It’s been a few days since I last wrote and for no better reason than I’m just content in what I’m currently doing. There’s no rabble-rousing to be done because … well, right now it’s about pointless 
So I’ve begun working on something not so pointless. Something that still makes use of my creative side, but isn’t so far-fetched or elite-inclusive that I feel like an idiot for suggesting something new. What am I doing? Writing a script.
It’s actually a script for a TV show, but I won’t go into too much detail about it since unlike my MMO ideas, I do care whether or not someone takes my ideas for the show 
It’s related to MMOs and it’s a comedy show, but it’s not really like The Guild (from what I could tell in watching the episodes). I honestly had no idea The Guild’s eps were like 5 minutes long.
Anyway, I’ve got act I done (apparently TV shows go in Acts), but it was about 2 minutes too long for a standard show. I guess the most used format is 7-7-7-2 or 2-7-7-7 meaning you have a leading or a trail bit of 2 minutes as a teaser for the coming episode or the next episode in line that sums everything up with some sort of quip, and each main act is 7 minutes long. Right now my first act is 9 minutes long so I need to trim it, but I think I may just rewrite what I have since, while everyone I showed it to thought it was funny, it didn’t contain enough MMO relational material for my tastes.
The last sentence of the previous paragraph is also the stem of some cause for concern on my end: who will think the show is funny? So far the only audience I have for treatments is my circle of friends and … well we’re all friends so the things we do are considered funny by the whole group. We don’t have a lot of inside jokes, we just find weird things funny, but we’re all gamers and that’s really who I’m aiming the series at: the same types of people who watch / enjoy shows like the Big Bang Theory. It’s really interesting watching the reactions of my friends though because when I read over what I wrote, it doesn’t sound funny to me. Is it supposed to? Could it just be because I wrote it so I already know what humor is there? I showed it to no less than 10 people over the past few days and they all busted up laughing, but they’re all friends. Maybe I need to show it to someone I know, but who is outside my circle of friends for good feedback. Any takers?
As far as gaming goes, I’m holding true to my 1 MMO stance and that remains as Everquest 2. Our guild is running smoothly, probably because it’s all RL friends save for 1 poor soul who was recruited last week. He’s a military guy though so his schedule is erratic, but he wanted a place that would accept that and we were it. Nice guy and eager to learn. We hit 10 due to quite a few heritage completions over the past week and I personally have 7 still in my quest journal to do, up to the level 40 Training is a Shield for the Shiny Brass Shield.
We took our first real dip into Nektropos Castle after finding out it’s meant for levels 30-35 and not 45+ as I had remembered. Actually, what happened was there is a level 50 version of the castle as a raid instance I guess, but the group version is 30-35. One thing I’m really proud of is that we went through with 4 people (I think we were 32 when we started and ended at 35) and not one death occured. We also didn’t look up the strats for figuring out the puzzles as we went along either, which made it even more fulfilling to us. We found our way through to Maltus, killed him for a single quest update (yes, we’re working on getting all our current quests to the “kill Everling state”) and got a couple of nice pieces of loot along the way. I made sure to beef myself out with Mastercrafted armor before our stint (which cost me about 10 plat since I didn’t feel like waiting to harvest all my feysteel pieces) and it was very much worth it.
My only complaint is the placing of a level 40 Epic x 2 mob in a bedroom where you cannot deaggro it. We ran into this guy and could NOT get out of combat even when we ran away. We didn’t want to chance zoning out and resetting the instance since we were in the middle of the locket quest, so we dealt with it and just went a little slower due to mana regen. It went well and on the heels of an Octogorgon kill to finish our Polished Granite Tomahawk quest and start our Stilleto’s Orders quest, it felt nice. I really should learn to take screenshots.
There’s SO much I’m looking forward to with EQ2 it’s ridiculous, but getting to that point has been quite the trial. Finding the right class, keeping up with harvesting and crafting (provisioning is actually important!) and paying attention to other crafting classes (well, trying anyway) along with waiting for everyone else being online so we can do stuff.
That segues into another point that has been tackled on a couple fronts in the past 2 days: Soloing vs grouping vs raiding. I guess Ysh’s post was originally inspired by the comments on Syp’s post on the subject since people can’t seem to play nice or agree that people should be playing games based on what they see as fun, not some definition made by people with playstyles non-conducive to their definition of fun. All 3 play styles are different and all 3 playstyles have something to offer. I’m only familiar with raiding up til Desert of Flames in EQ2 so Faydwer, Kunark and now Shadow Odyssey are beyond me, but the fact that the lower level raid zones can be cleared by a group now show a bit of promise in the design of the game. No idea whether I’ll be able to get my Mythical (though I REALLY want to because Sedition looks awesome), but I’m hopeful. The design is such that PUGing the raids isn’t really seen as bad since they’re not all that tough, just requiring a bit of coordination here and there (Venril Sathir, for instance).
I miss seeing Trakanon and Lord Vyemm and the like and I truly hope I’m able to again, only this time I’d like to do it with the small group I’ve been with thus far. I really don’t feel like full on joining a raid guild, but AB seems to do alright in-so-far as PUGing raids, so I guess we’ll see. The solo game is certainly there, especially being a Shadowknight, but my buddies have often found it a bit of a chore depending on their chosen class. I like it that way. I don’t think every class should be good at everything, but at the same time, being pigeon-holed into a certain class or a choice of maybe 3 classes out of 24 sucks. I know it’s more than that, but still … if it was as easy to solo for them as it was for me, maybe we’d have a Mystic or a Defiler or Inquisitor in our group instead of classes people aren’t particularly fond of like Wardens and Coercers.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
That’s an interesting thought, the notion that easy soloing makes for easier guild staffing. It makes sense, especially when it comes to healers, who are typically rather painful to solo, but integral to group content. If a healer wants to get up and running or up to par for a guild, what choices do they have if they can’t solo, and the are behind the curve for grouping? (Say, when a game population is sitting at the level cap, and leveling groups are hard to come by…)
At the same time, it’s almost a self-fulfilling prophecy for perpetuating the treadmill that current MMOs run on. If you ease the leveling curve, all you’re doing is promoting the clamoring of your subscribers to get to max level.
The leveling is already unbearably easy in EQ2 with the introduction of refer-a-friend, hotzones and the overall reduction in necessary XP to hit max level. Level-locking has been added as an option for those who wish to experience content without out-leveling it (or for gaining AAs to match level, etc) so making it easier for a specific class may not be viable, but a look-over of the class as a whole wouldn’t be too far fetched, methinks.
Furies can solo well, as can Inquisitors because of how they’re built: they have nice DPS methods as well as awesome healing. Mystics and Defilers (especially Defilers) aren’t necessarily broken in this aspect, there’s just something that makes them extremely boring and frustrating to play, which is a shame. My buddy wanted to resurrect his EQ1 shaman (which would fall more under the Defiler tree than Mystic), but for him playing a Defiler was horrendous so he cut out that option.
The problem really points back to our fundamental argument of one of the main problems in MMOs: the leveling. If there were no leveling, characters would simply have to be able to dps and have some method of survivability and downtime-limiting mechanic to allow fluid movement through the parts of the game. Going further and settling on classless gaming also makes this easier as people can choose a first aid skill or what have you, to compliment their play style, while not needing to have a “pure” healer, but still be effective or even allow for the change of skills later on to be one if they so choose.
It’s akin to allowing the dual specs like WoW has so you can level as DPS and heal as a healer when needed. I still don’t see why people don’t grasp this.
Aye, that’s what I was angling at; a closer look at the classes that might get left behind, not so much changing the whole of the game. What intrigues me is the notion that making it easier for a given class to solo might actually serve the grouping/guild level better.
…and yes, I’d still rather go with a skill system.
Well to be honest there isn’t really a game out (that isn’t directly designed for group play like FFXI) that you can’t get any class to max level pretty easy. I mean, leveling a protection warrior in WoW used to be frustrating and take forever, but they made it easier by giving them some offensive boons. EQ2 has always been easy for most classes, there are just mechanics for certain classes that make them slower or more boring to level. I think the Defiler falls into that category.
The problem is, I don’t think they can get more people to play specific classes just by making it easier to level. “Making it easier” means making the class actually enjoyable to play so even if you have to work the same amount or even a touch harder, it’s offset by the fact that you’re having fun. There’s very little fun in DoTing something and leaving it rooted. Over … and over … and over, especially in a game that isn’t built to support kiting very well.
I think in EQ2’s case, a lot of their problems stem from the fact that they took an archetype and split it into good and evil, sometimes in places where that wasn’t necessary. So you have 24 classes that often do the same thing or play the same way. It’s not so much class homogenization as it is actually building 2 classes the same and giving them 1 or 2 different abilities or making them the inverses of each other (i.e. Templars are casting healers and Inquisitors are melee healers. Furies are caster healers and Wardens are melee healers; as dictated by the AA paths you can choose).
HULLO!
That is all.
I’d be happy to take a look at the script and give some objective feedback if you like.
I’ve generally found I can solo healers pretty well actually. In WoW, LotRO, AoC, and WAR, and now in EQ2, healers have been one of my primary class choices. Though they usually lack the DPS to kill things quickly, healers often have great staying power; e.g. my Minstrel in LotRO could solo almost anything given enough time. She was an indestructible little brick and I mostly soloed her up to the level cap (then raided with her a lot). My new EQ2 Fury solos better than the other 6 classes I stuck with, and much better than the 2 classes I didn’t enjoy and dropped.
And yeah, making a class easier to play won’t necessarily have much impact on how popular the class is. I think that’s based more firmly on the diversity and uniqueness of the class’ abilities, the ‘coolness’ factor, and of course how well the class solos and groups. It might be dead easy to play but if the class isn’t stimulating to play and/or powerful people won’t play it. If a class offers several unique things, or has a nice diverse selection of abilities, or if it’s particularly cool conceptually, that goes a long way towards attracting early innovators. If a class is powerful it can readily enough become the flavor of the month for the follower-types. How easy the class is to play doesn’t have as great an impact as these factors, I think.
Yea I really have no idea why classes like healers and tanks are always in such high demand, but low supply. Actually I think I do. It probably stems with the responsibility level associated with the class and your function in a group. DPSers don’t have to think
Anywho, I don’t think we’re advocating the dumbing down of a class to make it easier, but making it easier on the player to play the class. There are some classes that just suck to play for some people and those people REALLY want to play it because of the concept. The concept just doesn’t match the inception.