I first noted this on Massively, which frequently puts out excellent industry round-ups.  The three I remember: Redefining MMOs, Making it as an MMO blogger, and an interview with the most influential woman in MMO development had no Blizzard involvement!  Their silence seemed to say a lot.

Now to be fair, Massively has a great sister site called WoW.com, which is filled to the brim with World of Warcraft news and articles.  I don’t play World of Warcraft, but I find WoW.com to be a fantastic news site.  Yet, even they seem to get no direct contact with Blizzard.

I asked Massively’s Shawn Schuster about this phenomenon of silence from Blizzard.  He said that Massively leaves all World of Warcraft / Blizzard happenings to WoW.com, which makes sense.  Shawn went in to add that they are, however, a tough nut to crack.  The few times Massively has contacted Blizzard they have been met with silence or polite refusal.  The same is likely for WoW.com.

Could this be an issue of bad blood with Massively and WoW.com?  It turns out that I could not find any Blizzard contact with TenTonHammer or MMORPG.com either.  This creates an awkward situation where the news sites feel compelled to run content on World of Warcraft because believably a large amount of their readership plays the MMO, but they are then ignored by the company that they cover.  If this is not a bitter situation, then they are true professional journalists of the highest sort.

WarCry seemed to be the lucky news site when they were allowed an interview with Blizzard for the then-upcoming Wrath of the Lich King.  This interview still pops up as a special content icon on WarCry’s front page.  This is interesting because I find WarCry’s news much less helpful than the other three MMO news sites I mentioned.

Then there is WorldofWarcraft.com, which is Blizzard’s own news site.  Sure, it is the game’s website for patch notes, the game guide, and other things, but they also provide articles almost every day.  Then there are the official forums where Eyonix and Ghostcrawler are fairly active.  Still they are less active than others.

 Like I said, I don’t currently play World of Warcraft so my emotional response to their silence is pretty low.  The companies I seem to follow and love seem to reach out to news sites, blogs, podcasts, and forums.  Their market share ranges across the board.  Is this a condition of royalty?  Has Prince Blizzard walked in to the crowded, adoring room so many times that it no longer feels the need to look back? Do the other MMO companies reach out due to necessity, or does the fact that they aren’t the market leader give them more freedom to communicate how they wish?  I do know that I am grateful for all the developers that read and communicate with our humble blog and all the news sites and blogs I follow.  It gives me the impression that those developers are really just one of us.

–Ravious
that’s what they say. it’s not what they mean.

That’s all. Incredible CG.

One thing that continuously made me giggle is the way they got around the whole advancement vs. spaceship command wrinkle. A major part of Star Trek is the ships, and of course a ship is commanded by its Captain. But if you’re a captain already, you have no need for advancement. Without advancement, one of the accepted basics of an MMORPG is out the window. Their solution: whoever commands the ship is the captain, regardless of actual rank. Brilliant in its own way, it allows you to still progress without taking away what would be half the game. I find it funny though as you start out as an Ensign and are given your own ship right away, after the crew is lost. This is vaguely possible in reality, however after you first promotion, you get a brand new complete shiny ship. The equivalent would be you going to naval boot camp, and once finishing, getting your own aircraft carrier. It’s a game though, and this mechanic allows them to give you all the different ships Star Trek has come up with over the years.

Space battle, and travel, is really amazing. I personally detest flight simulator games because they typically have a million controls and dials, and STO is not a really exception to this. However, they have distilled it down to more manageable controls that allow the player to move around without much problem. The battles are also initially very simple, which gives you time to learn. After I got my second ship, I had so many controls I was feeling a bit confused, but it added to the challenge for me and it worked.

Many of the space battles after your first promotion are “open instance” types. These types of zones are ones where the quest (mission) is going on and people join and leave as they finish it. These scale from 2 people to massive raids (fleets). This is not a new mechanic, but it’s implemented well. The one disappointing part is that if you get an unhelpful group mate, the battle has to be soloed. My first space-death was when I zoned into a group, got joined with a player 12 levels above me, who was apparently AFK. I was then mashed quite quickly by the higher level ships. Besides this, I usually found these open instances fun, and when chatting with the other players (hard as you have 20 controls to push), found them friendly.

Ground battle on the other hand, except off of zones mentioned above, is almost always alone, with a team of NPCs that you choose from your ship. The ground game is…disappointing. The graphics are much lower in quality than the space ones, and I found the Klingons very creepy at close quarters, which is where they prefer to fight. There is no facial movement, and the models have rough animation. It is like someone took Doom 3D and put Star Trek mesh over the models. The controls are awkward although simple, and the fights are almost always very simple and easily winnable. My son, a rabid gamer of the shooter type games, found it to be a “bad 3rd person shooter”, and I’m not inclined to disagree. The landscapes though are gorgeous, and you can visit stunning representations of scenes from the movies and shows both in missions and out. I found myself dreading when I had to “beam down” as I knew that I’d soon have un-animated Klingon masks rushing at my screen. That bashing aside, the creators of this game really had to try and figure out a way to make two games in one. If all you did was fly around in a starship, people would say it was a flight simulator. If it was just ground missions, it’d be a FPS. The marriage of the two is right in here, but I found the game to be handicapped by the poor animation/graphics of the ground game. Also what I found very interesting is not every mission is a fight. There are a good deal of missions where all you do is explore, and I found that to be very redeeming. After all, the original Star Trek, for all of the times that the Great Shatner found a new woman, also was about exploring new places. The later series would use this as their prime concept.

STO’s auction house, the Exchange, is something I’m guessing was a last minute decision. Despite lifting many other concepts from other games (which is common in the industry and not a bad idea), the Exchange was not. I would assume that in the near future it will be massively revamped. As it stands right now, it is a no-fee, flat price, instant pay, forever listed, excel sheet without sorting. The lack of ability to sort is aggravating, but not as much as the random window view sizes. Looking at one item you may get 100 on a page, and another may show 25. What you list an item for is what you get if it sells, and the money instantly lands in your pocket. You get an in game mail about it, but there is no need to ever go there. The Exchange had listings of hundreds of most items, and I felt like I was in a garage sale most of the time. The “crafting system” as it’s called also seems like a last minute addition, as it’s not crafting at all. You trade in items you pick up from “anomalies” you pass in your travels, plus a store-bought or looted item, and get another item. That’s not a trade skill, that’s barter.

This is getting long, so I will conclude with Tribbles. I was able to breed, in my 5-day trial, several of the second highest level of these using items I looted. This is an optional yet money-consuming process that gives you some very nice buffs. It’s not difficult to do, but is fairly rewarding for those who are bored enough to play with it. Be sure never to leave a Tribble in the same area of food. They accurately represented the episode with their breeding habits.

Overall, I liked the game a good deal. I think it has a decent amount of potential. Space flight and battle, while somewhat repetitious, made me feel very happy I have a high-end graphics card. Ground battles did not. I was also disappointed in the lack of control of gold spammers (it was nigh impossible to ask a question without it scrolling away immediately, and the spam control sometimes takes 5+ tries to block the person), and really think the game’s controllers should, if nothing else, be online and blocking the spammers themselves in these first fragile days. After all, there is only one server. The spam-reporting feature copies LoTRO’s current mechanic exactly, with an unlimited count, so it is at the least very user friendly, once you find it. The in-game community was very friendly, something I’ve grown to expect in a game from my time in LoTRO, and very present and willing to help new people. Aside from the normal occasionally silly chatter, questions from anyone were answered in a clear manner and politely, which really says a lot. Bravo to you if you’re a player – a mature community is something no programmer can code but is infinitely needed in any game. I would give this game 4 Oz’s out of 5, and may end up tossing a few dollars Crypic’s way for a month subscription at some point in the future. I couldn’t resist picking up the little shuttle pet that was a freebie from a restaurant on the west coast. Someone made a dollar off my gaming habit on eBay, but it was fun.

Next – Oz goes home, or at least a parallel post-apocalyptic home. EQ2 looms ahead.

Unlike the sidewalk safe Wizard City and Krokotopia, Marleybone’s safe areas are not as clearly marked.  In Hyde Park the whole zone happens across the rooftops, and the corners of the roofs are pretty safe.  However, when moving from rooftop to rooftop I had to be more careful watching mobs.  As a veteran MMO player, I am not finding this exercise very hard or tiring.  There are plenty of MMOs where I’ve had to visualize agro bubbles in order to quickly move past a throng of mobs.  I didn’t find Hyde Park much different.  Perhaps as I move in to the next Marleybone zones, they will continue to switch up mob pathing and available safe areas.

I plan on continuing on with the Marleybone story.  Grizzleheim remains calling to me in the background.  I’ve completed the first content chunk of Grizzleheim (Sv. Pass), and I think I have the Vigrid Roughland zone next.  Any tips on a good time to make a waylay to Vigrid Roughland are appreciated.

–Ravious
lookin for the place called Lee Ho Fooks

This is also the first time I have not seen Ethic’s Asheron’s Call 2 closing ceremonies in the top 10. People may finally be emotionally moving on from AC2. I never did make that Lugian Tactician.

: Zubon

Most devoted MMO players are protectionists.  If a player makes it past Blizzard’s fabled level 10, the player starts to care about the game.  The character gains some degree of permanence, and things start to matter.  Then this feeling grows in step with the advancement of the character.  Things like friends, guilds, and community start to become important.  The road to becoming a fanboy is paved with progression mechanics.  Eventually the MMO player becomes a defender of the realm.  Her realm.

Yet, their gaze is outward.  These defenders see gold farmers, cheaters, bad developers, and other MMO games as the enemy.  They stand valiantly against this horde willing to protect their land wherever there is an audience.  Most of the energy is simply wasted.  The good developers are already drawing the battle lines, and they can do so with magnitudes more effect than the powerless player.

If these defenders of the realm just looked inward instead they would realize just how much power they actually have.  Only instead of fighting the personified evils of the MMO world, they have to realize their power is in nurturing.  The community is theirs to create (or destroy).

There are so many actions of random kindness the defenders can take, which are so simple, and can have such a resounding effect.  A wealthy player can become a veritable Robin Hood to poorer players.  A knowledgeable player can pass on wisdom so that player-students can learn the game without being ridiculed.  Even the simple act of sticking around to help the next player with the boss spawn can lighten a person’s day.

This perfect world is but a Friday dream, but I have seen differences.  In Syp’s recent Massively column for Lord of the Rings Online, his first reason for playing the MMO is community.  Merric and Goldenstar discussed his list in their podcast, A Casual Stroll to Mordor, and compared the Lord of the Rings Online community to World of Warcraft’s, where they felt belittled at every turn.  Can it be so simple that a happy community creates more of a happy community?  Have MMO communities created an unsafe place where players are afraid to ask for any simple kindness?

I can tell you that I remember the time one of the server’s elite took hours of his time to teach my casual guild a raid.  I cannot remember specifics to any rage-quit scenarios that left us with empty spots.  I can tell you that I remember the time I gave a guildie half my gold so he could buy a mount because my gold was just sitting there.  I cannot remember any time I needed help and no one answered, though I am sure it has happened plenty.  I can remember how much fun it was to play Santa Claus to all the freshly minted players arriving out of the noob world. 

This weekend, I plan on making more good memories.

–Ravious
my simple religion

I’ve been playing WOW now for almost two weeks. In that time, I’ve racked up around 120 hours of play time. Today I reached level 40. Once a character reaches level 40 in WOW, they can purchase something called “dual spec” for 1000 gold. This game feature allows a character to respec their talent tree between two different specializations. For example, a Paladin could spec for tanking for one raid and then use the dual spec feature to switch to healing for the next raid. My priest is currently set up as a pure healer, but I desperately want to be able to switch to a DPS spec when soloing.

Perhaps I’m spoiled by games like Lotro. There every class has the option to switch to a DPS setup for a fee so cheap you forget it exists. Basically, it allows you a much greater degree of diversity in the way you play your character. Its hard for me to accept just one role for the life of my character.

So when I realized that obtaining 1000 gold by level 40 was unrealistic, I made the decision to purchase gold. I bought about 1000 gold for about ten dollars from the Microsoft of gold-farmers. You know, that company that owns Allakhazam, THOTTBOT, WOWhead and a bunch of other fan sites? They got my ten dollars.

After my purchase I stood around in town setting up my new talent setup for DPS so that I could solo for a while. I got a tell from a guy who had been giving me advice about the game. He had been quickly becoming a friend over the last two weeks, so I excitedly told him about my purchase and how much fun the game was about to get for me. Of course, I told him I purchased the gold I needed for the dual spec feature. He was silent a few moments and then said to me, “I don’t even want to know you when you do noob shiite like that.” and he put me on his ignore list.

I have to say, that really hurt my feelings. I was so excited about the game, but then I didn’t feel like playing. All day today, I’ve been wanting to do something in WOW, but when I try to log, in I feel a pain in my chest and log back out. I’m not even sure why I feel so bad. I certainly don’t feel bad about purchasing gold. I’m not especially worried about my former friend reporting me and getting me banned. He may do it, and I may get banned, but for some reason that’s not scary to me. I guess because I know I’d just start another account and purchase gold again for the dual spec feature. I just feel so bad that someone could be angry at me for just buying gold. I’m not used to people putting me on ignore, either. I don’t think that’s ever happened to me before. I just… feel so bad right now. This feeling sucks.

In the Prologue, Turbine blew me away.  They created a kind of montage where Elrond walked with me around his library discussing the whereabouts of the eight Rangers I was to rally.  Every few steps Elrond would discuss the whereabouts, demeanor, or skills of the Ranger, and the Ranger would pop into view as if my character was visualising the man we were discussing.  I could picture the essence of each zone as Elrond talked.  Lothrandir would be just out of the cold wind watching the icy landscape below while northern lights gave color to the snow, and Calenglad would be looking out at the great lake Evendim on a starry night as far off chantings of the broken Angmarim floated from the ruins across the water.  The team/person that thought up this scene should be congratulated for far surpassing what could have been a simple laundry list of Rangers to collect.

After a few more NPC waypoints in Chapter 1, I found the cave with Radanir.  While there is pointed jest in my recreated scene where I met with Radanir, my paraphrased dialogue is not very far from the truth.  Radanir gave absolutely no explanation as to why I should go kill the orcs without him.  Now, the Chapter would’ve been better done as a solo instance fighting alongside Radanir than a shared cave where little hobbit minstrels can scare the poop out of me by running up behind me and yelling.  But, I can accept that less development time was available to this small Chapter than, to say, the Skirmish.

However, I feel that the quest text writer completely ignored the player, instead assuming that the player would be happy to do whatever the Ranger wanted.  I feel that if any attempt was made to explain the complacency of the Ranger, it would have been acceptable.  The next quest with Candaith, asks the player to retrieve a hidden cache of items while Candaith breaks down his camp.  While still a little trope-like, for gameplay and story reasons it seems acceptable.

Unlike the majority of players, I read every snippet of quest text in the MMOs I play.  Not only do I find it interesting, but I feel that if someone actually spent the time to write it there must have been a reason.  For example, the quest text writer for Radanir does get redemption points for bringing up the attack on Celebrian, Elrond’s wife, who was severely wounded by a similar orc party.  I have to quibble though because she was not “lost” to the orcs.  She was captured, irreparably wounded, and freed by her sons from captivity.  Celebrian then went to the Grey Havens and sailed to the West.

Anyway, I am not sure what rollercoaster ride of quality in the story will bring as I move forward.  I am still looking forward to the story and lore around the Rift Skirmish.  For the most part, Turbine’s text and use of lore is of a very high quality, and I hope this one blip can be polished over.

–Ravious
I am the author who scratches these rhymes

In the age of 140 character communication it’s becoming standard practice for developers to tease their audience with sporadic tidbits of information, be that through Twitter, forums, or other mediums. It’s guerrilla warfare tactics in the fight against stagnation, but just how effective are these seemingly random ‘micro-updates’? A sincere effort to maintain a more responsive and fluid relationship, or just the easiest solution to a tricky problem?

To me, any effective communication strategy revolves around the ability to manage expectations. Everything you say or do is weighed against past events, and evidence that you are reneging on a precedent or accepted belief will always upset someone. Recognizing how these expectations are built is crucial, because they have just as much impact on the reaction to a message as the message its self.

Any form of communication will earn you an overwhelmingly positive response in the beginning, simply because it is unexpected. Whether it’s the first developer blog, the first post on a fansite, or the first tweet, the community’s reaction will always be encouraging. It’s comforting to imagine that the strategy will continue producing that positive vibe month after month, but of course it’s never that easy. Keep anything up for too long and you build an expectation around it; the stimulating effect fades as it becomes routine, leaving only disappointment when it’s absent. Thus a guaranteed positive turns into a potential negative, and much of your hard work is undone.

So what is the value of these micro-updates? Their complete lack of schedule and random content makes them an ideal candidate to keep expectations shifting from day to day. Provided you can keep the content varied, interesting, and significant it will keep the audience on their toes, always looking forward – never becoming entirely numb to that buzz.

This form of communication is possibly also more suitable for the younger generations of gamers, famed for their short attention spans. Where a developer blog or Q&A transcript might arouse a bit more interest from your core audience, a brutally paired down message will impact a broader audience with much greater speed – provided there’s an existing positive expectation that ensures peoples immediate attention.

So be wary of letting your micro-updates become a drip feed of banalities, just because they tend not to carry much individual weight. With every update you build an expectation that directly influences the impact of that medium, and how effective it is at keeping your community content and forward looking.

This post was brought to you by Dan Gray, author of BiffTheUnderstudy.com