Showing posts with label PvE. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PvE. Show all posts
Monday, December 31, 2012
Gaming: Hello Kitty Online Review at MMORPG.com
Most people disparage Hello Kitty Online as a child's game while others feel it's not a true MMORPG like World of Warcraft, Rift, or Guild Wars. This animosity piqued my curiosity. Is Hello Kitty Online as bad as many say it is? Should those who are less skilled at gameplay than the typical MMO gamer be taunted with admonitions to "go play Hello Kitty Online"? I took the plunge and found out. Read about my experience here: Hello Kitty Online: Very Much a Niche MMO.
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Gaming: Myst Online: URU Live Review at MMORPG.com
Thinking about giving Myst Online: URU Live a try? I did. Read about my experience here: Myst Online: URU Live Review.
Friday, June 22, 2012
Gaming: Asheron's Call Review at MMORPG.com
Asheron's Call is an old school MMO that helped establish MMORPGs in the world of gaming. As an MMO newbie, I decided to give it a try. Read about my experiences here: Asheron's Call: Can it Deliver Today?
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
An Analysis of Game Balance/Ramping in a Video Game: Skill Balance in Guild Wars (MMORPG for the PC)
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/
+ 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/
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...
Thursday, May 5, 2011
A Poorly Rated Video Game - DC Universe Online (MMORPG for the PC & PS3)
Again, I used Gamespot's Top Rated PC Games List to choose a game for my analysis of a poorly rated video game. The lowest rating on the list was a 7.0 and, although I'm sure I've played games rated lower than this, I was unable to get the list to show anything rated lower. Searching through the games rated 7.0 I found that the lowest one on the list I've played is DC Universe Online, an MMORPG by Sony Online Entertainment. Let the analysis begin...
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
A Highly Rated Video Game - Guild Wars (MMORPG for the PC)
I used Gamespot's Top Rated PC Games List to choose a game for my analysis of a highly rated video game. Guild Wars was rated a 9.2 and, while it's not the highest rated game I've played, it is my favorite. The fact that I'm a huge fan of Guild Wars made its choice for this analysis that much easier. I tried to be objective in my analysis but it was difficult considering how much I like the game.
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