Blogged in MMORPGs, Games by Matt on Wednesday August 29, 2007
On October 10, 2001 a game that in my opinion set the standard for all Player vs. Player combat in MMORPG was released, titled Dark Age of Camelot. Mythic Entertainment, once a small independent developer known for their various online games, took a huge risk in developing such a game, and when Dark Age of Camelot was released they saw their hard work pay off.
When DAOC was released it quickly gained respect and notoriety from the MMORPG industry as well as from the players. DAOC was the first MMORPG to tie PvP combat into an organized, objective based system. In games prior PvP was based around unregulated combat anytime and anywhere, leading to the frustration of griefing. When DAOC introduced Realm vs. Realm combat many players had finally found the perfect PvP middle ground they had been looking for.
Albions defending a hole in a keep from the dirty Hibernians!
Players in DAOC could choose one of three realms to join; Albion, Hibernia, and Midgard. Each realm had its own strengths and weaknesses, Hibernia being the masters of Magic, Midgard being the kings of melee, and Albion filling the middle ground on both fronts. However at release the game was anything but balanced. Midgard were the kings of PvP combat at release due to their ability to chain stun other players, rendering them useless in combat. However, Mythic was quick to address and fix this problem.
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Blogged in MMORPGs, Games by Matt on Tuesday January 23, 2007
I’m not a fan of WoW at all, but to deny it the success it has had would be silly. The Burning Crusade, WoW’s first expansion pack came out last week, sold more then 1.2 million copies in the US alone in it’s first twenty-four hours.
Day-one sales totals on both continents were similar, with an estimated total of nearly 1.2 million copies sold on the first day in North America and an estimated total of more than 1.1 million copies sold in Europe within the first 24 hours of launch(a). By the end of the first day of availability on both continents, a total of more than 1.7 million players had already logged in and upgraded World of Warcraft to play The Burning Crusade.
That’s the kind of sales that only EXCEPTIONAL albums sell, now take a video game that does that. Boy those Blizzard fan bois sure are rabid!
Source: http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/070123/20070123005602.html
Popularity: 45% [?]
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Blogged in Warhammer Online, MMORPGs, Games by Matt on Tuesday January 16, 2007
MMORPG.com recently held an interview with Erik Mogensen, licensing manager of Games Workshop, regarding the working relationship between Games Workshop and EA Mythic.
| MMORPG.com: |
When last we spoke Mythic was still operating as an independent company. How has the addition of Electronic Arts impacted the relationship between Mythic and Games Workshop? |
| Erik Mogensen: |
Heh heh, the toughest thing for me is remembering to call them ‘EA Mythic’ now! Honestly, that’s the most noticeable change, which I realize isn’t very exciting but there you go. I work directly with the art team, the designers, the content guys, the producers as well as marketing and PR and the truth is there’s been no major alteration to how we interact. EA clearly supports Mythic and trust their expertise as well as their relationship with us. All of GW’s contact with EA has been positive, and they’re clearly excited and fully behind the game. In actual day-to-day terms though, all the same people at Mythic and GW are working together just as before, only now with the world’s biggest publisher supporting us all. It’s a great place to be. |
The art, designers, and content isn’t what I’m worried about has mentioned previously what I’m worried about is the game play mechanics being dumbed down to the likes of World of Warcraft. WAR looks exactly as it should, gritty, dark, and the characters look exactly as they do in the various pieces of GW’s as well as the Warhammer Fiction.
| MMORPG.com: |
Do you have any expectations for Warhammer Online as far as lore goes. Are there things you hope will be in the game for players to experience that may just have to be left out? |
| Erik Mogensen: |
The Warhammer World is a very, very big place and there was inevitably some content that had to be left out. I think that together, EA Mythic and GW have done a good job of picking a cross-section of content to give a good representation of the world in an MMO context, while also keeping most of the Warhammer fans happy. I hope that’s what we’ve done anyway. I suppose we’ll find out later this year! |
The Warhammer story is an awesome piece of work in it’s self, and has constantly been the one thing that has kept me looking forward to WAR so much, Mythic has true to the Warhammer thus far and will likely continue the trend. The interview tends to be a bit vague with other details pertaining to the game, but is still a solid read in regards to Warhammer Online.
Popularity: 44% [?]
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Blogged in MMORPGs, Games by Matt on Saturday January 13, 2007
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past six months or so, then you’ve probably heard of a little game called Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (or WAR). WAR will be Mythic Entertainment’s second release of a MMORPG following their successful and very well produced Dark Age of Camelot. However this time around instead of playing the role of developer and publisher, Mythic has been gobbled up by EA Games to produce the title.
When the it was announced that EA Games acquired Mythic and would be publishing WAR, the MMORPG community immediately let their protest be heard. Then again, why shouldn’t the community fear for the future of WAR? EA’s track record with PC Gamers is tarnished past the point of repair, and why should this be any different? EA games are notorious for being buggy, unfinished, scrap heaps of games upon release. Combine EA’s track record with the fact that MMORPGs suffer from severe balance issues, bugs, and a myriad of other problems at release, and perhaps the worry will start to make more sense. (more…)
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Blogged in MMORPGs, Games by Matt on Friday June 2, 2006
In mid and late 2004 the buzz started building around a MMORPG that promised to bring MMORPG game play and elements to players without a monthly subscription fee. Lofty goals and claims for a starter company, however some of these starters were lead programmers and designers from the brain trust known as Blizzard. This ambitious title is none other then Guild Wars by ArenaNet.
The beautiful graphics of Guild Wars, plenty of Blooming and Blurring to go around!
Guild Wars was billed to be a MMORPG that featured all the consistent updates and content additions as “traditional MMORPGs” all while managing to keep a more casual approach to MMORPGs without the cost of a monthly fee. Did ArenaNet deliver on their promise of making Guild Wars play and feel like a subscription based MMORPG? Depending on the elements you’d like to look at, the idea of Guild Wars being a subscriptionless MMOPRG can vary greatly.
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Blogged in MMORPGs, Games by Matt on Friday May 26, 2006
Note: This is part one out of a series of articles, titled “PvP Combat, Release Dates, Innovation and MMORPGs; A Death Sentence“, covering some of the aspects and short falls that I feel numerous MMORPGs have been plagued by.
The debate whether game developers rush products to achieve an optimal release date has always been a hot bed for discussion, however in MMORPGs it seems skipping some small yet vital additions to the game can make or break your release. Back in later 2004 we saw two should be giants going head to head, World of Warcraft and Everquest 2.
When World of Warcraft was announced the gaming community was sucked up in a cyclone of press and hype. Could Blizzard deliver a MMORPG that would catch on with the hardcore gamers as well as with the more casual players, in this case the Blizzard audience Warcraft and Diablo, while staying true to it’s roots of being a highly polished titled developed by Blizzard? The buzz from the closed beta of World of Warcraft was one of a highly refined MMORPG experience even in it’s infants stages, however there was still that group of players who cried for balance before release. Everquest 2 was in development head to head with World of Warcraft. As the two were developed, the open beta/stress tests were fast approaching.
World of Warcraft, Blizzard’s amazing entrance to the MMORPG Scene.
As the beta test (or Open Stress Test) for World of Warcraft carried on, Sony Online Entertainment announced they would be releasing Everquest 2 in the middle of Novemeber 2004, almost 6 months ahead of the expected release date. Was SOE feeling the dragon of World of Warcraft breathing down the neck of its lovechild Everquest 2? The majority sure seem to think so.
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Blogged in MMORPGs, Reviews, Games by Matt on Friday May 27, 2005
As of late, I’ve been looking for a video game to play that is not only fun, but original. I’ve grown tired of playing the same old game over and over in the form of Counter-Strike Source and Half-Life 2, I’ve played Counter-Strike since Beta 3, time to move on from that dated formula. So I’ve been debating either playing World of Warcraft or Guild Wars. Well guess what, I played the Closed Beta, Stress Test, Second Stress Test, and Open Beta for World of Warcraft and came to a realization, after all of that grinding, I had no desire to ever play it again. So lo and behold, I picked up Guild Wars and am loving every minute of it.
I first played Guild Wars in it’s First Beta Weekend and was anything but impressed. The game mechanics sucked and the lage was horrific, but what can you expect, it’s a beta. I gave up on Guild Wars and just kind of brushed it off as a crappy want to be MMORPG. Five months have passed since then and the release of Guild Wars and boy was I wrong.
The thing that I love the most about Guild Wars is that a semi-casual player can play it, and still keep up with the hardcore power gamers. I’ve played the game thirty hours or so and am almost to cap my level and complete all the story line missions, albeit there are still hundreds of quests left for me to do. The fact of the matter is, I haven’t had to expend 200 hours or more to compete in the game, I simply do not have the time to invest hundreds of hours into a game.
Guild Wars is an entirely new game, there has been no other like it. It mixes elements of Diablo with elements of MMORPGs as well as action games. To top all of that off, Guild Wars has no monthly fee what so ever, making it the first of its kind. While some may argue that Guild Wars is not a MMORPG in the traditional since, the fact of the matter is, Guild Wars is not only a MMORPG, but an exceptional one.
The graphics in Guild Wars are phenomenol, theyre not “ultra realistic” however they are beautiful and have their own little artistic flair to them. The environments are large and lush and full of eye candy. The characters and spell effects are great, each spell having its own casting graphic and attack graphic, while the characters have countless animations to show their current condition or action. Monster models are plentiful, and very few use the same model with a different name, giving you plenty of variety.
Sounds in Guild Wars are good, monsters sound unique and when hurt they sound like they’re actually hurt. The sounds aren’t over done either, so you won’t grow annoyed of hearing the same monster gasping in pain over and over. The musical score is good; however it is generic and won’t be remember as a great game soundtrack. As much as I dig the sounds in Guild Wars there is one thing I can not stand, and that would be the voice acting in the cut scenes. Absolutely horrid, it’s like watching a B movie with their voice acting, cheesey and pathetic, no other way to put it.
Perhaps my favorite part of Guild Wars is the character classes and character creation. As you may or may not know in Guild Wars you start out as a base character profession, in this case, Elementalist, Ranger, Warrior, Monk, Mesmer, or Necromancer, and as you progress through the early game, you take on a second profession to make a dual classed character. By using all the possible classes, there are 30 possible class combinations one can have. Every class in Guild Wars is useful and versatile, for me I have chosen to play a Mesmer/Monk. By choosing those classes I can lock down enemy casters and players, and also heal with the monk profession. A different class selection equate to different playing styles, and is ultimately up to the player to choose how he or she wants to play.
The real gold of Guild Wars not only lies in it’s terrific set up and character classes, but also with it’s Player Vs. Player combat. PvP in Guild Wars is terrific to say the least, players compete against one another to sway the favor of the gods to their side. However, players do not just compete against other groups, they compete against players in other regions. For example in game you may be competing against Korea or Europe to gain the favor of the gods. Players can fight in either random PvP fights, or they can enter Tournaments to claim their guild as the top position. All in all, Guild Wars is the best PvP model to be introduced into a MMORPG and will keep players occupied for hours.
Guild Wars is a terrific MMORPG, in fact it’s my favorite that I have played before, that includes UO, EQ, DAOC, SWG, AO, WoW and More. Buy it NOW!!!!
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