Aion launched yesterday for pre-orders. Cownose got in. Petter had the five hour queue (and he’s under deadline!) Heartless_ isn’t playing, but loves him some queues, anyway. Lars got to level 3, server kicked him off, welcome to four hours in the queue. Naamah got in, but his friend had to wait three hours. It’s a good thing, though. I think he kinda has to be positive about the whole thing, though. AT&T and NCsoft conspired against Keen.
So, upshot: Aion is live, and there are really, really, really long queues. World of Warcraft had them. Warhammer had them. Aion has them. Years from now, you’ll brag about how long you spent in the queue on launch day, just like people lining up two days early to see a trailer for the new Twilight movie.
Remember last week when everyone was gaga over Champions Online? These days, your new MMO gets a week before it’s displaced by the next new greatest MMO ever.
Thanks to Beau and Leala of AbleGamers, I now know the REALLY big news for Wizard101 is not that we get to ride Tony the Tiger or mean looking horses or ambiguously drawn broomsticks, but that every school of magic will get their very own house design! Which is definitely cool, but I gotta ask, is it big enough to hold all of my stuff? The Friendly Neuromancer says we’ll have questions to all our answers in October.
Which reminds me (for no particular reason) about a recent, personal project. I was trying to find girl and boy names that matched the months of the year. Like Mark or Marcie for March, Julian or Jules or Julie for July and so on, but I was totally stymied by February. Febrilla? Febworth? Just couldn’t do it.
Toldain responds to a recent post by The Greedy Goblin (is he re-rolling once goblins become an actual playable race in WoW?) who insists that modern raiding is knowing where to stand and how well you follow the script, not what gear you have. Toldain wonders if that is really true for MMOs OTHER than WoW? Like, say, EQ2? Toldain rightly points out that in many recent EQ2 raids, DPS is pretty key – and mobs do plenty of AEs that test your resistances and ability to potion-cure various ailments swiftly.
EQ2 is a really bad example, since they have since Rise of Kunark decided that heavily scripted, WoW-like fights are way better than the old tank-and-spank, specifically to allow lesser geared raiders the chance to complete the event, if they know the script. As an ex-EQ raider, I hate that this slows well-geared raid guilds down for no real reason.
Someone also commented on that same post, and I feel bad I didn’t bookmark it, because it fell into the trap of assuming what was true for WoW was true for every MMO with raids. Gear may not matter in World of Warcraft, but it definitely matters in EQ2. The epic Mythical weapons typically give bonuses of some sort to the entire raid – and the final encounter in Rise of Kunark, Trakanon, almost requires their use. Not to mention the various resists that need to be pumped to unheard of levels.
Ferrel and Psychochild have been having a discussion, which they’ve been kind enough to blog, about How To Motivate Reluctant Raiders. Any raid guild knows the drill. You stay with safe and familiar content, and people get bored and leave, or they get all the loot they wanted and leave. Or you try new content, and after a string of wipes people leave (but they’ll suddenly return if you start winning!) I’ve been in a lot of guilds and known people inside of a lot more, and I think the only thing that REALLY works is to make being in the guild a privilege, a privilege that can be revoked. If the raid leaders coddle the people, well, they start making demands and then you’ve lost it.
What, you think raiding is a GAME where you have FUN? Raiding is SERIOUS BUSINESS.
Psychochild is of the opinion that games focus on rewarding the individual player when they SHOULD be rewarding the entire group. I like that idea. Why not have vendors in guild halls that sell epic loot, but the variety of stuff they can sell is dependent on the guild’s recent progression, and the currency is tokens from killing stuff? Ferrel thinks with enough care, a guild’s point system can be designed to be fair and motivational.
I still think fear works best.
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| DuE to the FlOoD of STranUrs cUming to MY |
| seTtlement, I have decided to BuiLD thiS fens |
| To kEp yur SCUMMY Butts out and frOm kILLing |
| my InnoCENT peoplE!! |
| |
| Signed, |
| Gwark, settlement leader |
| |
| warning: i Have tolD all roviNg Kobld guaRDS |
| to attak on SIght of intRudrs!! |
| |
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The Ancient Gaming Noob brings us back the days when women were women, men were men and four footed farm animals had better be quick after nightfall. back when 3D graphics were called ’text’ and people were thankful. Today, he tells a tale of Leuthilspar and the well-defended Kobold village that lurked just outside of town – if you could find it.
Oh, and one last thing – Straha over at WTFComics has three new pages to his ongoing adventure about a lizard warrior, a wood elf druid, and the people who love them. Enjoy!