Alien Blackout: A Mobile Game

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Alien Isolation is one of many games that I started but never finished. This was mainly because I was very bad at it and was spoilt for choice with other titles at the time. Hence when I got frustrated with its stealth mechanic and the deliberately slow pace of the gameplay I moved on, rather than persevere with it. However, I certainly recognise that it was a unique and innovative title and deserved all the praise that it received at launch. The retro-futuristic art direction, sound design, and the xenomorph’s artificial intelligence where all key factors to the games appeal and success. Developers Creative Assembly deserved further plaudits for doing so well with a game that was substantially different from their established output. The studio has a strong reputation for producing quality Real Time Strategy games. Overall, Alien Isolation was one of the stand out titles of 2014 and therefore the possibility of a sequel has been keenly anticipated by fans.

Therefore, there was a brief moment of joy for many fans as they read the recent headlines announcing Alien Blackout. However, this was short lived when it became clear that the new title was a mobile game. Furthermore, the game is not being made by Creative Assembly, but is being developed by D3 Go. The publisher has previous released such titles as Marvel Puzzle Quest and Adventure Gnome. Naturally, for core fans this was a disappointing revelation as the mobile game market is not held in particularly high regard by PC gamers. Need I mention Diablo Immortal and the subsequent debacle that ensued? Furthermore, there is still a degree of confusion as to whether Alien Blackout is a canonical sequel to Alien Isolation. It does feature the character of Amanda Ripley but judging by the marketing blurb, it sounds more like a re-iteration of the first game. “Try to stay alive while trapped aboard a crippled Weyland-Yutani space station carrying a deadly Xenomorph as it tirelessly hunts you and the crew. Outsmart the perfect hunter by making perilous choices... Survive seven fear-inducing levels by remotely guiding Amanda Ripley’s crew through increasingly challenging tasks using only the station’s emergency systems”.

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It's a curious situation because although there is a lot of justifiable prejudice towards mobile games, the industry per se is incredibly lucrative. Mobile games sell and whatever your stance on the rectitude of such products and their inherent business model, never forget the old adage “money talks and bullshit walks”. Recent figures show that mobile game developers Supercell made just under $1.4 billion in revenue last year. This was generated via such titles as Clash Royale, Clash of Clans, Hay Day and Boom Beach. And that is just one company. The mobile gaming market is worth an estimated $70.3 billion globally at present. To put this in perspective this is more than double the revenue that console and PC gaming made last year. Console gaming generated $34.6 billion in 2018, while PC games brought in in $32.9 billion. It is therefore hardly surprising that more and more established franchises are branching out and making their presence felt in mobile gaming. That doesn’t necessarily mean that publishers will be doing so at the expense of developing new titles for consoles and PC. But I think it is time for a lot of PC and console gamers to come to terms with the fact that the mobile market isn’t some second tier backwater and it isn’t going away. However, there is objective business observation and then there’s personal taste. Although Alien Blackout will more than likely make a lot of money. I won’t be buying it.

Variations on a Theme or More of the Same?

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While recently playing Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey I was struck by the similarities between some of the game’s mechanics and those found in Ghost Recon: Wildlands which I played extensively last spring. Using your eagle companion to spot enemies and tag them on the map in the former is virtually identical to launching a drone and scouting the terrain in the latter. However, as both games are Ubisoft titles this is hardly a revelation. Yet the more I’ve played ACO, it has become very clear that many of their top titles share a great deal of common systems and mechanics. This makes sound business sense especially when you’re a company that releases multiple titles each year. Why rebuild a system when you can simply re-use an existing one? Yet even after recognising the practical benefits of such an approach to games development, I couldn’t help but feel that if you play a great deal of Ubisoft games, there must come a point when they all begin to feel a little too familiar. Even more so when you’re playing different iterations of the same franchise.

Ubisoft have a broad range of titles in their current catalogue, representing a range of genres. From time to time, they do add new franchises that offer something different. For Honor released in 2016 and the forthcoming Skull & Bones are two such examples. But overall “open world” games seems to be an integral part of their business model and remains so because such titles sell. The mainstream triple A video game industry is dominated by established franchises and sequels. It is also prone to trying to replicate successful tried and tested products, irrespective of whether the market really needs or can accommodate “more of the same”. Hence for years, the MMO genre was subject to numerous new titles that sought to duplicate the success of World of Warcraft. The industry also spent time and money attempting to clone League of Legends. And now we find ourselves flooded with Battle Royale style games. Yet many of these titles will fail because history appears to indicate that one title tends to become the dominant for each genre. Let us not forget the fate of H1Z1, Infinite Crisis and WildStar.

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There is an odd paradox at work here. People like more of the same. For example, the entire fast food industry is predicated upon the idea of standardisation. You can buy the same meal anywhere and allegedly enjoy the same experience each time. The same principle seems to prevail with video games (and mainstream movies). For example, the Battlefield franchise refines and polishes facets of the FPS genre with each iteration of the game. So far, the public seems happy to continuously buy them. However, fans will question why they can’t have something new, despite the cognitive dissonance of continuously consuming new versions of existing products. Another point to consider is the fact that we don’t collectively reach our limits at the same time. I have purchased the last two Sniper Elite games from Rebellion. The last version was an improvement over the third, as the game’s system were fine-tuned, and the product was more honed. Yet I don’t think a fifth instalment will really add anything radical or new to the stealth/sniping genre. The only real difference would be the setting and narrative wrapping. So, I may pass on the next sequel (if there is one), yet other gamers may do the opposite.

Thus, triple A publishers all too often seem to stick to safe bets and innovation becomes a risky bed fellow. I’m not saying that there aren’t any new and creative games out there, as that is not the case. It’s just that it tends to come from smaller studios in the independent sector, rather than from the big dogs of the industry. Plus, there is no guarantee that innovation will come to the genre of games that you like and enjoy. Furthermore, all of this is going on against a background of increasing acrimony between the game developers and gamers. The gaming community does not often agree on what it is that they want, other than “good games”. Although a noble aspiration, is it also a somewhat nebulous definition. So, within this context, although I did buy several new games last year, none of them were outstanding. All were distinctly average. Fun diversions but nothing more. Sometimes good is enough. I’ve even written about the merits of the term adequate. But sometimes, adequate, good and just okay are not sufficient. Furthermore, I’ve not seen anything planned for 2019 that really piques my interest. I wonder if the video game industry is heading for a market re-balance, the same way people are predicting that Hollywood is eventually going to fall flat on its face when the public finally falls out of love with superhero movies. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

The Iniquities of the Video Game Industry and Gamer Culture

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Although I wrote several blog posts summing up my experiences with movies, blogging and social media in 2018, I didn’t get around to writing “a year in gaming”. There are several reasons for this. First off, it was a year in which I bought several games that just didn’t chime with me. No Man’s Sky and Monster Hunter: World were both white elephants. Also, I have yet to find a single player games that has had the impact of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, so overall my gaming experience was somewhat lacklustre in 2018. I did however rediscover my love of the MMO genre and therefore spent most my gaming time in The Lord of the Rings online and Star Trek Online. But secondly and possibly more importantly, as a fifty-one-year-old man, I find a lot of the shenanigans associated with the video game industry and so called “gamer culture” to be embarrassing and crass. We live in a time where fandom and openly expressing your interests is quite common place, mainly due to commercial. Having said that, why do I want to openly identify with an industry that has its mindset firmly stuck in the 1950s and with a fan community that is often insular and hostile to anyone who doesn’t “fit the bill”?

In case you didn’t notice, neither the video game industry or the gaming community covered themselves in glory in 2018. Here’s are a few “highlights” from the last twelve months. Let’s start with start with lootboxes and live services. While some gamers aren’t interested in social commentary, diversity, equality or an industry that that behaves like an 18th century mill owner, a lot of them do care about getting fleeced. Therefore, when Electronic Arts and other companies opted to build this semi-gambling mechanic directly into several games there was a public rightly outcry. The Belgium government even found loot boxes to be in breach of their gambling laws, yet rather than feeling shamed, some games publisher played the victim card and made the issue all about them. We now live in an age where games as a “live service”, means that companies patent algorithms that figure out the best way to apply pressure to make players buy more. For a lot of the big dogs of the industry, it’s no longer just about the game. That’s just a secondary consideration. It’s first and foremost about building a commercial product around tried and tested monetisation mechanics. And 2018 was also the year that numerous game studios such as Telltale Games where closed, the staff ignominiously stripped of their benefits and kicked out the door, with out any consideration or empathy.

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The gaming industry also has a track record of institutionalised sexism and poor workers’ rights that hasn’t improved over the last 12 months. “Me Too,” has exposed several companies for being just glorified boys’ clubs in which shitty behaviour is de rigueur. Riot Games even ended up facing a gender discrimination lawsuit from employees. Then there’s the numerous instances of "crunch" culture that have been reported on. Rockstar Games seemed even proud of its archaic macho ethos with co-founder Dan Houser crowing with pride about the arduous work hours required to complete Red Dead Redemption 2. And then there where numerous instances of companies utterly failing to grasp the fundamental of social media. Need I remind you of the Jessica Price debacle? The narrative designer was fired after she responded to a high-profile YouTuber who was a key ArenaNet influencer. Mistakes where made by both parties although the bulk of my sympathies lies with Jessica Price. This massive own goal could have been easily avoided if the company had a clear policy on social media usage. And then there was the usurping of #WontBeErased via GoG’s twitter account. This matter was dealt with swiftly but yet again it demonstrates an industry that seems to regularly employ square pegs for round holes.

And what of gamers themselves? Oh, where shall we begin? Apparently having female avatars in Battlefield V was beyond the pale, because many gamers have based their entire understanding of women’s contributions to World War II upon Mrs Miniver. Then there was Valves piss poor handling of sexual content on their Steam platform. The “debate” over this reflected very badly on some gamers that claimed an “anti-censorship” platform but really wanted to protect their own questionable tastes in products that range from the morally reprehensible to potentially illegal in many countries. Esports also continued to be a male dominated activity with a reciprocal fan base driven by notions of “gender essentialism”. A common mantra from this community is “keep your identity politics out of my gaming”. Other popular buzzwords among such “thinkers” are “social justice warriors” and “females”. Beyond such obvious sexism, the gaming community is rife with those that think the industry is there to serve their exclusive needs. Some gamers still fail to grasp that “being a fan” does not grant you anymore leverage, input and respect. Fandom is a self-appointed title that ignores the reality that we’re all just consumers.

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So, on mature reflection why would I and indeed many of my colleagues and friends, wish to cry from the rooftops “Hey, you. You see this shit? We really dig all this and we’re immensely proud to be associated with it”? Couple all the above with a lack of games that have personally delighted me (and that is not a claim that there aren’t good games out there) and you’ll understand why I now just look at gaming per se as just an amusing diversion and no more. Yes, it can be art on occasions and it can affect social change, raise awareness and do good things (think Childs Play charity etc.) But in many respects these positives are often cancelled out by the negatives. Popular culture seems to have acquired too much of the bellicose, binary, “belief over fact” driven narrative of contemporary politics, along with all the fervour and zealotry of fundamental religious faith. So, I’ll leave it to others to hold the line and fight the good fight against all the above. I’m done my time and paid my dues. I’ll happily embrace the term “gamer” when it’s respectable again and the video game industry no longer behaves like a character out of a Dickens’ novel.

LOTRO: Out Levelling Content

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As I fast approach level 50 with my recently created High Elf Guardian, I’m surprised by how much content I have bypassed in LOTRO. Levelling on Laurelin server nowadays is a radically different process to what it was on Gilrain, a decade ago. I am not an altoholic by nature, so levelling new characters is a recent development for me. For the bulk of the 10 years that I’ve played the MMORPG LOTRO, I have focused on my Lore-master, which was the first character I created when I started playing. Levelling back in 2008 was a very precise process and there was a very clear route throughout the zones contained within the Shadow of Angmar. Hence, I followed the epic story from region to region, supplementing this progression with XP from local quest hubs. These would also further embellish the narrative and clarify the Epic Story. However, now I find myself out levelling a zone quickly and jumping around locations to find quests that provide the greatest XP return. A new player following suite would certainly find the story arc much harder to keep up with.

The problem lies (if indeed you see it at such) in the fact that all the regions contained within the original game, prior to entering Moria, have been streamlined and revamped several times. This was done initially in 2010 to accommodate the F2P conversion and then again in the proceeding years to deal with the games numerous level cap increases. It has left the Epic Story somewhat fragmented, as you can now start multiple books simultaneously. Due to some nominal story changes, some of the dialogue and cutscenes no longer accurately reflect that plot. For example, the level five instance “The Assault on Archet” originally featured the Angmarim Commander Éogan arriving in the burning town to claim Amdir. However, revisions made to the introduction quest line have replaced him with a more sinister Cargûl and Calder Cob. Yet the cutscene that plays at the end of this sequence of quests still feature Éogan. He is also referenced by several NPC during the game, despite not being particularly prominent. Thus, when Éogan features in the later instance “Unravelling the Thread”, there is potential for confusion as to his role in the story.

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The other issue that stems from the streamlining of content in the Shadow of Angmar story, is that many of the game’s deeds will remain uncompleted unless the player actively chooses to pursue them. In the original version of the game, the structured progression from zone to zone meant that slayer, exploration and race deeds would slowly be completed as you cleared all local quest related content. The XP increase that has ensued in the intervening decade now means that a player will move on to a new region before completing these secondary activities. Faction reputation also suffers and will remain incomplete unless a player determines to repeat content, even when it becomes below their current level. Also, hastily moving through content and focusing on progression, can deny players the opportunity to fully experience the subtleties and detail of each area. LOTRO is a game where it still merits “stopping to smell the Roses” from time-to-time.

However, it should be noted that for some LOTRO players, the new streamline path through the first 50 levels of the MMO, is optimised perfectly for their play style. Not everyone is especially fussed about the narrative or being a completist. Deeds are a lot easier to clear when you return to them at a higher level. Plus, some players simply enjoy the game the most as they level, as it provides a clear goal. It can also be argued that if players wants a slower levelling experience, then the Legendary Servers provide that service. Some more invested LOTRO players have created detailed levelling guides that can steer alts through optimal progression paths, that also accommodate deeds and reputation. If you don’t care such organised gameplay, then there are the other options to consider such as simply staying in a zone and completing everything available or buying the Stone of the Tortoise from the LOTRO store. This item effectively disables all quest and monster kill XP. All things considered, whether you see out levelling content as a boon or a bane, it is a matter born of the longevity of LOTRO. Perhaps it is a small price to pay as the MMO enter its twelve year.

“Gamers are Dumb”

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"Gamers are dumb. We are collectively dumb, and we will continue to buy pieces of shit, over and over and over". Bree Royce. Editor-in-Chief/Writer Massively Overpowered. This quote is from Massively OP Podcast Episode 203: New Year, Same Old Loot. At first glance it’s a bold, even inflammatory statement but when taken in context it makes a lot of sense. The framing discussion in the podcast is about Fallout 76 and the fact that despite the criticism from the gaming community about the broken state of the game, none of it really counts for squat because it will still sell well and make Bethesda a great deal of money. The underlying point is that gamers actively contribute to perpetuating the ongoing iniquities of game developers and publishers, by their contradictory actions. It’s a point that has been made time and time again over recent years and yet despite its broad acknowledgement, nothing really changes. I would go further and say that this “gamer paradox” is simply another symptom of a broader malaise that has crept into every facet of our lives. We have gotten so use to “I want it all and I want it now” culture, that the idea of having to deny ourselves to make a point, has become for many an unpalatable and unrealistic option.

The established mantra of “voting with your wallet” does lack nuance and at first glance render debates about lobbying gamer developers into a binary argument. Effecting change is often more complex than that, but that is not to say that withholding funds is without leverage. The video game service industry is heavily focused and invested in pre-order culture as well as selling multiple iterations of games. Title often launch in a broken or unfinished state and early access culture has exacerbated this, blurring the lines with soft launches. Not purchasing a product until it was fit for purpose would certainly make an impact and get noticed. But because a large percentage of gamers are simple incapable of saying “no” or denying themselves, they continue to support an industry with ludicrous business practices. When you have such an infantilised playerbase that lacks the emotional literacy to forgo a product because they “don’t want to miss out”, how can you possibly expect a corporate entity not to capitalise on that?

This weird, dysfunctional relationship between customers who enable the questionable business practises of their service providers is not unique to gamers. I’ve heard similar complaints from sports fans about the cost of season tickets and club merchandise. Yet so many, despite their verbal protests, end up towing the line and putting their hand in their pockets. Similarly, cinematic audiences are allegedly tiring of comic book adaptation and super hero movies, yet the box office returns seem to strongly indicate otherwise. It seems that cognitive dissonance is a common bed fellow to most multi million-dollar leisure industries. And the net result of all this is that the actions of those who choose to withhold their hard-earned cash, ultimately counts for nothing. They still have to endure the consequences perpetuated by those who decide to do the opposite. Hence, the race to the bottom and the lowest common denominator prevail. Therefore, it does not seem unreasonable to expect more shitty video games and questionable business practises in 2019. If you lie with dogs you get fleas, as the saying goes.

Star Trek Online: The Other MMO

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It’s a curious thing that despite having played the MMORPG Star Trek Online, fairly regularly since its launch in 2010, I don’t write about it consistently. This realisation has given me pause for thought because I’ve spent a of lot of time playing my primary character over the years. I enjoy the fundamentals of this game. It is very lore friendly, with strong narratives and themes. As a hybrid free-to-play game it is very accessible, especially to new players. There are regularly events and activities scheduled throughout the year, outside of the core game content. And yes, if you want to sink a fortune buying ships from the cash store, you certainly can do so but it is not essential to have a positive game experience. Yet despite many positive points, looking back over my written output this year, STO doesn’t get as much attention from me as LOTRO. Which I guess is the reason for this post. I feel “obliged” to say something about the game.

At present in Star Trek Online, the seasonal festival Q’s Winter Wonderland, is in full swing. As ever it is packed to the gunwales with activities. Players can battle the Kramp’lhri, enjoy a snowball fight, try Klingon fishing as well as take part in a pie eating competition. The daily “Fastest Game on Ice” contributes towards claiming a new, shiny Fek’Ihri S’torr Warship (T6). If you earn this on one character it unlocks across your entire account for other alts. Compared to other Winter Festivals, the one in STO doesn’t quite feel as false and contrived. Having the bizarre variety of events pan out as part of a scheme cooked up by Q works quite well lore-wise. The events themselves are also enjoyable and there is plenty of scope to earn the respective yuletide barter currency. After all, who doesn’t want a Christmas sweater for their Gorn captain?

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The episodic nature of much of the narrative content of STO means that it‘s a game that can be tackled in either bite size chunks or at length, depending on your preference. I often play in fits and starts, when I’m between other games. At present I’m slowly advancing some alts through older content and bringing them all slowly up to speed with the various reputation factions. I have sufficient ships at present and have a build that I am happy with, that gets things done. So, there’s no need for any major tweaking for the moment. STO certainly provides me with a healthy fix of MMO excitement but unlike other games such as LOTRO, it doesn’t blow me away with its community and wider social component. I converse and exchange ideas with other in Reddit Alert chat when I log into the game, but I don’t “know” other players as I do in other games. And I miss that to a degree but the community although friendly is very insular and self-sufficient. If you want more, then you have to seek it out. It doesn’t proactively come to you.

Unlike some MMOs that have struggled in recent years, STO seems to be ticking over quite well at present. It is currently tied-in to season 2 of Star Trek: Discovery and has voice acting credits from Mary Wiseman, reprising her role as Starfleet Cadet Sylvia Tilley. A road map for the year ahead has already been published, indicating that the game has further feature episodes, epic events and taskforce operations to come in 2019. Admittedly a lot of this will be more of the same, but for an MMO that is coming up to nine years old, the addition of new content is always welcome. If Cryptic could also spend some time on “quality of life” improvements and polishing some of the game’s rough edges, then that would certainly improve community relations. They’ve been strained of late. But overall, I am pleased to have this MMO at my disposal as it has proven, over yet another twelve months, to be a dependable game. Whether filling the gaps in my leisure schedule or being its focus.

The LOTRO Legacy Bundle

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I wrote recently about how I wished that lifetime subscriptions were still available for the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online. I explored the value of such deals and concluded that the ongoing revival of the game, especially with regard to the launch of the progression Legendary Servers, presented the developers with the perfect opportunity to offer something similar to new players. Oddly enough, Standing Stone Games have just announced the LOTRO Legacy Bundle, which although not a lifetime subscription, offers a substantial quantity of game content and bonuses at a substantially discounted price. Here is a breakdown of what is on offer.

One Year of VIP Access Time

Get all the perks of being a VIP like 500 LOTRO points every month, mobile mailbox access, all character trait slots, and no 5g currency cap!

All The Content For One Great Price

Get Quests, Instances, Raids, Deeds, and Regions that LOTRO has released as of December 31st, 2018, even quests from Expansions!

*Excludes expansion pre-order or bonus items, includes only Quests, Instances, Raids, Deeds.

A Gift For All Your Characters, Forever!

Get a Crystal of Remembrance for every character on your account! You'll also get a Crystal of Remembrance on every additional character you create on your account going forward.

Bonus Items

You'll also get one Legacy Package for the character of your choice. It includes tons of bonus items to help you through your adventures and enough housing writs to buy your own premium house with no upkeep fees! Upon redemption of your Legacy Bundle code, you will immediately receive your bonus items on the character you log in on.

Your Legacy Package (one per account) Includes:

250 Mithril Coins

Wallet

Riding Skill

5 vitality stat tome pickers

10 skill and slayer deed boosts

10 Reputation supply

A Fleet-Footed Goat

A Mount Picker (Steed of the White City, Steed of the Citadel Guard, Forest Elk, Snow-Beast Steed)

A Housing kit which includes:

20 Housing Writs

Bird Bath

Hedgehog House

Premium Ingredients Crates

Fish Pond

ALL House Crafting Items

Sleeping Cat

Bevy of Swans Ice Sculpture

Makeshift Mûmak

Hound Property Guard

Gondorian Supplier Horn

Quest Packs Include:

Mines of Moria* Quest Pack

Mirkwood* Quest Pack

Rise of Isengaurd* Quest Pack

Riders of Rohan* Quest Pack

Helm's Deep* Quest Pack

Mordor* Quest Pack

Eregion

Enedwaith

Angmar

Evendim

Forochel

Misty Mountains

Trollshaws

North Downs

Lothlorien

Great River

Wildermore

East Gondor

Central Gondor

West Gondor

Old Anórien

Far Anórien

March of the King

Battle of the Black Gate

Legacy of the Necromancer

Where Dragons Dwell

For further details visit https://www.lotro.com/en/LegacyBundle

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Now it is abundantly clear that this is an offer that favours the new or returning player. If you already have a lifetime subscription, then this bundle doesn’t offer you much more than the LOTRO store extras. Lifetime subscribers already have permanent VIP status, and thus an indefinite monthly stipend of 500 LOTRO points, as well as continuous access to non-expansion quests. However, this bundle is good value to those who subscribe intermittently to the game and haven’t bought any of the expansion packs. For a player who has rolled a new alt, either on the Legendary Servers or any of the regular servers, this offers access to everything that exists in the game at present. Furthermore, after a year when the VIP subscription expires, all quest content will remains unlocked.

For a long-term player like myself, who has bought all previous expansions, this bundle is also quite enticing. I currently subscribe monthly to LOTRO at a cost of £8.99 per month. That’s £107.88 per year. I pay monthly because it suits me financially and allows me to stop paying when I’m not playing. I recently started a new alt that I intend to take to level cap. Hence the additional store items included in the bundle are eminently practical. The total price of $199, works out as £157 (rounded up). That covers my years subscription (at the price I would have paid for it) along with £50 worth of store goods, which I suspect would cost more than that if I bought them separately. Again, if I stop playing for a while and return at a later date when my VIP status has expired, I will not be locked out of any quest content, apart from material that is added after December 31st 2018.

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Naturally one’s perspective on the $199 cost of the LOTRO Legacy Bundle, is determined by the state of your personal finances. However, with Christmas coming up, this bundle has great potential as a gift. I am certainly giving it serious consideration. For me it’s the next best thing to a lifetime subscription. Price wise, it’s also worth considering the following. If I bought premium additions of two newly released single player games, the cost would be broadly similar to the LOTRO Legacy Bundle. 2018 has been the years where I have bought several single player games that I have ultimately been disappointed with. LOTRO regardless of its age and specific flaws, is a known quantity and a tried and tested source of amusement, entertainment and social interaction. I therefore have until December 16th to make up my mind.

LOTRO: Choosing a Skirmish Soldier

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I’ve always enjoyed the skirmish system since it was introduced into LOTRO in late 2009 with the Siege of Mirkwood expansion. These one to twelve-person instances are designed to provide a short and targeted fix of combat, with linear objectives and a climatic boss fight. What makes them different from standard instances within the game, is that you have an AI companion or skirmish soldier. It is this facet of the game that lends itself to tactical variation, as you get to choose which variety of skirmish soldier best compliments your class and play style. As ever with LOTRO, there is not a single optimal choice to make and if you ask a hundred players what the best role is, you’ll get a hundred different answers. The other practical benefit of the skirmish system is that they provide an alternative means of levelling, outside of PVE questing.

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Skirmish soldiers broadly reflect the roles of the main classes in LOTRO, as you can see from the above matrix. The idea is to choose one that provides skills that your primary alt does not directly have. Often players of all classes opt for the Herbalist simply to provide themselves with additional healing. Similarly, a DPS skirmish soldier such as a Warrior is also a solid, all-round choice. However, as my new character is a Guardian and can maintain threat, I thought it may be useful to have an Archer providing ranged DPS. The idea is to round up the mobs and have the Archer pick off them off while I hold aggro. I was also toying with choosing a Sage or Bannerguard, for their ranged debuff and buff abilities. But I’m not sufficiently knowledgeable of this sort of play style so eventually opted for the Archer. So far, it is proving to be an effective choice, but skirmishes at this level (24) are fairly straight forward.

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Having re-rolled my Guardian on Laurelin (I now use the Legendary Servers as a “try before you buy” environment), I have access to my shared barter wallet and an ample supply of skirmish marks. Hence my Archer is relatively over powered at present, which is how I like things. If at higher levels, the Archer proves to be less effective, I have the option of slotting a different role and changing to another play style. Then of course there is the entire issue of running group skirmishes where an eclectic array of soldiers can lead to a very “interesting” experience. Because, despite both the statistical and cosmetic customisations that can be made to a skirmish soldier, they are still a somewhat blunt tool in combat. On occasions they can be used to great effect but more often than not they are chaotic and random. But in an odd way, this is part of their appeal. The other major choice a player is confronted with when equipping a skirmish soldier is exactly what to name them, but such matters are an entirely separate blog post.

LOTRO: Crafting

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It’s only taken a decade. Yes, I’ve finally decided to start crafting in LOTRO, mainly out of necessity. After the “debate” on the recent podcast as to whether to continue to invest time and energy into my alt on the Legendary Server, I decided to recreate my High Elf Guardian on Laurelin. The main advantage being having access to my account-wide barter wallet and its respective resources. However, unlike the healthy economy of the Legendary Servers, established servers such as Laurelin have a distinct lack of armour, weapons and jewellery for lower level characters available on Auction House. As I like to play any MMO as over powered as possible, I decided to start crafting to ensure that my Guardian is optimally equipped for the progression ahead. Now I’ve always been told about the highs and lows of crafting in LOTRO, but it has certainly been interesting to finally experience them after all this time.

First off there’s the “fun” of gathering resources. Well it immediately struck me that the sensible thing to do was to use my level 120 Lore-master for this chore. They can freely move around low level zones without the being incommoded by the local population, plus I have the benefit of +78% mounts run speed. I then did the requisite research to find which zones I needed to go to and farm the necessary ore. Needless to say, Google is your friend in this matter and I quickly found maps that marked the locations of all the nodes. Within 75 minutes, after making several circuits of the area, I had sufficient for my needs. It was interesting to note that I didn’t encounter any other players in The North Downs while I did this. All gathered resources where then dumped into shared storage.

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Next, the “fun and games” really started as I logged into my Guardian and trudged through the various professions and slowly advanced them. Having chosen the practical Vocation of an Armoursmith, I had to refine the ore into ingots via Prospecting. Naturally making such ingots gains crafting experience and once you have obtained sufficient, it unlocks the next tier. This is important because you cannot go out and farm the next tier of ore until you have done this. It took about an hour to unlock the first three levels; Apprentice, Journeyman and Expert. By then I could process Rich Iron Ore which was the material I required to craft armour at a level appropriate for my alt. I then started processing the various ingots I had amassed into standard Heavy Armour (no additional recipe required). Again, you have to unlock each tier to progress to the next, which means you have to craft a lot more armour than you need. Since there is no market for it on server, I simply sold it to a vendor afterwards.

Crafting is an odd facet of LOTRO. Because of the age of the game, it is suitably esoteric, time consuming and frankly tedious. However, crafting provides experience gain not only in your chosen profession, but also with respect your progression to level cap. Hence, I gained two entire levels while crafting and hit 20 as I finished (and was also rewarded with the “Undying” title as a bonus). I ended up with a full set of Elven Steel Armour which has an item level of 24 but can be used from level 22, so for the present I cannot use this set. However, despite this minor inconvenience I did derive immense satisfaction in crafting this set and knowing that I don’t have to rely on random drops or quest rewards for the immediate future. I also made an additional set of armour for a friend who has an alt at a comparable level, which was also pleasing to do. Such is nature of crafting in LOTRO. It’s a necessary evil and a pain in the butt, yet it also provides an odd sense of achievement. Something that other players have known for a decade and I just found out, yesterday.

Top Tip: The Universal Toolkit is essential. Without it crafting becomes even more tedious and annoying.

LOTRO: Resetting the Economy

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If you go to the auction house on Laurelin server, you will see all the hallmarks of an established, long term playerbase that have multiple characters at level cap. IE Mainly nothing but high-end crafted items being sold at ridiculously high prices. MMO inflation is a weird thing. Naturally people who have played LOTRO for a long time have substantial reserves of in-game gold. Gold therefore is not an asset of value in itself per se. Yet due to peoples complicated relationship with money, be it real or virtual, there is still a propensity to hoard it and increase one’s reserves. Hence, relatively sought-after items tend to be posted for sale on auction house at grossly inflated prices. Now regardless of the reasons why this inflation happens, the net result is always the same. A skewed economy with increased prices at one end of the gear spectrum and a shortage of items at the other, because no one is crafting anything beyond what they need for their new alts.

However, the launch of the two new Legendary Servers on November 8th provided an interesting opportunity, economically speaking. Some resources, perks and benefits in LOTRO are account wide, such as cosmetic items associated with the purchase of expansion packs. However, gold, mithril coins and skirmish marks are all server bound and can only be shared between alts therein. Thus, no one came to Anor and Ithil with the advantage of previously earned wealth. As a result, it has done wonder for these servers’ economies. Players are having to craft all the items they need and sell the surplus. There is also a healthy trade in the resources that sustain crafting. Two weeks on from launch and the acquisition of gold is still a relatively balanced process. Subsequently, buying new gear is still a viable option beyond that which you earn through questing. There are also lots of new kinships which support the needs of their members. So far, the game economy is not derailed.

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As ever, it will be very interesting to see if this balanced and broadly equitable situation continues over the month to come. Perhaps the release of further content in four-months’ time will alter the status quo. By then there will likely be a percentage of wealthy players at level cap, along with those who are doing “okay” and some who are neither at cap or have a proverbial “pot to piss in”. Such is the nature of MMOs and those who play them. The other thing to keep an eye out for on the new servers is the presence of gold farmers. As gold is not transferable between existing servers, it has to be earned from its current location. So far, there is not a sufficient surfeit of gold to be assimilated and “redistributed” by such third party “institutions”. This again main change when the Mines of Moria expansion is added to both legendary servers. In the meantime, I am already buying any potential bargains I find on auction house, not only for my primary alt’s current needs but for the future as well. It certainly is a pleasant change from the dearth of choice currently found on the older LOTRO servers.

Pick-up Groups and MMOs

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Star Trek Online has recently revamped group PVE activities and rebranded them Task Force Operations. These are just instanced events designed for five players, that have a handful of objectives and a boss fight at the end. Players can group with friends or use the auto-grouping tool that is available, to play through TFO of their own choosing. Alternatively, there is the option to join a pick-up group and play a random TFO for greater rewards. Now although not unduly complex, TFOs usually have a basic set of rules to follow if you want to complete them quickly and efficiently. For example, closing dimensional portals reduces the number of trash mobs joining the TFO, so it makes sense for at least one of the five players to focus on this activity. However, PUGs are open to all players and therefore there is always a chance that you may group with an inexperienced player or someone who wants to do things “their way”. Either way, if you are seeking optimal gameplay, then PUGs may not be the best place to look.

Now, you may well ask “why are you stating the bleedin’ obvious about PUGs?” Well the reason I’ve chosen to succinctly distil and reiterate their respective pros and cons is because I continuously come across gamers regularly lamenting the iniquities of PUGs, as if they’re supposed to function in a fashion that is contrary to their nature. It’s a bit like complaining about a compass for pointing north or a politician for lying. Joking aside, pick-up groups are not intended to be efficient. They are designed to facilitate group play in an expedient manner. Many MMOs have players who either cannot find a guild, do not want to be in a guild or simply have time restrictions that impede grouping with regular friends and online colleagues. PUGs and auto grouping tools are a means to facilitate such players in accessing instances and other content designed to be played as a group. It’s not as if game developers are oblivious to the potential shortcomings of such systems. Hence in STO and other MMOs, players will receive a bonus reward for playing via auto grouping.

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The key to successfully using any PUG mechanic in an MMO is to greatly temper your expectations and to use auto grouping tactically. For example, I recently used LFF chat in LOTRO to run a particular 6-man instance. I did not expect to successfully complete everything but was simply tagging along to see if we could defeat the first boss, which I needed for a deed. The group performed poorly, and it was a struggle to progress, but we did get to the end. Not only did I complete the deed, but I also got the benefit of some loot that I wasn’t anticipating on getting. For me this was an added bonus, so I was not discouraged by the multiple wipes that the group endured. Where some players felt we’d performed poorly, I was pleasantly surprised because I had been realistic about what we could achieve as a group, right from the start.

PUGs are not always a bad experience and there are many factors that determine their outcome. Some groups in certain games require very little direct interaction. The TFOs in Star Trek Online can be undertaken without any need for chat. I personally always say “hello” and “good game” but it’s not essential. Quitting a group for whatever reason usually doesn’t involve too big a penalty. It may result in a thirty-minute sanction or reduced rewards but nothing more. Depending on the game, some will offer rewards even if the primary goals of an instance aren’t even achieved. This alone can make the use of auto grouping viable for some players. As the MMO genre has been around for over two decades, it has developed several universal foibles. One of these is the capricious nature of collaborating with random strangers. Would you expect five random people in the real world to work extremely efficiently together after just meeting? Of course not. So why should something as frivolous as a game be any different? Frankly excessive criticism of the PUG system with regard to MMOs is redundant. PUGs in other genres of games is a separate matter.

LOTRO: Coming Full Circle

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LOTRO: 14th September 2009

I returned to LOTRO in August and started to work through all the outstanding content that had built up during my absence. I have subsequently completed the Mordor expansion pack, along with all of Update 22: Legacy of the Necromancer and Update23: Where Dragons Dwell. This has meant consistently playing, re-gearing my primary character (twice) and generally tweaking different aspects of their build. I have applied myself to the various stories and have not felt overwhelmed by the narrative. Overall, I haven’t played LOTRO this diligently since I joined back in late 2008. This recent experience, along with launch of the Legendary Server, has been extremely satisfying. It’s all been very nostalgic, and I have found myself of late occasionally recapturing the feelings that I had a decade ago. Especially so when questing with friends and tackling group content. I have also thoroughly enjoyed the new Dwarven focused storyline in the Grey Mountains. It’s a rugged yet interesting zone with some exceeding good ambient music.

It’s a curious thing, that despite having regularly played a specific MMO for a decade, I am not exactly an expert on any of the games systems or the specifics of my primary characters statistics. I often just inspect other players of the same class and have copied their build. I have not been especially selective about the skills tree either and have simply maxed out the red line and put the few remaining points into what seem relevant in the blue and yellow lines. It is only since August that I’ve started taking a greater interest in min-maxing in LOTRO, mainly because the gear check that appears early on in Mordor is so abrupt. As a result, I’ve changed my virtue traits, replaced settings, runes and gems on my LI and been far more particular about the stats on any gear that I equip. The subsequent benefits have been quite noticeable. I even pay more attention now to my skills rotation and vary it according to the enemy. It’s only taken ten years for me to start playing at this “level”, although I still find an excess of number crunching ultimately quite dull.

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LOTRO: 16th November 2018

Despite having changed PC several times since I started playing LOTRO and re-installed the game numerous times, I still have every screen capture I’ve ever taken. I found on taken on 14th September 2009 back when I was playing on the European server, Gilrain. My Lore-master is sporting a very simply cosmetic outfit, comprising of some Elvish light armour (bought in Rivendell) and dyed black. In a fit of nostalgia, I promptly recreated the outfit today and am currently wearing it for old time sake. It’s strange but this simple act seems to embody the sense I have at present of coming full circle. Playing the same MMO for a decade is a substantial investment of time. A lot has happened both in-game and to me personally during this period. I suspect that a good many other players are also having similar such moments of introspection at present. The Legendary Servers seem to have roused many lapsed players into returning to the game. A LOTRO renaissance if you will. Who would have thought it?

LOTRO: Releasing the Complete Soundtrack

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I have written in the past about the quality of the soundtrack for the MMO The Lord of the Rings Online and how it is far more than an embellishment to the game but a character in itself. Now the developers of LOTRO Standing Stone Games (formerly Turbine) have released over the years a variety of soundtrack CDs and digital downloads, offering a selection of music usually associated with specific expansions for the game. Although these have been well received, they have only provided a percentage of the music that is present in the current release of LOTRO. In the latest build there is approximately 4GB of audio in the game. Admittedly some of this will be dialogue and ambient sounds but the majority of that is music cues in .ogg format. I sure I’m not the only LOTRO aficionado who would like to see a more comprehensive release of the games musical content.

When LOTRO was released in 2007, there was a soundtrack CD in the Collector’s Edition. This included 26 tracks from the Shadow of Angmar written by composers Chance Thomas and Steve DiGregorio. A similar CD was then released in the Collector’s Edition of The Mines of Moria expansion. This included 18 tracks. I believe that Turbine also made a digital download available comprising of 61 cues from the base game, shortly after this. Neither of these two official soundtrack CDs were ever made commercially available outside of these boxsets. The digital download is also no longer available. Since 2010, when LOTRO went free-to-play, there have been three further soundtrack CDs released (also available via digital download). Two of which are music written by composer Chance Thomas for the Riders of Rohan and Mordor expansions. Then there’s a tenth anniversary CD and download featuring a compilation of 26 tracks, of mainly previously available material by both composers. Some of these are alternative versions and there are a handful of new cues. These CDs are still available. It should also be noted that composer Steve DiGregorio has posted the soundtrack for the Helm’s Deep expansion and Update 14: Paths of the Dead on his Soundcloud account.

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Music rights, licensing and distribution arrangements can be legally complex to administer. I am not privy to the specific arrangements that Standing Stone Games has with regard to the game’s soundtrack and its respective composers. However, the fact that music from the game has been released previously must be a positive sign. What I can say with confidence is that LOTRO’s music is held in very high regard among both fans and wider MMO players, due to its particular high standard and artistic scope. Therefore, if SSG wanted to release a more comprehensive selection of music from the game, that was broken down by region, race or release date, I’m sure it would receive a warm welcome from the player base and more importantly, sell very well. Furthermore, it is a non-egregious form of monetisation that they could continue to perpetuate as the game grows. It remains to be seen if lobbying for such a release will yield any results, but I can’t help but feel that SSG are missing out on an opportunity in this instance.

LOTRO: Legendary Servers Launch

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First off, fellow blogger Wilhelm Arcturus wrote a blog post that predicted pretty much everything that happened today, with regard of the launch of the new Legendary Servers. Yes, you read that right. Servers, plural. Apparently, there was so much interest in Anor, it led to massive login queues, so Standing Stone Games very quickly set up a second Legendary Server named Ithil to deal with the over flow. To ensure that folks get to be with their friends and kinmates, there’s also a free transfer grace period. I guess there’s no such thing as a smooth launch, be it a new game or a variation of it. The more cynical among us, may even go so far as to postulate that the server queues were planned to generate a “buzz” and the “need” for a second server. However, it’s more likely that SSG just miscalculated and had to think on their feet. There could well be server merges ahead when the excitement, queues and possibly player numbers die down. Either way, the job is now done and LOTRO now has two progression servers.

I logged into Anor shortly after 5:00 PM GMT today. The launcher initially showed that I was some ridiculous number in a queue and it quickly became apparent that it wasn’t decreasing, and the client had indeed stalled (Ctrl-Alt-Delete and Task Manager are your friend). So, I started multiple copies of the launcher and logged in the game and eventually one connected with the new server. I knew what class I was going to play and what my character name was in advance, so setting up a new avatar was not an issue. I skipped the tutorial, loaded my saved custom UI and then pushed ahead with the intro quests. Needless to say, the starter zone was heavily populated, and it took a while to kill the standard number of Boars or Wolves as required. However, the zerg had its benefits and tricky areas like the spider filled basement under Sprigley’s Farm was easy to navigate.

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World chat was very active and relatively civilised, and players broadly seem to accommodate each other. Orderly queues formed to kill the likes of Jagger Jack and people were happy to group to make clearing quests easier. Eight hours on from launch and there was already crafted items appearing on Auction House for sale. Despite the “all about the journey” mantra your often see banded around on the official forums by many traditionalist LOTRO players, by the time I logged off there were already people approaching level 30 or so. It was also pleasant to see a lot of Kinships recruiting. Judging from world chat, there are a lot of retuning players who have been absent for quite a while. I have set up a Contains Moderate Peril kin, mainly just for fun and larks but if players stay the course, I see no reason not to run some of the endgame content.

Nostalgia is a curious thing. I liked the way the SSG has re-instated the original music at the character select screen. Playing with a low-level character is pleasingly uncomplicated with only a handful of skills. There is also a very re-assuring sense of familiarity with the game when it’s presented like this. The sheer volume of players bustling about also reminded me what the original allure of the MMO genre was; a thriving living world or at least the appearance of one. More than a decade on simply being online with others has lost its mystique and is something you just take for granted. This evening gave me a pleasant reminder of how exciting it was back in 2008 to see a town filled with other people. However, there are a few things that bring you back down to earth, such as the absence of all the items you have purchased on your regular server. Vault space was quickly filled and at present there is no kinship or personal house to use as an overflow. I also just couldn’t get used to wondering around without my standard cosmetic outfit, so I’ve already put my hand in my pocket and bought it again, which was probably SSG’s motivation all along.

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It will be interesting to see if player numbers are sustained before the release of new content to Anor and Ithil in four months’ time. There’s is no real reason to leave if you’re a returning player because they are not burdened with over familiarity with the content or harbour a grudge over previous changes to game mechanics. But there will be an inevitable decrease of player as some get bored and kinships find it harder to run content due to a lack of “bums on seats”. Personally, I don’t see any problems getting to level 50. I always liked this part of the Epic Story and I tend to level quite fast due to structured and planned sessions. It’s what comes next that is a stumbling block for many. Even a revamped Moria is still a big ask for some players. However, the LOTRO community is very tenacious and often flies in the face of established wisdom. So, I shall simply wait and see how things pan out on the Legendary Servers, while having fun progressing through Bree-land and beyond.

LOTRO: The Return of Lifetime Subscriptions?

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Please note the question mark in the title. This is not a news post announcing that Standing Stone Games are offering lifetime subscriptions for The Lord of the Rings Online once again. Don’t go getting over excited. I am simply raising the question as to why they haven’t chosen to do this since they announced their “acquisition” of both LOTRO and DDO back in December 2016. Because broadly speaking, it would appear that LOTRO is doing well under the auspices of SSG as opposed to Turbine. The game had a much-needed expansion, Mordor, added a new race and has a clear road map for what is beyond the recently released Update 23: Where Dragons Dwell. Furthermore, we have the imminent launch of a new progression server on the 8th of November. The licensing issue has been laid to rest and changes at Middle-earth Enterprises and the Tolkien Estate have surely had beneficial results. The game may not have the player base of some MMOs, but its core audience appears to be loyal and stable. Surely, with LOTRO enjoying a gaming renaissance, now would be a good period to capitalise upon?

Some people will argue that lifetime subscriptions are not necessarily good for the MMO genre. It raises capital for the developers in the short term but may discourage further expenditure from players in the future. Certainly, in the days of subscription only MMOs, that may have been plausible. However, as most games of this type now have a F2P hybrid model with additional tiers of payment, I’m not sure if such an argument holds true. Lifetime accounts may well offer a monthly stipend of in-game store currency, but it doesn’t cover expansions packs and such like. Furthermore, stipends accrue at a fixed rate and sometimes having only half of the cost of an in-store item may encourage the player to avoid waiting and buy further currency. Simply put, you could write multiple posts about the psychology of MMO players and what determines their personal spending habits. Hence binary statements about the effectiveness of lifetime subscriptions are not so relevant.

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Star Trek Online, another MMO with a hybrid business model, still offers lifetime subscriptions. They currently have a sale where the price for such an account has been discounted from $299.99 to $199.99 (sale ends 6th December). The game no longer offers monthly subscriptions (which was $14.99) and has replaced them with a “starter pack” that allows you to permanently unlock most of the same perpetual benefits for a one-time fee. However, when you add up the cost of all the services and features that are contained with the lifetime subscription, there is still a substantial discount compared to purchasing them individually. I bought such a subscription back in April 2015 and consider it to be excellent value. In recent months I have begun to feel that it was a mistake not to have done the same with LOTRO back in the Codemasters days. The irony is that I tracked down a Collector Edition, complete with a lifetime account code, earlier this year. Sadly, the grace period in which SSG honoured such products has long expired.

SSG have experimented with various methods of monetising LOTRO over the last two years. The Mordor expansion saw an increase in lootboxes within the game that has subsequently been dialled back, possibly due to their unpopularity and the changes in the law in specific European countries. The new Legendary Server which launches soon requires a VIP subscription for access. Then there is the outstanding issue of a new class being added to the game, that will naturally require purchasing. Surely offering lifetime subscriptions or something of a similar nature is the next logical step. There are many LOTRO players who already have them, but there are equally players like me, who missed the boat or were reticent to buy last time they were available. Because a lot of the doubts about the games long term future have now been addressed, I would welcome the opportunity to purchase such a service. LOTRO has a very dedicated playerbase, many of whom are “altaholics”. I suspect that the demand for a new lifetime subscription offer would be surprisingly high. I hope that SSG therefore considers this option.

Re-installing MMOs

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Having replaced my hard drive with a solid-state drive, I’ve had to re-install various games, along with all the other apps and programs I use. However, the smaller size of the new SSD has meant I’ve had to think long and hard about which title I choose. At present, I’ve limited myself to the two MMOs that I regularly play; namely The Lord of the Rings Online and Star Trek Online. Both have improved loading times as a result of running via a SSD and are performing a lot better than previously. I also prefer clean installations, rather than long term game setups that have been through numerous patches and updates. It was interesting to note that LOTRO now installs into a Standing Stone Games folder, rather than one marked Turbine. Sadly, STO required using either Steam or Arc as a means of installing the game. I opted for Arc, purely because it has a useful facility for redeeming game codes build into the launcher. Plus, you can bypass Arc and launch the game client directly if you want.

LOTRO being the older of the two games and still saddled with only a 32-bit client, proved to be the more problematic to download and install. The Akamai service that handles this process is very slow, irrespective of your internet connection. Despite having a 65MB fibre connection it took over four hours to install LOTRO, which is presently a 28GB download. STO being more of a space-centric game is a smaller 14GB install and was done in under ninety minutes. Due to the instanced nature of many of the zones, you can start playing the game while it downloads. With LOTRO you have to simply watch and wait as the blue bar slowly inches across the screen. Let us hope that SSG address this installation issue if we ever see the alleged 64-bit version of the game they’re developing. I also had to update my Nvidia graphic drivers and install Direct X 11 to get both games up and running. Something I shall prepare for in advance if I have to re-install any of these games again any time soon.

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Here’s a tip if you find yourself in a similar position with either of these two MMOs. You may wish to back up the various files in “The Lord of the Rings Online” folder, which is usually a sub-folder of “Documents” on a standard Windows installation of LOTRO. These have details of minor UI customisations such as the order of your bags on the quickslot bar and what chat channels you utilise. It also has all your personal settings regarding screen resolution and general game preferences. It’s not essential that you do this, but it can save you some time tweaking your new installation once its complete. Similarly, with STO, you may also wish to copy your screenshots folder (usually located here: {Local path to program}\Star Trek Online_en\Star Trek Online\Live\screenshots\). Not only does it contain your previous screen captures, but more importantly it has details of any custom outfits you may have created for your characters.

What’s in a Name?

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Tee-hee, chortle and guffaw

“What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet”. William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet.

There are two types of MMO players (actually there aren’t but I’m invoking a figure of speech as an opening gambit for the overall thrust of this post, so there). Those who meander through the character creation screens only to be taken by surprise by the fact that at the end, they now have to provide their avatar with a name of some kind. And then there are those who have a complete dossier compiled in advance, shedding light on the entire back story and life history of their new alt. Naturally, the latter group will already have a name prepared with much love and care. It will be relevant, appropriate and most importantly of all, it will afford them a much greater degree of connection with their in-game character. Because names are an integral part of identity and that is a much bigger aspect of MMO player psychology than some imagine. Would you simply want an index number instead of a character name?

I take a fairly hard line when it comes to character naming in the MMO genre. If a game has specific guidelines to begin with then they should be respected. I’m all for player freedom but an MMO is by its very nature shared space and so that means (or at least should in principle) that other players are due a degree of consideration. So, let us take it as read that inflammatory names, racial abuse, religious trolling and like have no place and should not be tolerated. In a game such a LOTRO, there is a great deal of lore that impacts upon names. The game goes so far as to make suggestions depending on race and region etc, which can be helpful. However, if you simply wish to give your character a generic fantasy sounding name, I don’t have a problem with that. What I do find tedious are the endless permutations of known character names, such as Legolas (in LOTRO) and James T Kirk (in STO). But for me, the greatest sin in naming after this, is giving your character your own name. Is there anything that screams “I have had the capacity to think creatively surgically removed” more than a Hunter running about the major quest hubs named “Colin Peters” or “Jacinda Barrington-Humphries”?

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They drink it in the Congo…

Now joking aside, not everyone is equally creative, which is why there are plenty of online name generators that can assist you when it comes to the right name. Another strategy if you run multiple alts is to follow a naming convention and use various permutations thereof. This is a useful workaround and certainly is helpful to friends and colleagues who loose track of who is and who isn’t online within the guild. I have used name generators for inspiration in the past. However, I also think it’s important to find a name that suits your character (especially if you’re of a role-playing bent) and that is also user friendly and pronounceable. It’s all very well coming up with a cunning, lore appropriate name for your High Elf window dresser, but if everyone subsequently mangles said name every time you’re on Discord (because you always end up being known to your guild mates by your primary characters name and not your own), it gets very old fast.

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Isn’t there a hat company there, on Bagel Street?

One of the things I use to get frustrated with about LOTRO was that it would suggest names, irrespective of whether they had been taken or not. Thus, you’d find a cool name for your shiny new Dwarf Quantity Surveyor only to discover there were already a dozen or so variants already on the server. More recent MMOs have addressed this issue by having an account name that suffixes your chosen name, thus accommodating duplicates. The issues still persists in LOTRO, but I have solved it for myself by not creating any alts. Overall, I think that as character customisation becomes more complex in gaming, then there needs to be scope and support for equally complex naming conventions. I know that jarring, trivial and puerile names can spoil the immersion of some players in MMOs. So why can’t phasing technology be used to remove those that bother us, or at least allow you to rename the offenders from your own perspective? Because it’s clear that despite the various changes and trends that have come and gone in the MMO genre over the last decade, names remain a very important facet of player engagement.

Numbers, Spreadsheets and Calculations

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Over the last few days, I’ve been working towards achieving “ally” reputation status with the Men of Dale while playing LOTRO. There were two particular armour pieces that I desired, which would enhance my statistics, that were gated behind this achievement. I’ve been also grinding for several jewellery items, which require 5,000 Motes of Enchantment. I was sufficiently close last night that I actually took the time to work out exactly how much XP was outstanding and what was the optimal way to earn it. I made a few notes on paper and determined that three repeatable quests and five tasks would be sufficient to reach the target. As of today, the calculation proved right, and I now have the two armour pieces equipped. The jewellery is proving more difficult as Motes of Enchantment are a lot harder to come by. That project remains an ongoing concern.

Now an odd thing occurred as I did the mental arithmetic last night and figured out exactly what permutation was required to get the required rep. Just for a moment I had this brief flash of insight in which the arbitrary nature of MMO mechanics became very clear. And for an instance it spoilt my fun. Luckily this was a fleeting experience, and, in a few moments, I was back to killing spiders in Lhingris for spiny carapaces and chatting on Discord to friends. It is the social element of MMOs that helps mitigate the mundane nature of some of the basic mechanics of the genre. It is a curious thing though because where as I find all the number crunching, min-maxing and esoteric formulas somewhat dull, others consider learning all this data and becoming an expert as part of the games allure. I have a basic grasp in LOTRO of the various stats and which ones are relevant for Lore-masters. However, the intricate details are lost on me. I choose not to know because in doing so, it diminishes my enjoyment of the game.

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Star Trek Online is another MMO that has a player base that delve deep into the mathematics behind the game. You will find endless discussions on the games sub-reddit regarding builds and how best to maximise DPS or survivability. It is surprisingly complex and at first glance quite captivating. I have flirted with DPS parsers and tweaked my build in the past. However, it quickly becomes clear that a lot of people’s preferences are subjective and not just based on data. Weapon type, class and play styles determine various schools of thought. Also, if you want to pursue the “best builds” you frequently need access to a lot of rare items and traits, which are really only the province of the long term and heavily invested player. That’s fine and I certainly don’t begrudge those players that play so diligently, but for us who are somewhere between the shallow and the deep end, such tinkering is not applicable to us.

When thinking of the “spreadsheet” culture that goes hand-in-hand with some games, I suppose the most obvious example is EVE Online. I never got any further than four days into a two-week trial with that niche product and I learned very quickly that the realities of that MMO were far removed from what I had assumed. For me, the selling points of the two MMOs that I play the most are their narrative, intellectual property and the provision of goal orientated achievements. The social aspect is also a strong consideration. Although both LOTRO and STO require an element of analysis and technical understanding, it never overshadows the leisure that they provide. A quick skirmish or random task force can satisfy my urge for combat. Riding around Middle-earth or meandering round the promenade on Deep Space Nine helps me relax after a tough day. A game that requires me to track everything, weigh up every pro and con and maintain a complex inventory simply doesn’t strike me as fun. However, it is very much a question of “horses for courses”.

LOTRO: Legendary Server

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Standing Stone Games announced today the launch of a new LOTRO "Legendary Server" later this autumn. This is essentially a progression server by any other name. It will be accessible to VIP monthly and lifetime subscribers allowing access initially to core content from levels 1 to 50 via The Shadow of Angmar story. It should be noted that this is not “classic” LOTRO as it existed back in 2007. The new server will offer the game as it is now with all its revised systems. Hence High Elves and Beorning classes will be available as will the skills tree system. SSG intend to update content every four months but will keep it all within the parameters of the level cap on the"Legendary Server". The developers have also made it clear that this new service does not come at the expense of regular new content for the existing game. “We have no intention of adjusting our frequent, regular, and active development of the non-Legendary game worlds, and have plans for them well into the future”.

I have never been a great one for alts and replaying old content. The most I’ve managed in ten years of playing LOTRO, is to get one new character to level 55 and then used the Aria of the Valar booster that that came with the Mordor expansion, to auto level to 105. Oh, the countless alts that I’ve created to try other classes, only to delete roundabout level 30 or so. However, I can see the appeal of running through the game with both old and new friends. I guess that is one of the major obstacles for a lot of lapsed players or those who want to start playing but are put off by the immense level gap. As have purchased all expansions and I’m currently a VIP and will likely remain so for the immediate future, I may well consider the new server if friends intend to do the same. That for me is the main appeal of this service. It’s been a long time since I’ve group consistently. I played essentially the first 60 levels of the game with friends. How things have changed.

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It remains to be seen if this new service will attract much interest, although I suspect that it may. Its appeal may well attract players of all kind and its subscription only option means that it should eliminate any problem element. I’m interested to see how well the actual levelling works because many of the early zones in LOTRO such as Evendim and The Lone Lands have been revised several times and progression from 1 to 30 is quite rapid then changes pace again from 31 to 50. Stepping back from this new service and considering the wider changes that have come to LOTRO of late, it certainly appears that developers SSG are trying to maximise the flow of revenue into the game. The recent experimentation with lockboxes that came with the Mordor expansion appears to have been dialled back, possibly due to the ongoing legal scrutiny such mechanics are currently coming under. There was talk not so long ago of a new class, which has subsequently been down played. But when it does arrive, it will doubtless be chargeable. In light of the news about the "Legendary Server" I wonder if SSG will make any further announcements of this kind before the year ends?

Where is the Community?

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The title to this post is rhetorical. I’ve figured out where the specific community in question is. As regular readers know, my first MMORPG was The Lord of the Rings online back in 2008. It had back then an active blogging community, which still exists today to a degree. The official forums are active and continue to be useful for information, but for me the primary source of news, guides and general analysis of the game is written content that is maintained by individual players. There are also lots of active streamers and video on You Tube, but I find I can locate and digest the information I require far quicker when it is presented as text. I guess I am simply a product of my generation and prefer the written word as my primary source of data for most things. However, more recent MMOs have developed communities around different platforms. As a result, it can take a while to determine where they are and get used to their habits and ways.

I also play Star Trek Online and have a lifetime subscription. This MMO has an active official forum but the biggest community associated with the game is based on reddit. There are several individuals who regularly post STO related content to You Tube, although the majority are focused upon ship builds and DPS parsing. Sadly, the game does not seem to have a major blogging community. Yes, there are some but that is not where the major interaction and discussion around the game takes place. So, if you want to stay abreast of developments in STO and keep an eye on community opinion, then you have to embrace the appropriate sub-reddit. And therein lies the rub. I don’t find this platform especially useful. It’s greats for informal discussions, but not so good at collating and indexing detailed content in an easily accessible fashion. I often have to tab out of the reddit and use Google to search it effectively.

Blog posts broadly have the advantage of being clear and unambiguous “chunks” of information. Reddit by its conversational nature tends to explore a topic in a very episodic fashion. You have to sift a thread to remove the irrelevant and superfluous and then try and collate and distil that which is left for the detail you require. Plus, although, lore and wider aspects of the game are discussed, the STO community is very much fixated upon the prevailing meta, builds and number crunching. I have a passing interest in these subjects but would like to see more material based around player experience, lore and general community activities and such like. Or is it a case that these elements are simply not what most STO players want? Is it a game that is predominantly driven by the intellectual property and player min-maxing? I’m still not entirely sure, so I’ll continue to look. Perhaps there are still STO blogs to be found, out there in the “final frontier” beyond reddit.