Star Trek Online: Ninth Anniversary and Stuff
I have suffixed the title of this post “and stuff” so I can address several Star Trek Online related thoughts in a single blog post. Despite the fact that I frequently play STO it is does oddly get neglected in my writing. So, let us start with the issue of the ninth anniversary. As ever Q is back with the anniversary event and once again, we are stabilising Omega Molecules. This year’s reward is a Tier 6 Vulcan T’Pau Scout Ship. There are also emotes and sundry other items to earn during the duration of the festivities, but I more interested in the anniversary itself. Not many MMOs make it to nine years and if they do, they aren’t necessarily in as good shape as STO. The game has a stable and loyal playerbase and is currently tied-in to Star Trek: Discovery. Further established Trek actors are supplying voice acting and the game seems to be doing well across both PC and consoles. Like LOTRO, STO uses the IP well and seems to “fill in the gaps” in the existing lore as well as expand and extrapolate established canon. One of the best things about STO is that there’s always something to do in-game as well as new content in the pipeline. Perhaps this along with the handling of the IP is why the game endures.
Too Many Online Game Stores?
I first created a Steam account and started purchasing games via digital download in January 2010. Back then, Steam pretty much had a monopoly on the market, and it was both novel and convenient to be able to purchase what seemed like “anything” just from one outlet and then download it and play, at any time of day. And then the rest of the video games industry woke up and decided they wanted a slice of the pie that was at the time exclusive to Valve. Hence, over the last eight years all the major “Triple A” publishers have developed their own game launcher software and online stores. This has led to titles being withdrawn from sale via Steam and a gradual fracturing of the market. That’s not to say that Steam is no longer a viable service. On the contrary. It still has a diverse range of products and there are always deals to be had. But it is no longer the first port of call when buying games online.
Screenshots
There is a strong social element to video games, regardless of the genre. Gamers like to share their thoughts and opinions with others via forums, blogs and videos because of their common interest. So, it is hardly surprising that video game enthusiasts like to take screenshots and preserve a record of their activities. Subsequently, the ability to capture an image from a game has now become an integral aspect of gaming culture and many titles now have a dedicated screenshot facility. This may range from a simple screenshot key to a comprehensive photo mode in which you can pause the game and pan the camera around the game environment. It’s a far cry from two decades ago when players would often have to rely on bespoke third-party programs such as FRAPS to take screenshots, or simply use the PrtScn button and then paste the image into a photo editor.
LOTRO: Taking Stock of Progress
On Tuesday 27th November 2018, I created a new High Elf Guardian on Laurelin server. To date I have spent 122 hours 46 minutes 32 seconds on this character and have currently reached level 60, exactly halfway through current level cap of 120 in LOTRO. It has been a busy but very enjoyable two months. Overall the experience has revitalised my interest in LOTRO and the MMO genre. I have written several blog posts recently, highlighting the changes that have been made to the base game and first expansion over the years. Let it suffice to say that both Shadows of Angmar and Mines of Moria now offer a fast path through the games main content. My current levelling experience has been radically different to that I had when I started playing LOTRO back in 2008 and 2009. I believe it took me then nine months to reach the level cap of 60 on my primary alt. I achieved this just prior to the release of Siege of Mirkwood in September 2009.
When MMOs Die
Have you ever wondered exactly what happens when an MMO shuts down? Let's not use the phrase "shuttered" as it’s a public relations term intended to mitigate and defuse the reality of the situation. It is intended to take the sting out of the notion of a game closing; evoking imagery of a well-respected family business, closing up shop for the last time and retiring to Cheshire to keep bees. No that will not do at all, so we won't use it here. "Shut down" is far more accurate. It cuts to the chase, accommodating the economic and legal reasons, which are often the primary reason that a game is closing. It also has a far more definitive ring to it, where “shuttered” leaves room for hope. After all the shutters can come back down from the closed family business, if beekeeping doesn’t work out.
LOTRO: The Downside to Fast Levelling
NB. This post is a direct continuation of previous one, posted on 2nd January. As I’ve stated many times before in prior posts, there is a tangible sense of reward to be found in levelling in an MMORPG. Gaining experience and progressing from one level to another, inching further to the in-game cap, is a clear and uncomplicated goal. It’s far from a complex process. You play through content, gain loot and XP and then after a while, “ding”, you hit the next level and revel in a sense of achievement. There are naturally other goals to pursue that are more difficult to achieve, such as gaining a specific set of raid armour or obtaining maximum rep with all factions. But for many players, simply progressing by level per day (or some permutation thereof) is sufficient to keep them happy and make them feel that they are making headway within a specific game. And at present, this is exactly the approach that I take with LOTRO when playing on my new Guardian. Last night I reached level 57, while questing in Nanduhirion.
Too Much Information
While playing LOTRO recently, I helped random new player who was confused about virtue traits. I explained to them as well as I could, but the incident was a clear reminder of the complexity of the MMO genre and the perennial problem of how the can game developers effectively convey instructions to the player. If you are a long-term gamer and have tried numerous titles across multiple genres, you will often find common mechanics and systems. Hence when playing a new game, you can sometimes figure out the controls as you go. For example, WASD for movement, M for the map etc. But this is not always guaranteed. Because developers have to consider new players who may have no prior gaming experience, when designing their GUI and tutorials. So there’s scope for instructions that seem contradictory and unintuitive to veteran gamers. Porting titles to the PC that were primarily developed for consoles can also cause confusion. Simply put, teaching a player the basics of a game is a big challenge. Providing succinct information on more complex issues is even harder. Many gamer developers are still extremely bad at imparting knowledge and making viable tutorials. Here are some examples I’ve encountered.
Gaming Nostalgia or Gaming Obsession?
If you frequent the Massively Overpowered website you frequently find comments and indeed posts by staff writers, lamenting the loss of those MMOs that have not survived the march of time. The site does on occasions write about Star Wars Galaxies and City of Heroes to name a few. They also advocate historical preservation of titles that are no longer commercially available. This sometimes segues into the thorny issue of emulators and “private servers” and often leads to debates about intellectual property versus player access and notions of the collective ownership of fandom. It’s all very interesting and the discussions are conducted in a measured and mature fashion. Today, there was a jovial post about “which dead MMO needs more coverage?”. Although it was a light-hearted question, I do have reservations regarding gaming nostalgia. Because the gaming community is not exactly known for its balanced, even-handed analysis and outlook on such subjects.
Are You a LOTRO Hoarder?
I was clearing out my vault the other day in LOTRO when I found Erebrandir's Horseshoe. This annoying item was the source of numerous theories back in September 2010 when it became available in Volume 3, Book 2 - Chapter 4: Riding South. Designed to be a “novelty” quest reward the horseshow was supposed to bring luck and many LOTRO players drove themselves crazy trying to ascertain its exact benefits. I just simply filed it in my vault at the time and haven’t given it a second thought until I came across it while doing some housekeeping. I found a lot of other crap that I’ve subsequently learned is of no value (the LOTRO Wiki is your friend) and this has got me thinking about the whole concept of hoarding loot. Because LOTRO is an old school MMORPG and very much a product of its time, the game offers a multitude of loot for players to stockpile and fret and fuss over at every opportunity. But is all of it necessary?
Pop Culture Tributes in MMOs
There are a wealth of pop culture tributes in the MMORPG, World of Warcraft. You’ll find nods, homages and quotes from movies, TV, fantasy literature and more littered throughout the game and its numerous expansions. For example, in the Mage Quarter of Stormwind, the Warlock trainers can be found in the basement of a pub called The Slaughtered Lamb which is a homage to the movie An American Werewolf in London. The fish vendor Old Man Heming in Booty Bay and the fishing achievement are references to Ernest Hemingway's novel The Old Man and the Sea. And in Dread Wastes resides a faction called The Klaxxi, that provide a large amount buffs as enchants and augmentations. These buffs all have names referring to specific heavy metal songs from the likes of Slayer, Queensrÿche and Manowar. There are dozens of others such references and I can certainly see the appeal of discovering them as you play through content and explore the virtual world.
Alien Blackout: A Mobile Game
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.
Variations on a Theme or More of the Same?
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.
The Iniquities of the Video Game Industry and Gamer Culture
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”?
LOTRO: Out Levelling Content
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.
“Gamers are Dumb”
"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.
Star Trek Online: The Other MMO
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.
The LOTRO Legacy Bundle
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.
LOTRO: Choosing a Skirmish Soldier
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.
LOTRO: Crafting
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.
LOTRO: Resetting the Economy
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.