Positives:
+ Prevents a set of skills (a build) for any one class from becoming overpowered and over used.
+ Promotes diversity in skill builds as players create custom builds that fit their play style instead of relying on a premade build that most others are using.
+ Balanced skills allow the players to surprise their opponents by using less popular skills successfully.
+ Balanced skills remove the ability to abuse a specific skill build to farm NPCs that drop certain items. This stops the game’s economy from being flooded with the items and helps keep inflation in check.
Negatives:
- If one class’s skills are overpowered then there will be an overabundance of that class in the game. The game offers no challenge to the class’s abilities.
- Balancing skills can break good builds that aren’t overpowered or abused requiring the player to redesign their skill bar and, sometimes, even replace weapons, insignias and runes. This can be quite expensive.
- Balancing some skills can break or decrease the usefulness of others. On the contrary, sometimes balancing those skills cause others to become overpowered.
- Relearning how to effectively use a newly balanced skill or creating a good build with newly balanced skills can be time consuming and have a bit of a learning curve depending on the changes made.
Thoughts:
~ A lot of time players complain because a certain skill or skill set seems overpowered to them. It’s actually not overpowered. More than likely it is that they either lack the skill to play or came up against a player who is more skillful.
~ Some skills are identical to each other. The duplicate skills came with one of the additional campaigns to provide those missing one or more of the campaigns with the basic skills all classes had. So, if a player has all three campaigns then they will have duplicated skills. This can effect skill balance in gameplay because one player may only have one campaign and therefore no duplicate skills while an opposing player may have two campaigns and so two duplicate skills. This gives the player with duplicate skills two opportunities to use the skill where the previous player has only one opportunity.
~ PvP and PvE are so different that many skills need to be split into a PvP and PvE version to address the different situations. I find it interesting that a skill that is balanced perfectly for PvE may be considered over or under powered for PvP. This is a fine example of AI versus player skill when it comes to gameplay.
~ Some classes are the main focus of skill balances, like the Dervish, because of their prominence in PvP. ArenaNet tries to keep the PvP playing field as level as possible. Unfortunately this means that classes that are not prominent in PvP, such as the Monk, do not get much attention.
Would Like:
* Skill descriptions can be a bit unclear at times and rebalancing doesn’t help. Often I’ll be looking at a skill wondering what had changed. I know that the developers post blogs addressing the changes but this does nothing for me in game. So, I’d like for rebalanced skills to have a more clear description of what they now do. I’d also like a way to compare pre-balance skill to the post-balance skill to judge the changes and decide if the skill is still worthy of my use.
* I’d like classes that aren’t as prominent in PvP, such as the Monk, to receive some skill balance attention. They really need it as their healing and protection prayers are in a major need of a tweak.
Credit where credit is due:
Various. (2007-2011). Guild wars official wiki. Retrieved from http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Main_Page
Various. (2003-2011). Guild Wars. Retrieved from http://www.guildwars.com/
Showing posts with label Multiplayer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Multiplayer. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
An Analysis of a Video Game’s Tutorial: Age of Conan (MMORPG)
Positives:
+ The tutorial is a separate area in the game, an island called Tortage and it is extremely immersive. You are plunged directly into the storyline and don’t surface until you leave the island for your homeland upon reaching level 20. This separation from the rest of the game gives a new player time to acclimate to the game.
+ The tutorial starts out placing you alone in an instanced area. This gives you the opportunity to learn the ropes without competing against other players for resources or mobs. You also learn how to equip armor and weapons, wield your weapon, and use potions and food in this instanced area.
+ Quests are logically laid out and lead seamlessly from one to the next. The Destiny Quests are the main quests of the tutorial area. They are solo quests and occur only at night. These quests teach you class related skills and provide class specific armor and weapons. There are many other side quests to keep a character occupied for days. These quests take place during the day and provide small perks like potions or food as rewards.
+ You don’t accrue death penalties until level 10. This is a plus as you’re still learning the ropes of the game and may die simply because you didn’t know how to equip a weapon or use an attack yet.
+ The story that unfolds and tasks assigned to your character during the Destiny Quest depends on which archetype you’ve chosen to play. This means that, while the story is essentially the same for each character, a healer archetype will not experience the same Destiny Quest as a warrior archetype.
Negatives:
- If you happened to select a PvP server then you’re going to be ganked every time you go to the Underhalls or White Sand Beach to complete quests. Unfortunately this is because it is an easy way to rack up PvP points early in the game.
- Once you leave the beach solo instance you cannot go back. The gate out is one-way. So, if you meant to go back and check something out you’re out of luck.
- There is a lot of running back and forth from Point A to Point B. This wouldn’t be a huge problem if the distances weren’t so great and there is no quick travel option.
- Bag space is very limited. So is storage at the Trader. It is possible to buy more bag space but it is expensive, especially in the tutorial area.
- There is a Field Manual along the left side of the user interface. When you encounter something for the first time it pops out a little tab to show it has information on the subject. This usually occurs at the least opportune time for the player to check out the new information, like in the middle of a fight. The tabs tend to accrue because of this timing issue and end up blocking the left side of the screen from view. This can cause a problem when you’re facing multiple enemies because you’ve now got a blind spot.
- While there are a lot of quests it sometimes feels as if you’re doing generic fetch errands or kill “x” number of mob tasks. At times there are no quests available and the player must grind out the necessary experience to level up. Grind of any kind is tedious and makes players feel like they’d rather be elsewhere.
Thoughts:
~ The solo Beach instance that every player starts the game in is underused. It is a well designed area with a lot to offer but once a character leaves they can never go back. This seems a bit silly since a character can return to every other area in the tutorial no matter what their level. Why is this one area off-limits once they’ve passed the gate?
~ Tortage sets the standard for the game. It is the first thing a new player experiences. The fact that it is so wonderfully done is actually a bad thing in this case because the rest of the game pales in comparison. Where Tortage has depth, engagement, and immersion the rest of the game doesn’t. The stark contrast between the tutorial area and the main game area is very noticeable. This contrast has led to many players leaving the game in disappointment or deleting and rerolling characters who live in Tortage forever.
~ As well done as Tortage and the tutorial are, after running a few alternate characters through, even it becomes repetitive. Players start looking for the quickest way through or wish to skip it all together. This wouldn’t be a huge deal except that skipping the tutorial means that you’ve put a halt on the Destiny Quest. This closes certain avenues quest-wise until you to go back to Tortage to complete the quests.
~ In some tutorial areas (Aion, Guild Wars) there are practice dummies that will allow you to try out a new skill to see its effect and range. There are none in Tortage. If you want to gauge effect and range then you need to practice on a mob. This makes gathering accurate information on effect and range tricky because you have to defend yourself after the initial attack.
Would Like:
* The solo Beach instance opened up. Add some quests that send the player back to the area to explore. There is a lot there that most miss as they run through it.
* I’d love if the main gameplay areas were redesigned so they could live up to the standard set by Tortage. I know this is a long shot. The game has been out for a while and already has an expansion. This doesn’t mean that the main areas can’t be revisited and tweaked. One thing that could be done that would add depth is to add some spoken dialogue to the main game area’s NPCs.
* There is a door at the bottom of the Archeronian Ruins. It goes nowhere. This would be a perfect place to add a dungeon.
* A way to skip Tortage when a player already has a couple of high level characters. Provide the player a quest that allows them to satisfy the Destiny Quest and move on to their homeland without having to level through the whole tutorial area.
* A clear explanation of what the various stats on armor and weapons do. I know that if you mouse over the stat on your character page it will give a very basic description but not a lot of new players know to do this. A pop-up explaining various stats the first time a player encounters an item with one would be much more helpful.
Credit where credit is due:
Various. (2008-2011). Age of conan official forum. Retrieved from http://forums.ageofconan.com/index.php
+ The tutorial is a separate area in the game, an island called Tortage and it is extremely immersive. You are plunged directly into the storyline and don’t surface until you leave the island for your homeland upon reaching level 20. This separation from the rest of the game gives a new player time to acclimate to the game.
+ The tutorial starts out placing you alone in an instanced area. This gives you the opportunity to learn the ropes without competing against other players for resources or mobs. You also learn how to equip armor and weapons, wield your weapon, and use potions and food in this instanced area.
+ Quests are logically laid out and lead seamlessly from one to the next. The Destiny Quests are the main quests of the tutorial area. They are solo quests and occur only at night. These quests teach you class related skills and provide class specific armor and weapons. There are many other side quests to keep a character occupied for days. These quests take place during the day and provide small perks like potions or food as rewards.
+ You don’t accrue death penalties until level 10. This is a plus as you’re still learning the ropes of the game and may die simply because you didn’t know how to equip a weapon or use an attack yet.
+ The story that unfolds and tasks assigned to your character during the Destiny Quest depends on which archetype you’ve chosen to play. This means that, while the story is essentially the same for each character, a healer archetype will not experience the same Destiny Quest as a warrior archetype.
Negatives:
- If you happened to select a PvP server then you’re going to be ganked every time you go to the Underhalls or White Sand Beach to complete quests. Unfortunately this is because it is an easy way to rack up PvP points early in the game.
- Once you leave the beach solo instance you cannot go back. The gate out is one-way. So, if you meant to go back and check something out you’re out of luck.
- There is a lot of running back and forth from Point A to Point B. This wouldn’t be a huge problem if the distances weren’t so great and there is no quick travel option.
- Bag space is very limited. So is storage at the Trader. It is possible to buy more bag space but it is expensive, especially in the tutorial area.
- There is a Field Manual along the left side of the user interface. When you encounter something for the first time it pops out a little tab to show it has information on the subject. This usually occurs at the least opportune time for the player to check out the new information, like in the middle of a fight. The tabs tend to accrue because of this timing issue and end up blocking the left side of the screen from view. This can cause a problem when you’re facing multiple enemies because you’ve now got a blind spot.
- While there are a lot of quests it sometimes feels as if you’re doing generic fetch errands or kill “x” number of mob tasks. At times there are no quests available and the player must grind out the necessary experience to level up. Grind of any kind is tedious and makes players feel like they’d rather be elsewhere.
Thoughts:
~ The solo Beach instance that every player starts the game in is underused. It is a well designed area with a lot to offer but once a character leaves they can never go back. This seems a bit silly since a character can return to every other area in the tutorial no matter what their level. Why is this one area off-limits once they’ve passed the gate?
~ Tortage sets the standard for the game. It is the first thing a new player experiences. The fact that it is so wonderfully done is actually a bad thing in this case because the rest of the game pales in comparison. Where Tortage has depth, engagement, and immersion the rest of the game doesn’t. The stark contrast between the tutorial area and the main game area is very noticeable. This contrast has led to many players leaving the game in disappointment or deleting and rerolling characters who live in Tortage forever.
~ As well done as Tortage and the tutorial are, after running a few alternate characters through, even it becomes repetitive. Players start looking for the quickest way through or wish to skip it all together. This wouldn’t be a huge deal except that skipping the tutorial means that you’ve put a halt on the Destiny Quest. This closes certain avenues quest-wise until you to go back to Tortage to complete the quests.
~ In some tutorial areas (Aion, Guild Wars) there are practice dummies that will allow you to try out a new skill to see its effect and range. There are none in Tortage. If you want to gauge effect and range then you need to practice on a mob. This makes gathering accurate information on effect and range tricky because you have to defend yourself after the initial attack.
Would Like:
* The solo Beach instance opened up. Add some quests that send the player back to the area to explore. There is a lot there that most miss as they run through it.
* I’d love if the main gameplay areas were redesigned so they could live up to the standard set by Tortage. I know this is a long shot. The game has been out for a while and already has an expansion. This doesn’t mean that the main areas can’t be revisited and tweaked. One thing that could be done that would add depth is to add some spoken dialogue to the main game area’s NPCs.
* There is a door at the bottom of the Archeronian Ruins. It goes nowhere. This would be a perfect place to add a dungeon.
* A way to skip Tortage when a player already has a couple of high level characters. Provide the player a quest that allows them to satisfy the Destiny Quest and move on to their homeland without having to level through the whole tutorial area.
* A clear explanation of what the various stats on armor and weapons do. I know that if you mouse over the stat on your character page it will give a very basic description but not a lot of new players know to do this. A pop-up explaining various stats the first time a player encounters an item with one would be much more helpful.
Credit where credit is due:
Various. (2008-2011). Age of conan official forum. Retrieved from http://forums.ageofconan.com/index.php
Monday, May 16, 2011
An Analysis of a Feedback System/Loop in a Video Game: Crafting Talismans in Warhammer Online
Positives:
+ Some talisman ingredients can be purchased from a merchant or Hedge Wizard. This means they are always available.
+ Creating the talisman is easy. Once you have the necessary ingredients you put them in the correct slots in the Talisman window and click “Fuse”.
+ If the talisman created is a critical success then you are told “You made something better!” and the power of the talisman is increased by 6. If you achieved a super-critical success then you are told “You made something awesome!” and the talisman’s rarity goes up one level.
+ If you achieve a super-critical success using ingredients that are of the highest rarity then the fragment used will not be consumed and you can use it again.
+ Easy to level up Talisman making skill. Each successfully created Talisman contributes
Negatives:
- No recipes in game. It is easy to use up your resources by experimenting with ingredients to find the recipe for a basic talisman.
- Once a recipe is discovered there is no place in game to record it. You either record it yourself out of the game or try to remember it.
- Failure destroys the container and ingredients so they cannot be used again.
- Essences can only be obtained through the auction house or by the magical salvaging skill.
Thoughts:
~ The crafting process can be done anywhere as long as the player has the necessary items. This frees the player to quest or RvR while making Talismans.
~ Warhammer attempted to make the crafting process more fun and contain less grind. Sadly, this didn’t happen because all crafting components aren’t readily available. If a player needs a rare component they will have to grind out the gold to buy it in the auction house or grind out kills to gather it themselves.
~ Failure is expensive. Failure also introduces grind into the crafting system because you’ve got to get the gold to buy ingredients somehow.
~ Apparently Talismans only last for a certain amount of time. I’ve never seen any proof of this in game but if this is true then this makes the guesswork in creating them all the more stressful.
Would Like:
* A recipe book. In whatever form it takes it would be lovely to have a place where discovered recipes are gathered for future use.
* A notepad or similar function so that the player can note down where certain hard-to-find ingredients can be found.
* Failure to not be so expensive. Instead of all the ingredients being destroyed upon a failure, it would be nice if one (randomly chosen) was spared. So, even though you fail there is a chance that your container, fragment, or other ingredient remains unharmed and can be used again.
* Talisman effects to last indefinitely. This removes the need to constantly experiment with ingredients in an attempt to recreate the Talisman in order to replace the spent one.
Credit where credit is due:
Serapis. (2011, January 30). Warhammer online talisman making guide. Retrieved from http://home.comcast.net/~serapisphoenix/warhammer/talisman.html
Various. (2008-2011). Talisman making. Retrieved from http://warhammeronline.wikia.com/wiki/Talisman_Making
+ Some talisman ingredients can be purchased from a merchant or Hedge Wizard. This means they are always available.
+ Creating the talisman is easy. Once you have the necessary ingredients you put them in the correct slots in the Talisman window and click “Fuse”.
+ If the talisman created is a critical success then you are told “You made something better!” and the power of the talisman is increased by 6. If you achieved a super-critical success then you are told “You made something awesome!” and the talisman’s rarity goes up one level.
+ If you achieve a super-critical success using ingredients that are of the highest rarity then the fragment used will not be consumed and you can use it again.
+ Easy to level up Talisman making skill. Each successfully created Talisman contributes
Negatives:
- No recipes in game. It is easy to use up your resources by experimenting with ingredients to find the recipe for a basic talisman.
- Once a recipe is discovered there is no place in game to record it. You either record it yourself out of the game or try to remember it.
- Failure destroys the container and ingredients so they cannot be used again.
- Essences can only be obtained through the auction house or by the magical salvaging skill.
Thoughts:
~ The crafting process can be done anywhere as long as the player has the necessary items. This frees the player to quest or RvR while making Talismans.
~ Warhammer attempted to make the crafting process more fun and contain less grind. Sadly, this didn’t happen because all crafting components aren’t readily available. If a player needs a rare component they will have to grind out the gold to buy it in the auction house or grind out kills to gather it themselves.
~ Failure is expensive. Failure also introduces grind into the crafting system because you’ve got to get the gold to buy ingredients somehow.
~ Apparently Talismans only last for a certain amount of time. I’ve never seen any proof of this in game but if this is true then this makes the guesswork in creating them all the more stressful.
Would Like:
* A recipe book. In whatever form it takes it would be lovely to have a place where discovered recipes are gathered for future use.
* A notepad or similar function so that the player can note down where certain hard-to-find ingredients can be found.
* Failure to not be so expensive. Instead of all the ingredients being destroyed upon a failure, it would be nice if one (randomly chosen) was spared. So, even though you fail there is a chance that your container, fragment, or other ingredient remains unharmed and can be used again.
* Talisman effects to last indefinitely. This removes the need to constantly experiment with ingredients in an attempt to recreate the Talisman in order to replace the spent one.
Credit where credit is due:
Serapis. (2011, January 30). Warhammer online talisman making guide. Retrieved from http://home.comcast.net/~serapisphoenix/warhammer/talisman.html
Various. (2008-2011). Talisman making. Retrieved from http://warhammeronline.wikia.com/wiki/Talisman_Making
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
An Analysis of HUD Use in a Video Game: Warhammer Online (MMORPG)
Anyone who's played Warhammer Online knows how incredibly flexible their heads-up display is. Just about everything can be moved, adjusted, or tweaked. Plus, if Warhammer hasn't provided the exact display module you want there's a very good chance that someone else has and you simply need to download and install it. Let's analyze why Warhammer's HUD is one of the best...
Monday, May 9, 2011
A Response to a Bug Found in a Game or Bug Report: Fallen Earth, an MMORPG
I joined the Fallen Earth closed beta soon after it began. The game lured me in with its post-apocalyptic theme and I was ready to break it to make it better. It quickly gave me the opportunity to squash not just one bug but several.
The first bug I encountered was a crash to desktop. I had moved my character into an empty building and clicked the “Menu” button in the options bar. When the main menu opened I clicked “Exit”. The game immediately crashed to desktop. I cleared my computer’s cache and dumped the memory. Then I went back into the game. My character reappeared right where I had left her so I took a screenshot of her location and then repeated the above steps. The game crashed to desktop once again. I then filed a bug report with the developers.
Fallen Earth made it quite easy for their Beta Testers to file bug reports. There was a link placed prominently in the closed beta section of the forum. One click and a detailed bug report form would load. We were expected to enter our character’s name, the exact location in the game world we were when the bug occurred, the type of bug that occurred, how frequently we experienced the bug, which version of the game we were testing, and a summary of what we had experienced. They also asked us to attach screenshots of the bug and any other files produced by the bug such as .dmp files created by crashes.
While the developers were new to creating MMORPG games they handled the closed beta like veterans. Every bug report that was filed received a response. Sometimes the response was to gather more information or ask you to recreate the bug. Other times the response was simply to thank you for filing the report and to let you know that they’re working on fixing the issue. It was a very positive experience for me.
Credit where credit is due:
Fallen Earth Forums. (2007, January). Various Online Forum Comments. Retrieved from http://forums.fallenearth.com/fallenearth/index.php
The first bug I encountered was a crash to desktop. I had moved my character into an empty building and clicked the “Menu” button in the options bar. When the main menu opened I clicked “Exit”. The game immediately crashed to desktop. I cleared my computer’s cache and dumped the memory. Then I went back into the game. My character reappeared right where I had left her so I took a screenshot of her location and then repeated the above steps. The game crashed to desktop once again. I then filed a bug report with the developers.
Fallen Earth made it quite easy for their Beta Testers to file bug reports. There was a link placed prominently in the closed beta section of the forum. One click and a detailed bug report form would load. We were expected to enter our character’s name, the exact location in the game world we were when the bug occurred, the type of bug that occurred, how frequently we experienced the bug, which version of the game we were testing, and a summary of what we had experienced. They also asked us to attach screenshots of the bug and any other files produced by the bug such as .dmp files created by crashes.
While the developers were new to creating MMORPG games they handled the closed beta like veterans. Every bug report that was filed received a response. Sometimes the response was to gather more information or ask you to recreate the bug. Other times the response was simply to thank you for filing the report and to let you know that they’re working on fixing the issue. It was a very positive experience for me.
Credit where credit is due:
Fallen Earth Forums. (2007, January). Various Online Forum Comments. Retrieved from http://forums.fallenearth.com/fallenearth/index.php
Sunday, May 8, 2011
A Multiplayer Video Game: Mario Kart for the Wii
Anyone with a child knows that when they get their hands on a game they love they play it constantly. That is the case with Mario Kart for the Wii and my son. As it's a multiplayer game he was always asking my husband and I to race against him. Those races lead to a lot of laughter and a few thrown Wii controllers. Let's see why...
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