My Raiding Manifesto July 8, 2009
Posted by Kendricke in Guild Leadership.Tags: Everquest II, Raiding
5 comments
I saw a post by Suzina over at Kill Ten Rats that reminded me of a post I’d made within my guild’s forums. In Suzina’s post, she talks about how monsterous she felt after she asked a particular underperforming player to sit out on a raid and he refused. Later, the raid failed and she felt guilty – guilty because she didn’t kick the player when she knew she probably should have, guilty because she asked the player to leave and he felt badly over that, and guilty because the raid later failed.
Raid leadership is tough. It’s one of the hardest positions in any guild, but it’s particularly hard because it requires a cold, calculating aspect that many people find hard to pick up. It’s truly a thankless job much of the time and it can be one of the more stressful ways to play an MMO.
I wanted my own guild to understand what it’s like to lead a raid. I wanted them to understand the pressures I place upon myself and the realities they place upon me each time I form up a raid. I conveyed these facts to my guild in the following way:
It Ain’t Called “Catching” June 29, 2009
Posted by Kendricke in Everquest 2.21 comments
I love fishing. Like most boys, my grandpa used to take me out dockside to throw some worms at the sunnies. Now, I don’t get to go fishing as much these days as I used to, but I still go whenever I can.
I can quite easily spend a day casting my line into the water over and over and over hoping for a hint of a nibble. If I think I’m in a bad spot, I can move. If I think I’m using a bad lure or bait, I can change it up. If I think I should be using one set of tackle over another, I can switch. On a really, really good day I might get a nibble half of the time I cast. On my best days, I might actually pull in a fish 4 out of 5 times I feel a nibble or strike. On the days of my dreams, half of the fish I actually land are worth keeping.
I shudder to think of a place where I might show up to go fishing once a month and a guy at the dock simply hands me a pole which already has a 15 pound lunker hooked every time I drive up. No matter how nice his intentions are, he’d quickly take the thrill of fishing away from me.
“They call it fishing, not catching” is a saying my grandpa was fond of whenever I complained of long, dry days at the dock without so much as a nibble. He tried to teach me that it was those days of nothing at all that made the great catches all the better. It took me years to realize what he meant.
In completely unrelated news, SOE has introduced Research Assistants into EverQuest II.
Innovation, Wii-motes, and You May 19, 2009
Posted by Kendricke in General Game Concepts.Tags: Game Design, Johnny Lee, Wii
4 comments
Johnny Chung Lee of Carnegie Mellon University shows some innovative ways to use a Wii-mote. I gotta tell you this sort of thing is really interesting to me.
“Look Ma, I’m a Producer!” April 27, 2009
Posted by Kendricke in Out of Character.19 comments
Well, technically I’m just an Associate Producer, but I’m pretty sure my mother only heard the part she wanted to hear. In any event, it’s a pretty big step for me, as I’ve shifted from writing about games as a hobby to helping to build games for a living. You see, today I started my new job as an Associate Producer at Activision. I haven’t talked about it publically because (A) it’s all happened rather quickly and (B) I didn’t want to say anything till I’d actually signed papers and put some time on-site.
So, what exactly does an Associate Producer actually do? To be honest, I’m not entirely sure as of yet, but I’m learning. I’m learning pretty damned quick.
As I learn, I’ll try to share what general lessons I can. I’m sure I’ll put in some long hours over the next few months at least. I’m positive I’ll feel overwhelmed most days. I’m certain I’ll feel lost at times. At the same time, I’m absolutely thrilled and excited to have this opportunity. I’m pretty stoked about getting back to work tomorrow. This time last year, I couldn’t have said that. Frankly, I can’t ever think of a time I’ve thought that. That has to be a good sign.
We Bond in Groups April 8, 2009
Posted by Kendricke in General Game Concepts.22 comments
Anyone who has been in my guild longer than a week has likely heard me say this at least once, that “we bond in groups”. Generally, when I say this, it’s because I’m referencing activity levels on a particular night or recognizing longer term trends toward overall guild activity levels. After all, in our guild (as I suspect is the case with most guilds), we may solo as individuals quite a bit or raid together for shared goals or glory, but it is in the regular nightly group runs that we truly get to know each other as people and not just as names on a roster or in our chat.
Though I’ve been meaning to write this particular post for months now, it wasn’t till a recent post over at Cuppytalk that I started to really think about the subject with more depth. After all, I know that grouping is important (at least I think I know), but it’s apparent that others feel differently on the subject. They challenge the idea that significant content for grouping is good design. They raise questions. For example, is the idea of having content designed exclusively for grouping activities truly an outdated or dead concept, as Cuppycake seems to indicate in her post? Must all or even just most of an MMO’s content be accessible through soloing for the game to be good? Does a game have to reduce the importance or efficiency of grouping in order to be successful?
I’d argue no on all counts. Let me explain why I feel this way…
Friday Funny March 20, 2009
Posted by Kendricke in Out of Character.add a comment
When gaming geeks go into shepherding…
SOE Scraps the Plan for Hate Revamp March 17, 2009
Posted by Kendricke in Everquest 2.3 comments
According to Bruce Ferguson’s Producer Letter today, SOE is completely scrapping their plan and starting over with regards to the “hate revamp”:
Well, we’ve been talking since the last Fan Faire about how we’ve drifted away from the hate management and damage sink that tanks were originally intended to be. With this, there has also been an increase in the DPS that tanks have been doing while in combat. This begins to impinge on the role that we’ve envisioned for the Scout and Mage classes, and we feel that moving forward we need to make some adjustments, as it is increasingly difficult for us to do proper and cohesive game balancing as the lines get more blurred.
We introduced this to the test server in early January and the response from the community was strong. Recognizing that this is a very sensitive and delicate topic, we postponed the revamp for more testing and evaluation.
In the end, with all of your feedback, we’ve decided to re-examine the structure of the fighter revamp.
Own Your Own PipBoy March 15, 2009
Posted by Kendricke in Uncategorized.Tags: Gaming Gadgets
2 comments
After playing Fallout 3 for the eleventy hundreth hour and watching the umpteenth rerun of the Futurama episode where Leela meets her parents, don’t you find yourself wishing you could own your own personal forearm computer?
The Zypad WR1100
Vanguard’s “Vision™” Now Includes Full RMT March 12, 2009
Posted by Kendricke in Vanguard.Tags: RMT
9 comments
Per this post on the Vanguard official forums, the Station Exchange system being utilized on two Everquest II servers is being activated on ALL Vanguard servers:
Sony Online Entertainment has partnered with Live Gamer to provide Vanguard: Saga of Heroes customers with the same exchange system that our EverQuest II customers on The Bazaar and Vox servers enjoy. Live Gamer exchange provides the security and transparency needed to trade virtual items with confidence, and with the Live Gamer system, participants will be able to both auction and purchase virtual assets (characters, coin, and items) securely and safely and without the risk of the fraudulent activities that plague 3rd party websites that are not authorized by SOE to provide these services.
In case you missed it, this means ALL Vanguard servers will have FULL Real-Money Transaction capabilities: all characters, items, and coin will be available for purchase in real dollars. Good luck, folks.
An Attempt at Economic Stimulus in Everquest II March 12, 2009
Posted by Kendricke in Everquest 2.Tags: Research Assistant, Rewards
16 comments
You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.
- William J. H. Boetcker, 1916 (often attributed to Lincoln)
In case you’ve missed it, SOE is considering giving away Master level spells to any player that wants one:
All research requires a base amount of information to work with. In the case of the Research Assistants, this manifests in that they require you to have the previous tier of the spell being upgraded before they can begin work for you. So, in order to research that Master I, you’ll need to first know the Adept III version, though it doesn’t matter whether that Adept III version came from researching or from your friendly neighborhood sage, jeweler or alchemist. The time required to research a spell increase will vary based on the level and tier of the spell. A level 20 Adept I may only take an hour, while a level 80 master will likely take a month or longer.
- Jennifer “Kirstie” Gerull, Mechanics Supervisor, Everquest II
There’s a couple of restrictions they’ve announced, but the one thing they haven’t yet conceded is an actual cost. That’s right, no cost other than your monthly subscription and a little bit of time. Since you’re required to have a subscription to play the game and since we all earn time at the same rate, this is no cost at all. No gameplay required, just tell your research assistant you want X master spell, log out and come back in a month or so and you’ve got a brand new master level spell. Even CCP requires you to pay for the skills you earn in real time in EVE Online.
On the surface, I have to hand it to SOE, though: it’s a truly noble idea. It’s a way to provide master level spells to every person in the game – at least the important ones. It’s a way to make sure that you’re never held hostage to the random number generator or the greed of plat farmers. From a player’s point of view, why would anyone possibly be against such an idea?
In a word: standards.
