I don't usually get up in arms about things. My temperament is pretty calm and I can usually see both sides of any argument. I find it hard to review books or games because I find myself being too understanding of the things that are wrong. For example, the Mass Effect 3 ending didn't really bother me too much. I do think it was a bit lazy at the very end but I still enjoyed the game as a whole. The whole debacle with Diablo 3's online servers didn't really irk me either (although, I did get that game for "free").
I read something today that did get my blood hot, something I would absolutely fight against if it ever came to light. Destructoid posted an interesting article today that talks about a new Sony patent. This patent defines a system where a commercial can be inserted INTO a game
The advertising already present in video games, like billboards with real products on them, works because it doesn't interfere with the immersion (at least, it usually doesn't). Ads that interrupt the gameplay most certainly would.
I understand that games are getting more costly to develop. I understand that the economy is in dire straits and every company is looking for more ways to offset costs. I don't care. We already pay $60 for these games, several times more than other forms of media. Find another way to do it. And don't try and offer us a bullshit line of "Pay more and get a version with no ads!" That won't work either.
Ads that interrupt content are probably the most hated form of advertising in the world (interstitials, I believe they are called) and no one wants them in their games. Don't do it.
Friday, May 25, 2012
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
First Guild Wars 2 Beta Weekend Impressions
This past weekend was the Guild Wars 2 beta and I managed to snag myself an invite by pre-purchasing the game. I spent a good amount of time playing it and I just thought I'd give some of my impressions of the game.
First, and I think most importantly, was the extreme amounts of hitching and lag at the beginning of the weekend (around 2 pm my time on Friday). When I got out to the areas with other people (after a brief instanced tutorial), it became unbearable. Actions would take 3-5 seconds to happen after the button was pushed and it was impossible to get anything done. Luckily, this lag didn't persist past the first day of the beta and hopefully NCSoft will be ready for this next time. The servers were almost always at High capacity (at least the American ones were) so some more servers would probably be a good idea.
The feel of the game is very interesting. It resembles a game like WoW, with smoothness (during the non-peak hours) during the combat - when you push the button for an ability, it comes out without delay. This is something I feel a lot of MMO's don't nail and it bothers me constantly. This seems to be in service of their combat system, which allows you to roll around by double tapping movement keys to dodge attacks. Most attacks are dodgeable and it gave the game a more actiony feel. Not quite sure if I like that yet.
I mostly played an Elementalist with my time, wanting to get a decent chunk into the content and not wanting to spread my time doing it. She was 15 at the end of the weekend and had just left the first zone. Her moveset was very involved and required a lot of thinking on my part.
If you didn't already know, Guild Wars 2 doesn't have you learning skills the normal way. Instead, equipping a new type of weapon (like a staff or sword) gives you a new set of skills. You unlock a set of five of them by using the ones you have already and get the rest in a (relatively) quick amount of time. Getting a new type of weapon meant grinding out new skills but they are usually quite different.
On top of this, the Elementalist has four "aspects" that correspond to the elements such as wind and fire. Each aspect has its own set of skills and those sets also change with the weapon. This easily gives the Elementalist the most to think about in terms of skill usage and it seems like it could be very interesting. Of course, only playing for six or seven hours meant I didn't get a full grasp of them all but enjoyed trying to combo them together. I could easily see this class being one of the more interesting ones to play, especially in PvP.
Before I talk about my rather brief time in PvP, I want to touch upon the quest structure in Guild Wars 2. Unlike your traditional MMO where you travel to quest "hubs" and then go out and do them, GW2 seems entirely built on the public quest system that was most well-known from Warhammer Online. On your map are several unfilled hearts; each of these corresponds to one of these quests. By going to this point of the map and aiding the people there, you fill a bar that eventually tops out and fills the heart on your map and gives you a nice experience boost. There is also an overarching story quest for your character that you do alone but it is much less experienced than the public quests.
This is a odd, but intriguing choice by NCSoft. Forcing players to work together no matter what if they want to level means they can do crazier things with the quests. Most memorable to me was the giant shadow demon I fought with about seven other people in a swamp area. Before this event started, a few smaller events happened all over the zone where portals had to be closed to stop invasions (a la Rift). When we closed the smaller portals, bigger ones opened in the swamp. Closing those let out the boss demon.
It was a great deal of fun. His pattern was fairly simple - let us wail on him a bit and then summon more portals we had to close to be able to attack him again - but things were crazy during it. Attacks flying left and right, portals opening and people scrambling to close them, other players going down and having to run over and rez them. It was simple but intense and was probably my favorite moment from the beta event.
Unfortunately, I can see a huge downside to this system. Public quests are very dependent on other people. What happens when everyone has leveled and no one is around to do these quests with you. Like Warhammer Online, the middle tiers of the game would most likely be barren and extremely difficult to solo. I'm not sure how NCSoft plans to balance this but I'm willing to give them a shot before I dismiss it out of hand.
Finally, let's talk a small bit about PvP. Guild Wars the original was well-known for its "jump right in" PvP. Anyone could make a max-level character with a good set of gear and go right into the fight. Guild Wars 2 has a similar system but in a different way. You create a normal character and jump into PvP whenever you want through a menu and are automatically scaled up to 80, the cap. When you leave PvP, you go back to your original level. It's a simple way to handle it but allows more people to try it out since they don't have to level a character to max level first.
The PvP combat itself felt good but wildly imbalanced at this point. I flailed around a few games on my Elementalist and had a hard time with it because of all the skills. However, some classes, particularly the melee ones, seemed to shred me much more quickly than the others. I don't blame the game for being imbalanced now because it's in beta and should be fixed but it made it hard to get into the PvP. It felt just as fluid as the PvE experience, with plenty of ledges to jump on and little hidden paths in each map. The only available game type was a capture and hold points type game that worked well enough. Next time, I might focus on PvP a little more to get more of an impression.
Well, I've rambled on long enough about my time with Guild Wars 2. I had fun with the beta at times but also thought it dragged in many spots. Maybe that was my class choice, maybe the XP values aren't final, I don't know. I will certainly play more of it (since I've already paid for it!) but how much I play of it will depend on a few things. Expect another update after the next beta!
First, and I think most importantly, was the extreme amounts of hitching and lag at the beginning of the weekend (around 2 pm my time on Friday). When I got out to the areas with other people (after a brief instanced tutorial), it became unbearable. Actions would take 3-5 seconds to happen after the button was pushed and it was impossible to get anything done. Luckily, this lag didn't persist past the first day of the beta and hopefully NCSoft will be ready for this next time. The servers were almost always at High capacity (at least the American ones were) so some more servers would probably be a good idea.
The feel of the game is very interesting. It resembles a game like WoW, with smoothness (during the non-peak hours) during the combat - when you push the button for an ability, it comes out without delay. This is something I feel a lot of MMO's don't nail and it bothers me constantly. This seems to be in service of their combat system, which allows you to roll around by double tapping movement keys to dodge attacks. Most attacks are dodgeable and it gave the game a more actiony feel. Not quite sure if I like that yet.
I mostly played an Elementalist with my time, wanting to get a decent chunk into the content and not wanting to spread my time doing it. She was 15 at the end of the weekend and had just left the first zone. Her moveset was very involved and required a lot of thinking on my part.
If you didn't already know, Guild Wars 2 doesn't have you learning skills the normal way. Instead, equipping a new type of weapon (like a staff or sword) gives you a new set of skills. You unlock a set of five of them by using the ones you have already and get the rest in a (relatively) quick amount of time. Getting a new type of weapon meant grinding out new skills but they are usually quite different.
On top of this, the Elementalist has four "aspects" that correspond to the elements such as wind and fire. Each aspect has its own set of skills and those sets also change with the weapon. This easily gives the Elementalist the most to think about in terms of skill usage and it seems like it could be very interesting. Of course, only playing for six or seven hours meant I didn't get a full grasp of them all but enjoyed trying to combo them together. I could easily see this class being one of the more interesting ones to play, especially in PvP.
Before I talk about my rather brief time in PvP, I want to touch upon the quest structure in Guild Wars 2. Unlike your traditional MMO where you travel to quest "hubs" and then go out and do them, GW2 seems entirely built on the public quest system that was most well-known from Warhammer Online. On your map are several unfilled hearts; each of these corresponds to one of these quests. By going to this point of the map and aiding the people there, you fill a bar that eventually tops out and fills the heart on your map and gives you a nice experience boost. There is also an overarching story quest for your character that you do alone but it is much less experienced than the public quests.
This is a odd, but intriguing choice by NCSoft. Forcing players to work together no matter what if they want to level means they can do crazier things with the quests. Most memorable to me was the giant shadow demon I fought with about seven other people in a swamp area. Before this event started, a few smaller events happened all over the zone where portals had to be closed to stop invasions (a la Rift). When we closed the smaller portals, bigger ones opened in the swamp. Closing those let out the boss demon.
It was a great deal of fun. His pattern was fairly simple - let us wail on him a bit and then summon more portals we had to close to be able to attack him again - but things were crazy during it. Attacks flying left and right, portals opening and people scrambling to close them, other players going down and having to run over and rez them. It was simple but intense and was probably my favorite moment from the beta event.
Unfortunately, I can see a huge downside to this system. Public quests are very dependent on other people. What happens when everyone has leveled and no one is around to do these quests with you. Like Warhammer Online, the middle tiers of the game would most likely be barren and extremely difficult to solo. I'm not sure how NCSoft plans to balance this but I'm willing to give them a shot before I dismiss it out of hand.
Finally, let's talk a small bit about PvP. Guild Wars the original was well-known for its "jump right in" PvP. Anyone could make a max-level character with a good set of gear and go right into the fight. Guild Wars 2 has a similar system but in a different way. You create a normal character and jump into PvP whenever you want through a menu and are automatically scaled up to 80, the cap. When you leave PvP, you go back to your original level. It's a simple way to handle it but allows more people to try it out since they don't have to level a character to max level first.
The PvP combat itself felt good but wildly imbalanced at this point. I flailed around a few games on my Elementalist and had a hard time with it because of all the skills. However, some classes, particularly the melee ones, seemed to shred me much more quickly than the others. I don't blame the game for being imbalanced now because it's in beta and should be fixed but it made it hard to get into the PvP. It felt just as fluid as the PvE experience, with plenty of ledges to jump on and little hidden paths in each map. The only available game type was a capture and hold points type game that worked well enough. Next time, I might focus on PvP a little more to get more of an impression.
Well, I've rambled on long enough about my time with Guild Wars 2. I had fun with the beta at times but also thought it dragged in many spots. Maybe that was my class choice, maybe the XP values aren't final, I don't know. I will certainly play more of it (since I've already paid for it!) but how much I play of it will depend on a few things. Expect another update after the next beta!
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