A Year in Gaming
It is customary for me to write an end of year summary of my gaming activities but I suspect that on this occasion it will be somewhat short. For me, 2024 has really hammered home the notion of the ephemeral nature of video games as well as their commercial ubiquity. The moment a game fails to satisfy for whatever reason, rather than complain or worry about it, I just move on to something else. It’s not as if there’s a shortage of games out there. I have a substantial back catalogue of games that Epic and Amazon prime regularly giveaway. I have bought numerous discounted bundles in the past, in the pious hope that I’ll play one of the games included, at some point in the future. Games may well be enjoyable and engaging but many are also disposable. That’s not to say they’re bad. While playing them you are indeed “entertained”. However, when you’re “done”, it’s amazing how you quickly find another and forget what you were previously playing.
Star Wars: The Old Republic Dynamic Encounters
The MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic recently added Dynamic Encounters to the game in the latest patch. These are repeatable, time limited public event quests that randomly appear at present on the planets Tatooine, Hoth and Rishi. Some events are combat focused with a set amount of enemies to defeat before a boss appears. Others are more leisurely, involving herding Banthas or catching juvenile Tauntauns. Dynamic Encounters vary in difficulty, ranging from easy to hard. All players participating in Dynamic Encounters share progress with NPC kills. Thankfully, there is no sharing or competing for item looting. Dynamic Events run for between 30 and 60 minutes and repeat every 2 hours. Overall these are broadly similar to comparable events in Guild Wars 2 or The Elder Scrolls Online.
MMO Tropes: Name Unavailable
If you’ve ever played an MMORPG, then you have more than likely encountered this problem. Especially if you start playing a game that has been long established. You diligently create your character and spend time and effort customising them to suit your needs. All you’ve got to do next is choose a name, so you type in a pithy and droll title only to find that it has already been taken. So you quickly come up with another and that too is rejected. Next you try the same name but with some “alternative” spelling but the game resolutely tells you that even that permutation is already in use. I have found that even with a list of names that I’ve drawn up prior to playing the game, it can still take anything from 5 to 30 minutes to find one that is available. Naturally, this process is very frustrating, which is hardly the ideal user experience for a new player.
LOTRO: Staying Busy
Exactly what do you do when you reach level cap in the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online? Raiding is the obvious answer and arguably the one the developers would suggest. But only a small percentage of players regularly raid. The last raid I participated in was early 2012 when twelve of our kinship attempted the “Tower of Orthanc”. If memory serves, we failed miserably after investing about 4 hours of our time. Many of us found that we simply didn’t have sufficient time available to pursue raiding in any meaningful way. Those members of the kinship that were focused on this aspect of gameplay ended up leaving and moving to other guilds. I have used the group finder on occasions since then but it has seldom yielded good results. Hence, for me most multiplayer content in LOTRO is “off the table”.
MMO Tropes: The Time Sink
It would appear that one of the reasons potential new players avoid the MMORPG genre is due to the perception that they are all time sinks. I wouldn’t argue against this assumption because the reality is that it’s true. However any game that you enjoy, irrespective of genre, can become a time sink. That being said, the main difference between other genres and MMOs is as follows. A new player can jump straight into a FPS game and within minutes enjoy some multiplayer action, whereas in an MMO, a new player has to play through a tutorial and several hours of a starter zone before they start making headway in the game. This distinction does not have to be a deal breaker. An FPS can provide a quick fix of gaming and as such fulfils a need. MMORPGs can provide long term entertainment which scratches an ongoing gaming itch. Both are valid ways to enjoy gaming.
Revisiting Star Wars: The Old Republic Part 3
A recent email prompted me to return to the MMORPG, Star Wars: The Old Republic. Developers Broadsword are “encouraging” former players to log back into the game to prevent the potential “release” of character names from “inactive” accounts. This has happened in the past, so I decided it would be a good time to return to the game. I last played in early 2022 when I created Trooper, Sith Warrior and Imperial Agent alts. The great thing about SWTOR is that all classes have unique stories so alts are never dull. This time I intend to complete the Jedi Consular, Jedi Knight and Sith Inquisitor classes. So I reinstalled the game, subscribed to enjoy full access to all content and also purchased a few Cartel Coins in case anything in the game store took my fancy. Hence the latest instalment of this recurring post, after a sizable break.
LOTRO: Voice Acting
One of the most noticeable things that ages the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online, is the lack of comprehensive voice acting throughout the game. If a player interacts with an NPC, they will provide generic greetings or ambient dialogue. Phrases such as “hello there” of “our mission is dire” occur regularly. However, the majority of quest text is not spoken, unless it is part of the Epic Story line. If it is, the first sentence is usually voice acted but no more than that. Cutscenes within instances have dialogue, as are those that occur at key parts of the Epic Story. Overall, LOTRO does not have the extensive voice acting that a similar MMO such as Star Trek Online has. This is a shame, considering how much time and effort has been taken with other aspects of the game.
LOTRO: Beneath the Surface
Last week I finally completed the Epic Story content for Corsairs of Umbar, the 2023 expansion for the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online. Although I am still undecided about Umbar as a zone, I found the main story engaging and as ever, well conceived within Middle-earth lore. The writers at Standing Stone Games have been very creative with their Fourth Age content and never make the mistake of over blowing it or trying to up the stakes as high as the threat of Sauron. So far, it feels like the free people are credibly mopping up residual forces of evil, as one would after a major regime collapse. Therefore, I was broadly satisfied with the Corsairs of Umbar expansion and was ready to move onto the next major story content update which was released in May this year.
LOTRO: Lore-master Class Traits
If you play the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online, then you’ll probably be aware of the significant changes that were made to the Lore-master class in Update 41. Two and half months later I think I have come to terms and successfully adjusted to the “realignment” of the trait tree and the core skills. Setting aside the argument over the rectitude of these changes, I would like to share my thoughts on the respective performance of the three trait configurations. This is not from the perspective of a min-max player or someone who focuses on the “numbers”. These are just casual observations from an equally casual player. Furthermore, my opinion is based upon PVE gameplay and not group content or full blown raids.
Goodbye Call of Duty
I decided to play Call of Duty today as I wanted some undemanding entertainment. I was not surprised when the game client began an update, as I have not played for about three months. Hence, there was obviously new content to install. However, when I saw the size of the download, I knew this was more than just a season update. I therefore checked the Battle.net client and discovered that the game was installing Black Ops 6, the latest version of Call of Duty that is released on 25th October. A game I have decided not to buy for a multitude of reasons. Fortunately, you can modify your game installation on the fly, so I unchecked a few boxes and the download stopped. However, I was annoyed by the hubris of this “download by default” policy, so I decided to uninstall my existing installation of Modern Warfare 3 as it is no longer a mainstay of my gaming activities.
The Future of Star Trek Online
Cryptic Studios appear to have started a new round of layoffs, following those made last November. Although the developers of Star Trek Online and Neverwinter have not formally commented on the situation, it is more than likely that this is a continuation of their owners, the Embracer Group, ongoing restructuring program. So far, the Swedish company has laid off over 1,500 employees since June 2023, in an attempt to address its ill considered over expansion in recent years. At present development of Star Trek Online and other titles are being transitioned from Cryptic to DECA. The German developers are mainly known for mobile games and have recently positioned themselves as “breathing life into old games”. Their intent is to keep developing content for STO and to maintain a working relationship with the owners of the intellectual property.
LOTRO: Bullroarer Update 42 - Legacy of Morgoth Beta #1
Over the last 24 hours, I’ve spent some time taking part in the first beta test for Legacy of Morgoth on this Bullroarer test server. This will be the 12th expansion for the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online, when it is released on November 6th. According to the developers, Standing Stone Games, “Legacy of Morgoth is homed in the Valley of Ikorbân, located east of Umbar Baharbel. This is a challenge level 150 region, with 4 new zones packed with new quests, Deeds, Missions and Delvings for you to explore”. The Valley of Ikorbân is located to the east of Umbar Barharbel and is part of Near Harad. The aesthetics of the region are a continuation of those featured in the previous expansion, Corsairs of Umbar. Something, I personally still have mixed feelings about, as I find it somewhat incongruous to be questing in a tropical zone, after years of playing in a world that is predominantly based upon a European, temperate climate.
So Many MMORPGs, So Little Choice
I recently considered whether or not I should find a new MMORPG to play. A cursory Google search showed that there were plenty of titles that I have not tried. Unfortunately, they are predominantly fantasy based games drawing upon the established tropes and themes of the dungeons and dragons genre and the wider sword and sorcery literature. This begs the question “why aren’t there more science fiction or non-fantasy based MMOs?” apart from the handful that currently exist? After a little research and a degree of thinking it becomes very apparent that the answer to this question is mainly a business decision made by publishers. Furthermore, that business decision is based upon several specific factors. All of which cumulatively tip the scales towards fantasy, rather than science fiction or some other complex but non fantasy based franchise.
Is It Time to Rebrand the MMORPG Genre?
According to Wikipedia, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game. 15 years ago, the MMORPG was an established and popular video game genre. It seemed that every developer wanted a title like World of Warcraft in their portfolio and were happy to sink millions of dollars into making one. WoW at the height of its popularity had over 10 million subscribers and annual turnover of over a billion dollars in the US alone. Sadly, no one ever came close to creating a WoW killer, a game that had found success through a perfect storm of events. Today the MMO genre has become synonymous with being a time sink and a grind. The universal adoption of the free-to-play business model further compounds the negative connotations associated with these types of games. Simply put MMOs are no longer seen as a licence to print money.
LOTRO: The Benefits of Plugins
After my recent experiment involving tweaking the graphics settings in the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online, I decided to see if I could improve my gaming experience with the use of mods. These are known within the LOTRO community as “Plugins”. They are created using the Lua programming language and are managed via an option on the character selection screen, after logging into the game. They are mainly used to augment the existing GUI, often presenting existing game data in a more convenient manner. Plugins can also be used to track information such as deed progress and to mark where specific items, resources and locations are on the in-game map. They cannot be used to issue commands or create macros. The most reliable source for Lua Plugins for LOTRO is via the website LOTRO Interface which maintains a comprehensive repository along with guides and FAQs.
LOTRO: Virtue Traits
I returned to the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online, in April this year and caught up with 18 months worth of content. Upon reaching the latest level cap of 150, I built two entirely new Legendary Items and acquired new gear via the game’s lootbox system. As I am not the sort of player who is especially knowledgeable about the “stats” associated with my class and the overall theorycraft of the game, I did some research and found several guides to follow. As I play primarily solo PVE content, I favour a DPS build for my main character in LOTRO, which is a Lore-master. So I copied a specific build and considered my work done. However, along came Update 41 on the 1st of August, which made serious changes to this class. As a result I recently decided to look at every option for the Lore-master and see what I could do to find a new optimal build. The two areas that offer the most scope for improvement are Class Traits and Virtue Traits. This post deals with the latter.
LOTRO: Fine Tuning Your Graphics
One of the things that I find fascinating about the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online, are other peoples screenshots. Being a 17 year old game, the required hardware specifications are not especially high. Hence it will effectively run on a “potato”; IE an older PC. This is often reflected in the variety of screen captures you will find for the game. No two images ever look quite alike, due to the variety of PCs and laptops that people use to play the game. Hence you’ll sometimes come across screenshots with lower resolutions, or less graphical detail. I have screenshots from when I started playing LOTRO in 2008 and they look demonstrably different to those I’ve taken more recently. The game itself has changed a lot over the last 17 years and this has included graphical updates. Hence, unlike a lot of modern games, LOTRO screenshots do not have such a homogenous look.
Has LOTRO Lost its Way?
After the initial shock of Update 41 and the radical revisions it made to the Lore-master class, I recently returned to The Lord of the Rings Online to experiment with new Master of Nature’s Fury (red line) and Keeper of Animals (blue line) builds. It is odd to find that skills I’ve been using for years are now gated behind specific trait lines. Furthermore, the consolidation of skills has left the entire class somewhat overpowered. Some players may argue that this is a good thing. However, for me it has rendered what was a subtle class requiring skill and intelligence to use effectively, into what is just a blunt instrument. Since playing tactically is now redundant, instances and skirmishes no longer poses any significant challenge. PVE content has been easy in LOTRO for a long time. Post update 41 it is now trivial and nothing more than a minor diversion.
"Adequate" But "Disposable" Gaming
One of the defining qualities of a truly great game is how long it can hold your interest and keep you engaged. For example I bought the Game of the Year version of Skyrim about 14 months after its initial release. Hence I had access to all the games content that I dutifully played through. However, I also fully explored the world map, completed all side quests, crafted, furnished several houses and continued to travel the in-game world and killing foes long after I had completed all the traditional content. I did the same with Red Dead Redemption 2 as this also offered a compelling and immersive world. Games such as these have a quality beyond just the functional. I would happily traverse the mountains in Skyrim and watch the sunset, revelling in the ambient music. Similarly, I would often just ride the train in RDR2 and watch the world go by. When I finally stopped playing both games for newer titles, I felt a sense of sadness when I bid them goodbye.
Star Trek Online: Events and New Content
If you are a new player, then Star Trek Online has 14 years of content to play through. It is all story driven and is frequently couched in existing lore from the various Star Trek TV shows. It also benefits from many of the original actors reprising their respective roles within the game. This provides an additional air of authenticity to the proceedings as well as being a spectacular fan service. Furthermore, much of that content is faction specific, hence there is a great deal of replay value to be had from this MMO. Apart from The Lord of the Rings Online, I cannot think of another game that manages to successfully tap into the style and idiom of its source intellectual property. Simply put, Star Trek Online looks and feels “very “Star Trek”. Which is why it has a robust and loyal player base and still proves to be a viable financial asset to its owners, DECA Games.