ESO: Harrowstorms

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I managed to find a very good deal on the Digital Upgrade version of Greymoor for The Elder Scrolls Online, so I bought it. The key included a pre-order bonus as well as a few other “trinkets and baubles” which clinched the deal. I wasn’t planning on returning to ESO this month plus I still have a bee in my bonnet about playing through the game in narrative order. However, after speaking to friends about the new expansion, I was curious about the new Harrowstorm events that occur in the new zone of Western Skyrim. So I logged into the game and after the obligatory “let’s spend 30 minutes fixing broken addons”, headed over to Solitude and waited for the next Harrowstorm to appear. As ever, Zone Chat is invaluable for determining what is happening and where, so it wasn’t long before I was riding headlong towards the Black Morass Ritual Site ready for my first Harrowstorm.

According to the official blurb, “Harrowstorms are giant supernatural confluxes which plague Western Skyrim. Much like Dark Anchors, Abyssal Geysers and Dragonscours, Harrowstorms function as group events, where a number of players must work together to shut the Harrowstorm ritual down. You must destroy the three Witch Pikes in the midst of the storm, which are drawing in Lost Souls”. And that is pretty much it. Harrowstorms are very much a case of “same meat, different gravy”. That’s not to say that they aren’t fun but they don’t offer a radically different experience from Abyssal Geysers and Dragonscours. If there are sufficient players present, they can be dealt with quite efficiently, although you need to maintain a lot of situation awareness as the summoned enemies use a lot of AoE and DOT attacks. As ever with PVE events of this kind, the players break down into three groups. The foolhardy, the experienced and the cautious. I fall into the latter category, preferring to skirt around the perimeter firing my bow.

Harrowstorm appear at the following locations. I’ve included details of which is the nearest wayshrine, although like in Northern Elsweyr, ZeniMax hasn’t exactly gone out of it’s way to make it easy to traverse the zone and reach these events.

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Western Skyrim:

Black Morass Ritual Site - West-northwest of Morthal (Nearest wayshrine Solitude Docks).

Chilblain Peak Ritual Site - Southwest of Dragon Bridge (Nearest wayshrine Dragon Bridge).

Giant's Coast Ritual Site - Northwest coast of Western Skyrim (Nearest wayshrine Mor Khazgur).

Hailstone Valley Ritual Site - East of Morthal in eastern part of Western Skyrim (Nearest wayshrine Morthal).

Northern Watch Ritual Site - Northeast coast of Western Skyrim (Nearest wayshrine Kilkreath Temple).

Old Karth Ritual Site - East of Karthwatch (Nearest wayshrine Southern Watch).

Blackreach:

Dwarf's Bane Ritual Site - Dusktown (Nearest wayshrine Dusktown).

Gloomforest Ritual Site - Lightless Hollow (Nearest wayshrine Lightless Hollow).

Miner's Lament Ritual Site - SouthEast Greymoor Cavern (Nearest wayshrine Dusktown).

Nightstone Ritual Site - Dark Moon Grotto (Nearest wayshrine Dark Moon Grotto). 

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So far I have not determined if Harrowstorms in Western Skyrim follow a particular rotation or whether they appear where the most players are located. Often you’ll find that the event is over by the time you reach it, due to the location of the nearest wayshrine and the nature of the surrounding terrain. So far, I’ve found waiting in the vicinity of the Hjaalmarch Great Lift allows you to get to the four nearest Ritual Sites (Black Morass, Hailstone Valley, Old Karth and Chilblain Peak). I haven’t yet found a similar solution for Blackreach. However, despite the somewhat over familiar nature of these events, they are still a great way to farm “fat loot” (and hence make a ton of in-game gold), complete dailies and achievements as well as get a quick fix of action.

LOTRO: Free Quest Packs

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At the beginning of March, Standing Stone Games very generously (and very wisely) decided to make all “quest, raid, and adventure area content” for The Lord of the Rings Online available for free. As a result, many players have returned to the MMO and all game servers have seen an increase in activity. Initially the offer was scheduled to end on April 31st but due to its success this has been extended to the end of August. Furthermore, SSG are now offering a coupon code that will permanently unlock all this content but players have to ensure that they use this by August 31st. This is a very generous offer which can save new and returning players a substantial amount of money. SSG have also promised a forthcoming sale on expansion quests (not a sale on entire expansions) and instance clusters. Effectively, a smart player will soon be able to own and access the majority of the game for under £10.

Promotions of this nature often favour new customers, as they are logically a potential source of new revenue. I often tire of seeing such adverts for great deals from service providers that I’m already a customer of. So it was nice to see that SSG have also decided to expand the benefits of the VIP program for LOTRO (VIPs being lifetime account holders and subscribers). According to today’s press release, the following rewards will soon be available. “VIPs will get access to a vendor that will grant them the following benefits once per day: 48-hours of town services items, a buff that negates item wear, and a buff that provides rapid crafting”. The buffs sound useful and I’m sure they’ll be well received. I’m hoping that this vendor will also be able to offer repair and the sale services, negating the need to return to major quest hubs so often.

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One minor point regarding SSG’s current generosity springs to mind. Back in December 2018, they offered for a limited time The LOTRO Legacy Bundle for $199. It was a very comprehensive deal including pretty much everything in the game up to that date (again it included expansion quest lines but not the bonus material included in the expansions themselves). As I had missed out on buying a lifetime account, I purchased this bundle and subsequently spent 10 months comprehensively playing through the content with a new alt. Since then I have also bought the Minas Morgul expansion. So all I gain from SSG’s current coupon code are two Quest Packs from updates 25 and 26; Vales of Anduin and Mists of Wilderland. But I don’t begrudge this situation. SSG are simply reacting to the current business situation. If that means that LOTRO continues to thrive then that is to all our benefit.

A Month in Gaming

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I see by the financial data that is currently available and being pawed over by industry pundits, that April was a very good month for the video games publishers. Quelle surprise. Who would have thought it? The increase in leisure time has certainly meant that even I have had a greater opportunity than usual to invest in playing video games. And as I predominantly play the MMORPG genre that has proven to be a boon. Or at least it was initially. After two month plus that is fast becoming a bane. MMOs are great when you have new content to play through, stories to discover, goals to achieve and systems and items to advance. But once you’ve done all these things and find yourself doing dailies just out of obligation and a way to kill time, then it may well be time to move on to something else.

Star Trek Online has not had any new story content added since the anniversary event. And that two part adventure “The Measure of Morality” wasn’t exactly what you would call a long term, episodic, story arc. Developers Cryptic seem to be focusing at present on short term events that are dependent on repeatable content which get very old quickly. I have abandoned the latest grind as it’s not fun and do I really need any more Tier 6 ships or another cosmetic pet? Similarly, I’m tired with the new gear treadmill that accompanies the addition of any new zone in The Lord of the Rings Online. I still need to level my Legendary Weapons but that is a ponderous and singularly uninspiring undertaking. As for returning to The Elder Scrolls Online, I must resist the allure of an expanded Skyrim as I still have so much older content to play through. Plus whenever these three MMOs add new material, it is always just a variation on a theme. They never do anything radical or innovative.

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So in recent weeks I’ve made a conscious effort to step away from MMOs and try other types of games. I finally experienced the Battle Royale genre and have had fun for the last month playing Call of Duty Warzone. It makes for a pleasant change to be able to enjoy a game where you do not have to worry about keeping up with a complex story or having the best gear. The matchmaking system has its foibles but finding a suitable game is not a problem. You can get your quick fix of “action” within minutes of logging in. I also bought Man of Medan on a whim, which is best described as an interactive drama survival horror video game. It is a curious beast but I must admit it has kept me engaged, with its multiple outcomes and endings. I also played through Deathtrap Dungeon for a second time and was once again impressed how “less is more”. I really hope that developers, Branching Narrative, produce more games like this.

I suspect that I will spend less time playing video games in June as I’m becoming a little jaded at present with this pastime. I have written recently of the need to find myself a new project of some kind to keep my “head straight” as the lockdown continues. Games are simply not providing that level of engagement at present, especially the MMO genre which is my traditional mainstay. I’ll probably keep playing Call of Duty Warzone for a little longer as it provides sufficient stimulation and dopamine fixes. It would appear that Season 4 may bring some major changes to the game match, which would certainly shake things up. Another “radical” idea would be to actually finish some of the other games that I’ve started and then abandoned. I really would like to see the end of Red Dead Redemption 2. Perhaps that can be my gaming goal for the month. Maybe having some targets may make this hobby more enjoyable.

The Problem with Voice Chat

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I was reading on Kotaku (as a Vic Reeves fan I always want to say Uvavu) about yet another internet brouhaha. This one stemmed from comments made by live streamer and social media commentator Steph “FerociouslySteph” Loehr (no, I have no idea who they are either), about the use of voice chat in video games. Her comments were willfully taken out of context by the usual suspects and yet another internet drama kicked off. As I have only a passing interest in live streaming and the competitive gaming scene, I don’t feel obliged to wade in and express an opinion about this particular situation and those involved. But the actual sentiments that were originally expressed about voice chat are of interest to me, although they’ve long been forgotten in this particular drama which has now become yet another culture war bunfight.

Voice chat is essentially just a tool, designed to facilitate communication between gamers. But the problems associated with voice chat stem from its use and not the actual service itself. Conversations have a social dynamic and a degree of etiquette to them (or at least good ones do). If they are to be considered equitable, there is a need for all parties involved to have equal opportunity to express themselves. Hence we are taught at school (or at least I was) not to monopolise a conversation, to listen to what others have to say and to be courteous at all times. I try to remember this ethos when using voice chat and therefore I find it to be a comfortable form of communications. But I am a white, middle aged, middle class man with all the cultural baggage that comes with that and being British. My experience is not necessarily universal.

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Not everyone “enjoys” voice chat, the same way as some folk will sit in a group at the pub and listen to the conversation but not contribute much. For some it’s a confidence issue, for others it’s just a question of personal choice. Women often treat voice chat with a greater degree of scepticism as it is yet another medium by which they may be discriminated against or marginalised. The same is applicable to ethnic minorities or anyone for who is not a native speaker of the language being used. A person’s voice can provide a lot of information about someone quite quickly. It can also do the complete opposite and too often verbal cues are a stepping stone to bias and prejudice. Disability may also be a factor with voice chat. And even if you manage to bypass the sociopolitical issues associated with voice chat, there are still etiquette issues to face. Some people just dominate chat channels, using such platforms to just drone on and on about themselves. It can be a narcissists and ego maniacs paradise.

My use of voice chat is also dependent on what genre of games I’m playing. MMOs are by nature social and therefore if I join a new guild, I’m more likely to use either in-game chat or Discord to get to know the other members. Trust is built over time and you get to know the verbal foibles of others. This is important to ensuring that voice chat stays a welcoming and accommodating medium to all. However, I’m far less disposed toward speaking with strangers when playing a competitive game and will often have all voice communications muted when playing via PUGS. I don’t want to be given instructions by some self appointed “leader”, nor do I wish to listen to the garrulous inanities of adolescents, gamer malcontents and the furiously hard of thinking. But I’m not averse to a degree of friendly chat and “suggested” tactics. However, all that can be done via text chat and in-game mechanics such as pinging items and “instruction wheels”. IE “Move left”, “cover me” etc.

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I got called an “RPG noob” in Call of Duty Warzone last night via text chat (much to my amusement). I’m sure if I had voice chat enabled I would have endured a barrage of criticism throughout the game. I may well have been tempted to waste my own time and energy trying to counter with my own witty ripostes and waggish badinage. However, because I had elected not to use the service to begin with, all potential unpleasantness was avoided. For me voice chat is a binary choice. Sadly for others it is not always as clear as that and it is something to be used with caution. On a few occasions I’ve seen voice chat demonstrate the unconscious bias that many of us carry around. It’s funny how a woman can answer a question but the answer isn’t acknowledged until it’s reiterated by a man. So to conclude, I think the internet drama I referenced at the start of this post just highlights the fact that it’s not voice chat that needs fixing but society. Sadly, the bug list for that just keeps growing.

It's Okay to be a Bad Player

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Never played it

According to the ESA “Over 164 million adults in the United States play video games and three-quarters of all Americans have at least one gamer in their household. As the leading form of entertainment today, video games are an integral part of American culture”. So when you factor in the rest of the world, I think it’s safe to say that a lot of people play video games and that still surprises some people. Now it’s been known for a long time now by video game developers that two thirds of their customers never complete a single player game. It’s a similar story in other game genres. The majority of MMO players never play any endgame content such as raids. A lot of players don’t make it to level cap either. Yet, so much of the game related content produced by gamers themselves does not represent this. So much of the gameplay videos you find on YouTube comes from technically adept players. Similarly, many popular live streamers gain their audience through being competent. 

Now you can cogently argue that there’s not a major market for watching footage of people playing badly, unless it’s presented in a humorous fashion. You can also argue that the term “bad player” is loaded to begin with, as it implies that there is a mandatory skill curve that we all have to progress through and abide by (guess what, you don’t have to). It’s a classic false axiom that so many gamers still cling to. So when I use the phrase “bad player” in this post, I mean it as “someone who is playing in a manner that may not be optimal or even unorthodox, who isn’t driven by a need for continuous self improvement or a sense of competition but is still deriving enjoyment from their approach to the game”. Now if we go with this definition, I think it’s safe to say that not only are there a lot of bad players about but they make up the majority of the player base. And that is fine.

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Something, something Tyler "Ninja" Blevins

There is still a major cultural divide in the video games community. Those who see games as inherently competitive and those who play games for “fun”. I’m painting with broad brush strokes here but it usually comes down to some variation of these two philosophies. However, this is not an even split. I’m sure there is sufficient data out there to show that the latter group is the larger. From my perspective, it certainly seems that way anecdotally speaking. When you consider how many games genres have evolved over the last two decades, adding quality of life improvements such as quest trackers, auto looting and fast travel it seems that the developers know this as well. Games with corpse runs, excessive penalties for failure or death, or punishing learning curves tend not to find mass appeal and settle into niche markets. And any game that relies heavily on twitch mechanics is going to face a dwindling player population among the middle-aged. This is why not every game is not Dark Souls.

Just like the cult of youth and beauty that blights popular culture despite it not being applicable to most of us, we also see the equally unrealistic myth of the Über Gamer everywhere. However, if all the distinctly average players decided that they were a disgrace to gaming per se and subsequently took up train spotting, the video game industry would go bust (and freight yards,railway sidings and bridges would be very crowded). So not only do I support and extend a sense of solidarity to all bad players like myself (because I hate arbitrary hierarchies) but I actively encourage players to do things their way. Not only are we keeping a lot of regular, decent people in work but we’re challenging capitalist dogma that everything is about conflict, winners and losers. We may be keeping Bobby Kotick rich but we’re wearing our mediocre, poorly organised ,“I don’t even know what these skills are for” play style as a badge of honour. And so this is why I will continue to RPG spam in Call of Duty Warzone.

A Month in Gaming

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April has been an usual month. The ongoing lockdown here in the UK (and elsewhere in the world) has afforded me more gaming time than usual. The policy of social distancing has reduced my caring duties to just three hours a day. Hence I and many others like me have much more leisure time available. I initially thought that this situation would be the perfect time to try some of the many of the games that I have stockpiled over the years. However, despite trawling through many titles, I still failed to find anything that immediately took my fancy. So I decided to take stock of my overall gaming activities and whether it was time to revise them and try something new. And by new I don’t just mean just buying a new game but taking a step out of my current comfort zone into a genre I don’t usually play. So that’s exactly what I did and the results have been very interesting.

I have been curious about the Battle Royale genre for a while, since the explosive growth first of Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds and then Fortnite. I’ve read a lot about the success of both these games and the way that, despite offering essentially the same experience, they have pursued different audiences and markets. I have often considered trying either one of them but the demographics of their respective playerbase has put me off. The arrival of Call of Duty Warzone subsequently provided a tipping point, as I have prior experience of the franchise and the game offers a Battle Royale experience in a format that is acceptable to me. I’ve written elsewhere about the game and my attempts to improve my gameplay performance but to summarise here, it has been a positive experience to try something new. Although there is a strong element of twitch gaming in Call of Duty Warzone, it is not the only defining factor. There is much that a player can do to succeed in the game and progress through the ranking system.

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As a result of trying something new, I have temporarily sidelined The Lord of the Rings Online. I was surprised how quickly Update 26 (now called Mists of Wilderland) was released so soon after being previewed on the test server. And as a result the new zone launched with a lot of bugs. I don’t especially like questing in new areas when they’re swarming with players and find forming an orderly queue to kill a specific mob somewhat immersion breaking (and annoying). So I’ll return to LOTRO in a month or two when the area is a little quieter. My other MMO of choice, Star Trek Online, has been pulling out all the stops to keep players engaged and to entice those who have moved on to return. At present, I’m just logging in once a day to do a featured Task Force Operation. This earns a token that can be handed in for either a C-Store ship or for a stash of Lobi Crystals (which can be bartered for fancy gear, crew or yet more ships).

I briefly dusted off Sniper Elite 4 but my overfamiliarity with the maps soon put pay to that. I am really looking forward to the fifth iteration of the game as it really is such a different experience to the hectic pace of other game genres. As for May, I think I keep playing Call of Duty Modern Warfare. I’m still working my way through the campaign, playing multiplayer against bots as a means to practice my aiming and familiarise myself with the maps. And despite only being a distinctly average player, I am having a lot of fun in Warzone. My only complaint is that I play Solo Battle Royale and would like at some point to play as part of a four man squad. But I don’t know anyone else who plays the game and I am reluctant to join a PUG. However, with an excess of time on my hands, even that may change. No doubt next month’s post will highlight yet further changes in my gaming habits, as this seems to be a theme at present.

The Problem with Housing in MMORPGs

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Housing in the MMORPG genre continuously fails to reach its potential. Despite the scope it offers both in functionality and gameplay, it has seldom progressed beyond offering storage and some arbitrary customisation. Hence this is a perennial subject of debate for many MMO communities. Given the popularity of this subject, it would appear to indicate that there’s a potential market for expanded housing functionality. And yet many MMO developers still display a blindspot for this issue. You’d think that the scope for monetisation would prove a big enough incentive but housing just doesn’t seem to be especially high on their priority list. It is odd considering that the MMORPG genre is a fundamentally social one. Housing in theory offers so much scope to capitalise and explore this aspect of gaming. Yet it remains a cul-de-sac and an afterthought.

I have a Deluxe Premium House in The Lord of the Rings Online. It has crafting stations, storage, a “visiting banker” and a summoning horn which calls a vendor NPC. I have made an attempt to decorate it stylishly but beyond that I seldom visit it as it doesn’t offer anything else. There are some minor quests in the Cape of Belfalas housing zone but they are not repeatable. This is a real shame as they are quite enjoyable. Especially the one where you take an old and faithful dog out for a walk. The only real advantage my house offers is a fast travel skill that has a 1 minute cool down. I specifically chose a house at Bay Road as it is the nearest to a cluster of NPCs offering Auction House, Provisioner and Stable services. So my house mainly provides a travel hub service and nothing else. It all seems such a waste of resources. I suspect that the new Rohan based housing coming with Update 26 is not going to be anything radically different.

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Star Trek Online deals with housing in a somewhat different way but ultimately still faces the same issues. Your ship is your house to all intents and purposes, providing shared storage and in some cases, access to the Exchange (auction house). You can visit Engineering, Sick Bay and your ship’s councillor and the NPCs will provide Duty Officer Missions. But again, there’s not much on offer beyond this. You can place trophies in the Captain’s Quarters and in the communal lounge. And you can also visit the bridge of your ship, although there’s only so many times you can sit in the Captain's chair and hit the “engage” emote before it gets old. Again this feels like a major missed opportunity. Some vessels offer minor variations on these services, such as bespoke Duty Officer Missions but it’s hardly a major selling point. Considering the amount of customisation you can do to your build and gear in STO, it would be nice to see the same ethos extended toward your ship interior.

If you ask a hundred MMO players what they want from housing in their game of choice, you’ll get 100 different answers. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why developers are reticent to tackle anything housing related. Personally, I’d like to see in LOTRO some sort of collective undertaking, similar to the Fleet Projects in STO. A system that allowed those living in a specific housing phase to contribute to group endeavours that would upgrade community resources. I’d like to see quests and tasks in housing areas. Why not give players a reason to visit their house and interact with their neighbours. Offering unique items can certainly be an incentive. In STO I’d like to see some quest content that offered you a chance to customise and augment your ship’s interior. Rather than just duty officer assignments, it would be nice to have some bespoke missions that involved the crew of your vessel. Something that would make your frequenting your ships various departments more than just a cosmetic exercise. It would certainly be useful to have all resources you find on Earth Spacedock available on your ship.

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Although I never really warmed to the rebuilding of Hytbold in LOTRO, some of the systems found in that part of the game could be augmented and used in a housing scenario. Any form of interactivity is an improvement over just functionality. Perhaps a housing area could also have some sort of bespoke story quest line. Something that gives some character to an area, so it isn’t just a glorified storage service. What I don’t want to see is just an increase of cosmetic items. Although it is fun to be able to personalise the look of your virtual house, there needs to be more to it than just another collection to grind for. If customising leads to unlocking content then that would certainly add more depth. But I suspect that many developers simply prioritise PVE content development over everything else, for practical reasons. Although you can argue that taking a risk with housing could well pay off. But I suspect that it will remain an untap resource and all we’re likely to see in any new MMOs will be the straightforward “by and collect” approach we see in The Elder Scrolls Online.

Bullroarer Update 26 Preview #1

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Standing Stone Games are currently previewing Update 26 for The Lord of the Rings Online on the Bullroarer Test Server. The new zone, the Wells of Langflood, follows in the idiom of Vale of Anduin with a comparable aesthetic. However, as this region is further north and at a higher altitude, there is a prevailing mist in most areas. The landscape also slowly climbs North as you approach where the arms of the Misty Mountains and Ered Mithrin meet. Overall it is a bright and colourful zone filled with wildlife. However, there are also various mobs from Mount Gundabad and several advance camps of Trolls and Orcs. There are also numerous Dwarven ruins indicating their historical presence in the region. The Eagles also feature in the area and obviously appear in several of the zones quest storylines.

There are four stables in Wells of Langflood. Limlók is the main Beorning settlement in an area called Floodfells. Further North there’s a second smaller settlement, Thokvist, just off the central road that traverses the zone from North to South. This area called Misthallow is quite small and penned in by mountains to the East and the river Anduin to the West. Further North there is the area known as Framsburg, which was the ancient home of the Éothéod, the ancestors of the Rohirrim. Many of the ruins are now home to Trolls and Orcs. And at the very Northern Apex of the map there is a third stable of Hlithseld. This area is more mountainous with narrow, twisting paths, overlooking ancient Dwarven remains. The new zone ends here at Elderslade and obviously will lead at a future date into Gundalok. There is a road that leads to the North East to the West of Rushgate.

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The fourth stable is by far the most intriguing. It is located in the hidden village of Lyndelby which lies to the West of Framsburg on the opposite side of the river. It is accessed via a narrow winding path through a mountainous ravine and lies nestled in the arms of the Misty Mountains and North of the river Langwell. This secret valley is lush and fertile and home to Holbytlan, possibly the River Hobbits that SSG alluded to recently. It makes sense canonically that such a settlement could exist and their proximity to the Éothéod explains why Holbytlan appear in the legends of the Rohirrim. The mountain also shields this Hobbit community from an enemy enclave at Sundergrót. Among the Dwarven ruins, the enemy has siege engines and other weapons of war. Access to this area is via a makeshift bridge that traverses the Anduin and along a path West.

The Wells of Langflood is an agreeable new zone. If you enjoyed the ambience of the Vale of Anduin, then this is more of the same. There are numerous mountainous vistas with impressive views and the ambient music is once again integral to the atmosphere of the zone. As ever, about a third of the area shown on the map is inaccessible and SSG have done their usual trick of using the environment to funnel the player from quest hub to quest hub. I am definitely looking forward to returning to such a bright and verdant zone region having spent several months in Imlad Morgul, which I found to be a depressing and gloomy environment . As ever please note that Bullroarer is a test server and there is always scope for content to change prior to its release to the live game.

In addition to the pictures in this post, here is a link to a gallery of screenshots via Google Photos. All are available at the original screen resolution of 1920 x 1200.

LOTRO: Producer’s Letter 2020

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After several month’s delay and various rumours about internal corporate dissent, Standing Stone Games have finally released this year’s Producer’s Letter. Its arrival has produced a collective sigh of relief from the playerbase, as neither Executive Producer Severlin (Rob Ciccolini) or Community Manager Cordovan (Jerry Snook) seem to shine at corporate communications. In fact there has been an information vacuum for over six months. As for the letter, it certainly promises a lot of new content for The Lord of the Rings Online coming over the next year to eighteen months. And at first glance it sounds as if there’s something for everyone. A catalogue of PVE content, adjustments to the Legendary Items systems, a designated PVP server, more Premium Housing (this time in Rohan) and a further Legendary Server offering greater content difficulty. However, as ever the devil is in the detail and until we know more the vagaries are somewhat frustrating. 

A new PVE Epic Storyline “The Legacy of Durin and the Trials of the Dwarves” is scheduled to run over 2020-21. The first instalment called Mists of Wilderland, that will take players to the Wells of Langflood, is to be released in late spring. Later in the year after the release of Aragorn and Arwen’s wedding, SSG are adding the War of the Three Peaks. This is scaling content open to all players allowing them to come to Durin's aid, as the Dwarves advance to Mount Gundabad to deal with the Orc threat. All of this content is the “meat and potatoes” of LOTRO. Raids, instances and PVE quests are the things that keep players engaged and playing. If the overhaul to the LI system is fair, sensible and not yet another grindfest, then I shall be pleased. Legendary Weapons are a great concept that have never met their full potential since their introduction in 2008.

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I am however, somewhat reticent about some of the other ideas mooted in the Producer’s Letter. I’m not sure what the population is of the two current Legendary Servers but is there any real value in offering a third? Offering more difficult combat in the manner described by SSG, with the Eye of Sauron boosting mob performance sounds intriguing but if this is then met with a reciprocal boost in player performance, exactly what has been gained? It sounds somewhat similar to the existing “Inspired Greatness” mechanic that allows single players to solo content that was originally intended for groups. And where I welcome a new PVP combat server for fans of such content, for any competitive and ranked gameplay to have any longevity, it will require regular updates. Other competitive games have seasons, themed material and a great deal of developer/community interaction. If the LOTRO PVP players are simply encouraged to relocate to an environment that is static as the Ettenmoors in the existing game, then it’s not much of an improvement.

Spreading the LOTRO playerbase across multiple servers is both a risk to business and community cohesion. If players old and new, commit to one of the new servers and it doesn’t work out the way they hoped, will they return to their old servers? Certainly for new players it means starting afresh. And for established players returning to alts that have fallen below level cap, catching up can be an uphill struggle at times. It’s a shame that SSG cannot offer a variety of play styles and activities on the current live servers thus ensuring that LOTRO players although pursuing different goals are at least in the same virtual Middle-earth. I also don’t like to see such words as “temporary” in any road map style communication. These are after all public business plans. Short term objectives don’t always inspire confidence. However, once again I will reiterate that LOTRO is a 13 year old MMO and frankly having any timetable for new content is a good thing compared to the alternatives. Let us see what comes of it all.

MMO Etiquette

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Whose round is it?

A lot of MMORPGs are experiencing high levels of new or returning players at present (for some particular reason). Despite this particular genre of games having radically evolved over the last two decades, there is still one fundamental component that has remained a constant. Namely the human factor. Hence there is plenty of scope for both old and new players to clash, disagree and fall out. Why, you may ask. Well mainly because behavioural and social norms that prevail in the real world, do not necessarily translate so well to a virtual environment. Visual cues such as body language are not available and it’s harder to pick up on tone and nuance from plain text, typed in global chat. However, we can all take steps to prevent any misunderstanding that can lead to a “wee stoushie”, by refreshing our respective memories about some basic MMO etiquette.

So here are some simple tips in no specific order. Some are more important than others but all can contribute to a better player experience and a less fractious atmosphere. 

• No Ninja invites to groups or guilds. Do not random spam complete strangers with unsolicited invitations to groups or guilds. Always ask first. Failure will just get you instantly placed on an ignore list.

• When in a PUG (Pick Up Group), always address the various members by their screen names and not by class. Courtesy is king in a social game.

• Do not aggro dump. IE if you’re being chased by every mob in Christendom, don’t run through groups of other players in an attempt to lose the mess of trouble that’s following you.

• Call people out on racism, sexism and homophobia. Don’t let it slide. Alternatively, take a screen capture of any text based abuse or bigotry and report the offender to the GMs. MMO players get the community they deserve. If you facilitate assholes by giving them a free pass, then you’re shitting in your own virtual watering hole.

• Do not tolerate ill manners or bullying in raids and other group activities. Give offenders one warning to cool their heels and if they continue, then kick them from the group. If you don’t have control of the group, then leave, citing the offender as the reason for your withdrawal.

• A pre-agreed time for a raid is not optional or flexible. It is absolute. Be punctual. Kick or exclude those who are late, so that they learn to tell the time. Most children can master this.

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• Only roll on loot that is relevant to your class. Always agree upon rules regarding the division of loot prior to starting and group content.

• Never beg for gold in chat in any zone. Just don’t. It’s just unseemly. We all earned our gold. Why the fuck can’t you?

• Don’t crowd the mailbox or any other public interactive resource. Get the fuck off your mount and stow your pet. Be as cognitive about virtual personal space, as you would real life personal space.

• Don't just walk out on your group without saying a word. If something comes up and you have to leave your PC, then let all others concerned parties know. If a raid is not going well or you’re running out of time, then politely point out that you’d like to leave at the first convenient juncture. 

• If you’re in a specific zone farming resources or pursuing a slayer deed and you encounter another play, consider playing collaboratively, rather than playing against each other. A simple exchange of “tells” can remedy this matter. Sometimes people prefer to play alone. If that’s the case maybe start your activities as far away from the other player as possible.

• You may not know the intricacies of a specific raid, especially if it is new content. Sometimes all involved are learning on the fly. However, if you have been asked along specifically because of your character’s class, then make sure you’re up to speed with the basics.

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• If a group activities requires consumable, then bring consumables. Not a bunch of damn fool excuses for forgetting them.

• Keep text based chat clear and concise. Do not lapse into slang and esoteric terminology unless all our au fait with such things.

• Use public chat channels for the purposes they were created for. IE restrict trade enquiries to trade channels, for example. And remember players have usually logged into an MMO to play the game and not listen to your “armchair views” of identity politics, the Eucharist and its theological implications and Etruscan pottery. Confine your bloviations on the contentious to private channels.

• Some games have recurring events that happen at regular intervals. Sometimes there may be an in-game timer that can inform you when they’re next available. Alternatively, there may be third party websites with scheduling information. Use these facilities. Do not just ask the obvious, like that guy you had in your class when you were 12, who was a total twat and had no sense of the dynamics of human interaction.

• Do not steal other player’s kills. Do not interfere with other players' activities without their consent. They may be setting themselves a personal challenge and may not actually want your help.

• Not everyone likes, or feels comfortable using voice chat. When grouping, always have options when it comes to communicating. If someone doesn’t want to use chat, respect their stance and leave it at that. Don’t cross examine them.

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• Don’t assume the gender of a player is the same as their avatar. Don’t assume all players are the same age as you. Don’t assume that your primary language is the same for everyone.

• Remember that you can charge whatever you want for an item on Auction House. If anyone complains about undercutting prices, ignore them. They can always purchase your items and take them off the market. Unless the developers have set specific rules regarding pricing, do what you want. Funny how people only like capitalism while it serves their purpose.

• If group content goes badly, be very careful with regard to assigning blame because the player whose competence you’re questioning, may well think the same about you. If in doubt, bid everyone goodnight and leave without comment.

• You’re not totally anonymous, despite your fancy onscreen name. Players can gain a reputation within a gaming community. It’s up to you whether that’s good or bad.

• People play MMOs for all sorts of reasons. You are not the arbiter of fun, nor deputised to enforce your own interpretation of how the game “should be played”.

• Finally, never let anyone called Colin join your guild. Just don’t. You’ll regret it.

I’m sure I’ve barely scratched the surface when it comes to MMO etiquette. Please feel free to leave further helpful tips in the comments below.

More Gaming Amnesia

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I wrote back in January 2018 about “gaming amnesia” and how if you step away from a game for a while, then often you can forget not only the basic control layout but the essential mechanics as well. Well I’ve had a couple of further instances of this recently and it got me thinking as to whether there’s a finite amount of game related data you can retain at one time. I suspect the answer is yes and that it all comes down to the old “use it or lose it” maxim. If you’re not playing a complex game regularly, then the knowledge gets superseded by information you have a more pressing need to access. Hence I do not think I’m experiencing the early signs of dementia of anything like that. Nonetheless, it can be quite frustrating and age is also a factor. Our reactions do slow as we get older and quickly recollecting information becomes more of a chore.

I decided to log into Read Dead Redemption 2 a few days ago. I bought the game last November and played it regularly until early January when I decided to focus on another title. I found my character at the edge of a lake with my trusty steed nearby. There is a very close bond between the main character and his horse in this game and it’s a central theme of the story. So I walked up to my horse Roach (yes I did name him thus) and pressed what I thought was the key to mount up. Instead I delivered a robust right hook to his body. Naturally, my equine chum took a dim view of this and promptly lashed out, kicking with his back legs. I lay twitching in a pool of blood, contemplating that this never happened to Randolph Scott or Audie Murphy. To cut a long story short (as Spandau Ballet would say) I couldn’t recollect any of the key mappings.

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Another example I would like to cite is navigating the depth of the Mines of Moria in LOTRO. Now I spent a lot of time back in 2009 learning the quaint and esoteric routes around this sprawling subterranean metropolis. There was a time when I could ride an in-game goat from Durin’s Threshold in Eriador, right the way through to the First Hall and out into Rhovanion. Furthermore, I could do all this from memory, while eating a sandwich and recording a podcast. I recently found myself utterly lost around Zelem-melek, endlessly going round in circles in Khufdul-tharâkh, shouting at no one in particular about how it would be bloody useful to have a GPS system in this bastard game. I eventually started writing down my route and making notes of landmarks, so I wouldn’t keep looping back to the same locations.

Joking aside, there are several good reasons that mitigate my bout of “gaming amnesia”. Read Dead Redemption 2 is a console port and the thing I often find about such games is that they map the keys in a most unusual way. You often find that WASD doesn’t control movement but some other utterly bizarre alternative permutation. And with regard to Moria, I was reminded by a fellow player that the area has been extensively redeveloped since its initial release in 2008. So perhaps I’m not as incompetant as I initially thought. However, I do think that it would be useful if more developers included a tutorial that could be accessed at any point during the proceedings. All too often, your hand is held purely at the beginning of a game and it is assumed that once you’ve learned the basics, you’ll forever have them at your fingertips. Patently that is not the case. I’m also sure that I’ll experience “gaming amnesia” again quite soon.Especially in light of me returning to both Neverwinter and Call of Duty.

Completing the Minas Morgul Expansion

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Despite taking a short break out of pure frustration, I decided to grit my teeth and try to finish the Minas Morgul expansion for The Lord of the Rings Online over the last few days. As I suspected, once you start questing in Minas Morgul itself, it all becomes very homogenous. The circles of the city are deliberately ponderous to navigate and the quests are padded out with generic filler content that requires you to kill multiple types of mobs. Furthermore, Minas Morgul itself is a “lagfest” and you can often find yourself instantly in combat with a mob lurking immediately outside the door of the Rangers camps. The density of the enemies means that you’re continuously pulling aggro when travelling form A to B. And you often find yourself rubberbanding and stuttering due to the poor build of the city. Completing all of the various tiers of the city is a grueling task and upon completion you’re immediately sent to Thuringwath which has many of the same problems. Although some of the quest stories are well conceived, the realities of completing much of the content in Minas Morgul make it very much an uphill struggle.

So far I have completed the Circles of Wrath, Sorrow, Madness and am currently working on the aptly named Circle of Despair. To break up the monotony, I decided to tackle the Epic Story as I wanted to see the conclusion of the Black Book of Mordor. I was suitably impressed by the way the writers tied up all the loose ends, especially the manner in which Gothmog met his fate. The link to Golodir and the lineage of his sword Dúnachar was intriguing. I also liked the way that the author of the Black Book, the Zhelruka Dwarf Voin, turned out to be a benign character and was rather moved in the final scene in which he said goodbye to his wife and son and went off to die. I enjoyed the subtle inference that he may have found Thafar-gathol. Once again the musical score by Bill Champagne was outstanding and greatly enhanced the drama. The final epilogue where you have to decide who gets the Black Book proved interesting and presented three interesting choices. I decided it should be returned to Khîl Tale-spinner as he is a descendant of Voin. But I did flirt with the notion of giving it to Karazgar.

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As ever with LOTRO, it is the strength of the stories and characters, along with the realisation of the world itself which are the game’s greatest strengths. Hence these have been the aspects of the Minas Morgul expansion that I’ve enjoyed the most. As I approach the completion of this expansion I am pleased that I have reached level cap with a relatively robust build. The gear I obtained from opening 22 Adventurer's Steel-bound Lootboxes has made a significant difference to my performance. In recent weeks I have added additional tiers to my LI Legacies and have also upgraded most of the settings. I am also levelling my slotted virtue traits, now that the level cap has been increased to 68. Yet despite these positive points, I cannot help but feel that this expansion is very much a product of two very distinct parts. I very much enjoyed the first section set during the Second Age. However, the second part feels notably weaker, with a lot of arbitrary content thrown together in a slapdash fashion. As for the new raids, I have not experienced these as of yet and am not likely to due to my kinship being quiet of late.

Waiting for the New Middle-earth MMO

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In late 2018 it was announced that Amazon Game Studios and Leyou were collaborating on massively multiplayer online game for PC and consoles set in Middle-earth. Ongoing development is being handled by Athlon Games, a global developer and publisher of free-to-play console and PC games. The studio is a subsidiary of Leyou Technologies Holdings Limited. But beyond the fairly vague press releases that can be found on the Athlon Games website (the last was posted in July 2019), little detail has emerged about the project. There has been unsubstantiated rumours that the project may well tie-in with the forthcoming Amazon Prime TV show that is set in the Second Age of Middle Earth. However, there is little information at present in the public domain to fully substantiate this or any of the other ongoing speculation. Hence, the entire situation raises some interesting questions and I’m sure like me, you have probably pondered some of them. Here are just a few that have crossed my mind.

• Will this title be directly competing with Standing Stone Games MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online?

• Exactly what sort of MMO will this new LOTR based game be, as the very term MMO is extremely elastic these days. 

• Will the appropriate licensing body allow two games from the same genre to exist simultaneously? 

• Exactly what business model will this new MMO have?

• What iteration of the franchise will this game be based upon? Will it draw directly from the Peter Jackson movies (like games such as Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and Middle-earth: Shadow of War) or will it create a unique vision of Middle Earth as with SSG’s LOTRO?

Due to the lack of any definitive information, all we can presently do is speculate about the answers to these questions. Firstly, as to “do we need another The Lord of the Rings themed MMO”, I certainly think the market can sustain one. Competition can be a healthy thing and it is nice as a consumer to have choice. Products can co-exist harmoniously if they provide different experiences. I am always interested in seeing different people’s visions of Professor Tolkien's work, such as artists like Alan Lee, John Howe and Ted Nasmith, so for me a new game would be welcome purely from an creative and aesthetic perspective. There is also a wealth of lore that is available to be developed into new storylines. This is something that Turbine and Standing Stone Games have managed to do successfully over the past thirteen years. Any new game can easily explore an aspect of Tolkien’s work that hasn’t been touched by any previous product. There is no need to simply tread old ground.

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Now if this new The Lord of the Rings themed MMO is marketed in direct competition to LOTRO, then I would expect it to be a very different beast, based around the mechanics and systems that are currently popular within the genre. I do not see any benefit in simply creating an MMO that replicates what exactly LOTRO does. I would not be surprised if this new MMO was closer to The Elder Scrolls Online in its systems design. It is also worth considering licensing arrangements. When Star Wars: The Old Republic was released in late 2011, a decision was made to close the older MMO Star Wars Galaxies. Exactly why this happened has never been officially discussed, so we do not know if this was solely about concerns over competition. However, the legal rights for Tolkien’s work are administered by a completely different body, so it doesn’t mean that a similar fate necessarily awaits LOTRO. But it is prudent to at least reflect upon what happened to SWG.

Personally, I would like to see a less linear game with a far more open world environment, dynamic content that is proximity based and the chance to develop charterers that aren't solely based around combat. To be able to lose oneself in a virtual Middle Earth, where you are free to explore, craft, farm, trade or simply aimlessly meander, would be a massive step forward for fans of the IP. But I am fully aware that what delights me may well deter other gamers and that ultimately any game is going to have to find a balance between the new and established systems that are economically viable. The development costs required to create a truly open world version of Middle-earth would be substantial and more importantly, the risk of such an experimental project would potentially be the biggest obstacle. Conversely,  just using Tolkien’s world for yet another PVP or Battle Royale game would in my view be a waste of the franchise.

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I'm sure that many interested parties will be keeping an eye on Athlon Games over the next year to see how this new MMO pans out. Let us hope that further information is forthcoming regarding its development and its specific nature. However, a quality MMO is not made overnight and so I’m not optimistic that I’ll be playing this new game any time soon. If it is tied to the Amazon Prime TV show, then the games launch may also depend on whether that show gains any traction. Furthermore, the TV show may well be intended to run over numerous seasons and try and emulate the sustained success of Game of Thrones. If that's the case then this new MMO may not appear until the TV show has hit its peak popularity. And if the show is not well received the game could well be cancelled before release. Therefore, it may well be best for Tolkien fans to simply just keep an eye on this project and continue to focus on those games such as LOTRO that do currently exist and provide a specific service.

Old is New

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If you keep up with news in the MMORPG community, you’ll be aware that there has been a recent resurgence in “rogue server” offering emulation services for titles that have officially closed. City of Heroes and Star Wars Galaxies continue to sustain a player base and the level of interest clearly indicates that this is not just due to mere nostalgia. Simply put these games maintain an audience because they are good. They’re well designed, engaging and rewarding to play. Similarly, remastered games are proving to be both popular and commercially successful. Resident Evil 2 which was released last year has sold over 5 million copies and received critical acclaim. It currently has a rating of 91% on Metacritic (for those who put stock in such things). Pundits are already predicting that the remake of Final Fantasy VII will enjoy similar success. Again when you analyse the reviews and critiques available online, you find that these remastered titles fare well due to their inherent quality. Is this something newer games are lacking?

Games commentator Jim Sterling touches upon this subject in the latest edition of The Jimquisition (09.03.20). He strongly believes that too many contemporary so called “triple A” games are hobbled by microtransactions and content gated behind paywalls. Season passes promise future content thus justifying incomplete titles to be released and that creativity and innovation are sidelined when creating a game as a “live service”. Hence he states it is customer dissatisfaction with current games that makes remastered titles more appealing. They present an opportunity to play through a game with any impediment, interruption or requirement to pay more money to access further content. Furthermore, these are titles that hail from an era where the creative focus was on the gameplay and new ideas were not subordinate to business imperatives. All are cogent points that I broadly agree with, as I’ve experienced all of these over several decades of gaming.

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The mainstream video game industry is not known for responding quickly or adapting promptly to new situations. Once a successful trend is established it is frequently slavishly followed. Hence multiple genres have each experienced a brief time in the sun. All too often a couple of games will arrive late to the proverbial party and fail to find an audience and quickly close. Some titles will even get canned while in development, if the marketing tide has turned. However, sooner or later the boardrooms of these multi billion dollar companies have got to notice what is selling and what is not. EA stated a few years ago that single player games were done as a genre and yet Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, a conspicuously single player game without live service trappings, has proven very successful. No matter how glacial the rate of change may be, sooner or later major publishers are going to connect the dots and see what is selling and more importantly why it is doing so. At this point will the old become new? Only time will tell.

Making Your Own Fun

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I’ve yet to read a cogent definition of the term “emergent gameplay”, so it won’t feature in this post because I’m not sure if I fully grasp the concept. It seems to be a very elastic term. However, what I will say is that sometimes you run out of officially sanctioned tasks to do, when playing an MMO. You find yourself having completed all quests and missions, languishing at level cap with acceptable gear and kicking your virtual heels. It is at this point one of two things happens. You either find a means of keeping yourself engaged with the game, or you logout and find something else to play. Too often have I done the latter. At present, I’m currently at the “what should I do now” stage both in The Lord of the Rings Online and Star Trek Online. This time rather than just temporarily abandoning these games, I intend to set myself some new goals and effectively make my own fun. It may or may not work. But at the least it will make for a couple of blog posts.

I still have a hankering for a Tier 6 Constitution Class ship in STO. Specifically one from the TOS era, rather than the Kelvin Timeline or DISCO period. However, to get one I’ve either got to buy the 10th Anniversary Legendary Ship Bundle (which requires selling a kidney) or open a ton of Infinity Promotion Research & Development Packs. You can either buy these for Zen (real money) or Energy Credits (ingame currency) via the Exchange. Occasionally a reward pack containing one of these ships does come up for sale on the Exchange but this is usually between 1.5 and 2 billion Energy Credits. Which leads me neatly on to the subject of earning this in-game currency. Some MMOs are laid back when it comes to generating revenue. STO is not one of them. Something that Cryptic has tried to address over the years. So I thought it would be interesting to see how many Energy Credits I could earn in a fixed period of time. This would then be an interesting litmus test to see if a player could realistically raise the necessary funds to buy one of these ridiculously expensive vessels. So having blown all my in-game cash, I’m going to see how much I can raise over the next 28 days. Watch this space for further details.

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Meanwhile in LOTRO, I’m going to grasp the nettle and see what I can do to improve my Legendary Items. There has got to be another way to earn Anfalas Scrolls of Empowerment, other than just running the same old Minas Tirith dailies. I shall search through all my festival and rep related barter currencies and see if there’s anything that can be cashed in. This reminds me of yet another promise that Turbine/Standing Stone Games have yet to make good on; a decent currency exchange program or a universal barter currency. And if grinding chores for LI improvement fails to excite me (and I suspect it that it will) there is always completing deeds to raise the level of slotted virtue traits. The level cap has now been raised to 68, so there’s scope for statistical improvement if these are maxed out. And if both these options are a washout, I may just do some buying and selling on the auction house. Playing the markets in an MMO has always been a fun way to enjoy commodities trading without any of the risk of its real world counterpart.

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Many of my gamer friends and colleagues make their own fun when playing MMOs. Some will set themselves “iron man” criteria for their ongoing gameplay, playing within fixed builds or specific gear sets. Others confine themselves to specific expansions or just continuously roll new alts. I often find players in my kinship/fleet/guild busy achieving accolades, completing obscure deeds and generally pursuing that game in an unconventional manner. Thankfully the MMO genre lends itself to these kinds of extracurricular activities. There can be pleasure and enjoyment found in many obscure aspects of the virtual worlds we visit. For example, I will sometimes log into LOTRO and just ride around where my fancy takes me, enjoy the aesthetics of the world. If the MMO genre didn’t offer these kind of adaptable freedoms I think a lot of these games would soon lose their audience once they had exhausted traditional content. So here’s to making your own fun and doing things your way. The fact that this annoys certain types of gamers makes it all the more enjoyable.

A Month in Gaming

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The problem I find with monthly gaming articles is that they tend to cover ground that I’ve already written about over the last 4 weeks in other blog posts, only in less detail. So here is the brief version of my gaming activities throughout February. I played through the entirety of the Star Trek Online 10th Anniversary event and received the new hybrid Tier 6 ship. I enjoyed the new 2 part feature episode and have managed to maintain a schedule of doing “odds and sods” to keep myself busy. STO is currently my primary game. I’ve ground to a halt in The Lord of the Rings Online, as soon as I start questing in Minas Morgul itself. It is simply too uninspiring and grindy an area. So I’ve focused on completing deeds for virtue experience and daily repeatable quests for Anfalas Scrolls of Empowerment. Due to constraints upon my schedule, I decided to temporarily stop my subscription to ESO Plus, as I simply do not have the time to invest in The Elder Scrolls Online at present. ESO is a good game and deserves attention when played. Committing to multiple MMOs at once is always a mistake.

I tried to return to Red Dead Redemption 2, which I believe I’m currently halfway through. Sadly, again this is a game that you have to apply yourself to if you wish to get the most from it. The quests need to be read and savoured, rather than rushed through. So I’ve put this game on hold as well, although I do intend to finish it as I have a lot to say about its complex and challenging narrative structure. I bought two other games in February. Deathtrap Dungeon and Gang Beasts. The former is a wonderful old school adventure game, told as a narrative story. I’ve written a more comprehensive post already about this title, so if you’re interested at all, I would urge you to read my thoughts there. And I purchased Gang Beasts in a Steam sale. Sadly, I neglected to read a comprehensive breakdown of the game specifications and discovered that there is no single player mode at present. This silly physics driven comedy fighting game is great fun when played competitively with others but I was expecting a single player versus bots mode. This was entirely my own fault and stands as a reminder that you should always to do your research thoroughly first before buying a new game.

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I’ve been using GoG Galaxy as a one stop game launcher for a while now and I must admit it saves a lot of hassle and seems to be working well. I have it launch by default upon Windows startup and it allows me to fire up any title I have installed from one location and avoid trawling through multiple launchers to find what I want to play. It’s also very convenient to import all your game libraries into one place, so you actually have a fighting chance of  seeing what you’ve purchased over the years. I have dozens of obscure titles from bundles and giveaways that are just gathering virtual dust. If it wasn’t for GoG Galaxy, I wouldn’t even know about half of these. I am hoping to install and play some of them over Easter as part of a new ongoing recurring blog post series. GoG Galaxy also does a pretty good job of collating all my social and friends list so I can see who is online. With further functionality under development, I see no reason at present to stop using this product.

I suspect that March will be more of the same for me, with regard to my gaming activities. I shall continue with one predominant MMO and possible experiment with another single player game. Beyond that I have no immediate gaming goals at present, apart from the fact that it’s better to be playing something rather than nothing. I’ll report back in April.

Star Trek Online: The Admiralty System and Farming Dilithium

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Dilithium is one of the major currencies that can be earned in the MMORPG Star Trek Online. It is given as a reward for playing through Story Missions, Task Force Operations (group PVE content), Duty Officer Assignments and other aspects of the game. Dilithium is initially awarded as ore. The player then has to refine it to be able to spend it. Furthermore, there is a cap of 8,000 Dilithium ore refined per day. Once refined, players can use Dilithium to purchase various items and services ranging from new ships, as well as space and ground equipment. Dilithium is also used in upgrading or re-engineering equipment. Another benefit of Dilithium is that it can be exchanged for Zen, STO’s premium currency. Although Zen is primarily bought with real money, Cryptic provides an in-game exchange service in which players can trade surplus Dilithium for Zen. The exchange rate can fluctuate and has steadily risen over the last ten years. Yet despite this, Dilithium continues to be a tangible and much desired resource.

Due to the value players place upon Dilithium, many create multiple alts so that they can farm it on a daily basis. The easiest means to do this are Duty Officer Assignments and the Admiralty System. Both are card based mini games, involving assigning Duty Officers or Ships with appropriate statistics to a specific mission. These virtual tasks are time based and if completed with a positive outcome, yield a modest supply of Dilithium as a reward. Now with any such undertaking, the merits of the time to cost ratio are subjective. If you have two or three alts, it will take about 5 to 10 minutes to log in and set up the various tasks that will net you the Dilithium you require. However, there are players that farm across dozens of alts, spending up to an hour or more setting up the appropriate missions. A long time favourite has been the Klingon Admiralty campaign as it yields the most Dilithium. Dedicated players can easily gain a 70K plus of Dilithium across a dozen alts. And STO has lots of very dedicated players. Hence, many have built up substantial stock piles of Dilithium over time. 

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It is this glut of Dilithium that has prompted STO’s developers, Cryptic, to once again take action. In the past cosmetic items have been made available for purchase with Dilithium to try and absorb some of the surplus stock. Then the much coveted Phoenix Prize Pack would from time to time appear, again purchasable for Dilithium only. But the problem persists and for Cryptic it is indeed a problem. As a developer and a business, they would prefer players to buy Zen with real money, rather than stockpiled Dilithium. However, simply removing the Dilithium exchange service would be a PR nightmare, so they have just announced plans to alter the Klingon Admiralty Campaign, so that instead of rewarding players with actual Dilithium ore, it will instead give them a voucher for Dilithium that can be used on Fleet Projects. Essentially, this is a form of Dilithium that cannot be exchanged and can only be used for one specific purpose. Naturally, this “revision” has been met with a somewhat mixed response among the STO community. Casual players such as myself, tend not to farm Dilithium beyond what can be acquired on just one character. I gain enough each time I play to upgrade gear but have never raised sufficient to buy tangible amounts of Zen. But there are a substantial amount of players that run Dilithium farming as a cottage industry and this change will set them back.

Cryptic’s “reset” is not quite as catastrophic as some players would have you believe. It is a nuisance to those who farm and will impact upon how much Dilithium they can obtain a day. But it didn’t take long for some rather comprehensive actions plans to emerge on the official STO subreddit. Knowledgeable players have already suggested alternative means of farming Dilithium. Specific Duty Officer Assignment chains have been recommended, along with trading Duty Officers themselves. Then there is creating new alts, leveling and claiming account wide rewards from previous Delta, Gamma and Temporal events. The bottom line is resourceful players will find a way to continue farming Dilithium. It may even have the positive side effect of seeing players return to previously ignored parts of the game, such as the Ground Battlezone in the Solanae Dyson Sphere. Currency adjustments are always tricky to implement both logistically and “politically”. On this occasion I think Cryptic have managed to find the right path between both.

We Need a New Video Games Lexicon

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Some video game related subjects are “hardy perennials”, to coin a gardening term. As are the blog posts, forum thread and subreddits that explore them. I read an article over at Massively Overpowered that posed the question “How essential are hardcore gamers to an MMO’s health?”. It wasn’t the actual main premise that got me thinking, but a minor side dispute that arose about the definition of a specific term. And that term was “hardcore”. It’s a phrase that’s been associated with video game culture for over two decades. Yet there is no single, immutable dictionary definition as to what this term specifically means. Which is odd for a word that is extremely commonplace in video games parlance. Because of its elastic nature it leads a lot of scope for misinterpretation when used, be it deliberately or accidentally.  So I made a self indulgent comment on the original post in which I paraphrased some dialogue from the 1986 movie, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.

McCoy : How essential are “hardcore” gamers to an MMO’s health?

Spock : It is impossible to discuss the subject without a common frame-of-reference.

Words, semantics and languages are complex things. None of these things remain static and they all evolve over time. Words and phrases are often co-opted and adapted, leading to a situation where their very meaning varies depending upon who you’re addressing. The mosy obvious example is the word “gay” which has changed a lot in my lifetime. As have such words as “sick” or “pimp”. Slang is a particularly fluid aspect of language. Naturally gaming culture is no different. Which brings me onto the term “hardcore”. Does it mean a passionate player who dedicates a lot of time to a specific game? Or is this about the raiding community and those pursuing achievements and seek to test their skills? Alternatively, does the phrase refer to a player who sees the game and the way in which it is played within a very rigid framework? Or is it simply a player who may not technically achieve much but is a consummate fan and evangelist of the game they love? Frankly the word “hardcore” in the gaming context, could embrace all these meanings.

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Which leads me neatly to my final point. The video games industry has changed greatly in the last three decades. Terms that once succinctly defined genres are now vague. Should we still even use such phrases as MMORPG anymore, or would it be better to come up with new terms to describe games that share aspects of the old definition but also have newer attributes. It is important to have a common lexicon so that the gaming community can communicate effectively and clearly. If we all use terms which have a universally accepted definition, then conversations will not get bogged down in ambiguity and unnecessary misunderstandings. Such clarity would also be beneficial for the video games industry when communicating with its customers. Sadly, the cynic in me also thinks that having such obsolete terms still in common use serves a wider business purpose. Vagueness can be used to sell a product based upon an erroneous interpretation. It can also deflect blame and legal culpability.

Gaming Ambassadors

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Over four years ago, I wrote a blog post discussing the concept of “Digital Ambassadors” and how they can be an invaluable source of goodwill and promotion that compliments the traditional marketing departments and PR associated with leisure industries. A smart business sees the value of fans and the contribution they make in getting "the message" across. I recently sent in a question to the Massively OP Podcast which specifically raised this issue with regard to the the MMORPG community. There was a time when key bloggers and podcasters became integral to the promotion of specific games and that they became an unofficial form of community management. In my question I also suggested that this has waned due to the rise of Twitch TV and YouTube and that the personalities that arise from these platforms are free agents who tend to follow the latest trends. They are not so tied to one specific community. Justin and Bree kindly addressed my question on the show and it made for a very interesting discussion. Many of the points they raised had crossed my mind as well.

I believe there is still a role for “Gaming Ambassadors” although the way that role presents itself has changed. In some ways, the Massively OP Podcast provides the service that some prominent game blogs or shows used to. The only difference is Justin and Bree advocate on behalf of multiple games instead of just one. But the enthusiasm and willingness to help is there and the show is happy to provide a platform for players, devs and pundits alike. There are other shows that are associated with particular games but a lot seem to have become quasi-official. Take the Priority One Podcast for STO for example. Often when gaining access to those that actually create and run a game, there is a degree of editorial compromise required. Hence some content creators find themselves as “poacher turned gamekeeper” to coin an old phrase. Editorial independence is not something to give up lightly but it is often the price of admission such inner circles. This is something that Massively OP Podcast has not done.

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Fandom per se, has certainly become more mainstream over the last two decades. Conventions are now seen as lucrative, wide reaching marketing opportunities. They are no longer seen as niche nerd social activities. But I feel that the “commercialisation and commodification” of fandom has also made it more ephemeral. Yes, there still are fan sites dedicated to just one game who invest heavily in their community but the main focus is now on other platforms and “influencers”. The major difference is that contemporary internet personalities that gain traction are usually not exclusively wedded to just one community. A game will be played and its virtuals extolled until it ceases to be popular. When that occurs, it’s onto the next big thing and there’s nothing wrong with this approach. Ultimately, the games that popular YouTubers and Streamers play are secondary to their “personality”, which is often the key to their following. 

In my lifetime fandom has evolved. In the seventies, we hand crafted fanzines. We typed the content, cut it out and inserted pictures, then took them to the printers and had as many copies produced for as cheap a price as possible. Then along came the home PC and self publishing became easier and more professional. The internet then put content online and its reach became far bigger. And then along came social media and the focus changed very quickly from blogs and podcasts, to videos, streams and subreddits. And like any other leisure market, its widening reach and increasing diversity has also led to smaller, more insular communities. 

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I do not doubt that there’s a specific place that’s the community focus of Black Desert Online and that in the months to come, they’ll be a similar space for the MMO New World. But I think that these communal focal points will be far more targeted than those we’ve previously seen and will be more specific to their player base, using more immediate social media platforms. They may also come and go more quickly as gamers consume and then move on. Hence I am beginning to think my nostalgic affection for the LOTRO podcast, A Casual Stroll to Mordor, is just that. The show existed and thrived within the internet and fan context of the time. And times change and that specific era I remember has gone and been replaced with something similar and different. “It is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be”. Isaac Asimov.

ESO: The Problem with Update 25

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ZeniMax are allegedly addressing some major performance issues with the forthcoming Update 25 for The Elder Scrolls Online. If this latest patch improves loading times, the game’s overall performance and makes updating the client faster, then it will be well received by players. However, Update 25 requires players to reinstall the entire game client due to technical reasons. Furthermore, the patch is not going to be available prior to release on Monday February 24th, so player’s cannot download the necessary files in advance. Unfortunately, as soon as the patch server comes online, all players will have to reinstall the full ESO client and wait accordingly. Considering the disparity between internet connections in the US and Europe, player experience will vary greatly. Some will download the client in hours where others will have to simply leave their PC running and wait all day. Considering the popularity of ESO and the estimated size of its player base, I wouldn’t be surprised if there are queues or connectivity issues.

At present, the game client for ESO is about 90GB. Hardly surprising, considering how much the game has grown since its launch in 2014. This is a substantial download by anyone's standards and it is worth remembering that there are still  many players that have ADSL internet connections which are throttled to a maximum speed and that come with a data cap. Simply put, reinstalling the entire game is a major headache for them. It has to be done and I’m sure most players will doggedly go about installing Update 25, while “grinning and bearing it”, as the expression goes. But for many it may mean several days on not playing while the download is undertaken in stages. There are also bound to be some players who have a particular permutation of hardware, that results in a fully reinstalled client that won’t launch for some obscure reason. And then, for those who manage to install the download without any hitch, there is the entire issue of addons and how they will inevitably be broken.

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I therefore think that ZeniMax has potentially failed to grasp what a big deal totally reinstalling the game client is. Players do appreciate that the patch is ultimately beneficial to them but the logistics of installing it come with an element of risk as well as inconvenience. It may take a long time to download and install, there’s the risk of errors and there could even be financial implications if they find themselves exceeding their data cap. Hence offering a free cosmetic pet (in this case it’s a Crimson Torchbug) doesn’t really strike me as the best way to placate paying customers. Perhaps an allocation of crowns would be more tangible. At the very least I would have liked a more empathetic post on the Official ESO website. The existing one acknowledges that reinstalling the game is a pain but still happily goes along with the notion that it isn’t a big deal. Well, sorry to contradict you ZeniMax but it is.