger behind, the most similar profession in Guild Wars is the mesmer. They have interrupts and generally are a “I’m going to screw you over” profession. I didn’t play one much in Guild Wars except in PvP, but what I played I enjoyed. Mesmer’s haven’t yet been officially confirmed in Guild Wars 2, but its a pretty safe bet to say they’re coming.
Back to that Izzy interview again.
His idea is to really make GvG more accessible -one has to admit that GW1′s system isn’t the easiest around to get for the beginner. You can watch a lot of matches, if you don’t have the playing background you’re not going to understand much.
He took rupts examples on the matter. Dshots, pblocks, pleaks winning matches happens often, but the lambda player is likely to miss them. Considering the rupts are entirely ping-dependant, you’re left with a system quite competition-unfriendly.
Their importance in GW2′s shutdown are therefore gonna be reduced and, quite obviously, is pictured by the lack of enemies cast bar (at least in the demo). Instead of that, Izzy would like to see skills like Shield Bash. In GW2, this skill is highly graphic, very easy to understand and can serve a lot of functions: speed boost, blocking and KD. All of these put in the hands of a competent player will just rock.
Fundamentally this looks great news. However I’m now left “homeless” and with the mechanic I really enjoyed in Guild Wars being axed. It may be replaced with something “more fun” like stuns and knock downs. Strangely though, knocking someone down to interrupt them in Guild Wars didn’t give me the same feeling as hitting them with Distracting Shot. If, when the game actually rolls to release, I find that stunning does give me that same “haha, you’re screwed” feeling all will be forgiven. Otherwise I feel like the game is being made for players that aren’t me.
Lets also look at the reason why interrupts are being given the heave-ho: helping new players and ping in esports. New players first. Skill has always been the defining factor in Guild Wars – its on the back of the box. Anyone who wanted to interrupt competitively must know what skills to interrupt and their cast times – but then so does anyone else on the battlefield to be able to play effectively. Everyone needs to be away of everything people are doing at once. After all, its pointless going to smack a player with Guardian on as a warrior. Its a learning curve issue that won’t change unless we go play Noughts and Crosses. DotA and its clones have the same issue and yet have a huge take up so this reason is mostly invalid in my eyes.
Latency will always be a problem in MMO games but the only way to make it a totally mute point is to make them all turn based games. If you want to be competitive in any non-turn based esport, a low ping is required. Positioning is being given increased importance in Guild Wars 2, with the ability to dodge-roll out of the way of skills being of high energy cost. If you have a bad ping, your ability to move out of the way of bad things is compromised. You can’t twitch dodge-roll when your ping is 600ms and I don’t see any attempt being made to help players with high ping move effectively – inconsistent again.
Call me bitter about the design decisions if you want, but it feels like one arm of Guild Wars 2 isn’t responding to what the other is saying. On the one hand we’re being told they want to design out latency, and on the other that it will still play a huge role. I’m being told I can be the hero, but my story will be one of directing a critter to success. I’m still on board with Guild Wars 2, but right now I’m preparing for it being a game that I’m not welcome in. After a 5 year love affair that’s a rather painful and bitter pill to swallow.
Shopping, Gamer Style
1 year ago
With more and more games leaning towards offering micro-transactions and my various rantings on the subject I feel its time to lay out my patch of what’s acceptable to be sold. If nothing else so that I can refer back to this next time my first reaction to seeing something that ArenaNet will offer in their store is feeling my blood boil and say to myself “calm down dear, its just pixels”. While this post is related to Guild Wars/2 bear in mind it could be applied to nearly any MMO.
One area I haven’t seen anyone contesting is account services. Things like storage, character slots and PvP editions (this won’t be needed for GW2 though) of games. As long as the prices are reasonable, these should be included in every game.
When it comes to other items, my general rule is that short cuts are OK. If someone wants to chuck a few coins on the table to jump some area of the game then that is fine by me. However supplying these involves recognising that some aspect of the game is not enjoyable enough to warrant doing. Either levelling is boring, the pace of combat isn’t right or your travelling options are bad. In my opinion, you’re better to fix the problem than supplying a pill for the symptoms.
When it comes to armor and weapons, I’m a bit on the fence. Firstly in a game where there is no tuning system you can end up with a level 13 character with level 80 armor and weapons allowing them to steam roll every challenge. See my earlier paragraph about your game not being enjoyable if you need to do this. However where armor and weapon level are tuned to the difficulty of the area this is OK – a level 13 with level 16 weapons and armor isn’t so much of a problem. Under no circumstances though should purchasable weapons give higher statistics than anything obtainable in game as doing so brings social classes into games. More on this later.
I welcome the sale of appealing skins. The costumes in Guild Wars are a prime example – they offer no armor bonus and are worn “over” your normal armor to give it a different appearance. I just bought my first set of them for my main account because finally after 3 goes of creating appealing costumes, I finally found a set I wanted enough to buy. My monk finally looks feminine. As long as there are decent in game alternatives, go nuts with this option.
There’s a fundamental issue with content micro-transactions and that is one of real social classes. The point of my entire post is that someone who has not got the means to pay shouldn’t feel excluded from the game. Just because you’re under age and don’t have a credit card or you don’t have spare cash this month doesn’t mean you shouldn’t (eventually) be equal in statistics to someone who has everything in the store. Content micro-transactions to me should not exist because it breaks down social groups. When you join a guild, your real social class dissolves away and you’re all equal since you all have the same content and access to statistics.
When a pack of dungeons or other content comes out every 3 months for £7, there comes the question of “is this worth the cost”. The more affluent may buy it whereas those who are a little harder up may pass. So what happens to the guild then? You end up with a group of people who can do the new content and another group that can’t which splits the social group. Hardly good for a social game.
I’d much rather expect to pay £30 every year for a decent campaign or expansion that contained 20 or so dungeons than pay £28 for the 20 in 4 sets over the year (just please, no more skills or professions in expansions, did you learn your lesson ArenaNet?). Its a question of psychology – I’m more likely to dip in the pocket for a one off bonanza of new stuff when I’ve chewed the fat for a while than if I feel like there’s a constant wash of new stuff to pay for. In addition those who have less can put that expansion on a holiday or birthday list and get a relative to pay – something that frequently isn’t possible with micros.
The point of this post is to voice my wish for micro-transactions in games. The premise is simple. When I shop I generally know what I want to buy. Even as a member of the female species, I never go into town without purpose. It may just be research for a later purchase but I still need a reason to brave the day star. Yet very few game developers actually ask that question to their fans. They may to market research to target groups but they still haven’t asked the fans that will be handing over the money. It feels like they guess what their populous wants… and scratch their heads when there’s a revolt.
So, while I go and moan on the next podcast that ArenaNet aren’t asking the question to the fans, I’ll ask you on their behalf – what would YOU pay for in the Guild Wars 2 store?
Picking Your Friends
1 year ago
Guilds are a funny thing. On the surface are a unit for containing a number of people with the aim of mutual cooperation and community. They have a number of different names – clan, legion, team, fellowship to name a few but the idea is the same. However they are similarly wonderfully complex with different command structures, aims, priorities and languages. They seem to have a critical mass. There are books written on how to run them. This post however is concentrated on one small part of the whole – recruitment. Every online community leader is tasked with increasing or maintaining their community numbers, otherwise their community will ultimately become to small to be successful. Either the community requires or wants to exclude a certain type of person and the easiest and least damaging method is to have some kind of entry requirements for new members.
For PvP orientated communities, entry requirements are somewhat standardised to include some kind of judgement on the player’s abilities. The reasoning is simple – if you have to trust someone else on the battlefield, you need to know they’re good. The aims of the guilds are also more focussed – to be good at whatever format they’ve chosen.
For PvE however, there is a lot more flexibility. Except for maybe 1% of content, the rest of the team can make up for that one flagging player. The reasons that guilds get together in PvE is far more diverse too – maybe for a particular format of play or a niche area of the game, exploration, achieving. As a result, the entry requirements are diverse. For example achievements, age, experience, activity and location are generally under scrutiny when wanting to join a PvE guild.
Of these, I can understand location the most. People on concurrently adds greatly to the activity of the guild. The one I least understand is achievements, especially in Guild Wars. In a game where you can go from a blank account to finishing every campaign, and get a couple of titles under your belt within 6 weeks of casual play, it seems a really silly thing to make a judgement on.
My personal reaction when I see Guilds asking for X titles or Y Hall of Monuments points is that that Leader is trying to recreate the same competitive environment that is found in PvP in PvE. I perceive that this has a tendency to lead towards a certain amount of ego and bragging, which leads to envy and infighting. This is also the most common complaint as to why people don’t get into PvP. There are exceptions to every rule of course. However, I will always walk away from these guilds – I play games for the enjoyment and to make friends – with as little drama as possible.
I still maintain there’s a third category to guilds and that is a social one. Its the one that I will continue to back – after all, as a guild leader myself, I feel its the most stable way forward to creating the community I wish to inhabit. The emphasis is not on ability but rather suitability. Politeness, respect and maturity are higher on my list of priorities for new members than having an arm full of titles or a bank full of cash. This invariably means getting to know people, studying the way they choose to communicate themselves. I’m infinitely more likely to boot someone for excessive acronyms or “leet” speak than for failing to bring an optimised build.
I frequently wonder at the demographics of guild success. How many guilds founded remain active 4 years down the line? How many harbor lasting friendships or relationships? How many lead to new careers? What percentage of those brought together for a specific aspect of the game are still running that area a year later? And if they are still together, whats their turn over? How does changing a guild leader affect the longevity of the organisation? There are many many more questions I can ask but you get the idea. There are no statistics available to back up any conclusions but still… some food for thought.
To close, I’ll leave you with something a friend said to me once – “The best players don’t need to shout about how good they are, they are respected and followed for their talent and quiet confidence alone”.
Decisions, decisions…
1 year ago
I like choice. Nearly every weekday I stand in a Starbucks and order the same beverage, but every now and then I fancy something different. My choices are not the same as everyone else’s but that’s OK because we’re offered a variety of different things to select from.
Such choice in a gaming environment translates to user interface options. I’m used to having strafe on A and D, whereas many people use those keys for turning. But 98% of commercial games allow you to change the keys to your liking so I rarely have to wrestle with this area of the user interface. Options protect me from decisions that others make to directly affect my gameplay which is why I love them. At work if we find developers or testers are disagreeing about a behaviour we’ll make it an option if we can. Really good software shouldn’t be thought about by the users.
The reason this has come up is a result of the revelation of an iPad and smartphone application for Guild Wars 2, where players with accounts will be able to access a variety of services on the move. These services include a player tracking system, which will allow you to know where your friends are in game. Needless to say I’m worried about the implications of the feature. Not only is it personally invasive but collectively it allows far greater data harvesting.
Think about foursquare. No one really cares about where you go unless they’ve decided to stalk you or are waiting for you to not be home so they can rob you. But on a large scale, you can determine herd tendencies, what popular shops are, where to best place your adverts to get maximum relevant exposure etc. Transfer this to a gaming environment and you have the possibility of gold sellers using these features to know where best to advertise for maximum exposure outside expected busy areas. The cornerstone here is choice. Foursquare is an option, just like allowing Google to track my mobile position, and if the local council passes on my personal details to marketers.
I think its really important to give users the choice to opt out of supplying their position to anyone, unrelated to the use of any other features. Going offline on the friends list prevents communication so really this doesn’t offer the same choice as ticking that “be untraceable” option. Virtual privacy is an important right that needs to stop being corrupted and pushed aside – after all I can still use my mobile without Google being nosey, so why the requirement to broadcast my details everywhere?
Besides, being a disembodied voice sounds kinda cool.
Fearing Fear
1 year ago
The reveal of the Necromancer as the second Scholar profession of Guild Wars 2 was hardly a surprise. The profession was mentioned at length in the first Guild Wars novel “The Ghosts of Ascalon” and is a staple of most meta Guild Wars builds. The new Necromancer has been solidly identified as having a primarily supporting role within a party, being the master of removing and applying conditions. It can also summon the cutest undead minions ever conceived to fight on its behalf, only to explode them – killing their enemies in the process.
Within the reveal was the introduction of the Necromancer’s unique mechanic – Death Shroud. Perhaps surprisingly for Guild Wars’ “don’t-rock-the-boat-too-much” vocal fans, this has gone down ok. But ArenaNet has got another trick up their sleeve to set the tears flowing: Fear. The design decision has been made to replace all hex skills in Guild Wars with conditions. Fear is one of the new conditions that will no doubt be revealed over the next few months, which when applied to an enemy makes them run directly away from the caster. This condition is only available to Necromancers, lasts between 2 and 5 seconds in duration and is removable (as all conditions are) by allies.
Fear is a very interesting mechanic, primarily because the applicant of the condition can determine where the victim will run to. If you have someone smacking on your main support character, Fear them away. Or get yourself in the correct position to Fear the enemy support into your front line. Or over a trap, into Static Field or a mark. All the time,the victim’s allies CAN do something to help them, and with a short duration the effect is less devastating than a knockdown, which has no counter besides direct support. All in all I can’t wait to see how this gets played in organised PvP.
What was even curiouser about the fuss was that a reasonable number of people have made a decision about how powerful a profession is before knowing the other 4 that are out there or knowing any solid numbers behind the skills. Its like deciding that scissors is overpowered compared to paper, before you know what rock is or does. Talk about jumping the gun – this game won’t be out for over 6 months! This isn’t an isolated incident either – nearly every bit of news is greeted with pitchforks and torches. However, knee jerk reactions are a good thing as they show a community that is engaged, wants the product to succeed and is nervous about it being messed up. After all, no one gets agitated about something they don’t care about. Unless they’re a politician.
So a friendly message to the Guild Wars 2 community: chill. Stay hydrated, eat plenty of fruit and other similar patronising messages. Try (I know its hard) to think about things from another point of view. But most of all relax, mash F5 and enjoy the next few months – its going to be a hell of a ride.
Behind gamescom 2010
1 year ago
So 10 days ago I was lucky enough to go to gamescom 2010 in Cologne Germany. Whilst I initially booked the trip so I’d get to play Guild Wars 2, the highlight of the trip was by far meeting and spending time in the flesh with my guild mates. Whilst some amongst us were real life friends, most of the 7 people there had never met each other. 3 nationalities were represented (4 if you count the North of England as a separate nation. It seems it at times).
Something that always fascinates me is any difference between the person projected online and that in the flesh. These people have been guildies and friends for several years, who have spent many hours together in in-game combat and on Ventrilo sharing each other’s lives. The first hour or so of any meeting where you know someone so well but never seen them is always a little odd. You have to get what you know of them out of the pixel and wire mesh body and into the real one and such. And then there’s the possibility of the online chatter box being a real life mute.
Luckily of our group everyone was pretty much as expected. It didn’t take long for the dynamic that’s enjoyed online came to the front, the jokes to start rolling in and a few trips down memory lane to start. We spent the majority of Thursday together at gamescom at the NCSoft booth, getting loot (yay tshirts!) watching and playing Guild Wars 2. We split up later in the afternoon and went around the halls looking at various games and grabbing things of interest before meeting up and going out for dinner. A few of us then went on to the NCSoft party at Goldfingers before staggering back to the hotel at 3:30am and getting up for the convention the next day.
The drinking session at the NCSoft party was one of the best nights out that I’ve experienced. Nothing is quite like sitting around a table with a group of people you enjoy the company of, geeking out replicating in game dances and generally letting go. The music was far from the best but that didn’t matter. Fun time was had by everyone (except maybe the Viking of our group, he was a little tired from the travelling and walking).
All in all it was an epic trip and I sincerely its not the last time I enjoy the company of these friends. Some of them will be coming to my wedding in a few months time and others I’m trying to find an excuse to visit. If you were expecting this post to be more about my actual game play experiences of Guild Wars 2 at gamescom, sorry for disappointing you. I’ve made my thoughts and opinions available a couple of places since I got back. In Episode 11 of Relics of Orr Ryan grilled me for details and Shaun of GrayGamers.com had a Q & A with me as well. I’ll leave you with the picture of the weekend: around 10% of Mystic Spiral [MYST] 2010.
Musings on the Necromancer
Note: this post has been entered into Guild Mag’s first Blog Carnival on professions.
Necromancers are strange creatures. Rather like real coroners, spending your time around the dead has to be lonely work at the best of times even if you do like the quiet. Minions in general don’t hang around long enough to answer back. Not to mention that awkward silence at parties when you mention your day job and wish you’d just said you were a lawyer instead. I’m of the opinion they’ve had piss poor PR and are quite misunderstood.
In preparing to write this blog post I ended up writing an essay comparing and contrasting the necromancer in both games. Bet you’re glad that didn’t get featured huh? The scientist inside me was rather proud of it – it used long words, had proper structure and formatting – which the inner entertainer shunned. The cliff noted version though is that with respect to versatility in the original game, necromancers are up there with the best of them and its bound to be much the same in the sequel, just in different ways.
Such as Fear.
In all aspects of the word, the necromancer is all over it. People fear death, the dead, the undead. They are enthralled by the mystery and the horror of it all. Not to mention the new necromancer only condition which has causes such a hubbub due to its namesake in the game-that-shall-not-be-named. The irony is that the version yet-to-come will in my eyes be one of the best things to happen to the game.
Got someone attacking a low ally? Fear them away. Someone you need in an even more vulnerable position? Fear them towards your elementalist lady friend who is smiling sweetly like chocolate-wouldn’t-melt whilst conjuring a fiery death. All whilst still allowing their friends to rescue them with condition removal. I see no imbalance here, just dynamic RTS style game play.
I’ll be honest in saying necromancer is far from my favourite Guild Wars profession. I only got a level 20 one in 2008 (3 years into the game) and she rarely gets any of my attention. Generally anything a necromancer can do, a hero can do equally well or better. There seems little point in playing one. Blood is lacklustre, hexes are slow to apply and minion are just better left to the AI. The redesign makes them very very appealing to me. Hell they even managed to make me feel sorry for exploding minions.
My biggest uncertainty with the necromancer, and the mesmer, is that hexes have been removed from the game in favour of new conditions. I agree wholeheartedly with the design decision as I’d hate to have to devote 2 skills to condition and hex removal in my 10 skill bar to be competent in a solo situation. It makes sense balance wise but there’s a real fine line to tread. On one side the conditions won’t be varied enough to mimic how hexes behave in Guild Wars and on the other there will be so many conditions that the average player won’t understand them all. As an example, we haven’t seen a condition that will mimic the effects of Spiteful Spirit or Clumsiness. I’m sure I wouldn’t be the only one who would miss the “stop hitting yourself” style of play if it disappeared from Tyria entirely.
All in all, I’m very happy with the way necromancers are shaping up and how they’re being portrayed in the novels. Fear promises to bring some interesting situations, Death Shroud looks like having a multitude of uses and yet the mystery and intrigue of the profession remains. They’re one of the few professions I am genuinely excited to get my hands on.
Now. Where can I get myself a real bone minion pet? I want to call him Adam for old time’s sake.