The Captain’s Blog

I’m an avid YouTube uploader. I used to simply collect videos and share them with guilds and friends and families, but when I got into YouTube I just threw up anything I could find gathering dust on my hard drive. Many of these were old World of Warcraft videos.

One of my most popular videos on YouTube is “Huge Alliance Attack on Orgrimmar.” It was recorded on December 4, 2006, the day before the 2.0.1 patch which changed a lot of game functions in preparations for the new expansion pack to be released in January 2007. One major part of this update was that the PVP Honor system was going to be completely done away with and a new system put in place. A big reason why even many hardcore PVPers shied away from large city raids was Dishonorable Kills (or DKs). You would have these black marks added to your record anytime a member of your assaulting group would kill a non-aggressive NPC of the opposite faction. But, the entire honor system was being redone the next day, so that meant that any DKs incurred wouldn’t matter on December 5th. It was time for a slaughter.

Read the rest of this entry »

I took the time to create the above photoshop not only to delight and amuse but also because I needed an extra 15 minutes to formulate my opinion on the game. It wasn’t enough time. I still can’t decide if I like this game. Its pretty fun to play and explores many interesting new-to-MMO ideas, but will AoC’s little slave ship shackle enough fans to stay afloat in the tumultuous MMORPG ocean?

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s always fun to step back from the monotony of the MMO grind to play something different. So, I just finished up playing the single player adventure-puzzle game Overclocked.

Here’s the overview: Five young adults are in a mental hospital after being found by the authorities, half-naked and shooting guns into the air. They are obviously off their rockers; they don’t remember who they are, what happened to them, or why they are acting out with such violence.

You play a psychiatrist (who has a somewhat interesting history of violent outbursts of his own) that has been assigned to find out what is wrong with them. You accomplish this through hypnotherapy, and slowly working your way backward through the kids’ memories, uncovering what happened in the days preceding their apprehension. During the flashbacks, you actually take control of each kid, and experience their memories.

Read the rest of this entry »

I remember this funny little song about EQ by Electric Funstuff from way back in the day. It still makes me laugh.

Be sure to check out the remix and the unofficial music video.

[ Introducing guest contributor: my wife, Mrs. Angry! ]

Being a long-time lover of fantasy literature, I have to say that RA Salvatore’s latest novel, The Orc King, which is the first installment of the new Transitions trilogy, left me with a very bad taste in my mouth.

Why, you ask? Was it not another gripping tale of adventure? Did it not leave me wondering what will happen next with Drizzt, our favorite dark-elf gone good? Well of course, I enjoyed it immensely. However, I can’t get past the fact that orcs, as a race, are stepping outside of the boundary of being the bad guys.

Throughout literary history, orcs have been bad. Tolkien essentially invented the orc, and I think he would be rolling over in his grave if he knew that writers today are taking the liberty to humanize and tame the creatures he made to symbolize evil. Every other fantasy novel I have ever read, from Forgotten Realms to the new Eragon series, orcs and orc-like creatures (goblins, gnolls, etc.), are the enemy.

So what changed?

Read the rest of this entry »

Every World of Warcaft player has a pretty good understanding of what “Reputation” is in the MMO sense, especially since the first expansion The Rep Crusade was released. Rep is something to be gathered like XP, by killing mobs or completing repeatable quests. Basically you just accumulate enough of it to simulate gaining favor with a certain group of NPCs in order to gain access to exclusive equipment or other perks, right? Wrong.

Unfortunately WoW’s handling of this concept only created yet another grind and offers no actual roleplay value or compelling gameplay. 99% of the different factions for rep in WoW have no opposing factions to gain hate with while you gain favor with the other. Sure, with TBC the whole Scryer versus Aldor thing was an example of this, but this was a real kiddie-pool training-wheels type of decision to make. The rewards on either side were comparable and quickly replaced with neutral upgrades, and no matter which side you chose, you still got to walk around Shatt freely and run whatever dungeons you wanted. What was the point of choosing at all? It was a minor speedbump at level 62 that was long forgotten once you entered Karazhan. How could they have done it better?

Read the rest of this entry »

Fileplanet is handing out keys for the Worldshift beta. I downloaded it on Friday and spent some time with it over the weekend. It’s an interesting game that borrows many concepts from MMOs and applies them to an RTS format. It has its fun moments but I gotta say it is freakin hard!!

On the surface, Worldshift appears to be a Starcraft clone with heavier emphasis on cooperative play. We find a standard three race division among the sides you can choose: one based on advanced human technology, another based on mysticism and magic, and the third based on alien… technology or magic or something… I dunno. The gameplay is an adequate knockoff of Blizzard style RTSs, but its MMO inspired elements are what they hope will set the title apart from other games.

Read the rest of this entry »

In the beginning, I would create the heavens and the earth.

Creating a virtual universe is obviously a huge part of any hypothetical MMO project. Fantasy settings in a young, earth-like environment seem to be the most popular. I imagine that blending a real place, bound to the real life laws of physics, that we all live in every day with the excitement of a fantastic magical world makes it is easy to jump right into and understand how things should work.

I don’t think I need to go over the list of the other runners up in the theme category in detail. We all know there are super hero, sci-fi, pirate, and sci-fi-pirate MMOs out there, but 5 out 7 of the top pay-to-play games are fantasy, along with the next two big contenders coming out this year. Besides, being that this is my imaginary company’s first pretend MMO I should probably stick with something easy that I know.

Read the rest of this entry »

Just some LOTRO music I recorded. Enjoy.

It seems every week I get drawn into another discussion about whats wrong with MMOs and whats right with MMOs. I find myself constantly starting sentences off with: “In my ideal game,” or “If I was a dev,” and I think its time I just laid it all out for the masses. In the past ten years I’ve seen games come and go, but what makes a good game? Its obvious to me that an MMO has to be fun, challenging, compelling, rewarding and most importantly, addicting, in order to achieve longevity and ultimately, profitability.

MMOs live and die by their subscription numbers. They are somewhat unique in that they are truly made and unmade by their popularity. A good game can only become a great game if its good enough initially to get people on board, and is allowed to grow to maturity. Its this uncertainty that makes the MMO industry both exciting and scarey, with tales of resounding success and dismal failure on both sides of the spectrum. Sometimes the fear of a flop can cause publishers to make a stale, safe knock off of a popular game. Others can come out with a product so different that players are turned off by its unfamiliarity. I believe finding a good balance is key.

Read the rest of this entry »