NCsoft Q3 2009 Results - Aion looks to do well...

[MikeD]

MY APOLOGIES GOOD SIRS FOR MY NEGLECT OF PROPER INTERNET FORMATTING. IT WILL NOT HAPPEN AGAIN

[March]

Ever been driving along and just see a massive accident developing in front of you?

[WindupAtheist]

MY APOLOGIES GOOD SIRS FOR MY NEGLECT OF PROPER INTERNET FORMATTING. IT WILL NOT HAPPEN AGAIN

Quit being a douchebag and type like a grown-up, you fucking retard. Seriously, first you type like some kind of idiot, and then you have to be a giant prick about it? Fuck you.

[MikeD]

Wow, take a joke man. I was hoping we could just discuss videogames.

[01101010]

Ever been driving along and just see a massive accident developing in front of you?

Actually yes I have, on the highway though. Funny, it happened really slow at first, and then I remember looking back at the auto-carnage - all of which took 5-7 seconds to drive through.

And oh yeah, Aion... I have my month of fun, did well for that month for me, but that's gone now.

[Nebu]

wow, take a joke man. i was hoping we could just discuss videogames.

When in Rome...

[Rendakor]

I'm amazed he managed to capitalize his own name, since his keyboard has only Caps Lock.

[Malakili]

I'm amazed he managed to capitalize his own name, since his keyboard has only Caps Lock.

Yeah, typing that way can get tedious.

[WindupAtheist]

also, it's awesome that you calling me a douchebag fucking retard idiot giant prick who can fuck himself is considered appropriate but me not bothering to capitalize on some forum is deemed offensive.

It's that kind of place. Eat shit you passive-aggressive assbucket.

[Xuri]

 

[Venkman]

Ah, that new guy smell.

[schild]

Is anyone up for the "embarrass a developer" game? It's been a while since Vajuras guy.

[Ard]

I just want to mug Xuri for his popcorn.  I'm all out.

[MikeD]

Here you go: http://mikedarga.blogspot.com/

I'm not embarassed, I'm just in the bad habit of using proper capitalization on forums or other places where I'm in a hurry.

If that's a dealbreaker for you guys (and i guess it is), I'll happily go back to lurking.

[edit:capitalized]

[MikeD]

And yeah i realize that guy was mad about the smartass response moreso than the lack of caps.

Based on all the threads i've read here in the past, I was hardly expecting a little sarcasm to make people so upset.

I just wanna discuss game design. In lowercase if at all possible /shrug

[edit:capitalized]

[schild]

i just wanna discuss game design. in lowercase if at all possible /shrug

It's not. Many of the folks at the company you work at can tell you it's not. I think you even have a few ex-f13 staff there that would hit you with their shoes if you did.

[MikeD]

Ok, then I apologize.  If it's a forum rule I'll respect it. It just seemed more likely that was people hassling the guy with the low post count for fun.

Look at all this sweet publicity I'm getting!   You guys should come read my blog and insult me in the comments section.

ANYhow:

Personally I think WoW's slower PvP xp rate is appropriate, especially in a tiered system like they have.

They've got all those tiered gear rewards to unlock, which takes some time, and you want to be able to stay at level x9 long enough to feel like the top dog for a little while before you get pushed into the next tier as a scrub again.

This is coming from someone who parked all his characters at 19 and 29 for months at a time, so I'm hardly the typical player, but I'd guess it's a representative attitude from the kind of person who plays WoW primarily as a PvP game.

[ghost]

I think I'm glad that I'm not in the gaming industry

[gryeyes]

Wish he would have lashed out to be honest, there is some funny to be had.

[Pennilenko]

Wish he would have lashed out to be honest, there is some funny to be had.

Back in your cage, damnit.

[gryeyes]

 

[WindupAtheist]

Ok, then I apologize.  If it's a forum rule I'll respect it. It just seemed more likely that was people hassling the guy with the low post count for fun.

I dunno if it's a formal rule so much as it's just something you'll get shanked in the shower with a filed-down toothbrush for doing around here. There's a whole list of things like that, and nobody knows what they are until they do one of them. Now that you're capitalizing like a proper literate human, we can be pals.

[Venkman]

I think the word you're looking for is "hazing" 

If a game is billed as a PvP diku, then it needs to have leveling up from PvP. And it needs to be at least on par with the pace of PvE XP. For two reasons:

• You billed the game as PvP diku. If you force people to PvE to level up, you'll lose peoples' interest.
• PvP diku is best when the levels don't matter in the equation. Therefore, even if meta guilds cheat their way to max level, who cares It's about the objectives, not just the circlejerk deathmatch.

WAR got this part right imho. WoW should have just ripped the whole thing off instead of tip-toeing as they have.

[Draegan]

If I were to redo WAR with Tiers, there would be no levels.  But a series of quests and achievements needed to unlock the next tier.  DIKU PVP games really shouldn't have levels.  Or if they do, they should be very very easy to get.

[DLRiley]

MMo developer: "Hey I have a great idea! Lets make sure players aren't competitive from day one! Our retention rate will be through the roof!."
Player: "So how long till steam finish loading TF2?"

[01101010]

DIKU PVP games really shouldn't have levels.

Oxymoron? not sure...

[Draegan]

DIKU's don't necessarily need levels, they need numbers.  There are some old DIKU Muds, that I played, that were free of levels but your power level was based on your proficiency of skill X and Y.

You ran around farming loot and chasing people and killing them.

There was another subset of MUDs that were PVP based off of Owen Emlen's code.  MPV, MPV2, LOC, ROP and a myriad of others that I've forgotten.  I played these the most.

Levels were incredibly easy to get.
You hit max level you remorted to do it all over again.  You got 5 skill points and a boost in hps.
Gear was power.  Skills were limited.
Full loot pvp.
You could "tackle" someone and then their gear was useless.  More stats allowed you to escape or avoid tackling.  But an uber guy could get tackled, then get beat on by 1 or 2 other people and lose pretty easily if he was unlucky.

It had an interesting skill system.  No classes.  Each race has X skill slots and Y skill slots and you could pick any skill you want as long as you had the prereq's.  So if you picked a class that had balanced skill/spells you could be a pretty balanced character, and be tough.  Heal/Buff/DPS.  There were extremes too obviously that worked well.

If I had money this is the game I would make.  It works real well in small scale worlds.

Which brings up another interesting point.  Instead of having a large world and 1000's of people being able to access that server, how about having smaller worlds with a more limited playerbase to increase "community" recognition?

[ghost]

It would appear that "levels" is more of an RPG phenomenon than an MMO phenomenon.  Most MMOs are of the RPG variety, but even the ones that aren't traditional have some form of "leveling", e.g. Eve.  If you don't have levels then the game is basically just an FPS:  run around until you find the napalm launcher. 

[Lantyssa]

Which brings up another interesting point.  Instead of having a large world and 1000's of people being able to access that server, how about having smaller worlds with a more limited playerbase to increase "community" recognition?

APB.  We'll have to see how it works, since I think you will be able to change areas, but it should help foster this smaller community feeling.

[Malakili]

Which brings up another interesting point.  Instead of having a large world and 1000's of people being able to access that server, how about having smaller worlds with a more limited playerbase to increase "community" recognition?

This is one of the reasons I really liked Neverwinter Nights persistent world communities. 

[Venkman]

It would appear that "levels" is more of an RPG phenomenon than an MMO phenomenon.  Most MMOs are of the RPG variety, but even the ones that aren't traditional have some form of "leveling", e.g. Eve.  If you don't have levels then the game is basically just an FPS:  run around until you find the napalm launcher. 

Except now your FPSes have levels too.

[Slyfeind]

I remember this one time saying that games should make levelling undesirable, for some reason or another. People were like, "Oh don't be silly, that's impossible!" I think that was before DAOC, and now WOW has perfected it.

And MikeD, I would never have read your blog if you didn't be all lower-case-man. Yay you!

[ghost]

Except now your FPSes have levels too.

So that's win for everyone, right?  There haven't been too many FPSs lately that have multiplayer that seem desirable.  Do they really have levels?

I miss Blood.

[schild]

Ok, then I apologize.  If it's a forum rule I'll respect it. It just seemed more likely that was people hassling the guy with the low post count for fun.

Now that we're all good, I've tagged you. Sorry, comes with the territory, it helps keep you (and, to a lesser degree, us) from... making a regrettable mistake.

[MikeD]

Haha fair enough. I like accountability or I wouldn't blog under my real name, but I'd best just go back to lurking if my employer's name is going to be emblazoned across my every post.

I'm pretty sure every human in every forum everywhere would eventually get fired under those circumstances